Simeon De Witt: Difference between revisions

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'''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 [[1884]] until his death, a time of rapid expansion into the Indian lands of the central and western [[New York]].

De Witt grew up in [[Wawarsing, New York|Wawarsing]] in [[Ulster County, New York]], one of the fourteen children of Jannetje Vernooy and his physician father Dr. Andries De Witt. Simeon was the only graduate of Queens ([[Rutgers]]) College in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]] in [[1776]]. With the capture of New Brunswick by the [[Kingdom of Great BritinBritain|British]] during the war De Witt fled to [[New York City]] where he joined the Revolutionary army.

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]] at age 45, and in December of that year De Witt was promoted to Ersikine’s former position.