Found?

"screw found at record location of stone bound" - the bound might have been paved over, and Future Surveyor may yet have an opportunity to find it when the sidewalk is torn up.

How close does the distance have to be to match record for a stone?

I don't know if screws are commonly used in your area. They have been ubiquitous in Portland for over a century. 

Posted by: @lurker

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How close does the distance have to be to match record for a stone?

It depends. If not-my-real-name is following in the footsteps of Horace or Harlan Tuttle, 20' of error would not be a surprise.

The original stone mark was part of a town layout in 1867, and was last shown recovered on a 1982 survey map. The position of the screw matches the highway layout exactly. Had it not matched, I would show the position based on my observation. I don't know about tolerances. That may be a personal thing.

Posted by: @not-my-real-name

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The original stone mark was part of a town layout in 1867, and was last shown recovered on a 1982 survey map. The position of the screw matches the highway layout exactly. Had it not matched, I would show the position based on my observation. I don't know about tolerances. That may be a personal thing.

Odds are good that a more recent surveyor than the one in 1982 set that screw at the exact record position, rather than marking a measured location of the bound. In 1867 steel tapes were somewhat rare. The town layout was likely measured with a chain.

The early day annual perambulation where a child would get his head knocked on a stone bound such that he would remember its location throughout his lifetime has been improved.  Now, the kid gets screwed.

@peter-lothian That was what I was thinking. If that screw is within 0.02' of record distance, I'm betting it does not mark the location of the stone bound but instead was set per the record distance. If he had indicated it matched record distance within a foot or even half of a foot then perhaps it really does mark the location of the stone bound. It probably marks the distance shown on the record and not the stone itself.

The stone was there in an alteration of the layout made in 1900 by the County Commisioners. The stone was recovered on a survey made in 1982. In 2009 a surveyor notes finding a "brass pin" at that same position.

While the record indicates the highway was an 1867 layout. The Town Clerk has since lost the ability to locate any records or doesn't care.

Posted by: @not-my-real-name

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The stone was there in an alteration of the layout made in 1900 by the County Commisioners. The stone was recovered on a survey made in 1982. In 2009 a surveyor notes finding a "brass pin" at that same position.

While the record indicates the highway was an 1867 layout. The Town Clerk has since lost the ability to locate any records or doesn't care.

I have found that generally the towns did not keep track of the county layouts until the middle of the 1900's in Mass. Which county? If Middlesex or Worcester I might be able to look it up for you in my collection of research materials. I would need the town & historic name of the road. If you've ventured south into Norfolk County, the county engineering records are available on-line.

@peter-lothian 

It is actually an 1867 town layout that was altered in 1900 by the county commissioners. A map of that alteration was recorded in the plan books at the registry.

I haven't been able to get ahold of the 1867 layout from the Town Clerk. Fortunately, there are other survey maps that reference and show enough of the geometry for the 1867 town layout.

The project is in Franklin County, which has a very good catalog of highway layouts. They are all hand drawn in ink and water color on heavy paper an bound in books. The layouts are not avaiable online. You need to travel the the Franklin County Regional Council of Governments where they will allow you to photograph the pages. You can see one on my profile page.

@peter-lothian So I'm not the only person who finds the work of Horace and Harlan Tuttle "amusing"? A few years ago, I saw a 1971 plan stamped by Harlan that actually looked good (I have no idea of how accurate it was). It showed a couple of monuments, it had distance ties to buildings, and precisions of distances and bearings were consistently formatted. A person would have a good chance of retracing the work. It was almost as if someone else had done the field work and drafting. Heh, maybe someone else did.

Posted by: @bill-c

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@peter-lothian So I'm not the only person who finds the work of Horace and Harlan Tuttle "amusing"? A few years ago, I saw a 1971 plan stamped by Harlan that actually looked good (I have no idea of how accurate it was). It showed a couple of monuments, it had distance ties to buildings, and precisions of distances and bearings were consistently formatted. A person would have a good chance of retracing the work. It was almost as if someone else had done the field work and drafting. Heh, maybe someone else did.

You and me are far from the only ones. A couple years ago I had a survey in Acton and the client's attorney called me specifically to make sure I was aware of the issues with the Tuttles' surveys. Their plans often look decent, the question is how far from reality do the dimensions vary? One saving grace for them was that when they divided a lot, they nearly always set monuments on the new corners. The challenge today is finding them and realizing they are not just goat stakes.

After Harlan passed, his wife gifted his survey records to David E. Ross Associates. Someday I'd like to stop in and get a look at his and hopefully his father's field books. I want to see if they used hieroglyphics for note keeping.

@peter-lothian That's interesting about the Tuttles setting monuments on new corners. Did they tend to show those monuments on plans or describe them in deeds? Most of the Tuttle plans I've seen have shown hardly any monuments, either found or set.

If you do go to see the Tuttles' records and would like some company, I'd enjoy going along. The earliest recorded plan that I've seen for my neighborhood is from 1956, by McCarthy Engineering, with the notation "Copy of plan by Harlan E. Tuttle surveyor". It would be interesting to see the original plan or the related field books.