Thomas Freeman (1784)
|
Deputy U.S. Surveyor
Notes:
• As we sifted through information for Thomas Freeman, we were impressed with the early notable Americans linked to him like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. References to him can be found in thousands of books and articles but we never found a biography. If our readers know of one, we would be pleased to hear of it. - Editor's note
• "After great pressure from the federal government, in 1805 the Chickasaws gave up their claims to what is now Madison County, and the Cherokees ceded their lands in 1806. These two land transactions totaled 345,600 acres. According to the Indian treaties, commissioners from the U.S. government and representatives from the Chickasaw and Cherokee nations were required to attend the running of the boundary lines to prevent any later misunderstandings. Thomas Freeman, chief surveyor, his crew, and the required witnesses gathered at Chickasaw Island (Hobbs Island) in September 1807, and the lines were surveyed and marked by blazes on the trees. This area, shaped somewhat like a triangle, was bordered on the south by the Tennessee River, on the west by the newly created Chickasaw line, on the north by the Tennessee state boundary, and on the east by the new Cherokee Indian border. (The Indians remained sovereign within their now much smaller nations, and a passport was required to enter their territory.)" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman continued to survey the public lands that would be offered for sale in the new county. To make land sales as equitable as possible in this vast area, a grid pattern was used. The Huntsville Baseline (east-west) was established at the Tennessee state line and the Huntsville Meridian (north-south) became the longitudinal line from which all lands in northern Alabama were to be surveyed. This concept allowed a subdivision of 36 one-mile-square sections (36 square miles) of 640 acres each with town-range coordinates. All land was then measured relative to that base Meridian. As a result, Madison County has two ranges west of the Meridian and two full ranges east of the line, plus portions of a third. Most settlers could afford the most common division, Vi section, or 160 acres."
Working from his base camp on the Flint River, Freeman offered additional information that a prospective settler and buyer might need to bid on land at the future sales - detailed field notes that included rivers, creeks, springs, cleared lands, types of soil, wooded area. Freeman was urged to hurry; the squatters were anxious and impatient.
Surveyor Freeman, walking his chains, encountered most of these people. In his official report, he described them, arriving daily; they were not like other intruders of public lands. "With respect to the intruders on the public lands, there are an abundance of them.... In justice to these people I must remark that...they are quiet, peaceable, extremely industrious, and fully sensible to their situation." He continued with examples of their industriousness. "Every cottage has its field of corn...small patches of cotton, tobacco, and wheat are also cultivated, all of which grown luxuriantly. Seven small mills for grinding corn will be erected by winter next, some are already finished and actually running.... A distillery is also in forwardness and will be in operation in a few days. Freeman added, these settlers looked forward to remaining and participating as full citizens of the United States with all that entailed." - HMCHS
• "The Great Migration was about to become legal within Madison County. Now the area of the Great Bend was available for lawful purchase and settlement. To facilitate sales, Freeman was instructed to act as register to receive applications from squatters and grant them permission to remain as "tenants at will" on these lands until they could bid at public sale. This sale was in Nashville on April 5, 1809, and 23,960 acres were purchased at auction, most sold on credit to be paid within five years. Forty percent of the original settlers purchased their land. Not surprisingly, the largest buyer was the man who knew the land so well - Thomas Freeman - who secured 8,480 acres." - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman, an Irishman, who had helped lay out the District of Columbia, completed the overall survey using the rectangle system of section, township and range. He had served under General George Washington and was appointed by the federal government to measure out the basic grid of the land. He was also instructed by the government to act as land registrar, taking applications from the squatters prior to the land auction so they might stay as 'tenants at will' until the official land auction could begin in Nashville.
