"A Plan of the Public Lands in the State of Maine" 1835
Below is a map of Maine from 1835, showing the townships surveyed, as well
as the unsurveyed public land in northern Maine.
The map below was copied from a reproduction and is thus not of best quality.
But as you move your cursor over each township in Aroostook County, a popup
box will give the information on the map:
Name of township in 1835. Many of them have names such as
"No.18, 3rd Range." This is because the public lands of Maine were
divided into a numbered grid. Along the northern line, townships were numbered
by Range (1st, 2nd, 3rd) from east to west. Going north and south they were
numbered (or lettered) from south to north. Thus No.18, 3rd Range, is the
18th township going north, and the third going west from the eastern border.
Whether it is public land owned by Maine or Massachusetts
(on the map itself indicated by an M. for Maine and C. for Massachusetts (for
Commonwealth of Massachusetts)
If already granted, to whom (either individuals or institutions,
such as Academies)
If already granted, whether it had been granted before or after 1820,
when Maine split from Massachusetts and became a State, and the two states
divided up the public lands between them (if neither state is listed, it was
granted before 1820)
The number of acres in the township
Whether the land had been "sold but not conveyed"
(indicated by an asterisk * on the map)
I have also added, in italics and parentheses, the current name of
the townships.
A note on the geography: In the early 1800s the geography
of northern Maine was still not well-known, since the entire area had not been
carefully surveyed. Comparing this map to a modern-day one will highlight this
fact. Thus there may not be an exact correspondence between townships and physical
features portrayed on this map, and the actual topography of the region. This
map is interesting for historical reasons however: it provides the early names
of townships, the first purchasers or grantees of the land.
As you see, the Madawaska Settlements were on land that the States of Maine
and Massachusetts had not yet surveyed.
For many of the townships in Aroostook County, clicking on the township will
bring you to a brief description of the town as well as the various censuses
and surveys on this web site where you can find more information on the inhabitants
of the township.
The map's scale is 3.4 miles to the inch
The map is entitled :
A
Plan
of the
Public Lands
in the
State of Maine
Surveyed under Instructions from the
Commissioners and Agents
of the
States of Massachusetts and Maine
a part of which have been set off in severalty to each State,..viz.
Those to Mass. are designated by the letter C for Commonth. Those to Maine by
the letter M. Those that have been sold by Mass. and not conveyed have a
Star upon them, thus * Those conveyed have the name of the grantee
placed thereon.
Copied from the original surveys on a reduced scale & corrected by Geo.W.Coffin,
Land Agent of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1st August,
1835.
