Description
Book SynopsisMany property lines drawn in early America still survive today and continue to shape the landscape and character of the United States. This study examines the process by which land was divided into private property and distributed to settlers from the beginning of colonization to early nationhood.
Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments I: Introduction 1: Framework of the Land II: The New England Region: Dividing Land by Townships 2: Beginnings: Communal Land Division 3: Diffusion of Townships 4: Tradition Recedes: Commercially Founded Towns III: The South Atlantic Region: Land Division by Individual Choice 5: Colonial Beginnings 6: Control and Disposition of Land 7: Seventeenth-Century Land Division 8: Eighteenth-Century Colonial Land Division 9: Farms and Plantations in the Colonial South 10: The National Period IV: The Middle Atlantic Region 11: New York: The Dutch Period, 1624-64 12: New York's English and American Periods: Lordly Estates and Land Developers' Tracts 13: Land Division in New Jersey, and on the West Bank of the Delaware River up to 1682 14: Pennsylvania and Delaware: The Penn Proprietorship V: Louisiana and Texas: Land Division Initiated Under France and Spain 15: Louisiana Land Division Patterns 16: The Many Templates of Texas Land Division VI: Perspective 17: Summary, Conclusion, Aftermath App. A: Surveying and Property Boundaries App. B: Land Grant Maps App. C: Size Distribution Samples of Land Grants and Holdings from Selected Lists App. D: Geometric Analysis of Sample Properties Glossary Table of Measures Bibliography Index
