Working on a rather simple survey in a very small town. The City owns an entire block with nothing on it but grass that needs mowed. Streets on three sides and an unopened, but platted, street on the remaining side. This area was probably never home to much residential activity as there were plenty of other sites available for what growth ever occurred there. As standard procedure, I went to pull the deed from the previous owner to the City. Not one, but twenty-seven of them. About half had the same surname. The deed writing and recording fees probably cost the City more than the land was worth. I imagine the grantors all received an imaginary one-dollar bill for their share of the sales price. Made me wonder if they missed any heirs, like the bastard son of the school teacher born in 1918 or a sailor who went down with the ship (they assume) in WWII.
