Mon, Jul 13
|University of Pittsburgh
Metes & Bounds: Land Platting
Join me, Gerald “Jerry” Smith, and Kimberly T. Powell, AG® at the GRIP Genealogy Institute's "summer camp for genealogists" in Pittsburgh, PA to learn how to solve genealogical problems using land plats.
Time & Location
Jul 13, 2026, 2:30 PM – Jul 17, 2026, 2:00 PM
University of Pittsburgh, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Program Details
The course is a practicum-based approach to developing metes & bounds land platting skills and using plats to solve genealogical problems. Sessions cover reading and abstracting metes & bounds legal land descriptions; hand drawing plats; computer platting (DeedMapper software); platting over base maps; dealing with common plat problems (meanders, multiple meanders, imprecise boundary descriptions); constructing connected tract maps; and geo-locating base maps and plats. Historical surveying practices and on-line resources are also discussed.
Students will spend a significant amount of the course using DeedMapper software working practicum problems that derive from real-world research. The practicum portfolio allow students to select exercises that stress specific skills, align with their own research, and cover different geographic locales. Practicum problems include dealing with errors in boundary descriptions (such as scrivener’s errors and reciprocal bearings), using on-line records & resources, platting over a USGS base map, finding and using other base maps (such as…