Acre: an area of land that is 43,560 square feet.
Assignee: Person to whom property is legally transferred.
Bounty land grants: These were land grants given as a result service Continental Line during the Revolutionary War. In North Carolina, bounty land was located in what later became Tennessee.
Chain: A measurement of length totaling 66 feet. 1 chain is the length of 100 links or 4 poles.
Chain Bearer, Chain Carrier: may appear in the play map as CC, CB, or SCC (sworn chain carrier)
Courses and Distances: System North Carolina used that measured land based on compass directions (courses) and lengths of the line (distances).
Deed: Written agreement between one party (Grantor - the seller) transferring real property (i.e., land) to another party (Grantee - the buyer) in exchange for a specified amount of money. Deeds are recorded in deed books. During the time of slavery, real property could include the enslaved.
Entry: The first step in requesting a land patent. Payment for the land was made at the time of entry.
Escheat: Property reverted back to the state due to no one meeting legal qualifications to inherit it.
Fee Simple: Complete ownership of land and all properties on it as well as the right to sell it
Grantee: Person who received land, whether by deed or grant.
Grantor: Person who sold land to a grantee.
Headright: Was a British system that was adopted by North Carolina during the colonial era that allowed a certain amount of land for each person brought into the colony.
Land entries: The first step to acquire land from the state or colony; this was a petition for a specific tract of land by the prospective land owner that has been identified as vacant. Payment for the land was made at the time of entry.
Land grants: Closely related to land patents, land grants were the act of transferring public lands to private individuals by means of a land patent.
Land patents: Land patents are the legal documents granting land to an individual from the state, the lords proprietors, or the Crown.
Land warrants: An order to the surveyor to set apart land which was loosely described in the warrant.
Links: A measurement of length equaling 7.92 inches.
Metes and Bounds: Boundary (bounds) lines of land with their specific points and angles (metes). Metes and bounds were used in North Carolina.
Plat Map: a map created during the survey of land
Poles: Also called a rod or perch, this is a unit of land measuring 5 and ½ yards and is ¼ of a chain.
Quitrents: An annual tax on land granted by the British Crown and Lords Proprietors, generally 3 shillings for every 100 acres. Quitrents were abolished during the Revolutionary War.
State Land States: States in the US where vacant land was allocated by the state. North Carolina was a state land state as well as all of the 13 original colonies , Texas, and Hawaii. Other states are known as public land states.
Survey: An action to measure and record parcels of land; the resulting document is often referred to as a the survey
Warrant: An order to the surveyor to survey the land