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Kings MS 210-211

Record Id:

036-002017152

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002016915

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000030.0x00014b

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Kings MS 210-211

Title:

'REPORT of the General Survey in the Southern District of North America: delivered to the Board of Trade and Plantations in three seperate returns and sections, entering with the history of South Carolina and Georgia, then proceeding to the history of East Florida', &c. ; by William Gerard de Brahm, appointed Surveyor-General of the District 26 June, 1764. The report is compiled (see vol. 1, f. 2 b) from his surveys and observations made 1751-1771, and is accompanied by numerous maps and plans drawn by himself, hydrographical and other tables, &c. A fair copy, in two volumes. Vol. 1 appears to have been presented by the author to George III, 2 Apr. 1773 (see vol. 2, f.2). It contains :-(a) Letter from the author to the King, undated. f. 1;-(b) 'Advertisement', in which he gives some account of himself and his labours. f. 2 b;-(c) South Carolina, ending (ff. 33 b, 36 b) with Cherokee- English and English-Cherokee vocabularies. f. 3 (d) Georgia, preceded (f. 41) by a letter to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, 1772. f. 42;-(e) East Florida, ch. 1-3, preceded (f. 65) by a letter to [William Legge,] Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, undated. f. 66. This section of the survey of E. Florida includes a summary history of Florida from 1513 to 1763, when it was ceded to Great Britain, a list of British inhabitants, 1763-1771 (f. 70 b), a weather-chart, July 1767-Apr. 1770 (f. 76), and general surveys of the north and east boundaries. Vol. 2 contains East Florida, ch. 4-8, preceded by a letter to George III (after Oct. 1773). It ends with ' Directions for navigation in the Florida [or Gulf] Stream from the Gulf of Mexico' (f. 54), with charts and a ' Hydrographical Map of the Atlantic Ocean', 1771 (f. 57), and with proposals for two ' Pharuses' on the Florida promontory (ff. 64, 69), giving a 'view and profile'. Ch. 8 (f.66) deals with 'the Indian Boundaries', with a list (f. 67 b) of English proprietors of lands 'within the Indian Reserve'. The survey of S. Carolina, with the letter to the King and 'Advertisement', is printed in P. C. J. Weston's Documents conn. with South Carolina, 1856, p. 161; and that of Georgia, with the letter to the Board of Trade, &c., and six maps, under the title History of the province of Georgia, ed. G. Wymberley-Jones, Wormsloe, 1849. Neither text is taken from the present copy.

The original materials in four folio volumes were given by De Brahm in 1798 to Phineas Bond, British Consul General at Philadelphia (Wymberley-Jones, p. 5). Two volumes are lost, but the other two (bound in one) now belong to Harvard University (C. M. Andrews and F. G. Davenport, MS. Materials in the Brit. Mus, for the Hist. of the U. S., Washington, 1908, p. 27). The text (the Georgia section of which was used by Wymberley-Jones) differs in places from this copy. It includes the surveys of all three provinces, and the contents of the two lost volumes are therefore uncertain. Paper; ff. 102, 70. Folio. 14 ¹/₂ in. x 9 ¹/₂ in.(with folded maps, &c.). A.D. 1773 and 1774 (?).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

King's Manuscripts

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002016915
036-002017152

Is part of:

Kings MS 1-446 : King's Manuscripts

Kings MS 210-211 : 'REPORT of the General Survey in the Southern District of North America: delivered to the Board of Trade and Plantations in…

Contains:

Kings MS 210 : Vol. I, ff. 102, 1773.A detailed geographical description of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, authored by William…
Kings MS 211 : Vol. II, 70, 1774 (?).

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Kings MS 210-211

Hierarchy:

032-002016915[0133]/036-002017152

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Kings MS 1-446

Record Type (Level):

Series

Extent:

2 items

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1773

End Date:

1775

Date Range:

1773-1774?

Era:

Access:

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Information About Copies:

There are two complete originals of the Report. The one in the British Library has DeBrahm’s inscription that he personally presented it to King George III. The other one was apparently DeBrahm’s personal copy that he retained. It is now in the Harvard University Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both copies were written directly by DeBrahm or under his direct supervision. The wording in the two versions does not vary substantially.

The Harvard copy is now online at https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=HVD2&search_scope=everything&tab=everything&lang=en_US&docid=01HVD_ALMA212099377020003941

Publications:

Published Books Authored by DeBrahm:

De Brahm, John Gerar William. Apocalyptic Gnomon Points Out Eternity's Divisibility Rated with Time Pointed at by Gnomons Sidereals. Philadelphia: Francis & Robert Bailey, 1795.

---. The Atlantic Pilot. London: Printed for the Author by T. Spilsbury, 1772. Reprint. Bicentennial Floridiana facsimile series. Gainesville, University Presses of Florida, 1974.

---. De Brahm's Zonial Tables for the Twenty-five Northern and Southern Climates: In which, for every Five Minutes Difference of Latitude, the Parallel with all the Degrees, for each Degree all Minutes, and for each Minute all Seconds, are Calculated in Links, at 100 per 66 Feet. London: Printed by T. Spilsbury, 1774.

