List of Surveyors for William and Mary
This site is currently under construction. Please check back for updates. 05/04/2017.
In the Royal Charter establishing the College of William and Mary, Article XVI appoints the college to serve as the Surveyor-General of the Colony of Virginia and was given the right to examine and license surveyors, collect the license fees and fees for each survey performed. Any who wished a surveyor's license in the Colony or early State of Virginia had to obtain a license in order to conduct surveys in their assigned county. United States Presidents George Washington and alumnus Thomas Jefferson received licenses to survey in Virginia from William and Mary. After the American Revolution, the rate at which William and Mary granted surveying licenses began to decline drastically and ceased entirely by around 1810 (Surveying, University Archives Subject File Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.)
Contents
Material in the Special Collections Research Center
- The University Archives Subject File Collection contains reference files related to surveying at William and Mary as well as examples of surveyor's licenses.
List of Surveyors
The following is a list of surveyors arranged alphabetically by last name, including the year they received their license, and the counties in which they were allowed to survey. Surveyors for companies and counties that would later become states, such as areas in Kentucky and Ohio, are also included. This list was compiled from a variety of sources and cannot be considered exhaustive, and changes will be made as more information becomes available. Many of the William and Mary College records for this era were burned, these records are collected from various sources including extant surveyor's licenses, statements of fees collected from the college for survey's performed, surveys and letters. From Surveying--Lists of Surveyors, University Archives Subject File Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, William & Mary.
| Name | Year | County |
|---|---|---|
| Allen, Arthur | 1704 | Isle of Wight, Surry |
| Anderson, Richard C. | 1784 | Henrico |
| Baker, Henry | 1716 | Nansemond |
| Baker, Richard | 1754 | Isle of Wight |
| Ball, Joseph | 1751 | Lancaster; Northumberland |
| Ball, William | 1718 | Lancaster and Southampton; Northumberland |
| Barrow, Henry | 1795 | Southampton |
| Bland, William | 1764 | Prince George |
| Bolling, Robert | 1702 | Charles City |
| Brooke, Robert | 1745 | Caroline, Essex |
| Buckner, William | 1709 | (Surveyor General) |
| Cabell, William | 1746, 1761, 1783 | Albermarle, Amherst, Amherst |
| Carrington, George | 1734, 1749 | Goochland, Cumberland |
| Cary, Miles | 1699 | (Surveyor General) |
| Claiborne, Nathaniel | 1729 | Spottsylvania |
| Clark, George Rogers | 1784 | (Virginia State Line) |
| Cloyd, Gordon | circa 1800 | Montgomery |
| Cocke, Hartwell | 1749 | Surry |
| Cooke, Thomas | 1707 | Gloucester; Middlesex |
| Cooper, George | 1707 | Northumberland |
| Crawford, William | 1773 | (Ohio Company) |
| Currie, George | 1749 | Prince George |
| Donelson, John | 1767 | Pittsylvania |
| Eastham, James | circa 1791 | Halifax |
| Edmunds, John | 1754 | Sussex |
| Evans, Thomas | circa 1785 | Accomack |
| Ewell, Bertrand | 1751 | Prince William |
| Fontaine, Peter, Jr. | 1748, 1748, 1752 | Charles City, Lunenburg, Halifax |
| Fry, Robert | 1753 | Nansemond |
| Garland, Griffin | circa 1772 | Richmond |
| Garland, Samuel | 1772 | Lunenburg |
| Garland, William | 1746 | Richmond |
| Gray, William | 1749 | Southampton |
| Greenway, James | 1770 | Dinwiddie |
| Gregg, THomas | 1707 | Stafford |
| Hardyman, James | circa 1767 | Charles City |
| Harmanson, John | 1755 | Northampton |
| Harris, Tyree | 1753 | Louisa |
| Hawkins, Jonathan | 1748 | Hanover |
| Herring, Alexander | 1792 | Rockingham |
| Higginbotham, James | 1776, 1788 | Amherst, Amherst |
| Hume, George | 1723 | Spottsylvania |
| Jackson, Christopher | 1717 | James City |
| Jefferson, Peter | 1754, 1756 | Albermarle, Goochland |
