Sign In

Early Thomas Vickroy Surveys in Western Pennsylvania

Fascinating set of 4 hand drawn maps on a single sheet of paper, all dated January 1785 and February 1785, and signed "To John Lukens Esq, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, for Alexander MClean, and signed by Thomas Vickroy, as surveyor.

The present hand drawn surveys were drawn by a young Thomas Vickroy shortly after he completed his work on the first official survey of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1784.  Drawn for Colonel Alexander McClean, then Deputy Surveyor of Pennsylvania under the direction of Pennsylvania Surveyor General, John Lukens, this must be among the earliest surviving works in the hands of this important early Pennsylvania surveyor.

The maps show surveys of land in what was then Bedford County (prior to the creation of Somerset County in 1795), with two maps on each side of the sheet and include lands on the Little Youghiogheny River, Casselman River, Flaugherty's Creek, 

Thomas Vickroy

Thomas Vickroy (1756-1845) served as an officer under General George Washington during the Revolution. Following the revolution, Vickroy traveled west, and by 1784, he was working as a surveyor with Colonel George Woods, where he conducted the first Official Survey of Pittsburgh, between May 1784 and July 1784, in conjunction with the sale of lands of the Penn family.   The survey established the future boundaries of Pittsburgh.

Colonel Alexander McClean

Alexander McClean would be Colonel Alexander McClean (1746-1834), who is perhaps best known as a surveyor for his participation in the survey of the Mason-Dixon Line between 1766 and 1767, and later, with Joseph Neville of Virginia, set out the temporary boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia by continuing the Mason-Dixon Line an additional 23 miles to the Ohio River.  Shortly after the date of this map, beginning in June 1786, McClean and Colonel Andrew Porter would lead a survey party to survey a portion of the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania.  A portion of his diary survives in the collection of the Ohio Historical Society. 

Other land owners named include:

• Chew & Wilcocks
• Hugh Robinson Junior
• Andrew Borndrager
• Frederick Sap
• Henry Ambroser
• John Hiler
• John Olinger
• Michael Braniser
• John Burger
• John Youther
• Heirs of Wentle Server
• Jacob Houghstadler

Rarity

We were unable to locate any other surveys in the hand of Thomas Vickroy.

OCLC locates a single printed document by Vickroy in the Michael Zinman Collection of Early American Imprints.