Andrew Ellicott 



A name closely associated with that of the Rittenhouse brothers 

 was that of Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) of Solebury, Pennsylvania, 

 and Ellicotts Mills, Maryland. Andrew was the son of Joseph 

 Ellicott, the clockmaker and pioneer industrialist who founded 

 Ellicotts Mills. Although a Quaker, Andrew (fig. 9) served in 

 the Revolution, and he became one of the most distinguished 

 engineers of the new republic. He worked as a clockmaker and 

 instrument maker from 1774 to 1780. In 1784 he ran the boundary 

 between Virginia and Pennsylvania and in the following year he 

 was a member of the survey that continued Mason and Dixon's 

 line. In 1785 and 1786 he served on the Pennsylvania commissions 

 that surveyed the western and northern boundaries of the state, 

 and in 1789 he served on the commission that fixed the boundary 

 between New York and Pennsylvania. Between 1791 and 1793 he 

 surveyed the site of the city of Washington, D.C., and redrew 

 L'Enfant's plan for the city. 



In early 1793 Ellicott was appointed commissioner by the 

 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the project of viewing and 

 locating a road from Reading to Presque Isle, now Erie. It was 

 an extremely difficult undertaking, but Ellicott completed the 

 work by the autumn of 1796, including laying out the towns of 

 Erie, Warren, and Franklin. 



In May 1796 Ellicott was commissioned by President Washington 

 to survey and mark the boundary line between the United States 

 and the Spanish Province of Florida in accordance with the 

 provisions of the Pinkney-Godoy Treaty of October 27, 1795. 

 This line was to begin at the point where the 31st parallel of north 

 latitude intersected the Mississippi River, and to proceed thence 

 along that parallel eastward to the Appalachicola River for about 

 400 miles. 



In 1801 Ellicott was offered the position of surveyor general of 

 the United States by President Jefferson. Ellicott declined, but 

 subsequently accepted the secretaryship of the land office of 

 Pennsylvania, a post he held until 1808. 



In 1811 Ellicott became commissioner to represent Georgia in 

 locating the Georgia-North Carolina boundary, a project on which 

 he was engaged for the major part of the following year. 



In 1815 President Madison appointed Ellicott professor of 

 mathematics at West Point, with the rank of major. This is an 

 appointment he kept until his death in 1820. It was interrupted 



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