Map_of_the_State_of_Michigan_and_the_Surrounding_Country

John Farmer (1798 – 1859,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

) was an American educator and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

. Farmer was born February 9, 1798, in

Halfmoon The halfmoon (''Medialuna californiensis''), also known as the blue perch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea chub from the subfamily Scorpidinae, part of the family Kyphosidae. It is native to the coasts of the eastern Pacific Ocean ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1821 he taught map drawing in schools in Albany, New York. Later that year he was recruited to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

by the Regents of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

to serve as principal of a Lancastrian school in

. In 1824 he was employed by surveyor and land speculator Orange Risdon to work with him on a detailed map of Michigan to be completed that year. Anticipating a flood of immigrants from the east when the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

was scheduled to open the following year, Farmer decided to go into the map trade himself, producing his own map of Michigan in 1825. Farmer found the delay and cost of sending his manuscripts east to be engraved in copper for printing time-consuming and expensive. So he taught himself the skill of engraving copper plates, and beginning in 1835 engraved his own plates. Over the following 24 years Farmer produced dozens of maps of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and several cities. He also continuously revised and released new editions of his Michigan maps. The anticipated flood of settlers did arrive, and updated detailed maps showing the public land survey were popular with new arrivals as they contained extraordinary detail of every surveyed township and section. One of his most notable works was ''Map of the State of Michigan and the Surrounding Country'', first issued in 1844 and revised eleven times before his death. His wife, Roxanne Farmer, and son Silas Farmer later issued additional revisions until 1874. All editions after the 3rd were labeled as the "23rd edition," though the year often varied in the

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

, which caused some confusion among map collectors and historians. In 1826 Farmer married Roxanne Hamilton, also of Halfmoon, NY, and had three children, Silas, John, and Esther. Upon Farmer's death on March 24, 1859, Roxanne took over the business as produced several maps, then was succeeded by their oldest son Silas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, John 1798 births 1859 deaths People from Michigan Territory American cartographers Businesspeople from Detroit 19th-century American businesspeople