Background
Simeon Dewitt was born on December 25, 1756 at Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. He was the son of Dr. Andries and Jannetje (Vernooy) DeWitt.
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Simeon Dewitt was born on December 25, 1756 at Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, United States. He was the son of Dr. Andries and Jannetje (Vernooy) DeWitt.
After having received such an English education as a colonial rural community could afford, De Witt was placed with the Rev. Dr. Romcyn of Schenectady to prepare for college, and in due time entered Queen’s (now Rutgers) College in New Jersey.
His course, however, was sadly interrupted by the Revolution, for the British burned the college buildings and dispersed the students.
In spite of this break, he was awarded the bachelor’s degree in 1776 and twelve years later received from the same institution the master’s degree.
With the closing of the college, De Witt returned to his home and pursued his studies as he found opportunity; but when the whole state rose in arms to repel Burgoyne’s invasion, he joined a battalion being formed in Ulster County and was given the rank of adjutant.
Upon reaching the scene of action, this unit was absorbed into another regiment and DeWitt, deprived of his command, became a private, and in this capacity participated in the battles that led up to Burgoyne’s surrender. This emergency over, he again went home and continued his mathematical studies, combining with these an attention to the practical business of surveying which served him in good stead when Gen. Washington wrote to his uncle, Gen. James Clinton, inquiring if he knew of any person qualified to act as geographer to the army. DeWitt was immediately recommended and in 1778 was appointed as assistant to Col. Robert Erskine, then geographer-in-chief.
Upon the death of Col. Erskine in 1780, DeWitt became the head of the department. Ordered to headquarters by Gen. Washington in December of that year, he remained attached to the main army until the end of the campaign. This led him to Yorktown where he witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis. Besides making the necessary surveys and maps for the conduct of military operations, he prepared an interesting series of maps showing the course of the war. This he tried to induce Congress to publish but the state of the public finances forbade it. At the close of the Revolution, he planned to go on with his surveying work, and, on May 13, 1784, upon the resignation of Gen. Philip Schuyler as surveyor-general for New York State, he was appointed to the office. For over fifty years he served the state in this capacity.
In 1786-87 he was one of the commissioners actively engaged in delineating the boundary between New York and Pennsylvania and during this same period began work upon a map of New York which was finally published in 1802.
Offered the position of surveyor-general to the United States by Washington in 1796, he reluctantly declined the honor and remained with his work in New York.
When the state adopted its canal policy, the surveyor- general was naturally chosen one of the commissioners for “exploring the whole route, examining the present condition of navigation, and considering what further improvement ought to be made therein”.
Although busy with these regular duties, he found time to engage in educational and scientific matters. He served the University of the State of New York from 1798 until his death, first as a regent, then as vice-chancellor, and finally, after 1829, as chancellor. In this latter office, he originated the taking of meteorological observations by every academy under the board.
He contributed to the sixth volume of its Transactions (1809), a communication entitled “Observations on the Eclipse of the Sun, June 16, 1806, at Albany. ”
Upon the establishment of the state Board of Agriculture, the Society was merged with the Lyceum of Natural History as Albany Institute, and for many years DeWitt served this body as vice-president. To the older organization he contributed two papers: one “On a Plan of a Meteorological Chart, ” and the other on “Establishment of a Meridian Line in the City of Albany, ” while his writings for the Transactions of Albany Institute were “A Table of Variations of the Magnetic Needle, ” “Observations on the Functions of the Moon, Deduced from the Eclipse of 1806, ” and “A Description of a New Form of Rain Gauge. ”
In American Journal of Science he discussed the theory of meteors; and in 1813 his writings upon drawing and perspective were published in book form under the title, The Elements of Perspective.
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DeWitt married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Lynott, whom he married on October 12, 1789. Her death occurred in 1793 and he later married Jane Varick Hardenberg, by whom he had six children. After the latter’s death, he married, on October 29, 1810, Susan Linn, daughter of the Rev. William Linn.