- Simeon De Witt
Simeon De Witt (1756 Wawarsing,
Ulster County, New York -December 3 ,1834 Ithaca, New York ,Tompkins County, New York ) was Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army during theAmerican Revolution and Surveyor General of the State of New York for the fifty years from 1784 until his death.Life
He was one of fourteen children of
physician Dr. Andries De Witt and Jannetje Vernooy De Witt. He was the only graduate in the class of 1776 at Queens College (nowRutgers College ofRutgers University inNew Brunswick, New Jersey . After the capture of New Brunswick by the British during the war, De Witt fled toNew York City where he joined the Revolutionary Army.In June 1778, having been trained as a surveyor by
James Clinton , the husband of Simeon's aunt Mary, De Witt was appointed as assistant to the Geographer and Surveyor of the ArmyColonel Robert Erskine and contributed to a number of historically significant maps. After Erskine's death in 1780, De Witt was appointed to his post. In 1784, he was appointed New York State Surveyor General and died in office 50 years later, having been re-appointed and re-elected several times. Although he was a first cousin ofDeWitt Clinton and a Democratic-Republican, he was never removed from office. Both Federalists andBucktails recognized his outstanding qualification for the office.De Witt was married three times. In 1789, he married Elizabeth Lynott (1767-1793, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Van Valkenburgh Lynott), and they had two children. In 1799, he married Jane Varick Hardenbergh (d. 1808, widow of Abraham Hardenbergh [1756-1794] , and sister of
Richard Varick ), and their son, Richard Varick De Witt, became a prominentcivil engineer . Later, Simeon married Susan Linn.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 givingClassical antiquity Greek and Roman names to the twenty-eightcentral 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.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.{|||
References and external links
*, an Army Engineer pamphlet.
* [http://www.sunysb.edu/libmap/DeWitt.htm 1802 Map of New York] atState University of New York at Stony Brook .
* [http://users.erols.com/jpley/1802map.html 1802 Map of Central New York]
* [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/d/sdewitt.html Biography of Simeon De Witt] on theNew York State Museum website.
* [http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/franklin/dewitt.htm "Franklin and his Friends"]
* Peter J. Guthorn, "American Maps and Map Makers of the Revolution", Philip Freneau Press, Monmouth Beach, NJ 1966
* [http://home.hetnet.nl/~fatcat/military.html Names of Townships in the Military Tract]
* [http://www.armygeographer.org Department of the Geographer to the Army Reenacting Unit, Brigade of the American Revolution]
* [http://christchurchmanlius.org/tour_20-39.htm Hardenbergh family info] at Christ Church Cemetery, Manlius
* [http://www.mrjumbo.com/contents/genealogy/dewitt/tjerck/histulstco.html] De Witt genealogy at Mr. Jumbo
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