The federal land sales process was complex. Freeman first contracted with settlers already on the land as 'tenants at will.' The application was taken and permission granted for 282 farms. By paying a nine-shilling fee, they could remain at their chosen spot and harvest their crops until the land was sold at the auction. No advantage was given to the holder of this document at the auction. This was used to calm the settlers, who would be forced to move if they were unsuccessful at the auction. The federal government then held land sales in Nashville beginning in August 1809. Freeman feared the squatters and the speculators would band together to prevent competition and keep prices low. The move to Nashville was to prevent this. The active competition the federal officials hoped for was rare. The House Committee on Public Lands once observed, 'Few men are willing to incur the resentment of their neighbors by bidding for their property, at public venue, even when other neighbors are the creditors; and when the public is concerned, scarcely a man will be found hardy enough to do it.' Cash was needed for the first payment and must be found for the next four annual payments, an extremely hard requirement for squatters. Freeman estimated, 'not more than one fifth, perhaps one tenth, of the settlers on the land can probably purchase" the land they occupied.14 Land was sold at $2.00 per acre unless more than one person showed interest.'" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman had a national reputation for precision and trustworthiness. An Irish immigrant who had come to the colonies in 1774, he had worked for the government before, and had caught the attention of master surveyor George Washington and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. As a result Freeman had a significant role in laying out the District of Columbia. Freeman was engaged in 1808 as the chief surveyor of the Mississippi Territory.
While surveying township and ranges Freeman would take note of choice properties for which there was no petitioner - easy to determine for him, for not only did he have the job of conducting the 1809 census, but he also sold tenant-at-will contracts. This afforded him, and him alone, complete information on the whereabouts of the populace and desirable land. While attending sales, if choice property was offered for which there was no bidder, Freeman, would, it seems, buy the land. He then put up the necessary minimal down payment and sometime thereafter located a buyer and transferred ownership and obligation to him. One might assume there was a personal profit to be had for Surveyor Freeman. This seems not to have been a problem for the government, for he continued to function for many years in several locations. When Alabama became a state in 1819, chief surveyor, Gen. John Coffee, succeeded him. Coffee, who had laid out the town of Huntsville earlier, functioned in his appointment in the same manner. This was a new country, and these men were making the rules as they went along, and, perhaps, such was considered a part of the surveyor's normal responsibility and remuneration.
Thomas Freeman played a major role in the settlement of Alabama and Mississippi. He established the Huntsville Meridian by which all the land in north Alabama was measured and sold. This was the principal north-south line that established, along with the previously designated Tennessee east-west boundary, the assignment of all property. The Huntsville Meridian goes through Huntsville's Maple Hill Cemetery, where Thomas Freeman was laid to rest on November 8, 1821. His grave remained unmarked for 170 years until 1999, when the Tennessee Valley Society of Professional Land Surveyors erected a monument in his honor. One writer noted, 'Today, Freeman is highly respected for his accuracy in the field.'" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman, who purchased 8500 acres of land. This man was not a farmer, and never intended to become one! He was a leading example of the speculators who grabbed nearly half of the land offered." - HMCHS
• Text on Historical Marker located on Hwy 231/431 south of Tennessee line: "In 1809, Major Thomas Freeman, Deputy U.S. Surveyor, established a marker here on the state line and began surveying south toward the middle of the state. This line, known as the Huntsville Meridian, is the reference for all property surveys in North Alabama. The Initial Point, now in the middle of the highway, was reset in 1977 by the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors." - Huntsville Historical Markers Index
• "On December 13, 1808, Madison County was created by proclamation of Mississippi Territory Governor Robert Williams. He also instructed Thomas Freeman to have a census taken, completed January 1809, showing 353 heads of families, with 1,150 free white males, 723 white females, totaling 2,223 whites. There were 332 slaves. This same Thomas Freeman had previously been appointed surveyor for the Mississippi Territory and had, in 1807, established the Meridian Line, running through Madison County, at 86 degrees, 34 minutes and 18 seconds." - Record
• Tomas Freeman was appointed "Justice of the Peace on December 19, 1808." - Record
• "Gallatin, on November 15, 1808, had written Williams that President Jefferson figured it was high time that the Governor begin appointing civil officers for the county, not yet organized. On December 11, 1808, Williams, by letter, pleaded with the Secretary of State for a Judge with original jurisdiction in Madison County and stated that he 'would send from the town of Washington, Mississippi an active, intelligent officer as Sheriff, who would act in concert with Major Thomas Freeman to ascertain appointments.'
The year 1808 was the same year the federal government prepared for selling land in the area. Freeman was given a federal appointment to act as register and in February 1808, Freeman had processed 280 applications for land. He recommended that the land sales be made in Nashville, rather than Huntsville, and the first land sales were then held in Nashville beginning in August, 1809. William Dickson was the first Register of the Land Office and John Brahan was the first Receiver of Public Moneys.
By August, 1809, Freeman, writing from his surveyors camp on Flint River, informed Gallatin that within the confines of what was to become Madison County, there were three mills, grinding corn that was brought from Jefferson County, Tennessee, 120 miles away.