| Jefferson, Thomas | 1773 | Albermarle |
| Jennings, Daniel | circa 1749 | Fairfax |
| Jones, Robert | 1749 | Southampton |
| Kemper, Charles | 1800 | Fauquier |
| Kenny, James | 1752 | King George |
| Lee, Henry | 1750 | Culpeper |
| LeNeve, Jonathan | 1752, 1754 | Amelia, Prince Edward |
| Lewis, Thomas | 1744, circa 1775 | Augusta and Rockingham, Botetourt |
| Loury, Jonathan | 1743 | Elizabeth City and Warwick |
| Markham, John | 1756 | Henrico |
| Martin, William Peters | circa 1767 | King William |
| Mauzy, Jonathan | 1744 | Stafford |
| May, George | circa 1780 | (Jefferson and Nelson, Kentucky) |
| May, William | circa 1785 | (Jefferson, Kentucky) |
| Monroe, Spence | 1743 | Westmoreland |
| Mumford, Thomas | circa 1764 | Amelia |
| Nedderton, Henry | 1716 | Westmoreland |
| Nimmo, Gershom | 1756 | Norfolk and Princess Anne |
| Parry, William | 1749, 1750, 1751, 1753 | Charles City and New Kent, James City and York, King and Queen, Middlesex |
| Pettit, William | circa 1772 | Louisa |
| Poage, John | circa 1790 | Augusta |
| Presson, Zorobabel | 1716 | Northampton |
| Preston, Robert | 1774 | Washington |
| Preston, William | 1769 | Botetourt |
| Price, Meredith | circa 1772 | Goochland |
| Read, Clement | 1754 | Lunenburg |
| Scarburgh, Edmund | 1756 | Accomack |
| Sclater, John | 1718 | York |
| Sclater, Richard | 1716 | York |
| Smith, John | 1708 | Gloucester |
| Smith, John | 1757 | Goochland |
| Stewart, Andrew | 1778 | Norfolk |
| Stith, Buckner | 1754 | Bedford |
| Stith, Drury | 1740 | Brunswick |
| Stith, Richard | circa 1770 | Bedford |
| Stone, Joshua | circa 1785 | Pittsylvania |
| Syme, John | 1717 | New Kent |
| Taylor, Edmund | circa 1765 | Mecklenburg |
| Taylor, James | circa 1785 | Caroline |
| Taylor, Zachery | 1751 | Orange |
| Thomly, Aaron | circa 1775 | King George |
| Thompson, James | 1781 | (Lincoln, Kentucky) |
| Thompson, William | 1773 | Fincastle |
| Thornton, William | 1707 | Richmond |
| Throckmorton, Jonathan | 1753 | Gloucester |
| Tomson, Thomas | 1707 | Westmoreland |
| Tunstall, Richard, Jr. | circa 1765 | King and Queen |
| Tyler, Francis | 1754 | Hampshire |
| Vaiden, Joseph | circa 1786 | Charles City |
| Waller, George, Jr. | circa 1795 | Henry |
| Washington, George | 1749 | Culpeper |
| Watkins, Benjamin | 1752 | Prince George |
| Watkins, William | 1752 | Dinwiddie |
| Weeks, Benjamin | 1755 | Westmoreland |
| Wesson, John | circa 1774 | Surry |
| West, George | 1754 | Fairfax and Loudoun |
| West, John, Jr. | 1749 | Fairfax |
| Whitesides, Thomas | circa 1775 | Henrico |
| Wood, James | 1734, 1745 | Orange, Frederick |
| Woods, Robert | circa 1785 | (Ohio) |
External Links / Further Reading
From Williamsburg to Wills Creek the Fry Jefferson Map of Virginia, an Exhibition at the Library of Virginia, 2009.
Need help?
To search for further material, visit the Special Collections Research Center's Search Tool List for an overview of the Special Collections Database, W&M Digital Archive, Flat Hat-William & Mary News-Alumni Gazette index, card catalogs, and other tools available to help you find material of interest in William & Mary Libraries Special Collections Research Center.
Questions? Contact the Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090, or visit the Special Collections Research Center in the Earl Gregg Swem Library at William & Mary.
| A Note About The Contents Of This Wiki |
|---|
| The information available in this wiki is the best available from known documents and sources at the time it was written. Unfortunately, many of the early original records of William & Mary were destroyed by fires, military occupation, and the normal effects of time. Information in this wiki is not complete as new information continues to be uncovered in Swem Library's Special Collections Research Center and elsewhere. Researchers are strongly encouraged to use the Special Collections search tools for their research as the information contained in this wiki is by no means comprehensive. |
