200 yr old Surveyor

ย John Veatch has had a lot of experience surveying near the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately the John Veatches of the world have a pension for being 20 years ahead of their time.ย ย  If youโ€™re a history buff you might enjoy this.

ย 

John Veatch came from a preacherโ€™s family, growing up in Indiana and Kentucky.

His father was also a member of the Indiana legislature. He received a good education with background in medicine, geology, and botany. In 1829 at the age of 21 he traveled south to New Orleans where he taught school, married and had a family of his own. The lure of the land caused him to immigrate to Texas in 1833. In 1835 he presented himself to Jorge Antonio Nixon; who had become a citizen of Mexico and was appointed land commissioner in East Texas, requesting the land grant that he was entitled to as a colonist. In picking out his land, he split his certificate placing part in Jefferson County southeast of the ravine of Tevis because of the โ€œmineral waterโ€ there, which happened to be the remaining land on what would later be some of the most valuable land in Texas-acreage at Sour Lake and Spindletop oilfields. ย Coincidence? I think not! Veatch spent several years around Bevil and Town Bluff where he practiced medicine and surveying.ย  As we now know oil was discovered there some fifty years after Veatch left to seek his fortune in California looking for gold and silver. ย There his major find was borax. ย He was elected as a delegate from the municipality of Bevil to the Consultation of 1835 and secured additional land in the Zavala grant through his surveying practice. โ€œIn Oct. 1835, John McGaffey and Dr. John Veatch dragged measurement chains and survey instruments across the McGaffey league (4,426 acres) and McGaffey labor (177 acres), mostly through marsh landโ€.ย  By 1850 he had moved to San Antonio and amassed $15,000 in real property.

ย 

As for me I have watched with some personal interest the land surveying profession wrestle, as have most professions, with the emerging digital revolution.ย  For most of the past 50 years land surveyors have been scaling the mountain of new technologies and as they approach the summit they are just now beginning to recognize that I have been up there waiting for them for about 20 years.ย ย 

ย 

John Veatch, Urban Planner, Civil Engineer and Land Surveyor

ย 

โ˜…
โ˜…
โ˜…
โ˜…
โ˜…
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Land Surveyors United - Surveying Education Community to add thoughts!

Join Land Surveyors United - Surveying Education Community

Log into community to no longer see ads

Land Surveying Guides

Our Blog Sitemap

 
 

Explore Surveying Locally

USA Surveying Forums
Asia Surveying Forums
Africa Surveying Forums
Middle East Surveying Forums
European Surveying Forums
South American Surveying Forums
Oceania Surveying Forums
Surveying Equipment Support Forums
Search Survey Photos
Add Posts, Surveying Photos, Videos and Articles to the Surveyor Community
Add Stuff to Community

 


 
 
 

 

 

Latest in Surveyor Community

Justin Farrowโ€™s photo was featured in Surveyors Online Toolbox
GlobeZilla User Guide
Welcome to GlobeZilla, an interactive tool that lets you project custom equirectangular maps onto a 3D globe, adjust settings like rotation speed, background, and size, and even create GIFs of your globe in action. This guideโ€ฆ
17 hours ago
Justin Farrowโ€™s photo was featured in Surveyors Online Toolbox
ย 
Overview of the Historic Land Surveyor Locations from a Land Surveyor's Perspective
The Historic Land Surveyor Locations page provides an interactive map of significant landmarks related to surveying history across the world. By integratingโ€ฆ
18 hours ago
Jennifer Reeder is now a member of Land Surveyors United - Surveying Education Community
20 hours ago
Chris Wall and Sabinus Chinenye Ugwuanyi joined Land Surveyors United - Surveying Education Community
Land Surveyor Land Surveyor
yesterday
Joshua Parker and Frederic Cann joined Land Surveyors United - Surveying Education Community
Land Surveyor Not a Surveyor
Sunday
Episode 235 - Dr. Tony Nettleman, Attorney, Educator, Author, Speaker & Mentor via GeoRadio- All Land Surveyor Podcasts in One

Such an interesting conversation! The guys were joined this week by the one and only Dr. Tony Nettleman. Tony is a Land Surveyor, Real Property Attorney, Author, Speaker, and Educator, who has been practicing for over 25 years. Dr. Nettlemanโ€ฆ

Sunday
Justin Farrowโ€™s discussion was featured in Continuing Education
Ethics courses, while commonly required as part of the Continuing Education (CE) for Professional Land Surveyors, differ in terms of the specific requirements, the number of hours, and how these courses are integrated into the overall CEโ€ฆ
Nov 12
Justin Farrow favorited Justin Farrow's discussion Exploring How US States Differences for Ethics in Continuing Education in Continuing Education
Nov 12
Moreโ€ฆ