Thomas Jefferson’s Survey of Bear Creek Lands, 26–28 November 1811
Survey of Bear Creek Lands
11. Nov. 26.
| beginning on Bear creek on the E. side of the road. | |
| ✓ | N. 34½ E. 50. po. leaving the branch on the E. |
| ✓ | at 10. po. further the branch is 4.6 po. on the E. |
| ✓ | at 80. po. from the Beginning, branch 4.8 E. |
| ✓ | at 92. from do touched it. |
| ✓ | at 100. branch 4. po. E. |
| ✓ | at 132. cross the branch |
| ✓ | at 150. recross do |
| ✓ | at 160. cross a 3d time. |
| ✓ | at 210. to the edge of the branch |
| ✓ | N. 54½ E. 58. po. along the side of the branch. to a poplar in the field. |
| ✓ | N. 22 E. 22. po. touching the branch. |
| ✓ | sa. co. contind 14. po. branch 8. po. W. |
| ✓ | sa. co. 12. po. to a poplar on the branch in the woods. |
| ✓ | N. 52½ E. 8. po. along the branch. |
| ✓ | sa. co. 52. po. going off from the branch. |
| ✓ | N. 70. E. 140. po. |
| ✓ | S. 20. E. 16. po |
| ✓ | N. 25. W. 26. po. |
| ✓ | N. varying from 72. to 78. W. 218. po. [ N. 77. W. |
| S. 26. W. 332. po. to the road1 | |
| Nov. 27. | |
| S. 85½ E. 88 po. to the beginning2 | |
|
|
|
| Nov. 28.3 | |
| Beginning at the Poplar in the woods on Bear branch. | |
| ✓ | N. 38. E. 24.4 po. branch on the E. to a wh. oak |
| ✓ | N. 2. E. 20. crossing branch to a poplar |
| ✓ | N. 5. E. 16. branch 6. W. after recrossing it |
| sa. co. 6. to intersection of the branch & line at an elm | |
|
|
|
| again beginning at Robinson’s corner. | |
| ✓ | N. 25½ W. 50. po. |
| ✓ | S. 77. W. 80. po. to Bear branch. on Gill’s line. |
| ✓ | sa. co. 148 po. |
| S. 26. W. 3385 po. on C. Bankhead’s line to it’s intersection with Liberty road6 | |
MS (ViU: TJP, TB [Thurlow-Berkeley no.] 1136 [532j-3]); entirely in TJ’s hand; unmatched bracket in original; with Thomas Jefferson Randolph’s survey notes (532j-2) on verso.
TJ and his grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph apparently surveyed the Bear Creek section of TJ’s Poplar Forest property together, with notes taken by Randolph on separate scraps of paper serving as the basis for and now filed with the above document. Randolph’s notes and the completed survey differ primarily in his use of chains and links, as opposed to the poles (po.) TJ favored as a unit of measure. sa. co.: “same course.”
1. Text to this point reworked from Randolph’s manuscript notes in ViU: TJP, TB 1136 (532j-2).
2. Line repeated from Randolph’s notes in ViU: TJP, TB 1136 (532j-14).
3. Remainder of survey adapted from Randolph’s survey notes in ViU: TJP, TB 1136 (532j-7, 532j-9, and 532j-12).
4. Reworked from “22.”
5. Beneath this number TJ erased “332.”
6. Beneath this line TJ erased “S. 85. E. 83 po. to hiccory.”
Index Entries
- Bankhead, Charles Lewis (Ann Cary Randolph Bankhead’s husband); and Bedford Co. land search
- Bear Creek plantation (part of TJ’s Poplar Forest estate); Survey of Bear Creek Lands search
- Gill, John (of Bedford Co.); and Bear Creek lands search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Writings; Survey of Bear Creek Lands search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); surveys of search
- Randolph, Thomas Jefferson (TJ’s grandson; Jane Hollins Nicholas Randolph’s husband); and surveys of Bear Creek lands search
- Robertson, Daniel; land patented by search
- surveying; and Bear Creek lands search