When a surveyor in the Seventeenth Century was faced with an irregular shaped piece of property, it would be hard for him to find the bounds that would yield the correct acreage. Few people had the necessary education. In Virginia, there was no school that would have taught the subjects of mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, or logarithms until the College of William and Mary was founded in the 1690s.
Most early surveyors in Virginia had two instruments to use, a mariner’s compass and a knotted rope or wire line. Coupled with a lack of knowledge of just how to use the information that these might tell one, the early surveyors were working under a handicap.
From 1607 to 1776 there were considerable improvements in the tools and techniques. The surveyors themselves can hardly be compared to one another over this time period. In the 1650s the General Assembly of Virginia condemned the technical ability and the integrity of the profession. As we judge the early work though we should remember the primitive tools and the lack of education that were common.
We must also remember the challenges that the early surveyors faced. Men worked in regions without roads or bridges and encountered laurel thickets "whose Branches are all most as Obstinate as if composed of Iron." Rivers had to be forded. There was always a chance of becoming lost. Snakes, Indians, mosquitoes, and vermin were hazards. Nights were spent in tents but these were often preferable to the backwoods cabins of squatters. The end of the day might find the surveying party very wet, dirty, and tired with no facilities to aid their comfort. Being away from home, if a surveyor was feverish, he often just worked on. Occasionally, an inhabitant living where the surveyors were working might feel that his claim was being challenged and take recourse to guns and fist to repulse the workers.
Land was plentiful and it was not considered a crime to be generous in staking off a piece of property so as to give the claimant more acreage than the patent stated. It was considered better to error in this direction.
Though even in the early days surveyors were rebuked for sloppy and inaccurate work, the surveyors held a high social position. Surveyors were often community leaders, sometimes politicians and military leaders. For example, Robert Beverley the historian was a surveyor besides being a large plantation owner, a militia leader, and a politician. The recognition that Virginia’s surveyors received in society was an unheard thing in England itself or in the New England colonies.
(04 Feb 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.