Daily AncestorChainman
A chainman was a surveyor's helper who measured distances on the ground with the surveyor's chain, which was 66 feet long.
Before steel tapes, distances were measured with a chain of 100 links, 66 feet long. Federal survey crews had two chainmen, one at each end of the chain, who measured and recorded the distances.
The job title survived among survey assistants long after chains gave way to tapes.
As seen in a recordSurvey of a land grant, early 1800s
Surveyed March 3, 1809, Saml. Ross, Surveyor; Jno. Hart and Wm. Bell, chainmen
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Chainman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/chainman. Last checked 2026-10-10.