A List of Eighteenth-Century Manuscript Maps of New England Yearly Meeting

A LIST OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MANUSCRIPT MAPS OF NEW ENGLAND YEARLY MEETING The maps described here are all part of the same cartographical family. That is, they all include approximately the same part of the coast line: Westerly, Rhode Island, to the Kennebec River in Maine. Their geographical outlines are inaccurate and show many differences one from another. However, from the point of view of the purpose for which they were made, these shortcomings are unimportant. The location of the meetings relative to the others and the distances between are precise. In all probability the maps were copied freehand from a common prototype or from one another. There is good reason to believe that a number of additional copies were made toward the end of the eighteenth and in the early years of the nineteenth century. At the present writing only these four are known. The Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and the John Carter Brown Library, Brown University , Providence 12, Rhode Island, would like very much to hear of any that are discovered in the future. There are in existence three nineteenth-century descendants which, although engraved, use the same basic devices to show the locations of meetings. The first of these, said to have been published by Pliny Earle, Jr., appeared in 1833 and is entitled A Map of the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England. A copy is to be found in the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore and was reproduced for Rufus M. Jones in Quakers in the American Colonies (London, 1911). A second edition of it appeared in A Brief Account of the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England (Providence, 1836). Later, in 1850, George G. Smith engraved still another map with the same title as the Earle map. A copy of this is also in the Friends Historical Library. A List of Maps7 The descriptions below give the full titles with line endings. Dimensions are given for the original copies that have been located. It was thought best not to attempt an estimate of the size of the one seeninphotostat, butit would appear that all four areapproximately the same size. The arrangement reflects our feeling about the chronological order in which the maps were made. These conclusions should be regarded as tentative because they are based solely on the presence of additional meetings on what we regard as the later maps. 1.A Map of Friends Meeti[ngs] | belonging to Yearly Meeting [of Rhode] | Island, with their course & Di[stance] | from eachother - 1 "The places where Meetings|[are held] | .... The roads from place to pi[ace] | togeather with miles [end of line indecipherable] A photostat of this is to be found in the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College. The present location of the original is not known. The title is in the lower right-hand corner and part of it has worn away. Northernmost meeting located is in "Royall Fort," now Durham, Maine. 2.A Map of all Friends Meeting belong - 1 ing to the Yearly Meeting of Rhode Island | with there [sic] Course or lying and distanceIfrom each Other. The places where¡Meetings are held may be Destinguished [sic] } by (o) The roads are marked by dots on | which are the Number of Miles from place I toplace where Meetings are held. | The original is in the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College and measures 29" x ISVs". The title is in the lower right quarter. The northernmost meeting shown is Vasselborough [sic], Maine, on the Kennebec River. In the upper left is a device made upof four concentric circles containing the names of the various meetings and labeled in the center: I Rhode Island | Yearly meeting | held at Newport I ye 2nd 6 day in 6 m° & | Compos"1 of 3 Quart y | Meetings. | On the reverse side of this map is another one Quaker History showing the coast of northern New England from Boston to Penobscot Bay and extending westward to the Connecticut River. It is in an entirely different hand and there is no apparent connection between it and and the series under discussion. No roads or distances are shown. Although a large number of towns are shown by...