All,
I have always been reluctant to discuss Black's stone but it is obvious that many people know about it now. Over the years many individuals felt there was another stone just like the stone Beck mentions in his "Adventure in Aserdaten" chapter and I have always doubted it. Usually, there is one large stone at the beginning of a survey and the rest are basic stones. That is not always true but more times than not it is. Over the years I have myself come up with various idea's on where there may be more stones associated with this one and each time I have eventually discounted them.
And over the years various idea's on who T. Black was has been mentioned to me and in most instances people were sure he was the surveyor. Beck obviously did not know who he was when he was writing about it so the information on this man and stone has been meager. Recently, while looking over some information I have had for years, I realized that I had the answer to many of the questions that have been plaguing me and others concerning this subject, and I will tell you pretty much all that I know in this post.
First, T Black was Thomas Black who was a land owner and not a surveyor. I say Thomas, but the information I have says "Thos" which is a common abbreviation for Thomas. I think I can correctly assume it is Thomas. The surveyor was George Sykes who's name I have viewed many times on old survey's. He did the survey in 1859 as is inscribed on Blacks's stone. The question is was the stone placed there by him, already there, or placed there at a later date and predated which does occur? I really don't have the answer for that but it is my guess that it was placed there by Mr. Sykes in 1859. However, as I now know hidden on the back side of the stone there is an inscription "JR 1774" which obviously was not visible to Beck unless he did not see or mention it. If you are a long time member of the site you may remember years ago an article that was written by Beck was posted saying that someone in the years after he had visited there had tried to remove the stone and caused it to tilt. Was the 1774 date visible before then ..... I really don't know.
The Thomas Black Cedar Swamp
After finding the information in my files I spent a few evenings calculating where I thought they would be. Survey's from those years were done with a compass and today we use true north. The difference between the two change over the years and it could be anywhere from 5 degrees to maybe as high as 12 or more. I tend to lean towards the lower end and so I spent quite a few evenings this week calculating where I felt they could be. Since there are numerous stones to look for over a large distance, any small inaccuracies in my calculations could make finding them futile. I had to do it correctly.
And so yesterday Jessica and I headed out and spent hours roaming the woods at my specific location looking for just two of them. As usual when I first start out frustration is high and we came up empty. Jessica also fell and banged her knee pretty hard and suffered quite a bit last night.
Today was a new day, and we met up with Bob to look for what I felt was a key stone. This one may just well be the stone that everyone felt was still out there. Could it be as "large as a crouching man" as Beck described Black's stone, or would it be a dud? Or would the day fizzle as it had for Jessica and I yesterday?
We were soon plowing though some serious woods that seemed to be trying to keep us from reaching our goal. However, perseverance prevailed and we were soon closing in on our destination. Was my 5 degree declination correct, or would we wonder what went wrong and be no where near where we really should be? Bob was in the front and that familiar tone in his voice I hear when he has found the rarest of rare plants was like music to my ears. We had indeed found it, and Jessica soon informed us I was 9 feet off on my calculations.
The "B" marking the property corner of Thomas Black
The familiar "B"
And the nice part about this is there is more to come. Wouldn't you know there is another one still to find
If you are new to the site and have no idea what this is about, purchase "Jersey Genesis" by Henry Charlton Beck and read the "Adventure in Aserdaten" chapter closely. It is Beck at his best.
Guy
I have always been reluctant to discuss Black's stone but it is obvious that many people know about it now. Over the years many individuals felt there was another stone just like the stone Beck mentions in his "Adventure in Aserdaten" chapter and I have always doubted it. Usually, there is one large stone at the beginning of a survey and the rest are basic stones. That is not always true but more times than not it is. Over the years I have myself come up with various idea's on where there may be more stones associated with this one and each time I have eventually discounted them.
And over the years various idea's on who T. Black was has been mentioned to me and in most instances people were sure he was the surveyor. Beck obviously did not know who he was when he was writing about it so the information on this man and stone has been meager. Recently, while looking over some information I have had for years, I realized that I had the answer to many of the questions that have been plaguing me and others concerning this subject, and I will tell you pretty much all that I know in this post.
First, T Black was Thomas Black who was a land owner and not a surveyor. I say Thomas, but the information I have says "Thos" which is a common abbreviation for Thomas. I think I can correctly assume it is Thomas. The surveyor was George Sykes who's name I have viewed many times on old survey's. He did the survey in 1859 as is inscribed on Blacks's stone. The question is was the stone placed there by him, already there, or placed there at a later date and predated which does occur? I really don't have the answer for that but it is my guess that it was placed there by Mr. Sykes in 1859. However, as I now know hidden on the back side of the stone there is an inscription "JR 1774" which obviously was not visible to Beck unless he did not see or mention it. If you are a long time member of the site you may remember years ago an article that was written by Beck was posted saying that someone in the years after he had visited there had tried to remove the stone and caused it to tilt. Was the 1774 date visible before then ..... I really don't know.
The Thomas Black Cedar Swamp
After finding the information in my files I spent a few evenings calculating where I thought they would be. Survey's from those years were done with a compass and today we use true north. The difference between the two change over the years and it could be anywhere from 5 degrees to maybe as high as 12 or more. I tend to lean towards the lower end and so I spent quite a few evenings this week calculating where I felt they could be. Since there are numerous stones to look for over a large distance, any small inaccuracies in my calculations could make finding them futile. I had to do it correctly.
And so yesterday Jessica and I headed out and spent hours roaming the woods at my specific location looking for just two of them. As usual when I first start out frustration is high and we came up empty. Jessica also fell and banged her knee pretty hard and suffered quite a bit last night.
Today was a new day, and we met up with Bob to look for what I felt was a key stone. This one may just well be the stone that everyone felt was still out there. Could it be as "large as a crouching man" as Beck described Black's stone, or would it be a dud? Or would the day fizzle as it had for Jessica and I yesterday?
We were soon plowing though some serious woods that seemed to be trying to keep us from reaching our goal. However, perseverance prevailed and we were soon closing in on our destination. Was my 5 degree declination correct, or would we wonder what went wrong and be no where near where we really should be? Bob was in the front and that familiar tone in his voice I hear when he has found the rarest of rare plants was like music to my ears. We had indeed found it, and Jessica soon informed us I was 9 feet off on my calculations.
The "B" marking the property corner of Thomas Black
The familiar "B"
And the nice part about this is there is more to come. Wouldn't you know there is another one still to find
If you are new to the site and have no idea what this is about, purchase "Jersey Genesis" by Henry Charlton Beck and read the "Adventure in Aserdaten" chapter closely. It is Beck at his best.
Guy
