The speaker presented the following image of the section in question:
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
This Township Plat is dated March 4, 1853
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
and is signed by D. A. Spaulding, at that time the Surveyor General for Missouri and Illinois.
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
This plat is the latest version in the custody of the Missouri State Land Survey and is regarded by nearly everyone as the "official" government plat. It lacks some critical details, however, which lead to the initial question to which we seek an answer.
As I discussed in my article, entitled "See New Plat?"
(http://www.atnhayseed.blogspot.com/2012/02/see-new-plat.html),
there is sometimes an older Township Plat available, depending upon when the township was subdivided into sections. These older plats often have more information on them that was not copied over to the newer plats.
If we check the Missouri Land Survey Index (https://apps.mda.mo.gov/molandsurveyindex/), we find that for this township there is indeed an older plat in Missouri Plats Volume 1, page 46 (Missouri State Land Survey document name: Y9903817):
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
This Township Plat is dated September 16, 1822
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
and is signed by Joseph Barton, the Deputy Surveyor to whom the work was contracted.
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
If we examine the two plats side by side, we see that the northeast quarter of Section 3 is depicted essentially the same in each plat ... except for one detail (disregarding the differing location of Black River in each as, basically, a guess). You will notice on the 1822 Township Plat that the tract in the southwest part of the quarter section has a red letter "S," indicating that the tract had been sold. Often this indicates a sale that disrupted the standard scheme of protracting into lots.
To find out more about what may have been sold, let's go to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management's Official Federal Land Records Site (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) to look for the land patents that were issued.
When we "Search Documents" for Township 31 North, Range 2 East, Section 3 in Missouri, we find three patents issued in the northeast quarter, as follows:
- Certificate # 4748 to Pate Buford, dated November 14, 1837, for
"the South West quarter of the North East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty one North, of Range two East, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri, containing thirty three acres and seventy one hundreths of an acre"
- Certificate # 22019 to Henry Coil, dated October 10, 1856, for
"the North West quarter of the North East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty one North, of Range two East, in the district of lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri. Containing thirty three acres and ninety six hundreths of an acre."
- Certificate # 36023 to John Stubbs, dated March 1, 1860, for
"the West half of the Lots numbered One and two of the North East quarter, and the lot numbered two of the North West quarter of section two, and the East half of the Lots numbered One and two of the North East quarter, and the North East quarter of the South East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty One North, and the South West quarter of the South East quarter of Section thirty-five, in Township thirty-two North of Range two East, in the district of lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri, containing two hundred and seventy-eight acres, and sixty nine hundreths of an acre."
Before we proceed further, it may be instructive to review the development of laws that affected the sale of the public lands.
First, the Act of February 11, 1805, chapter 14, (U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 2, page 313) anticipated the sale of the public lands in units of half sections and quarter sections, but no smaller.
Next, the Act of April 24, 1820, chapter 51, (U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 3, page 566) allowed the public lands to be offered for sale in half quarter sections.
Then the Act of April 5, 1832, chapter 65, (U.S. Statutes at Large, Volume 4, page 503) provided for the sale of public lands in quarter-quarter sections.
Now, let's examine the chronology of our situation:
- 1821 - Joseph Barton was awarded a contract that included the subdivision of Township 31 North, Range 2 East.
- 1822 February - Charles Lockhart, working under the contract of Joseph Barton, completed the subdivision of Township 31 North, Range 2 East into sections.
- 1822 September - a Township Plat (which we have previously identified as the old Township Plat) was prepared and signed by Joseph Barton. At the time it was signed by Joseph Barton this Township Plat would not have shown parts of sections smaller than a quarter section. The quantity of the Northeast quarter of Section 3 was computed and shown on the plat as 134.84 acres.
- 1832 April 05 - Act of Congress provides for the sale of the public lands in quarter-quarter sections.
- 1837 November 14 - Pate Buford is issued a patent for "the South West quarter of the North East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty one North, of Range two East, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri, containing thirty three acres and seventy one hundreths of an acre." The computed quantity of the quarter section is 134.84 acres. Taking this number and dividing by 4 gives a result of 33.71 acres, which is the quantity patented to Buford, an aliquot part of the northeast quarter of Section 3. So, the "S" shown on the 1822 Township Plat corresponds with the purchase of Pate Buford. You will note, however, that the quantity for the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter shown on both Township Plats is 33.46 acres.
