Have you ever found a land deed for an ancestor that measured distance in poles or chains or used trees and streams as boundary marks? This early system of land surveying, known as the indiscriminate survey system or metes and bounds, was used in the original thirteen American colonies, plus Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and parts of Ohio. Learn how to turn these funny deed descriptions into a physical plat that you can pinpoint on a map with this guide to platting the land of your ancestors.