TeeGate --
Unfortunately I did not re-read your Lawrence Line story prior to writing mine, and since I have a memory like a sieve, had actually forgotten those points which you brought up in your response at 17:24 this date. Got all of my information directly from Mr. Snyder's book, pages 24-26 I believe. Apparently the E/W boundary line was authorized in 1687, but it wasn't clear to me why it was laid out where it actually was, and since Lawrence came along in 1743 with the second (corrected, apparently) version, I actually didn't know what the reason was. But because the Keith version had already been in place some 56 years, it was the only visible (?) line that the counties could use to establish their borders, which I suppose did make sense. Thought many counties had been established earlier than 1687, so I don't know what (if anything specific) they used to establish boundaries.
Don't recall a mention of the Lawrence line being run as a correction of Keith's in the Snyder book, but then again I only re-read a small portion to get an idea of the dates involved. I actually had thought that the Lawrence line came along first! Bear with me on my "facts", since with age I am getting more and more forgetful, if that's possible. I retired from the NJ Dep't of Transportation 12 years ago, and it was in my earlier years there (50's & 60's) that I first got interested in that and many other things having some connection to mapping, one of my favorite hobbies. One of my earliest assignments when just out of college was plotting deeds in order to verify the accuracy of properties which were wholly or partially taken for building highways. Since ownership had to be verified for up to 60 years, and with some property in a single family's hands for several generations, I often found myself plotting huge properties dating back into the mid 1700's. That was when chains and links were used for measurement, and since a link was approximately eight inches long, you can understand why measurements lacked the accuracy that we now employ (the nearest hundredth of a foot). But I digress.
Surprised about your lack of older monuments being found on Keith line, since it was laid out so long before Lawrence. As for more modern markers, that's even stranger. But the concrete one you pictured with a metal point sticking up from the middle was probably much newer, placed at a time when more accurate measurements were required. It is probably a property corner, where measurements were required to the nearest hundredth of a foot. I would guess there is a similar one not too far away, but this of course could have been damaged or vandalized.
Hope you have the opportunity to acquire, or at least borrow, a copy of Snyder's book. Sure that you will find it both interesting and a fine reference source for older NJ maps. And please understand, I did not in any way attempt to discredit your story abouth the Lawrence line, I was just surprised that there was no direct mention of the other one, if only as a comparison or contrast.
-- Dave "aserdaten" Quaid, Ormond Beach, CFL
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