And pioneers being pioneers, they weren't about to do without their " spirits" either. Freeman said on August 25, 1808, that a distillery was to be in operation in a few days." - Record
• "Thomas Freeman, the territorial surveyor, likely was willing to pull out his hair after completing his survey of all of Madison County in May, 1809. He found several hundred families illegally living on Chickasaw land. He had previously written the Secretary of State on March 4, 1809 to tell him that he had found that the Chickasaws would sell all their land East of Elk River and North of the Tennessee line if the President would move all white settlers off the land west of Elk River. Freeman suggested that the area would 'make a well shaped County of Madison.'
In June, 1809, Freeman reported that several hundred settlers had been forced to move from their homesteads into Madison County?after a bit of arm twisting. A letter from the Secretary of the Treasurer to the President indicated that Freeman, indeed, had carried out the chore..
Soldiers were used to remove 93 of the families from the Chickasaw lands adjoining Madison County, as a letter from R. J. Meigs to the acting Secretary of War disclosed later. Problems still existed, however, as a letter of October 29, 1809 from the Treasury Secretary to the President stated that a Yazoo claimant named Michael Harrison had promised to move. However, Harrison later denied this and later placed ads warning anyone of purchase of land he claimed. A letter of May 4, 1810, however, from the Secretary of War to General Wade Hampton stated that the settlers were to be removed by Spring..
With the land boom on, records showed that some of the first purchasers were LeRoy Pope, William P. Anderson and James Jackson. This trio bought the quarter section containing the Big Spring on August 25, 1809, for $23.50 per acre or $3,763.29. The same acreage today, in downtown Huntsville, would be priced in the millions. George Smith would be the first to buy land in the New Market area, while Levi Hinds was first in the Huntsville area and Charles Cabaniss in the Hazel Green area.
Ironically, less than 15 per cent of the original settlers bought land. Almost 24,000 acres, however, were sold by October of 1809 at an accumulated price of $67,520." - Record
• "Returning to the 1809 land sales, it should be noted that Thomas Freeman, the surveyor, proved to be a speculator as well as a surveyor. He was the largest purchaser, acquiring 22 sections. LeRoy Pope, Thomas Bibb, and John Brahan ran behind in the land grab. Pharoah Roach, who had surveyed Range 2 East for Freeman, acquired none." - Record
• U. S. Surveyor; Surveyor General lands of Tennessee, 1817. - Record
• There is a historic marker on the west side of Highway 231/431 just south of the Alabama/Tennessee line. The marker reads: "In 1809, Major Thomas Freeman, Deputy U.S. Surveyor, established a marker here on the state line, and began surveying south toward the middle of the state. The line, known as the Huntsville Meridian, is the reference for all property surveys in North Alabama. The Initial Point, now in the middle of the highway, was reset in 1977 by the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors. (Marker erected by Alabama Historical Association in 1977)" - Luttrell
• It is well known that Thomas Freeman bought land in Madison County and also consulted with other prospective buyers, giving them important information about the characteristics of the various properties. We are not sure how to interpret the data found in these logs but in the land sales on September 17, 1814, there were five different people were listed as "Assignee of Thomas Freeman" in the purchase of land. And four more properties have the same notations at later dates. - Barefield
• "On December 13, 1808, Madison County was created by proclamation of the Governor of the Mississippi Territory. Some reports say that the Governor instructed Thomas Freeman to take a census of the new county. Other reports say the President of the U.S. called for the census. Either way, the census was completed in January of 1809 and is still on record." - Rankin
• "Thomas Freeman was likewise the surveyor for the Territory, and it was he who set the Huntsville Meridian at 86 degrees, 34 minutes, and 18 seconds for laying off land throughout the northern part of the state of Alabama. This meridian line is the basis for Huntsville's Meridian Street." - Rankin
• "Thomas Freeman, the surveyor, found in 1809 several hundred families living on Indian territory west of the county. He helped arrange a new Indian cessation for lands east of the Elk River in exchange for removal of all white settlers west of that river. This land was in turn put up for sale by the government in February of 1818." - Rankin
• "The first land purchase for Thomas Freeman in Barefield's book is for Section 8, Township 1, Range 2E on August 14, 1809. Cowart's book summarizes Freeman's 1809 purchases as including 35 sections of land in 1809. That was considerably more than anyone else, but it is understandable, as Thomas Freeman was the Government Surveyor who surveyed the entire county (except for a small portion in Range 2E surveyed by Pharoah Roach). Mr. Freeman began his surveying in 1807, two years before the land was offered for sale, so he had plenty of time to select the most choice parcels and act as agent for others." - Rankin
