The Search for the Paper Trail of the Footsteps
I spent a couple of hours today searching for the records of a couple of fellows who surveyed in an area of interest. One, a John P. Poole, LSLS, the son-in-law of the well-known Texas surveyor Hugh George (I think) was there in 1957. The other, Thomas F. Jackson was there off and on, probably between 1908 and about 1940, at the earlier date as County Surveyor and at the later date as an LSLS.
These sorts of quests are usually either:
a) frustrating,
b) depressing, or
c) extremely productive.
Looking for those papers in some attic, trunk, or storage closet is a bit like panning for gold or playing the lottery, only the odds are much better. The fun typically begins when papers are located. That is when one finds that some other surveyor has also been lax about indexing his maps and field books.
My experience has mostly been a & b.
Unfortunately, most of the old survey records from around these parts end up in a dumpster or in the hands of someone that won’t give access.
The bonfire
Well, I think I've mentioned this one before, but sometimes the payoff in the search is a pretty funny story. I was looking for the records of the fellow seen in the photo below, John Stovell of Alpine, Texas.
A county history gave a lead to a woman with his last name and I found her in the phone directory. I was looking for the records of John Stovell, I told her. Did she by any chance have any idea what might have happened to them. "Oh yes, I certainly do!" she replied. Ah, now I was hot on the trail!
"I'm his daughter-in-law. After he died, my mother-in-law got so tired of surveyors calling and asking to look as his papers that she built a fire in the yard and burned them all!"
The bonfire
Gee, she must have been a peach to live with.
I can see her side of it
Well, to tell you the truth, I can see her side of it. Some of the country her late husband surveyed was beyond difficult to unravel. There probably was some litigation and among the things that the litigant's surveyor would have wanted would have been her testimony in court authenticating something in her husband's records. Had she been canny, she probably would have figured out how to put it all on a commercial footing. I'll bet that she just didn't want the hassle.
It also may well have been that there were no other competent surveyors in the area to turn the papers over to. I know that there certainly were a couple of fellows working in the area in the early 1950's, at the time the papers reportedly got incinerated, who would have been even more dangerous with them.
The other angle could also have been that Mr. Stovell had an office where all the stuff had been kept and she had to somehow find space at the house for it.
I can see her side of it
Yeah, but that is when you approach the state society or the courthouse and donate the files to them. Give them to the county tax assessors office where they can be made available. But don't burn them. Heck, he is dead, they cannot take anything from her if he made a mistake, so there is no liability. If she gives them to someplace where surveyors can get a hold of them, they would quick calling her. So burning was the worst choice. She basically destroyed everything that was testament to who her husband was, from a work perspective.
I can see her side of it
>She basically destroyed everything that was testament to who her husband was, from a work perspective.
Well, most of his major work is on file at the GLO in some form. The little lot surveys he may have made probably survived only in the form of such copies of maps as were given to the client. It's easy to underestimate the effort that it takes to organize some surveyor's files and maintain them in a usable form. The County Clerk in that rural county certainly wouldn't have been able to do it and the tax assessor would have only been interested in those papers that pertained to their work. If there had been oil and gas development in the area, possibly some oil company would have bought them and they'd now be in the dumpster.
The only real solution is to put as much important information in the public records as possible and not rely upon one's records surviving as a necessary part of the work standing the test of time.
> The other, Thomas F. Jackson was there off and on, probably between 1908 and about 1940, at the earlier date as County Surveyor and at the later date as an LSLS.
Well, thanks to the Google I found Thos. F. Jackson, former County Surveyor of Concho County and Licensed State Land Surveyor. Sure enough, he was out of business in 1940 according to his headstone in the cemetery in Paint Rock. The Bessie Jackson buried beside him was apparently his wife.
Jackson, Bessie (b. 07/08/1866, d.04/05/1926)
Jackson, Thomas Frances (b.02/03/1866, d.04/13/1940)
Interestingly, Mr. Jackson was surveying as late as age 72 in 1938. The next task is to look at the probate of his estate to see whether he had any kids.
Another problem with old records is how the retiring surveyor (or his estate) seem to think their personal old papers & plats are worth big bucks. Most of the 20 or so surveyors in 3 different states I've personally known that retired took the "I'll burn 'em before giving them away" attitude. Me- I'll give them away to somebody local when the time comes. 😛
> Another problem with old records is how the retiring surveyor (or his estate) seem to think their personal old papers & plats are worth big bucks.
That seems to vary with time. The more time passes with no takers at the original unrealistic asking price, the better the terms get. I know of one case where the seller started at a hundred grand and settled for three. :>
