3/31/08

Robertstown - wouldn’t you know, named after a guy named Roberts
No entries for a month —then two in 24 hours. Easter Sunday I was in Robertstown checking on a few things and taking some photos when I bumped into a few locals who told me you could see Robertstown from a grave yard across the river (Chatahoochie). So I decided to check it out and drove across the bridge and up a road on the opposite side, up a hill and found the entrance to a graveyard that I had not noticed before. Sure enough when you walked to the edge of the yard you could see down to Robertstown and the square. I looked around a bit and came upon a grave that looked to be the oldest in the yard. It was very unique in that it had a carved tent like top of fine marble and on the sides was inscribed : To Charles Roberts Born Weedon Beck Northhamptonshire England, Died at Atlanta (22 May 1907) aged 44 years.
When I got home I did a search and found a historical society in Weedon Beck and emailed the photo above to them. Next day came the response:
Dear Ed Many thanks for the photographs and details. I have found Charles on the 1871 census age 8, living with his parents in Weedon. His father is a builder. He was not found in the 1881 census but in 1891, he is recorded at his parents home (now at Gayton, about 8 miles from Weedon) as ‘son, visitor’ and his occupation is given as asst engineer, DPW India (DPW seems to be Department of Public Works). Also with him was another engineer, born in India who was presumably visiting home with him. I cannot find out anything about him in Robertstown, other than it was named after a Charles Roberts who apparently owned the land on which it was built. The Ellis Island website has him arriving in New York on Feb 18 1895 on The Servia. again, he is recorded as an engineer. Hopefully, someone else may be able to add to these details and if so, I will let you know. Once again, many thanks for passing on this information. With kind regards Angela Northants FHS

So this is the guy who Robertstown is named after. Interesting in that he was only in America twelve years before he died at a very young 44. He must have been fairly wealthy and if his grave is any indication some one well respected. I have searched for more information on the web without luck — I’ll see if the locals can fill me in.

3/30/08

Final design meeting set—Property mystery solved
It's been quite a while since entries. There is a meeting at the architect’s this Friday after a delay of a week to review the plans. My builder will be attending too. They should be close to done on the design side. I’m sure there will be some changes but I should have enough to go to the bank with—I’m very excited to see them. This might be the formal start of construction.

I did some detective work on the Methodist church property. I e-mailed White County’s mapping office and they were very kind to provide me with a satellite map of the area. It does not show any additional property the other side of my building other than the lot owned by Mrs. Henry. I then e-mailed the assessors office and after a few back and forths got this in final answer:
“After talking to a co-worker who is familiar with the properties, we realized that our mapping was not correct. We show you own the old Robertstown school house on .33 acres (plat book 58, page 72) and the little house south of you belongs to Mrs. Allison. So that means your property IS ADJACENT TO Angela Henry’s property at the end, near Elrod St. She owns the last 50 feet between your building and Elrod St. We have corrected our maps to show this arrangement. Previous tax bills have been verified as for the correct acreage and buildings.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
The parcel we showed as being owned by the Community Evangelical Methodist Church does not exist, and the parcel records have been deleted to correct our records.
So, now, parcel H04E-039 is Allison to your south, H04E-040 is your property, and Ho2e-041 is Angela Henry on the corner.”

So this clears up the question of ownership and my hope to pick up some room on that side. Mrs. Henry owns all that land and I must now get her permission for the roof overhang. I called her but she is elderly and I’m not sure if she knew what I was talking about. I will send her a letter like I did with the Allisons to see if we can get a written easement. I am still worried about access to our building though her lot and possible damage to her property.