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Important early map of Michigan and Wisconsin, hand colored by counties and showing extraordinary detail throughout, from John Farmer, Michigan's first map local mapmaker.
John Farmer is perhaps the single most important map maker and surveyor in the history of the mapping of Michigan. Farmer was invited by Governor Cass and the trustees of the University of Michigan to move from Albany, New York to Michigan in 1821. His first major work was the surveying and creation of the first published map of Michigan. In 1825, he issued the first of a number of printed maps of Michigan, Wisconsin, Lake Superior, and Detroit, most of which he also engraved.
In 1831, Farmer compiled and drew for the governor and judges of the state the first and only map of Detroit. Farmer's early maps were extremely influential in promoting the extensive emigration to Michigan that occurred between 1825 and 1840. John Farmer's son, Silas, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1839 and was brought up working in his father's business, where he continued the publication of maps well into the 1880s. For a period of time, Farmer's maps were licensed to J.H. Colton.
The present example, published in 1863, is the 2nd edition of this map of Michigan published by Farmer in Detroit under his own name. The Second edition may be distinguished from the first as the first to include Silas Farmer's name, listing him as the successor to his father.
John Farmer first became a school teacher and taught map drafting among other topics in upstate New York.
At the time, Michigan Territory was in need of teachers. In December 1821 the board of University of Michigan in Detroit (still only primary and secondary education) offered Farmer a position as head of the Lancasterian School.
Trained as a draftsman, Farmer supplemented his income by copying surveyor's township maps and selling the maps to new settlers. He also drew for the Treasurer of the United States a map of Michigan’s first real road, which had been funded by the federal government and assisted Orange Risdon in his map of the surveyed part of Michigan. When Risdon’s project stalled, Farmer ended up publishing his own detailed map of the state in 1826.
By 1830, Farmer had created a new large format map of Michigan which had so much detail that the engraving of the map had to be outsourced to engravers in New York City. This Map of the Surveyed Part of the State of Michigan depicts in great detail the southern half of Michigan’s lower peninsula.
Farmer also produced regional maps starting in 1835 when both Michigan and Wisconsin were still mere territories, ontinuously revising them over the years to reflect changes in development. Frustrated by the delays and costs associated with sending his manuscripts east for copper engraving, Farmer taught himself the art of copperplate engraving. By 1835, he was engraving his own plates, enabling him to produce maps more efficiently and affordably. Over the next two decades, Farmer issued dozens of maps, continuously updating and revising them to reflect new survey data and the evolving landscape of Michigan and Wisconsin. His works became indispensable to new settlers, offering extraordinary detail that facilitated land acquisition and settlement.
After a few years Farmer sold the publishing rights to his maps to eastern publisher J. H. Colton and turned his attention to mapping new communities and became involved in the formation of a Detroit Board of School Inspectors.
One of Farmer’s most significant contributions was the Map of the State of Michigan and the Surrounding Country, first published in 1844. This map was revised eleven times during Farmer’s lifetime, with subsequent updates by his wife, Roxanne, and his son, Silas, continuing until 1874. Notably, editions of this map after the third were consistently labeled as the "23rd edition," with varying dates in the cartouche—a quirk that has intrigued and occasionally confused map collectors and historians.
Farmer’s meticulous work not only documented Michigan’s development but also played a vital role in shaping the state’s cartographic history. His maps captured the rapid transformation of the region as it transitioned from a frontier territory to a settled state.
In 1826, Farmer married Roxanne Hamilton, also a native of Halfmoon, New York. The couple had three children: Silas, John, and Esther. Following John Farmer’s death on March 24, 1859, Roxanne assumed control of his mapmaking business, producing several maps herself. She later passed the enterprise to their eldest son, Silas, who continued the family tradition of cartography.
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