So I spent a good bit of the day working up a series of surveys that were made along a creek in South Texas in March of 1840 by the future California surveyor, John Coffee Hays.
One the surveys that Mr. Hays and his party appear to have run out about 2-1/2 sides of in the course of their work, was certified as having been made on March 20, 1840, exactly 173 years ago today.
In 1840, Mr. Hays gave the names of Augustus Arrowsmith and Hugh Arbuckle as his chain carriers.
Here's the amusing thing. In 1874, 34 years later, another surveyor reported that he made a survey to locate a tract of land up against the survey made by Mr. Hays and party on this date in 1840 and covering one of the surveys that Hays had located, but which was later found to be ineligible for patent. In the field notes of the later work, the 1874 surveyor reported that he used the same chain carriers in his party as Mr. Hays had.
By 1874 John Coffee Hays was comfortably situated in California. He never returned to Texas after leaving during the Gold Rush. California didn't work out so well for one member of the Arbuckle clan, but I don't think it was Hugh. Did Mssrs. Arrowsmith and Arbuckle fall into a worm hole in 1840 and rematerialize in 1874 at the same corner, or is there another more plausible explanation that comes to mind?
Kent-
Maybe the sons of the original chainbearers ?
Cheers,
Derek
According to the 1876 city directory for San Francisco, CA, there was an Augustus T Arrowsmith employed there as a Civil Engineer, with an office at 432 Montgomery St. If that's the same Augustus Arrowsmith, that was quite an abrupt change of station in life at age 54 or so. Imagine working as a chain carrier in 1874 at age 54 and then as a civil engineer two years later.
> Imagine working as a chain carrier in 1874 at age 54 and then as a civil engineer two years later
Downward mobility
K-
Augustus would have had a chance to be well trained.
Maybe it was part of his 'articling'?
Cheers,
Derek
> Downward mobility
Worse yet, if this the same Augustus Taplady Arrowsmith (what a great middle name that is) who ended up in San Francisco in 1876, the federal census of 1870 shows him at age 49 as a resident of New York employed as a "Caloric Engineer" which one assumes has more to do with steam heating rather ingesting.
So, if the 1874 surveyor is to be believed, Augustus Arrowsmith left a career as a steam heating expert in New York to drift back to Texas for a stint as a chainman in rural South Texas before heading to San Francisco to open his civil engineering office.
Kent, I ran into similar info. Not much about any Augustus Arrowsmith in Texas. But it looks like an Augustus Arrowsmith lived a fruitful life in California. I did find a Charles A. Arrowsmith that served in the Civil War in Texas.
However, Hugh Arbuckle (b. Scotland, 1808) had a nice farm in Goliad, Tx. and served as a Pvt. in Martin's Regiment of the Texas Cavalry, 5th. Partisan Rangers, Co. D.
Draggin' a chain at 66? hmmm...you guys must have good water down there.
> Kent, I ran into similar info. Not much about any Augustus Arrowsmith in Texas. But it looks like an Augustus Arrowsmith lived a fruitful life in California.
>
> However, Hugh Arbuckle (b. Scotland, 1808) had a nice farm in Goliad, Tx. and served as a Pvt. in Martin's Regiment of the Texas Cavalry, 5th. Partisan Rangers, Co. D.
>
> Draggin' a chain at 66? hmmm...you guys must have good water down there.
Actually, I think the 1874 surveyor's field notes listing Mssrs. Arbuckle and Arrowsmith as chain carriers offer simply another real life demonstration that lying wasn't invented yesterday. The 1874 surveyor most probably just copied the field notes of the earlier survey he was covering without bothering to go on the ground. I mean, it had already been surveyed once, so why would he need to survey it again. :>
It's good to know..
that the G.L.O. surveyors in Oklahoma weren't the only ones that "pencil whipped" their share of surveys.
> Did Mssrs. Arrowsmith and Arbuckle fall into a worm hole in 1840 and rematerialize in 1874 at the same corner, or is there another more plausible explanation that comes to mind?
Maybe it was the 1874 surveyor's way of saying, "If it was good enough in 1840, it's good enough for 1874 too, and made the previous information, his own...:snarky:
> Maybe it was the 1874 surveyor's way of saying, "If it was good enough in 1840, it's good enough for 1874 too, ...
Except he managed to write field notes for a survey that were in gross conflict with another survey he'd actually made on the ground earlier that same year. :>
It's good to know..
Augustus T. Arrowsmith apparently had an interesting career. Per one inquiry posted to a genealogy forum:
>Looking for information on A.T. Arrowsmith, civil engineer and surveyor. Came to California ca. 1850, lived in Sacramento County until ca. 1865. His son, George, died in Yonkers, New York in 1865. Wife's name was Elizabeth. A.T. Arrowsmith was instrumental in the Natomas Water and Mining Company near Folsom, Sacramento County, surveying their ditch and canal system in 1854. He also surveyed the southern railroad route for the Southern Pacific railroad in 1868.
The arrival in California in about 1850 may mean that he traveled West with John Coffee Hays. Arrowsmith reportedly died in 1908, so he may be a further advertisement for surveying. Or it may just be the middle name.
> > Maybe it was the 1874 surveyor's way of saying, "If it was good enough in 1840, it's good enough for 1874 too, ...
>
> The 1874 surveyor most probably just copied the field notes of the earlier survey he was covering without bothering to go on the ground. I mean, it had already been surveyed once, so why would he need to survey it again....
....Is what I meant to say
:pinch:
It's good to know..
Here's a bit more about the activities of Augustus T. Arrowsmith after Texas (text from the source below with some editing):
>In late 1851, the Natoma Mining Company of California was re-organized, filing Notices of Appropriation in Sacramento and El Dorado Counties for water that it planned to divert from the American River. By mid-March of 1852, an engineering survey had been completed by Augustus T. Arrowsmith, a civil engineer from San Francisco hired by the Natoma Mining Company. Arrowsmith was chief engineer for both the dam and the canal, and later became an officer of the water company.
Natoma Mining Company history (PDF)
> > The 1874 surveyor most probably just copied the field notes of the earlier survey he was covering without bothering to go on the ground. I mean, it had already been surveyed once, so why would he need to survey it again....
>
> ....Is what I meant to say
Oh. That makes sense. :>
It's good to know..
[sarcasm]you mean shortcut method?[/sarcasm]
It would be interesting to know if Augustus was a member of this "august" clan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Arrowsmith
Anybody remember the article in Professional Surveyor (I think) that laid out the evidence for George Washington fudging a survey with a prior, older survey plat? One could say that the Texas surveyor was following in our founding father's footsteps.
(Unless they have an alliteration phobia)