Each time the land is sold, divided, mortgaged, leased, bequeathed, a few sheets of paper get added to the stack. This is how we came to receive a half inch stack of papers. Included are a few last wills and testaments: desires expressed to be buried next to someone, funeral expenses paid. When the land passes from us, we will add to the stack. Each transaction relies on the previous: we are selling you this piece of land, which was given thirty-one years ago to us by… If you are a few acres short, you may have to go back a few generations to make your claim. Claims that are attached to stakes and stones, as you can see above. Measured once upon a time in chains and links. This is why you buy title insurance, in theory. In practice, you couldn’t walk away with the pond you dug, could you, if a distant cousin showed up?
The oldest date is from 1863. The people before that didn’t so much believe in stakes and stones.
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