Boundaries: How the Mason-Dixon Line Settled a Family

Reviewed by: Ann Marie Townsend - South Berwick Public Library , South Berwick , Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: November 8, 2014

Review

This is a well researched,comprehensive work on the Mason-Dixon Line.It begins with the history that leads to why the line was surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon,the actual process of the survey,and what the Line became as a geographical and cultural boundary. It begins in England with the Calvert and Penn families,Catholic and Protestant divisions, religious persecution, politics, and royal charters of land in America. The boundaries of the land were not clear and began to cause conflict,so Mason and Dixon were hired to survey the boundary. The process of surveying a difficult territory began. Politics, financing, sickness, wilderness, Indian conflicts and weather created difficulties. The process,the equipment and instruments are meticulously described. Included are an introduction, photographs maps,primary sources, epilogue, author's note, source notes, bibliography, photography credits and index. This is complete, but a little dry at times. The beginning history,seemed to be more about religious persecution in England, and English history and left me wondering what it had to do with the topic, but explains why and how the land was settled and why the boundary needed to be surveyed. Included what the Line would come to mean during the civil war and after. Some of the descriptions of the calculations are complex, but well done.

Overall Book Score: very good