While I realize that elsewhere in the US it is a major exercise just to lay out a modern small lot subdivision to anything resembling modern accuracy standards, in Texas we get to deal with somewhat more difficult problems. I spent today writing up the history of this area where Maverick, Kinney, Uvalde, and Zavala counties meet in Southwest Texas. It is a large-scale jigsaw puzzle mostly created in the period between 1849 and 1932 where many of the puzzle workers didn't even have a good picture of what the whole thing was supposed to look like. One County Surveyor apparently thought it was a picture of Heidi Klum while another thought it was one more episode of Hollywood Squares. Only in Texas.
What do the color outlines represent? System or surveyor or ?
Andy Nold, post: 381741, member: 7 wrote: What do the color outlines represent? System or surveyor or ?
The color outlines identify systems and pseudo-systems, i.e. a series of surveys made by the same surveyor, although not with the same chainmen and or as a truly continuous operation, the reasonable assumption being that the surveyor knew where he had run and marked such lines as he had earlier and so would not be mistaken about their relation to his later work supposedly connected.
For example, the pink outline encloses surveys made in March and May, 1874 by John James, listing the same two chain carriers for both. However, the May location (the Edward Brown Survey No. 4) calls for no identifiable corners and appears to be entirely protracted from his work in March that located the Hester Ann Catlett Survey No. 1 and the Moses Wood Survey No. 2.
BTW, the I.&G.N. R.R. Co. Block 9 outlined in blue was originally surveyed by A. wyschetski who I would say was probably one of the more competent railroad surveyors of the day. I'd be mildly interested to know the rest of his bio and will probably look him up on ancestry.com.
This 1887 sketch by Maverick County Surveyor O.H. Hector (ref: GLO Uvalde County Sketch Files 12 & 12a) shows a pretty good attempt to sort out the confusion.
Unfortunately, it may not have gotten recorded in Kinney or Uvalde Counties. If it did, I'm not sure why later surveyors didn't realize that there were two rows of rock mounds about 100 varas apart, one of which was the original South line of Surveys Nos. 688 and 689 as located in 1881 and the other of which was a baseline run in about 1874 or 1875 by Jacob Kuechler in connection with other work entirely.
Per the Austin City Directory, in 1891, Alfred Wyschetzki lived at 2106 Guadalupe Street and had a business as a land agent dba A. Wyschetzki & Co. His death certificate issued in 1905 listed his birthplace as Germany. His widow, a music teacher, upgraded her surname to Von Wyschetzki.
So glad I work in New England right about now. That looks like a headache
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Ain't it fun! I like to explain the Texas system as trying to put together a puzzle I found in my daughter's room. At one time, I know all the pieces were there. Over time, the pieces have been scattered, mixed with other puzzles, chewed on by the puppy, and even downright lost. So you just have to take what you can find, put the pieces together, and make the best picture you can, Then maybe you know what the missing pieces should look like.
Kent McMillan, post: 381746, member: 3 wrote: Alfred Wyschetzki lived at 2106 Guadalupe Street
Isn't that where you get your ears lifted?
In that particular case, the confusion was in part the unintended consequence of trying to keep the pattern of surveys orderly by restricting the authority of surveyors to make surveys only within certain land districts. As a result, after 1875, only the County Surveyor of Uvalde County (who was also the District Surveyor of Uvalde District) or his deputies could locate land scrip in Uvalde County. So the some of the surveys made by F.M. Maddox as Deputy Surveyor of Bexar District as a part of the series outlined in red (locating some land scrip issued the the river contractor, J.V. Massey) were invalid by reason of being completely inside Uvalde County and in conflict with junior, but valid, surveys made by a properly authorized surveyor.
Kent McMillan, post: 381746, member: 3 wrote: Per the Austin City Directory, in 1891, Alfred Wyschetzki lived at 2106 Guadalupe Street
Wyschetzki's house would be the one shown in this 1900 Sanborn's map, the third one on Guadupe up from the corner of West 22nd.
One interesting detail about Wyschetzki may be that he was involved with the millions of acres of land granted to the International & Great Northern Rwy. Co. which were conveyed to the https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ufn02&apos ;">New York and Texas Land Company and sold by them over decades. Another German-born Austinite, the surveyor Max Von Homeyer aka M.V. Homeyer, also worked for the New York and Texas Land Company in the early 20th century and made surveys for them all over Texas.
Now that's just pretty cool. I never thought to look up where the old surveyors lived. I got a old provisions list around here somewhere of a survey party going west across the line of forts on the frontier in the late 1800's, have to see if I can dig that up.
was he a scientologist?
I'd say that Wyschetski's lot was North of the Texas Theater, where Hemphill's book store used to be.
As a footnote for the benefit of anyone who might be interested in tracking down the survey records of the New York and Texas Land Company, the company records are archived at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at UT. Unfortunately, they don't cover all three million + acres that the company owned. Per the finding aid for the collection:
"The company was dissolved in 1918 after all the land sold. However, today only 1,161,616 acres are accounted for, because at a celebratory barbecue the company made a bonfire of its thirty years of records."
[QUOTE=
"The company was dissolved in 1918 after all the land sold. However, today only 1,161,616 acres are accounted for, because at a celebratory barbecue the company made a bonfire of its thirty years of records."
:clink::hotdog::taco: almost as bad as a bulldozer!
Monte, post: 381787, member: 11913 wrote: almost as bad as a bulldozer!
You don't suppose that there was beer at a Texas barbecue, do you? 1918 was before the era of prohibition and, in any event, I don't think that the Germans let the Volstead Act slow them down after 1920 when it was in force.
Now, do you really think anyone west of Dallas even heard of prohibition until they took their U. S. history class? Even if they had, I doubt the Hill Country Germans thought of beer as alcohol, but rather as we think of gravy, it just goes with everything!
Perhaps this is part of the reason for stabilizing most of the country with the PLSS. With the exception of rivers and other bodies of water, nearly all county lines in PLSSia follow section lines. Thus a jillion county corners fall at section corners common to four sections. Yes, there are oddball exceptions, of course, like when the corner falls on a township or range line that has double corners.
Years ago I had a survey that required finding the corner common to four counties. It was the handiest to set up the gun directly over the bar, but it was late afternoon in the winter time and the hole was deep. I placed a shiny new quarter on the top of the bar to facilitate aiming the optical plummet. When we moved to another setup down the road I forgot to recover my quarter. About an hour later I returned and discovered my quarter was missing. Someone must have stopped to investigate why there was a deep hole in the middle of the county road intersection, discovered my quarter and took it. I thought about contacting all four county sheriffs to report the theft of 6 1/4 cents in their jurisdiction.
Holy Cow, post: 381854, member: 50 wrote: Perhaps this is part of the reason for stabilizing most of the country with the PLSS....
Shame on you for suggesting things in the Texas in which Mr. McMillan lays down his head at night could be in better shape with a rectangular survey system. Can't you see the obvious superiority of the Texas land tenure system within the example he posted??!