- 1848 August 01 - A clerk in the Surveyor General's office protracts the northern and western tiers of sections into lots and calculates the quantities of each, as evidenced by a notation on the 1822 Township Plat as shown below.
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| Image courtesy of the Missouri State Land Survey |
The standard practice, as can be seen from the rest of the sections that were protracted, was to create standard lots of 80 acres each and irregular, or remainder, lots along the township line on the north and the range line on the west. In this case, however, there had been a previous sale for an aliquot part of the quarter section (as authorized by the Act of April 5, 1832), so it could not be lotted in the same manner as the other quarter sections. (Please, note that the previous sale of the aliquot part in 1837 took place before the protraction into lots in 1848.) Recalling that Pate Buford's patent was for 33.71 acres, we must wonder where the 33.46 acres came from that is shown on both Township Plats. Curiously, if we multiply 33.46 by 4, the result is 133.84. The acreage on the plat for the quarter section is shown as 134.84 acres. In his calculation could the clerk have miswritten the quantity of 134.84 as 133.84? Remember, he would have been calculating long-hand without the aid of a calculating devise. Is it possible that the clerk miscalculated the area of the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter at one time and wrote it on the plat with the letter "S" and then at some later time he (same clerk, same handwriting) correctly calculated the remainder of the northeast quarter? At any rate it appears that the clerk made a mistake in labeling the quantity for the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 3, which resulted in a miscalculation of the quantity of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 3.
Continuing our chronology:
- 1853 March 04 - A new Township Plat is copied from the 1822 Township Plat with the 1848 calculated quantities and is signed by D. A. Spalding, Surveyor General of Missouri and Illinois.
- 1856 October 10 - Henry Coil is issued a patent for "the North West quarter of the North East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty one North, of Range two East, in the district of lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri. Containing thirty three acres and ninety six hundreths of an acre." We see that the quantity (incorrect as it is) quoted in the patent comes from the 1848 calculations that were copied to the 1853 Township Plat.
- 1860 March 01 -John Stubbs is issued a patent for "the West half of the Lots numbered One and two of the North East quarter, and the lot numbered two of the North West quarter of section two, and the East half of the Lots numbered One and two of the North East quarter, and the North East quarter of the South East quarter of Section three, in Township thirty One North, and the South West quarter of the South East quarter of Section thirty-five, in Township thirty-two North of Range two East, in the district of lands subject to sale at Jackson, Missouri, containing two hundred and seventy-eight acres, and sixty nine hundreths of an acre." Interestingly, the tract of interest in this patent is described as the east half of lots 1 and 2 of the northeast quarter of Section 3, even though neither Township Plat shows the northeast quarter protracted into "lots." The result, really, is no different than if it had been described as the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 3. Also, considering that the west half of the northeast quarter had already been sold, only the east half remained for sale, so there's really no question about the intent, when the history is taken into account. Just for good measure, let's check the total of the quantities covered by this patent as shown on the 1853 Township Plat:
Township 31 North, Range 2 East
W 1/2 Lot 1 NE 1/4 Sec 2 40.00
W 1/2 Lot 2 NE 1/4 Sec 2 31.69
Lot 2 NW 1/4 Sec 2 59.58
E 1/2 Lot 1 NE 1/4 Sec 3 33.71 (or 40.00)
E 1/2 Lot 2 NE 1/4 Sec 3 33.71 (or 27.42)
NE 1/4 SE 1/4 Sec 3 40.00
Township 32 North, Range 2 East
SW 1/4 SE 1/4 Sec 35 40.00
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278.69 acres
Having examined the evidence, can we now answer the question that we began with: How would you establish the corners of the subdivided Northeast quarter of Section 3 in accordance with the official Township Plat? Taking the chronology of events into account, including the Township Plats, patents and protraction into lots, I believe that it is clear that the intent was to create aliquot parts in the northeast quarter of Section 3 in conformity with the initial sale in 1837. Therefore, the northeast quarter of Section 3 should be subdivided by intersecting straight lines, one from the midpoint of the south line of the northeast quarter to the midpoint of the north line of the northeast quarter and the second from the midpoint of the west line of the northeast quarter to the midpoint of the east line of the northeast quarter.
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Original composition by Steven E. Weible