• "Noted in Alabama for his mapping of part of the boundary between Alabama and Tennessee, in 1811 he was appointed surveyor of public lands of the United States south of Tennessee, which position he held until his death in Huntsville." - Marks
• Held the title of "Major" - Nilsson
• Freeman might be most famous for the Red River Expedition of 1806. - Wikipedia
• "Freeman was buried in the family plot of his good friend, Sheriff Stephen Neal. His grave was unmarked for 178 years, ironically near the Huntsville Meridian in Maple Hill Cemetery." - Gray
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Gray
• HMCHS
• Luttrell
• Nilsson
• Record
| Nickname: | Tom |
| Born: | 1784, Ireland |
| Died: | November 8, 1821, Huntsville, Alabama |
| Buried: | Maple Hill Cemetery, Madison County, Alabama |
Notes:
• As we sifted through information for Thomas Freeman, we were impressed with the early notable Americans linked to him like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. References to him can be found in thousands of books and articles but we never found a biography. If our readers know of one, we would be pleased to hear of it. - Editor's note
• "After great pressure from the federal government, in 1805 the Chickasaws gave up their claims to what is now Madison County, and the Cherokees ceded their lands in 1806. These two land transactions totaled 345,600 acres. According to the Indian treaties, commissioners from the U.S. government and representatives from the Chickasaw and Cherokee nations were required to attend the running of the boundary lines to prevent any later misunderstandings. Thomas Freeman, chief surveyor, his crew, and the required witnesses gathered at Chickasaw Island (Hobbs Island) in September 1807, and the lines were surveyed and marked by blazes on the trees. This area, shaped somewhat like a triangle, was bordered on the south by the Tennessee River, on the west by the newly created Chickasaw line, on the north by the Tennessee state boundary, and on the east by the new Cherokee Indian border. (The Indians remained sovereign within their now much smaller nations, and a passport was required to enter their territory.)" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman continued to survey the public lands that would be offered for sale in the new county. To make land sales as equitable as possible in this vast area, a grid pattern was used. The Huntsville Baseline (east-west) was established at the Tennessee state line and the Huntsville Meridian (north-south) became the longitudinal line from which all lands in northern Alabama were to be surveyed. This concept allowed a subdivision of 36 one-mile-square sections (36 square miles) of 640 acres each with town-range coordinates. All land was then measured relative to that base Meridian. As a result, Madison County has two ranges west of the Meridian and two full ranges east of the line, plus portions of a third. Most settlers could afford the most common division, Vi section, or 160 acres."
Working from his base camp on the Flint River, Freeman offered additional information that a prospective settler and buyer might need to bid on land at the future sales - detailed field notes that included rivers, creeks, springs, cleared lands, types of soil, wooded area. Freeman was urged to hurry; the squatters were anxious and impatient.
Surveyor Freeman, walking his chains, encountered most of these people. In his official report, he described them, arriving daily; they were not like other intruders of public lands. "With respect to the intruders on the public lands, there are an abundance of them.... In justice to these people I must remark that...they are quiet, peaceable, extremely industrious, and fully sensible to their situation." He continued with examples of their industriousness. "Every cottage has its field of corn...small patches of cotton, tobacco, and wheat are also cultivated, all of which grown luxuriantly. Seven small mills for grinding corn will be erected by winter next, some are already finished and actually running.... A distillery is also in forwardness and will be in operation in a few days. Freeman added, these settlers looked forward to remaining and participating as full citizens of the United States with all that entailed." - HMCHS
• "The Great Migration was about to become legal within Madison County. Now the area of the Great Bend was available for lawful purchase and settlement. To facilitate sales, Freeman was instructed to act as register to receive applications from squatters and grant them permission to remain as "tenants at will" on these lands until they could bid at public sale. This sale was in Nashville on April 5, 1809, and 23,960 acres were purchased at auction, most sold on credit to be paid within five years. Forty percent of the original settlers purchased their land. Not surprisingly, the largest buyer was the man who knew the land so well - Thomas Freeman - who secured 8,480 acres." - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman, an Irishman, who had helped lay out the District of Columbia, completed the overall survey using the rectangle system of section, township and range. He had served under General George Washington and was appointed by the federal government to measure out the basic grid of the land. He was also instructed by the government to act as land registrar, taking applications from the squatters prior to the land auction so they might stay as 'tenants at will' until the official land auction could begin in Nashville.
