In certain parts of the United States, more likely in areas where property was surveyed in metes and bounds, property owners would occasionally name their parcels of land. This wasn’t always done for vanity, it was often done to help identify different tracts. Is it possible that the name your relative gave to their property had some significance? Was it the name of a former residence or a deceased family member?

It appears that my relative named a parcel in Harford County, Maryland, “Sally’s Grove,” after his wife Sarah in 1795. Too bad he didn’t name one after the village he was born in England.

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2 Responses

  1. It was a requirement in Maryland law that the original patent of the land had to be named. It was not “occasionally” it was always.

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