Land Platting Amos Gorrell’s Beaver County, Pennsylvania Land (12 for '26)

This week, I’m taking the Land Platting class at GRIP (Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh) now run by NGS. This course is taught by Jerry Smith, Kimberly Powell, and Sydney Cruice. We have learned lots of skills, platting, placing our plats on topo maps, and solving problems.

In my spare time, I have platted the four deeds concerning Amos’ land in Ohio township. The first piece of land was described as follows:

On 13 September 1836, Amos purchased 124 acres of land situated in South Beaver and Ohio Townships with a mortgage of $496 from the Famers and Mechanics Bank, land described as:

“Beginning at the southwest corner at a post, thence by land of said Bank N89E 159 perches, 5/10 to a post, thence by land of William Shearer, N148 perches to a post, thence by land in the possession of Jacob Todd S80W 165 perches to a white oak grubb, thence by land in possession of same, S1W 116 perches to the place of beginning, containing 124 acres and allowance (being part of a larger tract survey by warrant dated 14 Apr 1792 for Dr John Redman and by deed dated 1 Dec 1818, recorded on 3 Apr 1819 in Deed Book E, pages 418-20, conveyed by William Griffith and Aby his wife and John B Wallace and Susan his wife unto the Farmers and Mechanics Bank . . ).”[1]

The text view of what I entered to make a plat in Deedmapper is:

! Metes and bounds.  "Beginning at..."
Pt southwest corner, post,
Ln N89E; 159.5p;
Pt post,
Ln N; 148p; by land of William Shearer
pt post,
Ln S80W; 165p; by land Jacob Todd
Pt white oak grubb,
Ln S1W; 116p; by land Jacob Todd
! to the beginning
End

This is the image I got.

Later, he and his wife sold of the land by three different transactions:

On 10 September 1839, Amos and his wife Leah, of Ohio Township, sold 24 acres of land for $240 to Henry Syberts of the same township. The description of the land is as follows:

“Beginning at the great Road leading to New Lisbon, thence south by said road 41.5 E 17.4 perches to a chestnut, thence S by said road 70 E 69.6 perches to a post, thence S by said road 73.5 E 18.4 perches to land belonging to Robert McFarland, thence north by land of said McFarland 1 E 61 perches to a white oak sapling, thence S by land of ____ 79 W 100.2 to the place of beginning, containing 24 acres & 81 perches strict measure. Being part of larger tract surveyed 14 Apr 1792 for Dr John Bedman . . .”[2]

This land looks like this:

Next, they sold this land: On 11 December 1841, Amos and Leah of Ohio Township sold 15 acres of land in South Beaver to William McKay of South Beaver Township with this description:

“Beginning at the southeast corner by the land of Joseph Fullerton N1E 75 perches to a post, thence by the land of Jacob Todd S79W 36.3 perches to a post, thence by the land of Henry Sibert S1W 61 perches to a post, thence by the state road S73.5E 14.3 perches to a post, thence by said road S82E 21.5 perches to the place of beginning, containing 15 acres two perches neat measure.”[3]

The plat looks like this:

The last piece was sold on 23 March 1844, to James Simpson of Alleghany County for $1160. It is described as:

“Beginning at a post and running thence by land of Jacob Todd S1.25W 116.5 perches to a post, thence by lands of George Wilson and William Sheerer, E162 to a post, thence by land of William Sheerer, N1.75E 74.4 perches to a post, thence along the Lisbon road and by lands of Mrs. Baines and George Wilson, N80.5W 21.5 perches to a post, thence by road and lands aforesaid N74.75 W 14 perches to a post, thence N73W 18.4 perches to a post, thence N77W 68.7 perches to a post, thence N74W 16.9 perches to a chesnut stump, thence N41W 17.5 perches to a post, thence S79W 14.8 perches to a post, and place of beginning, containing 95 acres and 36 perches strict measure.”[4]

It looks like this:

If I put the pieces back together, we can see that it is very close to the original piece. 

Next up, I’ll try to place it on a map. I may need to search for the deeds of the neighbors to help place the plat. I have a good anchor of the New Lisbon Road (the blue line on the map below), but I don’t know where on the road to place it.

It is close to the border to Ohio, so if I locate the western deeds that connect to the border, I’ll be able to place it. That’s next up.

This has been a fun class. We even went out and used the historic tools to plat on the ground!

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[1] Beaver Co, Pennsylvania, deeds, v. S, p. 294-95, Farmers & Mechanics Bank to Amos Gorrell, 13 Sep 1836, recorded 12 Dec 1839; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNL-SCL7 : accessed 5 Jul 2026), IGN 008084691,image 463 of 603.

[2] Beaver Co, Pennsylvania, deeds, v. S, p. 191-92, Amos & Leah Gorrell to Henry Syberts, 1839; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNL-SCM4 : accessed 5 July 2026), IGN 008084691, images 409-10 of 603.

[3] Beaver Co, Pennsylvania, deeds, v. U, p. 39-40, Gorrell to McKay, 1841; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNL-99GG-S : accessed 5 July 2026), IGN 008084692, image 320-21 of 560.

[4] Beaver Co, Pennsylvania, deeds, v. W, p. 96-98, Amos & Leah Gorrell to James Simpson, 1844; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSNL-QNXX : accessed 10 Jul 2026), IGN 008084693, images 340-41 of 629.

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