We, Spencer Altom & wife Christian Altom have this day bargained and sold and do hereby transfer and convey unto Henry S. Wood and his heirs forever, for the consideration of the sum of five hundred dollars to us an have paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, a center tract or parcel of land lying and being in the county of Henderson and state of Tennessee and bounded as follows to wit: Range and Section 10.
Beginning on a stake 20 poles North of Sheppard Landnums SW Corner of reserve entry no. 25,35 runs west 160 poles to a stake, white and red oak pointers, then north 200 poles to a black oak, hickory, & sweet gum pointers. Then east 160 poles to a stake. Then south 200 poles to the beginning: To have and to hold the same to the said Henry S. Wood and his heirs and assigns forever, we do covenant with the said Henry S. Wood that we are lawfully seized of said land and have a good right to convey it and that the same is unincumbered we do further bind ourselves, our heirs and representatives to warrant and forever defend the title to said land to the said Henry S. Woods and his heirs against the lawful claims of all persons whatever.
Given under our hand and seals and revenue stamps.
This the 26th day of September 1871
SpencerAltom(his mark)
Christian Altom(her mark)
WITNESS
D C Altom
C H Derryberry
STATE OF TENNESSEE
HENDERSON COUNTY----)To John B. Davis
You are hereby authorized and empowered to take the examination of Christian Altom, wife of Spencer Altom, separate and apart from her said husband relating to her free and voluntary execution of the within Deed of Conveyance and the same so taken to certify under your hand and seal.
WITNESS
Alex H Rhodes, Clerk of the county court of said county
at office this the 26th day of September 1871
A. H. Rhodes, Clerk
STATE OF TENNESSEE
HENDERSON COUNTY }
Christian Altom, wife of Spencer Altom having personally appeared before me and having by virtue of the authority in me vested, been examined privately and apart from her said husband and she having acknowledged the due execution of the annexed deed by her freely voluntarily and understandably without compulsion or constraint by her said husband and for the purposes therein expressed the same is therefore certified. This 28th of September 1871. Witness My Hand and Seal.
Land in the original thirteen colonies, plus Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, and parts of Ohio were surveyed using the 'Metes and Bounds' surveying system.
In this system, property descriptions contain several types of information:
SURVEY LINES
The surveyor would note in his field book the 'point of beginning of the survey with a written description. In many cases this point would be a corner of someone else's survey, and would be described as such, for example, "beginning at a pine and poplar, corner of Jeb Smith". Using a compass, he would then determine the direction to the next corner of the property, and measure the distance along that line with a standard pole or chain. Once at the corner he would enter the compass heading he used(e.g. "N23E"), the distance traveled(e.g. "100 poles") and the description of the corner("two beech saplings"). This process was repeated until he had made his way around the entire boundary of the parcel, returning to the beginning point.
Distances were measured in a variety of units, the most popular of which were the chain, pole, perch, and rod. Here are some of the more obscure surveying units:
CHAIN - Unit of length usually understood to be Gunter's chain, but possible variant by locale. Chains equal to 2 poles(one half the standard length) are found in Virginia. The name comes from the heavy metal chain of 100 links that was used by surveyors to measure property bounds.
GUNTER'S CHAIN - Unit of length equal to 66 feet, or 4 poles. This unit was apparently defined as one tenth of a furlong, a common unit of length in the old days. The mile was redefined from 5000 feet to 5280 feet in order to be an even multiple of furlongs. A mile is 80 chains.
ENGINEER'S CHAIN - A 100 foot chain containing 100 links of one foot apiece.
ACRE- The(English)acre is a unit of area equal to 43560 square feet, or 10 square chains, or 160 square poles. A square mile is 640 acres. The Scottish acre is 1.27 English acres.
HIDE - An OLD ENGLISH unit of area usually equal to 120 acres.
ROOD - Unit of area usually equal to 1/4 acre.
NOW YOU PROBABLY KNOW MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE OLD METES AND BOUND SURVEYS!!!
SURVEY LINES consisting of a direction and a distance. An examble is "N23E 100 poles".
DESCRIPTIONS of the creeks, trees, and other natural features encountered along the boundaries of the property. Particular attention is paid to trees and other markers at the corners of the property. An example is "to two black oaks on the creek". Attention is also paid to any creeks and which direction they flow.
POLE - Unit of length and area. Also known as a perch or rod. As a unit of length, equal to 16.5 feet. As a unit of area, equal to a square with sides one pole long. An acre is 160 square poles. It was common to see an area referred to as "87 acres, 112 poles", meaning 87 and 112/160 acres.