16 Facts About Joseph Ellicott

1.

Joseph Ellicott was an American surveyor, city planner, land office agent, lawyer and politician of the Quaker faith.

2.

Joseph Ellicott was the son of Quaker miller Joseph Ellicott and Judith Blaker.

3.

In 1790, his brother Andrew Joseph Ellicott was hired by the federal government to survey the new federal district, where the new capital city of Washington was to be built.

4.

Joseph Ellicott was Andrew's chief assistant during the latter part of the survey.

5.

Joseph Ellicott was sent to Georgia to survey the boundary line, established by treaty with the Creek tribe.

6.

Joseph Ellicott was then engaged to survey some property in western Pennsylvania which had been purchased by a group of Dutch investors, who had formed the Holland Land Company.

7.

Joseph Ellicott extended the New York - Pennsylvania border westward.

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8.

Joseph Ellicott spent two years living outdoors in summer and winter, laying out the townships of the new land in order to complete the Great Survey of the land in October 1800.

9.

Joseph Ellicott was an observer for the investors at the Big Tree Treaty when the Senecas sold their rights to the land in Western New York.

10.

Joseph Ellicott advocated a canal to be built from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and was among the Erie Canal Commissioners appointed in 1816 to supervise the canal construction, but resigned in 1818 due to ill health.

11.

Joseph Ellicott arranged for the contribution of more than 100,000 acres of company land to this project.

12.

Joseph Ellicott offered some selected parcels free upon condition that the buyer would establish a mill or an inn, to help stimulate growth in the area.

13.

In later years, Joseph Ellicott became the target of complaints by citizens who were unhappy with the land company.

14.

Joseph Ellicott was held responsible for the state of New York's decision not to buy up unsold land of the land company, and he retired in 1821.

15.

Joseph Ellicott then attempted to finance the purchase of the unsold land himself, but no one would join his venture, and he had to abandon the plan.

16.

Joseph Ellicott was a presidential elector in 1804, voting for Thomas Jefferson and George Clinton.