Geoff Carver wrote: My favourite surveyor was a guy by the name of henry david thoreau... I find John Eddy the most fascinating of all: http://users.erols.com/jpley/1818map.html I never knew much about Andrew Ellicott (I have all the books about brother Joseph and the Holland Land Company) but it seems I have found another interesting bio to read: http://www.l3-lewisandclark.com/ShowOneObject.asp?SiteID=29&ObjectID=70 http://www.profsurv.com/ps_scripts/article.idc?id=186&f=10&query=ellicott I'm usually more interested in WHAT they surveyed: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyccazen/HLCo/Land/Tracts/PlatV.html Being one who loves maps and if I can't find what suits me I make one that does, you can see why I like surveyors of olde (I like a few modern-day ones, too). Dan W.