The federal land sales process was complex. Freeman first contracted with settlers already on the land as 'tenants at will.' The application was taken and permission granted for 282 farms. By paying a nine-shilling fee, they could remain at their chosen spot and harvest their crops until the land was sold at the auction. No advantage was given to the holder of this document at the auction. This was used to calm the settlers, who would be forced to move if they were unsuccessful at the auction. The federal government then held land sales in Nashville beginning in August 1809. Freeman feared the squatters and the speculators would band together to prevent competition and keep prices low. The move to Nashville was to prevent this. The active competition the federal officials hoped for was rare. The House Committee on Public Lands once observed, 'Few men are willing to incur the resentment of their neighbors by bidding for their property, at public venue, even when other neighbors are the creditors; and when the public is concerned, scarcely a man will be found hardy enough to do it.' Cash was needed for the first payment and must be found for the next four annual payments, an extremely hard requirement for squatters. Freeman estimated, 'not more than one fifth, perhaps one tenth, of the settlers on the land can probably purchase" the land they occupied.14 Land was sold at $2.00 per acre unless more than one person showed interest.'" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman had a national reputation for precision and trustworthiness. An Irish immigrant who had come to the colonies in 1774, he had worked for the government before, and had caught the attention of master surveyor George Washington and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. As a result Freeman had a significant role in laying out the District of Columbia. Freeman was engaged in 1808 as the chief surveyor of the Mississippi Territory.
While surveying township and ranges Freeman would take note of choice properties for which there was no petitioner - easy to determine for him, for not only did he have the job of conducting the 1809 census, but he also sold tenant-at-will contracts. This afforded him, and him alone, complete information on the whereabouts of the populace and desirable land. While attending sales, if choice property was offered for which there was no bidder, Freeman, would, it seems, buy the land. He then put up the necessary minimal down payment and sometime thereafter located a buyer and transferred ownership and obligation to him. One might assume there was a personal profit to be had for Surveyor Freeman. This seems not to have been a problem for the government, for he continued to function for many years in several locations. When Alabama became a state in 1819, chief surveyor, Gen. John Coffee, succeeded him. Coffee, who had laid out the town of Huntsville earlier, functioned in his appointment in the same manner. This was a new country, and these men were making the rules as they went along, and, perhaps, such was considered a part of the surveyor's normal responsibility and remuneration.
Thomas Freeman played a major role in the settlement of Alabama and Mississippi. He established the Huntsville Meridian by which all the land in north Alabama was measured and sold. This was the principal north-south line that established, along with the previously designated Tennessee east-west boundary, the assignment of all property. The Huntsville Meridian goes through Huntsville's Maple Hill Cemetery, where Thomas Freeman was laid to rest on November 8, 1821. His grave remained unmarked for 170 years until 1999, when the Tennessee Valley Society of Professional Land Surveyors erected a monument in his honor. One writer noted, 'Today, Freeman is highly respected for his accuracy in the field.'" - HMCHS
• "Thomas Freeman, who purchased 8500 acres of land. This man was not a farmer, and never intended to become one! He was a leading example of the speculators who grabbed nearly half of the land offered." - HMCHS
• Text on Historical Marker located on Hwy 231/431 south of Tennessee line: "In 1809, Major Thomas Freeman, Deputy U.S. Surveyor, established a marker here on the state line and began surveying south toward the middle of the state. This line, known as the Huntsville Meridian, is the reference for all property surveys in North Alabama. The Initial Point, now in the middle of the highway, was reset in 1977 by the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors." - Huntsville Historical Markers Index
• "On December 13, 1808, Madison County was created by proclamation of Mississippi Territory Governor Robert Williams. He also instructed Thomas Freeman to have a census taken, completed January 1809, showing 353 heads of families, with 1,150 free white males, 723 white females, totaling 2,223 whites. There were 332 slaves. This same Thomas Freeman had previously been appointed surveyor for the Mississippi Territory and had, in 1807, established the Meridian Line, running through Madison County, at 86 degrees, 34 minutes and 18 seconds." - Record
• Tomas Freeman was appointed "Justice of the Peace on December 19, 1808." - Record
• "Gallatin, on November 15, 1808, had written Williams that President Jefferson figured it was high time that the Governor begin appointing civil officers for the county, not yet organized. On December 11, 1808, Williams, by letter, pleaded with the Secretary of State for a Judge with original jurisdiction in Madison County and stated that he 'would send from the town of Washington, Mississippi an active, intelligent officer as Sheriff, who would act in concert with Major Thomas Freeman to ascertain appointments.'