---. History of the Province of Georgia: With Maps of Original Surveys. Now First Printed. Edited by George Wymberley Jones. Wormsloe [Isle of Hope, Chatham County, Ga.:] Privately printed, 1849.

---. The Levelling Balance and Counter-balance, or, The Method of Observing, by the Weight and Height of Mercury on any Place of Terra-firma on the Terrestial Globe, the Exact Weight and Altitude of the Atmosphere below and above the Place of Observation: thereby to Ascertain how much the Horizon of the Sea is Lower than the Place whereon the Observation is Made. London: Printed for the author by T. Spilsbury, 1774.

---. "Philosophico-Historico-Hydrogeography of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida." In Documents Connected with the History of South Carolina, edited by Plowden Charles Jennett Weston, pages 155-227. London: 1856.

---. Sum of Testimonies of Truth. [Philadelphia?]: [publisher not identified], 1795.

---. Time: An Apparition of Eternity. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, 1791.

---. Voice of the Everlasting Gospel. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson, 1792.

---. Zeits Rechenschafft. Ephrata in Pensilvania: [Gedruckt bey Salomon Mayer?], 1794.

De Brahm, William Gerard. De Brahm's Report of the General Survey in the Southern District of North America. Edited by Louis Carpenter De Vorsey, Jr. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1971.

---. Recherches Faites Par Ordre De Sa Majesté Britannique Depuis 1765 Jusqu'en 1771: Pour Rectifier les Cartes & Perfetctionner la Navigation Du Canal De Bahama. Paris: 1788.

Romans, Bernard; William Gerrard de Brahm; George Gauld; et al. The Complete Pilot for the Gulf Passage; or, Directions for Sailing through the Gulf of Florida Named also New Bahama Channel, and the Neighbouring Parts. By Capt. Bernard Romans, Capt. W. Gerrard de Brahm, Surveyor-General for the Southern District of North America; George Gauld, Esq. Surveyor of the Florida Coasts; Capt. Bishop, Capt. Hester, Capt. Archibald Dalzel, and several other Gentlemen Experienced in the Navigation of that Passage. London: Robert Sayer, Fleet-street, 1789.

Books that Publish some of DeBrahm’s Correspondence, Writings, and Maps:

Bryan, Jonathan. Journal of a Visit to the Georgia Islands of St. Catherines, Green, Ossabaw, Sapelo, St. Simons, Jekyll, and Cumberland, with Comments on the Florida Islands of Amelia, Talbot, and St. George, in 1753. Edited by Virginia Steel Wood and Mary Ricketson Bullard. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1996.

Candler, Allen Daniel; William J. Northen; Lucian Lamar Knight; Kenneth Coleman; and Milton La Verne Ready; eds. The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia. Compiled and published under authority of the legislature. 32 volumes in 36 parts to date. Volumes 1-4, 6. Atlanta: Franklin Printing and Publishing Co., 1904-06. Supplement to volume 4, volumes 5, 7-17. Atlanta: Franklin-Turner Co. 1906-08. Volumes 18, 19 part 1, 19 part 2, 21, 22 part 1, 22 part 2, 23-26. Atlanta: Chas. P. Byrd, 1910-1916. Volumes 20, 27, 28 part 1, 28 part 2, 29-32. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1976-89. Reprint of volumes 1-19, 21-26. AMS Press, 1970.

Cumming, William Patterson. The Southeast in Early Maps. 3d edition, revised and enlarged by Louis Carpenter De Vorsey, Jr. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Davies, Kenneth G., ed. Documents of the American Revolution 1770-1783 (Colonial Office Series). 21 volumes. Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1972-81.

De Vorsey, Louis Carpenter, Jr., ed. "Hydrography: A Note on the Equipage of Eighteenth-Century Survey Vessels." The Mariner's Mirror 58, no. 2 (May 1972):

Great Britain. Historical Manuscripts Commission. The Manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth. 3 volumes. Edited by William Oxenham Hewlett, Benjamin Franklin Stevens, and William Page. London: Printed for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887-1896. Reprint. Boston: Gregg Press, 1972.

Hulbert, Archer Butler, ed. The Crown Collection of Photographs of American Maps. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1907.

Books that list manuscript sources about DeBrahm, that list published books by DeBrahm, and that list published and manuscript maps by DeBrahm:

Andrews, Charles McLean. Guide to the Materials for American History, to 1783, in the Public Record Office of Great Britain. 2 volumes. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication No. 90A. 1912, 1914. Reprint. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1965.

Andrews, Charles McLean, and Frances Gardiner Davenport. Guide to the Manuscript Materials for the History of the United States to 1783 in the British Museum and in Minor London Archives and in the Libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication No. 90, 1908. Reprint. New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1965.

Clizbee, Azalea. Catalogue of the Wymberley Jones De Renne Georgia Library at Wormsloe, Isle of Hope Near Savannah, Georgia. 3 volumes. Wormsloe: Privately Printed, 1931. Reprint. Storrs-Mansfield, Conn.: Maurizio Martino Publisher, [1998].

