c.1785 South Carolina Surveyor Instructions
At the end of this document you will find the full text of the South Carolina General Assembly's official instructions for the State's Deputy Surveyors in place by 1785. Studying these brief instructions will help researchers properly interpret and understand the land warrant and survey process in South Carolina and contextualize early grants of vacant land...
Very informative article! This may help me in a dilemma I have with land records. My ancestor John Hindman had a 100 acre grant in Craven County surveyed March 15,1773, granted May 4th,1775, and the Memorial is dated Sept. 15, 1775 for a plat on London Bridge Creek off Broad River that appears to have been in NC before the state boundary change. Only one other person, Francis Wilkey, had adjoining land and his Memorial notes his land was in NC then SC. John's Memorial does not say that. Both John and Francis signed a petition dated May 15,1775 protesting having to obtain new land grants after the border change. Subsequently I can find no record of what happened to John's original land grant. There are no further land records or plats mentioning his ownership. I have extensively searched for the purpose of making sure my John Hindman is the same John who immigrated in 1772 from Antrim Ireland and got that land grant. I have often thought that perhaps my John never settled on that land because of the Indian conflicts and then the Rev War conflicts in the area.
Anyway, my John Hindman wound up in 1790 living in Spartanburg on Cane Creek, a subsidiary of the Tyger River, and that land is well-documented. Pruitts were neighbors, actually Thomas Pruitt bought from Samuel Daline (son of John) a plot of land in May 1809 that Samuel (brother of John) sold to John in 1791, land that Samuel bought from Joshua Smith in Dec 1788 who bought it from Owen Forrester who was granted the land in 1787. (whew!!).
Just thought I'd relate my experience to show how complicated tracing land records can be and getting info like these surveyor instructions is very appreciated.
Glad you found this article helpful. It is interesting to me that your Hindman ancestor wound up on Cane Creek of the Tyger River. Benjamin Pettit b1769 also lived there and his wife was Elizabeth Hindman. Nobody has been able to determine who her parents were. I know there were several Hindmans in the area. Benjamin Pettit's family Bible shows Elizabeth Hindman was born June 20, 1771. Later censuses indicate she was born in SC. Do you have any thoughts on this?