The year 1808 was the same year the federal government prepared for selling land in the area. Freeman was given a federal appointment to act as register and in February 1808, Freeman had processed 280 applications for land. He recommended that the land sales be made in Nashville, rather than Huntsville, and the first land sales were then held in Nashville beginning in August, 1809. William Dickson was the first Register of the Land Office and John Brahan was the first Receiver of Public Moneys.
By August, 1809, Freeman, writing from his surveyors camp on Flint River, informed Gallatin that within the confines of what was to become Madison County, there were three mills, grinding corn that was brought from Jefferson County, Tennessee, 120 miles away.
And pioneers being pioneers, they weren't about to do without their " spirits" either. Freeman said on August 25, 1808, that a distillery was to be in operation in a few days." - Record
• "Thomas Freeman, the territorial surveyor, likely was willing to pull out his hair after completing his survey of all of Madison County in May, 1809. He found several hundred families illegally living on Chickasaw land. He had previously written the Secretary of State on March 4, 1809 to tell him that he had found that the Chickasaws would sell all their land East of Elk River and North of the Tennessee line if the President would move all white settlers off the land west of Elk River. Freeman suggested that the area would 'make a well shaped County of Madison.'
In June, 1809, Freeman reported that several hundred settlers had been forced to move from their homesteads into Madison County?after a bit of arm twisting. A letter from the Secretary of the Treasurer to the President indicated that Freeman, indeed, had carried out the chore..
Soldiers were used to remove 93 of the families from the Chickasaw lands adjoining Madison County, as a letter from R. J. Meigs to the acting Secretary of War disclosed later. Problems still existed, however, as a letter of October 29, 1809 from the Treasury Secretary to the President stated that a Yazoo claimant named Michael Harrison had promised to move. However, Harrison later denied this and later placed ads warning anyone of purchase of land he claimed. A letter of May 4, 1810, however, from the Secretary of War to General Wade Hampton stated that the settlers were to be removed by Spring..
With the land boom on, records showed that some of the first purchasers were LeRoy Pope, William P. Anderson and James Jackson. This trio bought the quarter section containing the Big Spring on August 25, 1809, for $23.50 per acre or $3,763.29. The same acreage today, in downtown Huntsville, would be priced in the millions. George Smith would be the first to buy land in the New Market area, while Levi Hinds was first in the Huntsville area and Charles Cabaniss in the Hazel Green area.
Ironically, less than 15 per cent of the original settlers bought land. Almost 24,000 acres, however, were sold by October of 1809 at an accumulated price of $67,520." - Record
• "Returning to the 1809 land sales, it should be noted that Thomas Freeman, the surveyor, proved to be a speculator as well as a surveyor. He was the largest purchaser, acquiring 22 sections. LeRoy Pope, Thomas Bibb, and John Brahan ran behind in the land grab. Pharoah Roach, who had surveyed Range 2 East for Freeman, acquired none." - Record
• U. S. Surveyor; Surveyor General lands of Tennessee, 1817. - Record
• There is a historic marker on the west side of Highway 231/431 just south of the Alabama/Tennessee line. The marker reads: "In 1809, Major Thomas Freeman, Deputy U.S. Surveyor, established a marker here on the state line, and began surveying south toward the middle of the state. The line, known as the Huntsville Meridian, is the reference for all property surveys in North Alabama. The Initial Point, now in the middle of the highway, was reset in 1977 by the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors. (Marker erected by Alabama Historical Association in 1977)" - Luttrell
• It is well known that Thomas Freeman bought land in Madison County and also consulted with other prospective buyers, giving them important information about the characteristics of the various properties. We are not sure how to interpret the data found in these logs but in the land sales on September 17, 1814, there were five different people were listed as "Assignee of Thomas Freeman" in the purchase of land. And four more properties have the same notations at later dates. - Barefield
