All in the Record: One Couple's Fight to Expose Deceit in Lancaster County, Virginia

Lancaster County, Virginia, is blessed to have some of the oldest and best-kept land records in the United States - and they would come in handy when Robert V. Smart sought to solve a mystery. Smart, who spent his career as a commissioned officer of the United States, first bought land on the Northern Neck in 1971, and a couple years later, he bought some additional land adjoining his first purchase. In March 2013, a certified land surveyor did a survey of land adjoining the land that Smart bought in 1973, and it raised numerous questions about who owned what. So, Smart and his wife, Jena, started conducting research, examining what Virginia code says about survey requirements and tracing the history of their land and the surrounding area ... and they uncovered a magnificent deceit. They share what they discovered in this enlightening narrative that will fascinate and educate attorneys, real estate agents, landowners, and history buffs. In doing so, they unravel a mystery and highlight a fascinating story of hard work, hard times, love, and lies. Join the authors as they seek to resurrect the truth in All in the Record.

The author is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Class of 1966. He served two tours in Vietnam with the Navy before transferring his commission to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Early in his NOAA career the author was assigned to conduct hydrographic surveys. In preparation for this work the author was trained to accomplish geodetic survey work in order to tie hydrographic soundings to shore. This background in surveying proved useful to the author in 2013 when he began to unravel a fraud involving land boundary surveys done for him four decades earlier. The young sea-going officer pictured is the author. The picture was taken shortly after the author transferred his commission to NOAA, and near the time he purchased land in Lancaster County, Virginia.