Ok, guys. I need some insight. I have an old deed written in 1833, and this is the first time I have seen this.
The deed has several calls in it, and most of them break down a rod into 11 parts.
16.5 feet per rod / 11 parts = 1.50 feet per part. I have actually seen only one 4-pole Gunter's Chain in my life, and actually got to use it during a historical surveying seminar many years ago. The chain had "tags" on it at the quarter marks, or at 25 links or one rod. I have seen deed distances stated utilizing rods and links, but I have never encountered this breakdown of an old but common unit of measurement.
I am curious and interested in whether any of you guys ( ya'll ) have ever encountered this and can enlighten me as to the historical aspects of dividing a rod up into 11 parts. What was used to measure this? A hybrid sort of chain with 18-inch links? 1.5 feet / 0.66 feet per link = 2.27 links, the remainder being a little longer than one quarter of a link. I don't think that method was used. Where did 11 parts come from? Has there ever been a chain manufactured that contained 11 links, or 22 links, or 44 links?
I just can't piece together in my head how these dimensions came about. Ya'll put your thinking caps on for me! B-)
Thinking out loud.......one acre is 10 square chains or 3.16 chains square.
One acre is 160 square rods or 12.65 rods square, or 12 rods, 16 and 1/4 links square.
I can't come up with 11 anything......:-$
The deed ends with an area of 480 square rods, which is a unit of area measurement I have rarely seen.
This is why I love surveying! What will I find next!
are they all even parts? he might have measured the "whole" rod portion with something, then paced (3 ft is 1 pace = 2/11ths) the increment... just brainstorming...
Reading thorough a stack of deeds.....now I have a deed call of 25 and 1/7 rod! Grrrrrr....
I have a sneaky feeling that this lawyer who wrote the description and also owned the property did the measuring himself.
Pacing would probably play a part in the hybrid dimensions. He probably had an 18- inch short step and took 11 steps per rod.
Sounds plausible!
This lawyer's descendant, who was also a lawyer ( it ran in the family for 3 generations ) told an older mentor surveyor of mine one time when he questioned dubious, ambiguous, and even incorrect deed calls written by the lawyer that he did not "understand how the game was played!" The lawyer said, "Clients pay me to prepare a deed, and then pay me again to fix them!" My mentor knew the old lawyer well, and rather than saying the deed was wrong on a description the lawyer had written, he would go to the old lawyer and ask for help in plotting and surveying the description. When the lawyer realized his mistake, he would "fix" it. If he was told that he was wrong, he got defensive, and the fight was on!
It is really a matter of how someone is approached about a problem they created if his help is needed. I learned a lot from my mentor.B-)
Maybe it was measured in "footies" and then converted into rods.
Measuring in chains was and easy way to calculate the area.
Measuring in rods, perch, arpent and a few more same length was an easy way to keep up with miles.
I would think that the division into 11th of a rod would make everything being recorded to the nearest half foot.
That would be a little better than the nearest link.
In many ancient descriptions I have seen the use of fractions more often in quoting the acreage to accommodate the conversion more directly from the actual square foot or square vara, like 57/227 acre or 10,938sf.
Possibly an actual 16.5' rod was used with markings 1.5' apart.
There were no 1 rod chains, but if there were, there would be 25 0.66' links.
It could have been a 2 rod, 22 link( 1.5") chain.
In any case you have the fractional rod 4/11 being 6' so it is most reasonable.
Paul in PA
Perhaps fathom rods
I have seen pictures of fathom rods that break down into 4 parts. A fathom being 6' means that 1/4 fathom is 1.5'. Perhaps someone took enough sections of fathom rods and put them together and made a pole 1 rod long. Or had a 1 rod pole graduated in 1/4 fathom increments. But 11 - 1/4 fathoms would equal 16.5'. This could have been used in shallow hydro work or on land as well.
Just some speculation, but seems possible.
Thanks, guys. I made a mistake on the date of the deed. It was 1883, not 1833. The most common unit of measurement in 1833 was the chain. Around 1883, the rod was used along with the chain. Both units of measurement were used in the field until around the early part of the 1900's. There are properties described in current deeds of record that have been bought and sold through the years using rods and chains that have not been subdivided and converted to feet.
In this area (North Mississippi), the Chickasaw Cession occurred in 1832, and the U. S. Public Land Surveys were performed from 1832 to 1835. The U. S. Deputy Surveyor wrote a Manual of Instructions that we use here where Townships were laid out beginning at the Northwest corner and proceeded East and South, ending at the Southeast corner of the Township. All of the section distance errors were taken out in the last half mile along the eastern and southern tier of sections with their respective bearing corrections over the whole mile. This area is in the Chickasaw Meridian area except for a small part of the Huntsville Meridian that lies East of the Tombigbee River and South of the old Gaines Trace. We have five Principal Meridians in the State of Mississippi, and a rich history of surveying. 🙂
Wups....1883, not 1833 ! :-$
Perhaps fathom rods
The connection to fathoms becomes more likely when you consider the rod and fathom were used in early marine navigation...
Fella must've worked in Nebraska, too...
I've never ran into a rod subtended to elevenths, but I guess it might have been common. There's a good explanation somewhere...
Who knew?
Fella must've worked in Nebraska, too...
As mentioned above, I'm pretty sure this is a case where somebody reduced the fraction to lowest terms like they were taught in arithmetic class.
Why do we assume the deed dimensions have anything to do
with the tools used to obtain the dimensions?
1/11th rod = 1.50 feet.
At the blacksmith shop in 1882 Mr Surveyor asks "Can you make me a chain?" Mr Blacksmith says "Sure, 5 cents per link." Mr Surveyor counts the money in his pocket, punches some buttons on his #2 pencil and says "OK, I'll take 11 links 18" long. 55 cents, right?"
I always figured it was just a measurement made in yards, converted to chains/rods. Half a yard is 1.5 feet or 1/11 of a chain.
JBS
Well ... maybe it's a religious thing.
Seven and eleven make no real sense,except for being prime numbers. To some people prime numbers have magical properties.
Some sort of religious cookoo stuff.
That is the most likely explanation. With one step per yard, this is one half of a step, and was probably the smallest unit of measurement used when pacing distances. One of the bearings used in the deed said, " run thence a little south of east....". Eyeballs and feet were the tools of measurement!:-/
