| Texas Original Land Owner County Maps |
| For Sale |
Above are samples of the beautiful artwork found on some of the Texas Original Land Owner maps. These maps were painstakingly crafted by draftsmen as early as the 1890's. One can only imagine the drudgery involved in so large an undertaking. The artwork surely provided a measure of relief and gratification to the dozens of draftsmen involved in putting on paper the locations of every track of land secured by the original land owners of the state of Texas. I could imagine that several hours were required to draw each track, with laborious checks and double checks required before each track boundary could be rendered on paper. Some counties had thousands of tracts!
Though the artwork is impressive and irreplaceable, the main purpose in the drafting's were to illustrate in map form, the locations of every land tract of these original land owners. To this end, these maps provide a valuable service even today to every land owner in Texas and to the cartographers, surveyors, county clerks, county and state courts, the legal profession, AND to the dedicated Genealogist, just to name a few recipients of this valuable service. A big Thank You! is in order to those long ago having the foresight to start such an undertaking!
Copies of these maps are available from the Texas General Land Office in Austin in paper form. My undertaking was to provide the information found on the original hand drafted maps in a digital form available for viewing on a computer. I scanned copies of the original land owner county maps using a large format drum scanner. Much effort was required to enhance the resultant images and to digitally splice large maps requiring multiple scanner passes into a single file.
The image files are in TIFF (Tagged Image Format Files) format, using CCITT Group 4 compression. Even with compression, some of the files are 1 million bytes in size. The original paper prints were up to 4 feet x 4 feet in size and were scanned at a sampling frequency of 200 dots per inch and in black and white scanning mode. Some of the originals were not of the best quality. I have undertaken the task of describing each image file in terms of readability. Most are 99 percent or better in readability. Some (not many) are about 80% readable and I have found 1 or 2 that I classified at around 60% readable. A TIFF viewer is required for computer viewing of the image files. This TIFF format is considered industry standard and several computer programs are available over the internet that will allow one to view the files. Below, I will provided internet links (URL's) where some of these programs can be found.
Samples:
If you have a TIFF viewer now, then you can find sample image
files at the following internet addresses. Just click on
the county name to automatically download the files to your
computer.
These samples are representative of the approximately 240 county maps available.
Click here for a description of a typical map.
TIFF Viewers:
If you do not have TIFF viewer software, then here are
some Internet locations where they can be downloaded or purchased:
CPCView,
TIFFSurfer,
Vision Shape, Docview.
There are many more available and I would encourage you to
perform an 'Internet Search' using "TIFF VIEWER" as the
search words. I do not support any of the above TIFF
viewers in any way or manner. Be aware that there are many
viewer programs that say they support all flavors of TIFF format,
but which in fact, do not! Test drive it before purchasing.
Note - you may already have a TIFF viewer on your computer called
WANGIMG.EXE if you have Windows 95, 98, or NT as your operating
system. Go into Windows Explorer and search for a file by
that name. If found, then use your right mouse button to
Copy it to your desktop by depressing the right mouse button on
the file name, drag the file to your Windows desktop while
continuing to hold the mouse button down , and then release the
right mouse button. Double click on the new Icon to
activate the program. Use File, and Open to locate the file
and bring it into view.
Missing Counties:
Unfortunately, I do not have all counties in Texas. Those
in the following list are not available:
Bell, Carlwell, Crockett, Davis, Ector, Galveston, Greer, Hale,
Haskell, Lavaca, Midland, Pecos (North East), Rains, Red River,
Roberts, Rockwall, Terrell, Travis, Tyler, Upshur, Willacy,
Williamson. (the NW and South parts of Pecos are
available)
All other counties are available.
Large Counties:
Some county maps, due to the large size of the counties,
were originally drafted on multiple sheets. The image files
for those counties will be sold as if each file were an
individual county. Counties having these attributes are:
Brewster, Pecos, Edwards, Liberty, and Medina. A
single image file is available for all Pecos county at a map
scale of 1"=4000 Varas, but, the size of the file makes it
impossible to fit onto a 1.44 meg diskette.
Readability:
Refer to the following link (click
here) for a detailed description of each county. I am
trying to accurately provide the readability and problems
associated with each file so that you will know what you are
getting!
Pricing: Individual files
Each image file is priced at $4
for the first file, and $3
for each additional file requested per order. For instance,
if you order 5 image files at one time, the total price will be $16.
Individual files are shipped on 3.5", 1.44Meg double density
diskette, or, can be email'ed at buyers descrition. Texas
residents must add 8.25% sales tax. You can use PayPal
as the payment method if desired.
(Now using PayPal and reduced price!)
All county map image files are now available on CD-ROM!
Plus, as an extra bonus, my entire Texas Land Abstract
Indices data base in Microsoft Access 97 format
containing over 310,000 individual abstract indices for every
county in Texas, AND, all county Land Abstract text files with a
surname index are included! The extraordinary price for this
entire collection is just $49.95.
Note - Texas residents must change the PayPal amount to $54.07 to properly reflect the
addition of 8.25 % sales tax.
The above prices includes shipping and handling charges to locations anywhere in the world.
Disclaimer:
The files and CD-ROM are sold "AS IS". I cannot
guarantee any particular TIFF viewer to work, as they are beyond
my control. I do guarantee that my diskettes and CD-ROM
will be readable, and that the individual files can be loaded to
your computer assuming sufficient disk space is available on your
computer to contain the files.
Ordering:
If you are not using PayPal,
please address all orders to: Mike Taylor, 20018
Doherty Circle, Katy TX 77449. If ordering
diskettes or CD-ROM by mail, then Texas residents must add 8.25%
state sales tax. Please state accurately all counties desired if
ordering individual county image files. Also, please
include your email address to assist in communication. At
this time I can only accept cash, personal check, cashiers check,
or money order for orders via U. S. Mail. Please allow 2
weeks for personal checks to clear. You must realize that
sending cash is done so at some risk.
Distribution:
I extend to the people purchasing copies of the above
files the privilege of viewing the files for their own personal
use. Distribution of any of the files to others are
forbidden and will deny me of just (and needed) proceeds.
There are federal and state laws, and ethical standards, that can
and should prevent such activity. Your individual
cooperation will be greatly appreciated. I will keep a data
base of all legitimate purchases.
All domestic distributions will be by way of the United States Postal Department. Please allow a minimum of two weeks for handling and posting. Distribution methods for foreign locations will be handled as desired by the customer at the appropriate additional shipping cost.
Please email me if you have further questions.
I also do free surname lookups in my Texas Land Abstract Indices data base. Please email me at this address and provide just one surname and it's variant spellings for each email request.