Benjamin Ellicott (April 17, 1765 – December 10, 1827) was a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, a county

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from the

State of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Biography

Ellicott was born in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, four ...

, on April 17, 1765. In 1789, at approximately 24 years old, he accompanied his brothers

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

and Joseph Ellicott in 1789 to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Province of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

in a survey to determine the western boundary of the

."Benjamin Ellicott" ''in'' At

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

. During 1791, 1792 and 1793, he assisted his brothers in the survey and mapping of the future City of Washington and in the survey of the original boundaries of the District of Columbia, which were established in the Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia. During November–December 1792, he led a survey that helped settle a boundary dispute within the present Ontario County in

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

, which was resolved with the establishment of the Preemption Line. From 1794–1797, he was employed as a surveyor and draftsman for the Holland Land Company, assisting his brother Joseph in surveys of the company's lands in western

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

.(1)
(2) In 1798, he was in charge of the company's surveys in

. In 1803, he became one of the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas of

Genesee County, New York Genesee County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,388. Its county seat is Batavia. Its name is from the Seneca word Gen-nis'-hee-yo, meaning "the Beautiful Valley".THE AMERICAN REVIEW; ...

in Batavia. Ellicott was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

representative from New York to the

Fifteenth Congress The 15th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washingto ...

(March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819) for the 21st District. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1820 to the Seventeenth Congress and succeeded by Nathaniel Allen.

Death

He then retired from active life, and in 1826 moved to

Williamsville, New York Williamsville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 5,423 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an early settler. It is part of the Buffalo- ...

, where he died December 10, 1827. He was interred at the graveyard in Williamsville (Williamsville Cemetery c. 1810). He was re-interred at Batavia Cemetery in

Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is located near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population, as of the 2020 census, ...

, in 1849.

References

External links

"Benjamin Ellicott"
at

Historical Marker Database The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org) is an online database that documents locations of numerous historical markers and commemorative plaques in the United States as well as other countries. The database was launched in 2006 by computer progra ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellicott, Benjamin 1765 births 1827 deaths American surveyors Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) New York state court judges Politicians from Bucks County, Pennsylvania People from Williamsville, New York 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives