1835 Survey & Plat Map

The earliest survey work done in Indiana using Jefferson's ideas was in a wedge-shaped area formed by a treaty boundary on the west, the Ohio-Indiana border on the east and the Ohio River on the south. His land was the first in the state to be laid out in townships, sections, and quarter-sections.

The Greenville Treaty Line, surveyed by Israel Ludlow in 1797, was the western boundary of territory ceded to the United States by various Indian tribes. In Indiana, it runs south-southwest from a point 10 miles northwest of Greenville, OH (near Union City in Randolph Co., IN) to the junction of the Ohio and Kentucky rivers near Madison, IN. The boundary between Dearborn and Ripley counties is on this line.

Surveying of the remainder of Indiana, which began in 1803, was not without problems. Colonel Jared Mansfield, who later became our nation's second Surveyor General, eventually corrected the flaws and provided the framework for the current system.

The state survey was completed about 1834. In the process, the surveyors took notes that vividly described the physiography and vegetation, location of settlements and Indian villages, and problems encountered.

Indiana Land Surveys, Their Development and Uses. (PDF)

Thus by this the survey below was the first land survey of Union township: Township No. 32 North, Range N1 East 2nd Mer The United States of America received title to all Indian Lands from Virginia by act of the General Assembly 12/20/1783 and by deed-signed by Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and others 3/1/1784. Indiana occupied the land by treaties. Upon extinction of the treaties the land was surveyed from December 1833 to September 1834.