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Description

Extremely rare Carey & Lea Pocket Map of North Carolina in original covers.

The map is hand colored by counties and shows towns, rivers, roads, court houses, meeting houses, post offices and other details.

This is the earliest pocket maps of North Carolina we have ever seen and the first time we have ever seen a Carey & Lea pocket map. The map appears to be the same as Carey & Lea's Atlas map of North Carolina, without the surrounding text panels.

There is a pastedown advertisement in the inner board, advertising Carey & Lea's maps and atlases then available for sale. The map includes the inscription of its first owner, Walter Terrell (born 1805 in Carolina County, Virginia). The following is an excerpt of an article about Terrell, Connections on the Underground Railroad: A Salem Iowa and Iowa City Line: The Story of A Pioneer Quaker Miller In Iowa, by Lewis D. Savage ( http://www.icelandichorse.info/walterterrelliowacitymiller.html )

Walter Terrell as a young man was employed by Walter Crew the owner of Crewsville Farm and Mills in Hanover County Virginia. Walter Crew had two mills on his farm, the Auburn Mill, a three story stone mill on the South Anna River, and the Taylor's Creek Mill, a three story frame mill on Taylor's Creek. Both mills were equipped for grinding grain, sawing lumber and had blacksmith shops. They also had groceries, yard goods and Postal Service. In addition to learning the milling trade and operation Walter Terrell served as principal of the Washington Henry Academy in Hanover County in the late 1820's.

In 1838 [Terrell] toured the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa on foot. He applied for and in 1840 was granted the right to build, within 3 years, a dam across the Iowa River near Iowa City by the Territorial Assembly. After receiving this authorization to build the dam Walter Terrell journeyed down the Mississippi River to Louisiana.

Walter Terrell returned to Iowa City in time to complete the dam across the Iowa River in 1843, and had his three story mill constructed and in operation in 1844. The Terrell Mill was equipped with six runs (top and bottom) of millstones which were powered by an undershot water wheel. The mill could grind 300 bushels of grain a day, and was equipped to bolt the flour. In a short time a wool-carding machine was added. . . .

Walter Crew settled his family on a farm outside of Salem also maintaining a close contact with his family in Iowa City. While there is not direct reference to running the underground railroad, there was frequent correspondence and visiting between Salem and Iowa City by the Crews with their daughters and son-in-law. Crew family letters tell of traveling with oxen to Iowa City by the Crews to visit their daughters and the mill. While it would seem that the Terrell Mill was on the line of the underground railroad and with the Crews in sympathy, likely the business of the underground railroad was at least conducted this way.

"Father has received your letters, and he requested me to write to sister, Sarah, and say to her that as regards her removal he sees no objection to it whether she will settle in a community purely Quaker, that he would advise her if she moved to settle among Quakers."

-Letter from Izard B Rice to Walter and Sarah Bacon Rice Crew, written 3-13-1847 from South Island plantation Charlotte Co. Va. The letter is written by Izard for his father, William Rice an elderly man about one year before his death.

"I have no doubt but that you have acted prudently, and wisely in determining to go where slavery does not exist amongst members of your own Society."

-Letter from Izard B.Rice to his brother -in-law, Walter Crew 1-8-1849

Condition Description
Original red cloth covers with gilt title and Carey & Lea name on the front. Several dark waterstains and minor fold breaks, else good condition.
Henry Charles Carey Biography

Henry Charles Carey (1793-1879) was an American geography publisher and businessman. He was the son of Mathew Carey and carried on the family publishing company in partnership with his brother-in-law, Isaac Lea. Henry worked in his father’s business from a young age. At twelve, he managed a store selling his father’s publications. At fifteen, he was the firm’s financial manager. In 1817, he became a junior partner, which changed the company’s name to Carey & Son.

In 1822, Mathew Carey brought in a new junior partner, Isaac Lea, who had married Henry’s sister, Frances Anne. In the same year, Mathew Carey left the business, with Henry buying out his father’s share. His younger brother briefly joined the business, but left by 1829, when the firm was named Carey & Lea. William A. Blanchard joined the firm in 1833, causing another name change to Carey, Lea & Blanchard. Henry retired in 1835, leaving the firm as Lea & Blanchard.

Henry had outside interests, including political economy. He published Principles of Political Economy in 1837. He also wrote Past, Present, and Future (1848), Principles of Social Science (1858-1860), and The Unity of Law (1872). In the 1850s, he was very active in organizing the nascent Republican Party. He died in 1879.

Isaac Lea Biography

Isaac Lea (1792-1886) was an American publisher and geologist. Raised a Quaker in Delaware, he turned away from pacifist teachings and joined the militia in the War of 1812. After marrying Frances Anne, the daughter of publishing magnate Mathew Carey, Lea became a junior partner of Carey & Son in 1822. Mathew Carey left the firm in the same year and Isaac Lea worked primarily with his brother-in-law, Henry Charles Carey.

The pair conducted business as Carey & Lea, during which time they published A Complete Historical, Chronological and Geographical Atlas from 1822 to 1827. This work included roughly twenty maps engraved by Fielding Lucas Jr., as well as an American edition of Starling’s Cabinet Atlas. However, the firm increasingly turned away from cartographic publications.

By 1829, after the brief participation of Edward Carey, Henry’s younger brother, the company became known as Carey & Lea. William A. Blanchard joined the firm in 1833, causing another name change to Carey, Lea & Blanchard. Henry retired in 1838, leaving the firm as Lea & Blanchard.

Isaac Lea was not just a publisher, but an avid researcher with aptitude for geology. He was a member of the American Academy of Natural Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He retired from publishing in 1851 and turned increasingly to geological research, results of which he published until his death in 1886.