The Manor of Springettsbury by Neal Otto Hively
This is the same illustration that began my post Ten 1860 Buildings in South Region of Springettsbury Township; with one exception. A faint transparent overlay of the corresponding section of Neal Otto Hively’s Connected Draft Warrant MAP 20 of The Manor of Springettsbury is shown over the 1937 Aerial Photo.
The Rev’d Dr. Neal Otto Hively has created connected property maps, for the earliest settlers, covering all of York and Adams Counties. His books on original land records and accompanying connected draft warrant maps are based on his original research. In a phenomenal effort, Neal Otto Hively secured copies of original land records from multiple locations, then collated, organized and indexed volumes of information to publish the results in a series of books and to create the maps. His books contain details associated with each numbered map parcel. These details include: who the settlers were, when they arrived in that area, where they settled and a host of other facts. Check out Hively’s web site here. The York County Heritage Trust is a location that sells Hively’s books and maps.
In tracing deeds of property ownership from the present owner back to the Penn Proprietors, one occasionally hits a deed that has not been recorded, especially during earlier times; causing a break in the research chain. The utilization of Neal Otto Hively’s books and maps often allows one to complete the property ownership chain. In many instances, overlaying Hively’s maps on 1930s aerial photos shows that some roads were located on early property lines and that some property lines have not changed from the time of the earliest settlers through the 1930s.
For Springettsbury Township, Neal Otto Hively’s references are:
- BOOK: The Manor of Springettsbury, York County, PA, Its History and Early Settlers, York County Original Land Records, Volume 6.
- MAP: Connected Draft Warrant MAP 20, The Manor of Springettsbury.
In my previous post, I noted four of the ten (marked) 1860 buildings still stand at these present addresses:
- [s2] – 2840 Whiteford Road (Christmas Tree Hill)
- [s3] – 2901 Whiteford Road (see this post)
- [s7] – 1620 Memory Lane Extended (Livingston Property)
- [s9] – 1748 North Hills Road
From the Hively references, the [s2] & [s3] buildings are within Survey 194 (beginning with Christian Stoneman in 1736 and continuing through Treichler and Flory ownerships into the early 1800s). The [s7] & [s9] buildings are within Survey 181 (beginning with Baltzer Spangler in 1736 and continuing through other Spangler ownerships into the early 1800s; also note from the 1860 map, [s9] is still owned by a Spangler in 1860).
My next post in this series will combine the Hively references with Deed information from the Recorder of Deeds and at the York County Archives to establish the property ownership chain for these four properties.
Related posts include:
