Abbreviations Used in Our Abstracts
of
Tennessee’s Second Surveyor District Surveys
© Fred and Patty Smoot 2003

Abbreviations:

NO. = Actual Survey number as found in the survey books.

APPLICANT. = The person(s) recorded as having applied to have the survey. The applicant could have assigned the survey to others. Most applicants became grantees; a few did not. Also, only rarely was it necessary to abbreviate a name in this column.

ACRES. = The acreage of the surveyed tract.

CNTY. = County. Note that county lines have changed many times so the counties mentioned are not a reliable guide.
Bed = Bedford
Fra = Franklin
Hic = Hickman
Lin = Lincoln
Mau = Maury
Rut = Rutherford
War = Warren
Whi = White
Wms = Williamson

LANDMARK. = Any named natural feature found in the survey that may assist in locating the general area of tract. Usually the Landmark is a waterway. When possible the smallest creek or branch was recorded first, then to the largest. Examples; W Fk of W Fk of Stones R would translate to West Fork of West Fork of the Stones River, and H Cove Sp C of Elk R would be Headwaters of Cove Spring Creek, a branch of the Elk R.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE LANDMARK & NOTE COLUMNS
BF = Barren Fork
Br = Branch
C = Creek
Cu = Cumberland
Cv = Cove
E = East
Fk = Fork
H = Headwaters, Head
L = Little
M = Middle
Mh = Mouth
Mn = Main
Mt = Mountain
N = North
Nr = Near
R = River
S = South
Sp = Spring
W = West
+ = more information in original.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE S/R COLUMN.
S = Section
R = Range
FS = Fractional Section
FR = Fractional Range

See 2nd District Map.

DATE. = The actual date of the survey. On some few surveys, the survey date was omitted. It should be noted, that in many cases the applicant lived on the land prior to the survey.

AUXILLARY NAMES = Additional names mentioned in the survey.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE AUXILLARY NAMES COLUMN
CC = Chain Carrier
Mk = Marker
AT = Adjoining Tract

NOTES. This section includes the names of some of the people connected to the survey and in some cases, boundary or historical information found in the survey. Old time name abbreviations were also used to conserve space. Many names were abbreviated here.

Example: Jos = Joseph.

Neither the Deputy or Principal Surveyors are listed unless the Surveyor was an applicant for survey. Also the original surveys include the Warrant or other justification for the applicant’s claim for the land. None of this Warrant genealogy is included in our index, because most Warrants were purchased, yet occasionally some Warrants indicate a family relationship. Therefore, I encourage you to refer to the original surveys.