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Description

Fine example of the second edition of Bossler's map of Ohio, the first printed map of Ohio. The map is actually one sheet from the seminal Bishop Madison 6-sheet A Map of Virginia formed from actual surveys and the latest as well as most accurate observations . . . . published in Richmond, Virginia in 1807 (total map size 71 x 46 inches).

Bossler's inset map is one of the earliest maps of Ohio based upon an actual survey and was sufficiently rare that it is not listed in Smith's The Mapping of Ohio, despite being much larger and more detailed than virtually all other Ohio maps of the period. Completed in 1805, the original manuscript version of the map was presented to the legislatrue, which elected not to fund the publication of the map. As a result, the map was published by subscription and as a result is now very rare on the market. The map was extensively revised for the second edition of the map, making this early edition all the more rare and desirable.

The first edition of the map shows the Ohio Company's Purchase, Virginia Military Tract, several early counties on the Great Miami River, the Seven Ranges (with 3 early counties), Military Tract and the New Connecticut and Indiana Lands. The Idian Boundary is also noted, as are the lands ceded by the Indians following the Treaty of Greenville in 1794. Several early forts are listed (F. Adams, F. Recovery, F. Definance, F. Greenville) as are a number of early settlements. The second edition is the first to note the "Lands Granted To Suffers by Fire in the American Revolutionary War," and is updated and includes 44 counties and a more extensive road system with Ohio, among other features. It also includes an early reference ot Michigan Territory, following the expansion of the Territory to west f Lake Michigan.

Engraved by Frederick Bossler and based upon the work of Wlliam Prentis and Willaim Davis derived from local surveyors, it is considered the most authoritative map of Virignia until Hermann Boye's map of 1827. The map is popularly referred to has the Bishop Madison map, for the reasons discussed below.

Bishop James Madison was the first cousin of President James Madison. He served as Presdient of William & Marry College for 35 years. As President, he and the board of Trustees for the college were responsible until 1779 for selecting Virginia's Surveyor General. Madison served on the commission that defined the Virginia-Pennsylvania Boundary in 1779. As a result of these activities, he became aware of the need for an updated map of the Commonwealth, which would improve upon the Fry & Jefferson map. Madison began work on the map in 1802. Among other things, he sought to provide the first detrailed treatment of the roads in Virginia and to delineate the new developments in the westerrn part of the state and to make general improvements to the accurate mapping of the Commonwealth. He was assisted at times by his first cousin, the future President Madison, and by Thomas Jefferson. The Western and Middle Regions are based upon the earliest surveys of the counties in these regions.

After Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, European-American settlement of Ohio began with the founding of Marietta during 1778 by the Ohio Company of Associates and American pioneers to the Northwest Territory. These pioneers to the Ohio Country included American Revolutionary War veterans, who with their families composed much of the first generation of settlers. They established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opened the westward expansion of the new country.

The Miami Company ettled land in the southwestern section of Ohio. The Connecticut Land Company administered settlement in the Connecticut Western Reserve in present-day Northeast Ohio. A heavy flood of migrants came from New York and especially New England, where there had been a growing hunger for land as population increased before the Revolutionary War. Most moved to Ohio by wagon and stagecoach, which followed former Indian paths such as the Northern Trace. American settlement of the Northwest Territory was resisted by Native Americans in the Northwest Indian War. The natives were eventually conquered by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. They ceded much of present-day Ohio to the United States by the Treaty of Greenville the next year.

The United States created the Northwest Territory in 1787 under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The Northwest Territory originally included areas previously called Ohio Country and Illinois Country. As Ohio prepared for statehood, Indiana Territory was carved out, reducing the Northwest Territory to approximately the size of present-day Ohio plus the eastern half of Michigan's lower peninsula. In 1802, Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1802 that outlined the process for Ohio to seek statehood. On February 19, 1803, President Jefferson signed the act of Congress that approved Ohio's boundaries and constitution. Congress did not pass a specific resolution formally admitting Ohio as the 17th state. The current custom of Congress' declaring an official date of statehood did not begin until 1812, when Louisiana was admitted as the 18th state. On August 7, 1953 (the year of Ohio's 150th anniversary), President Eisenhower signed an act that officially declared March 1, 1803 the date of Ohio's admittance into the Union.

An essential map for Ohio Collectors.

Condition Description
1 uncut sheet with deckled edges