Müller-Bahlke, Thomas J., and Jurgen Groschl. Salzburg--Halle--North America A Bilingual Catalog with Summaries of the Georgia Manuscripts in the Francke Foundations. With an introduction by Hermann Winde. Tubingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer, 1999.

Sellers, John R.; Gerard W. Gawalt; Paul H. Smith; and Patricia Molen van Ee; eds. Manuscript Sources in the Library of Congress for Research on the American Revolution. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1975.

Secondary Published Sources about DeBrahm:

Brown, Ralph H. "The De Brahm Charts of the Atlantic Ocean, 1772-1776." Geographical Review 28, no. 1 (January 1938): 124-32.

Cadle, Farris William. Georgia Land Surveying History and Law. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1991.

Chardon, Roland E. “A best-fit Evaluation of DeBrahm’s 1770 Chart of Biscayne Bay.” American Cartographer, 9, no. 1 (1982): 47-67.

Coomes, Charles S. "The DeBrahm Medals: An Eccentric Geographer Remembers His Grandchildren." El Escribano, 16 (1979): 77-90.

Corse, Carita Doggett. "De Brahm's Report on East Florida, 1773." Florida Historical Quarterly 17, no. 3 (January 1939): 219-26.

De Vorsey, Louis Carpenter, Jr. “The Colonial Southeast on ‘An Accurate General Map.’” Southeastern Geographer 6 (1966): 20-32.

---. “A Colorful Resident of British St. Augustine William Gerard De Brahm." El Escribano 12 (1975): 1-24.

---. "De Brahm's East Florida on the Eve of Revolution: The Materials for Its Re-creation." In Eighteenth-Century Florida and its Borderlands, edited by Samuel Proctor, pages 78-96. Gainesville, Fla.: University Presses of Florida, 1975.

---. The Georgia-South Carolina Boundary: A Problem in Historical Geography. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1982.

---. "La Florida Revealed: The De Brahm Surveys of British East Florida 1765-1771." In Pattern and Process Research in Historical Geography, edited by Ralph E. Ehrenberg. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1975, pages 87-102.

---. “Pioneer Charting of the Gulf Stream: The Contributions of Benjamin Franklin and William Gerard de Brahm.” Imago Mundi: The International Journal for the History of Cartography 28, no. 1 (1976): 105-120.

---. "The Scientific Exploration and Charting of the Atlantic Ocean from Halley to De Brahm." In North American Exploration, edited by John Logan Allen, 3 volumes, volume , pages . Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

---. "Wayward Ocean River." Geographical Magazine 52, no. 7 (April 1980): 501-10.

---. "William Gerard DeBrahm.” In American National Biography, edited by John Arthur Garraty and Mark Christopher Carnes, volume 6, pages 314-15. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

---. "William Gerard DeBrahm.” In Dictionary of Georgia Biography, edited by Kenneth Coleman and Charles Stephen Gurr, volume 1, pages 246-48. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1983.

---. "William Gerard de Brahm: Eccentric Genius of Southeastern Geography." Southeastern Geographer 10, no. 1 (April 1970): 21-29.

---. "William Gerard De Brahm, Surveyor-General and Man of Science in Royal Georgia." Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science. 34, no. 4 (September 1976): 204-09.

---. "William Gerard DeBrahm: The South's First Geographer." In The Role of the South in the Making of American Geography: Centennial of the AAG, 2004, edited by Stanley D. Brunn and James O. Wheeler, pages . Columbia, Md.: Association of American Geographers, 2004.

---. "William De Brahm’s 'Continuation of the Atlantic Pilot,' an Empirically Supported Eighteenth-century Model of North Atlantic Surface Circulation." In Oceanography: The Past, edited by Mary Sears and Daniel Merriman, pages 718-33. New York: Springer, 1980.

Goodhart, L. McCormick. "Two Anglo-American Gold Medals Relating to St. Augustine, Florida and Sheldon, South Carolina." Numismatic Circular. London: Spink & Son, Ltd., March 1956, pages 111-14.

Hollingsworth, Dixon. The Bethany Colony. Sylvania, Ga.: Partridge Pond Press, 1992.

Morrison, A. J. "John G. De Brahm." South Atlantic Quarterly 21, no. 3 (July 1922): 252-58.

Mowat, Charles Loch. "That 'Odd Being' DeBrahm." Florida Historical Quarterly 20, no. 4 (April 1942): 323-45.

Paulett, Robert E. “The Bewildering World of William de Brahm: An Eighteenth-Century Map Maker Surveys the End of Time.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 42, no. 4 (Summer 2009): 481–99.

Stewart, Mart Allen. “William Gerard de Brahm’s 1757 Map of South Carolina and Georgia.” Environmental History 16, no. 3 (July 2011): 524–535.

Trinkley, Michael; Natalie Adams; and Debi Hacker. Archaeological Studies Associated with the Nineteenth Century Owens-Thomas Carriage House, Savannah, Georgia. Chicora Foundation, Columbia, S.C., 1993.

[Compiled by Farris Cadle]

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)