I recently acquired a collection of old deeds. All from the same county in NC. Starting in 1758 going to about 1880. Quite a few are land grants from the state, and some are grants from the Kings Proprietors. It is fascinating to read the phrases and terminology they used back then. It will strain the eyes though! Some have a map drawn on the grant itself. I survey in this county and it's amazing the names I recognize as still having a good amount of land and wealth. I have a few old land grants from PA. and NH. but these are special, since it's where I survey. Anybody else collect such things?
I believe that to be an effective Land Surveyor you have to be a bit of a history nut. I've always enjoyed tracing deeds back and seeing the names of people in the area now. Unfortunately, the the county that I live in has no deeds on record prior to the 1880s. A fire in the courthouse destroyed all before then. Of course General Sherman had burned the courthouse in 1864 also.