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A Meticulous Study of Modern and "Ancient" Provincial Boundaries
Rare antique map of the United States, illustrating, published by Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to the King and engraved by Jonathan Lodge.
This fascinating map is noteworthy for its inclusion of the table of distances, which first appeared on Lewis Evans' map of the Middle British Colonies.
The map also includes a number of different colonial boundaries, including
- old boundary for the British Colonies noted as "Antient Boundary" (prior to the French & Indian War.)
- old Carolina southern boundary of 1665
- 1738 Florida/Georgia boundary
- "Bounds of Virginia & New England 1609."
- "North Bounds of New England by Charter of 1620"
- "Bounds of Hudson Bay by the Treaty of Utrecht"
Walker's Settlement of 1750 is shown, as are the Welch Settlements west of New Bern, North Carolina.
Walker's Settlement
Dr. Thomas Walker ( 1715-1794) was a physician and explorer from Virginia who led an expedition to what is now the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains area of British North America in the mid-18th century. He was responsible for naming what is now known as the Cumberland Plateau and by extension the Cumberland River for the hero of the time, the Duke of Cumberland. His party were some of the first Englishmen to see this area. Previous white explorers were largely of Spanish and French origins. Walker explored Kentucky in 1750, 19 years before the arrival of Daniel Boone.
On July 12, 1749, the Loyal Land Company was founded with Walker as a leading member. After receiving a grant of 800,000 acres in what is now southeastern Kentucky, the company appointed Walker to lead an expedition to explore and survey the region in 1750. Walker was named head of the Loyal Land Company in 1752.
During the expedition, Walker gave names to many topographical features including the Cumberland Gap. His party built the first non-Indian house (a cabin) in Kentucky (today's Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site). Walker kept a daily journal of the trip.
Welsh Settlement
Groups of Welsh settlers first settled along the Cape Fear River in the 1720s. In the following decade, these Welsh settlers pushed further west to present-day Johnston County. Between 1736 and 1738, Welsh settlers relocated from Delaware to the present-day counties of Anson, Richmond, and Scotland.
Later, in 1746, many Welsh settlers from Bladen County relocated to present-day counties of Stanly and Montgomery.
Rarity
This is the first time we have ever seen the map. The map appeared in the North-American and West-Indian gazetteer, published in London, 1778.
Thomas Jefferys (ca. 1719-1771) was a prolific map publisher, engraver, and cartographer based in London. His father was a cutler, but Jefferys was apprenticed to Emanuel Bowen, a prominent mapmaker and engraver. He was made free of the Merchant Taylors’ Company in 1744, although two earlier maps bearing his name have been identified.
Jefferys had several collaborators and partners throughout his career. His first atlas, The Small English Atlas, was published with Thomas Kitchin in 1748-9. Later, he worked with Robert Sayer on A General Topography of North America (1768); Sayer also published posthumous collections with Jefferys' contributions including The American Atlas, The North-American Pilot, and The West-India Atlas.
Jefferys was the Geographer to Frederick Prince of Wales and, from 1760, to King George III. Thanks especially to opportunities offered by the Seven Years' War, he is best known today for his maps of North America, and for his central place in the map trade—he not only sold maps commercially, but also imported the latest materials and had ties to several government bodies for whom he produced materials.
Upon his death in 1771, his workshop passed to his partner, William Faden, and his son, Thomas Jr. However, Jefferys had gone bankrupt in 1766 and some of his plates were bought by Robert Sayer (see above). Sayer, who had partnered in the past with Philip Overton (d. 1751), specialized in (re)publishing maps. In 1770, he partnered with John Bennett and many Jefferys maps were republished by the duo.