| Hildebrands map of Borden's Grant shows the distribution of land at the time of Borden's death in 1743. The dates shown on his original map are when title was actually conveyed. In many cases, this transfer did not occur until many years after Borden death. This version is based on the original, but simplified to focus on the property boundaries, and in particular to show lands that were not claimed at Borden's death.
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In some cases these unclaimed lands represent "leftovers" created when surveyors established the boundaries of the individual parcels; in these cases the "leftover" was simply too small for anyone to farm. Larger unclaimed areas, known as "barrens", were of limited use for farming, and so passed over by the settlers in favor of other land. Eventually, all of these vacant areas would be taken up, but in 1743 their existence elicited little interest. Where a settler choose to settle says something about his goals, and intentions, and may give insight into his other actions. Proximity to unclaimed lands may suggest something about the quality of the land he did choose, or perhaps about his economic condition at the time of the acquisition.
For future work:
(It would also be worthwhile to point to the differences in this version of Hildebrands map and that presented on Rootsweb. Some of the "unclaimed" parcels on Rootsweb version were in fact shown as claimed in Hildebrand's original. In some cases this is simply a difference in interpretation. In several cases the Rootsweb version does not recognize the "continuation" symbol that Hildebrand used to show that certain adjacent parcels were actually a single parcel, separated by some physical feature such as a stream. In some cases the rootsweb map shows slight differences in property boundaries, which may indicate that they have revisted Hildebrands original data, or may simply reflect interpretational differences. See Key to Borden's Grant Base Map for another view showing unclaimed lands.)
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