• "On December 13, 1808, Madison County was created by proclamation of the Governor of the Mississippi Territory. Some reports say that the Governor instructed Thomas Freeman to take a census of the new county. Other reports say the President of the U.S. called for the census. Either way, the census was completed in January of 1809 and is still on record." - Rankin
• "Thomas Freeman was likewise the surveyor for the Territory, and it was he who set the Huntsville Meridian at 86 degrees, 34 minutes, and 18 seconds for laying off land throughout the northern part of the state of Alabama. This meridian line is the basis for Huntsville's Meridian Street." - Rankin
• "Thomas Freeman, the surveyor, found in 1809 several hundred families living on Indian territory west of the county. He helped arrange a new Indian cessation for lands east of the Elk River in exchange for removal of all white settlers west of that river. This land was in turn put up for sale by the government in February of 1818." - Rankin
• "The first land purchase for Thomas Freeman in Barefield's book is for Section 8, Township 1, Range 2E on August 14, 1809. Cowart's book summarizes Freeman's 1809 purchases as including 35 sections of land in 1809. That was considerably more than anyone else, but it is understandable, as Thomas Freeman was the Government Surveyor who surveyed the entire county (except for a small portion in Range 2E surveyed by Pharoah Roach). Mr. Freeman began his surveying in 1807, two years before the land was offered for sale, so he had plenty of time to select the most choice parcels and act as agent for others." - Rankin
• "Noted in Alabama for his mapping of part of the boundary between Alabama and Tennessee, in 1811 he was appointed surveyor of public lands of the United States south of Tennessee, which position he held until his death in Huntsville." - Marks
• Held the title of "Major" - Nilsson
• Freeman might be most famous for the Red River Expedition of 1806. - Wikipedia
• "Freeman was buried in the family plot of his good friend, Sheriff Stephen Neal. His grave was unmarked for 178 years, ironically near the Huntsville Meridian in Maple Hill Cemetery." - Gray
Related Links:
• Barefield - Old Huntsville Land Office Records & Military Warrants 1810-1854, by Compiled by Marilyn Davis Barefield, 1985, page 96, 140, 144, 145.
• Baudendistel - Article titled "Laying Out Alabama" by Bob Baudendistel in (POB) Point of Beninning web site.
• Faircloth - Land Surveying in Alabama by J. M. Faircloth (The pamphlet outlines the method used by Freeman). (Originally found at http://www.bels.alabama.gov/pdfs/Faircloth%20Pamphlet.pdf#zoom=100.)
• Finda A Grave - Page created by Graveaddiction
• Flickr: Freeman - Photo by King Kong 911 of person portraying Thomas Freeman at the Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll
• Flickr: Meridian Marker - Photo of the Survey Marker for North Alabama
• Gray - Article titled "Fare Thee Well - From the Papers of John Williams Walker, Edited by Jacuqelyn Procter Gray." Huntsville Historical Review, Volume 30, #1, Fall-Winter 2004-2005, Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, page 72.
• HMCHS - A History of Early Settlement: Madison County Before Statehood, 1808-1819, Published by The Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, 2008, pages 3, 5, 6, 44, 45, 47, 57, 66, 67, 90, 116, 120, 126, 132, 135.
• Huntsville Historical Markers Index (Originally found at http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/gis/HistoricMarkers/site/marker_051/page.htm.)
• Luttrell - Historical Markers of Madison County, Alabama, by Frank Alex Luttrell, III, Editor, 2001, page 117.
• Marks - Who Was Who in Alabama, by Henry S. Marks, 1972, page 69.
• Miles - Article titled "Drawing the Line" by Suzannah Smith Miles in wnc: Mountain Living in Western North Carolina (website)
• Nilsson - Why Is It Named That?, by Dex Nilsson, 2005, page 62.
• Point of Beginning - Early Survey Map
• Rankin - The Heritage of Madison County, Alabama, by The Madison County Heritage Book Committee, John P. Rankin, Chairman, pages v, 2, 49.
• Record - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume I, by James Record, 1970, pages 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. 36. 342.
• Walker - Photo by Norm Walker of Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll, May 8, 2005.
• Wikipedia - Red River Expedition
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Gray
• HMCHS
• Luttrell
• Nilsson
• Record