DEED-MAPPER-USERS-L Archives

Archiver > DEED-MAPPER-USERS > 2009-04 > 1239459939


From: "Barbara Vines Little, CG" <>
Subject: Re: [DMU] What is an "open line"
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:25:39 -0400
References: <LLEOLCHBMEBAFFAAMPPOAEKNDCAA.steve.stevens@verizon.net>
In-Reply-To: <LLEOLCHBMEBAFFAAMPPOAEKNDCAA.steve.stevens@verizon.net>


I suspect that what you have is the last line run Sarah Smith notes on
p. 124 of _Surveyors and Statesmen_
"Another shortcut surveyors sometimes took was to omit measuring the
last course of a tract in the field; instead the bearing and distance
were calculated in the office as the scaled plotting was done.
Occasionally such forced closures were explicitly mentioned in field
notes, as in the "open Course" shown in William Preston's survey of his
own land, called Walnut Bottom . . ."

Barbara Vines Little, CG
Dominion Research Services
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960

540-832-3473


CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under
license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the
US Patent & Trademark Office.



Steve Stevens wrote:
> This is just a guess, but it could be referring to an open field. Normally
> a tree line or creek, river, etc. are used as boundaries, but in this case
> there was no "boundary."
>
> Regards,
> Steve Stevens
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> [mailto:]On Behalf Of Dave Bird
> Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 1:22 AM
> To:
> Subject: [DMU] What is an "open line"
>
>
> I have a deed which has the following wording:
>
> Beginning at a black Oak and two post Oaks in a conditional line
> between John Murphy and said Butler thence
> South 160 poles
> to three black Oaks in John Birds open line thence
> East six poles
> to his corner thence
> with sd Birds line
> South 19 poles
> to a black Oak post Oak & hickory thence
>
> What is this so-called "open line"? I've looked in various on-line refs,
> google, yahoo, etc. I can find the term used in surveys but not
> explained. The usage is similar to the above.
>
> In one place it refers simply to a deed survey that does not close
> exactly, but this does not seem to apply here.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> with the word 'unsubscribe' without
> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
>
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
>
>
>

This thread: