Simeon De Witt painted by Ezra Ames

Simeon De Witt (1756 – 1834) was the Geographer and Surveyor-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and Surveyor General of the State of New York for the fifty years from 1784 until his death. Image File history File links Simeon_De_Witt. ... Image File history File links Simeon_De_Witt. ... Ezra Ames (May 5, 1768-February 23, 1836) was a popular portrait painter in Albany, New York during the late 18th and early 19th cenuries. ... Department of the Geographer to the Army: The surveyors and cartographers of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that...

De Witt grew up in Wawarsing in Ulster County, New York, one of fourteen children of Jannetje Vernooy and his physician father Dr. Andries De Witt. De Witt was the only graduate in the class of 1776 at Queens College (now Rutgers College of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. With the capture of New Brunswick by the British during the war, De Witt fled to New York City where he joined the Revolutionary army. Wawarsing is a town located in Ulster County, New York. ... Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the states beautiful Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. ... “Rutgers” redirects here. ... Formerly Queens College The school now called Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered on November 10, 1766 as Queens College, in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818), Queen consort of George III of the United Kingdom. ... “Rutgers” redirects here. ... Nickname: Location of New Brunswick in Middlesex County Coordinates: Country United States of America State New Jersey County Middlesex Established December 30, 1730 Incorporated September 1, 1784 Government  - Type Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council)  - Mayor James Cahill Area  - City  5. ... Nickname: Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1625 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area  - City  468. ...

In June 1778, having been trained as a surveyor by his uncle, James Clinton, De Witt was appointed as assistant to the Geographer and Surveyor of the Army Colonel Robert Erskine and contributed to a number of historically significant maps. Col. Erskine died from a fever in October 2, 1780 and in December of that year De Witt was appointed his replacement. James Clinton (August 9, 1733 – September 22, 1812) was a American Revolutionary War soldier who obtained the rank of major general. ... Department of the Geographer to the Army: The surveyors and cartographers of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. ... Colonel (IPA: or ) is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with the corresponding ranks existing in nearly every country in the world. ... Colonel Robert Erskine (1735-1780) was the Geographer and Surveyor-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. ...

De Witt was married three times. In 1789, he married Elizabeth Lynott, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Van Valkenburgh Lynott. Elizabeth died in 1793, after bearing two children. Around 1791, he married Jane Varick Hardenberg, a widow and niece of the New York City mayor. She died in 1808 — their son, Richard Varick De Witt, became a prominent civil engineer. Simeon’s third wife was Susan Linn. A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering. ...

De Witt held four slaves at his residence in Albany, but by 1810 he had freed them, a common practice of the area. They continued to work in his household. He owned a considerable amount of land in the Finger Lakes area and is considered one of the founders of Ithaca, New York. He was often given credit for giving Classical antiquity Greek and Roman names to the twenty-eight central New York Military Tract townships that his office mapped after the war (to be given to veterans in payment for their military service). More recently, credit has been given to one of his clerks, Robert Harpur, apparently a reader of classical literature. The City of Ithaca (named for the Greek island of Ithaca) sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York State. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... Central New Yorks Military Tract townships. ... A township in the United States refers to a small geographic area, ranging in size from 6 to 54 square miles (15. ... Robert Harpur was a colonial teacher, patriot, pioneer, and landowner who settled in the Binghamton, New York area. ...

Portfolio samples

The following map sections were drawn by, or under the direction of, Simeon De Witt. The originals were not colored as these are.

1. Central New York Military Tract, c. 1792-1793

3. Otsego County, New York, c. 1792-1793

2. Twenty Townships, c. 1792-1793

4. George Croghan's Otsego Patents, c. 1790

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1137x1384, 1806 KB)Central New York Military Tract map drawn by Simeon DeWitt, 1792 or 1793. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1137x1384, 1806 KB)Central New York Military Tract map drawn by Simeon DeWitt, 1792 or 1793. ... Central New Yorks Military Tract townships. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (729x1044, 431 KB)Map of Otsego County, New York c. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (729x1044, 431 KB)Map of Otsego County, New York c. ... Otsego County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. ... Download high resolution version (960x907, 486 KB)Map of the Twenty Townships (called Sale Townships on this map). ... Download high resolution version (960x907, 486 KB)Map of the Twenty Townships (called Sale Townships on this map). ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1358x1152, 566 KB)George Croghans Otsego land patents from the original drawn c. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1358x1152, 566 KB)George Croghans Otsego land patents from the original drawn c. ... There are articles for more than one person named George Croghan. ...

References and external links

• Nation Builders, Ch.1PDF (1.07 MiB), an Army Engineer pamphlet.
• 1802 Map of New York at State University of New York at Stony Brook.
• 1802 Map of Central New York
• Biography of Simeon De Witt on the New York State Museum website.
• Franklin and his Friends
• Peter J. Guthorn, American Maps and Map Makers of the Revolution, Philip Freneau Press, Monmouth Beach, NJ 1966
• Names of Townships in the Military Tract
• Department of the Geographer to the Army Reenacting Unit, Brigade of the American Revolution

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Simeon De Witt