Joseph Ellicott

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Joseph Ellicott

Joseph Ellicott (November 1, 1760 - August 19, 1826) was a surveyor, city planner, land office agent, canal commissioner and judge born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, of the Quaker faith.

In 1790, his brother Andrew Ellicott was hired by the federal government to survey the new federal district, which was to become the new capital city of Washington. Joseph was Andrew's chief assistant. Joseph also hired clock maker and mathematical prodigy Benjamin Banneker to assist with the survey.

Working with French city planner and architect Pierre L'Enfant, the head of the project, was proven difficult, as L'Enfant had a tyrannical temper. Midway through the project, L'Enfant was dismissed by George Washington, who left the project in the hands of Ellicott. While L'Enfant took his drawings with him, the team was able to finish in 1791, using drawings recreated from memory by Banneker.

Late in 1791, Ellicott was sent to Georgia to survey the boundary line, established by treaty with the Creek tribe. He was then engaged to survey some property in western Pennsylvania which has been purchased by a group of Dutch investors, who had formed the Holland Land Company. He also extended the New York - Pennsylvania border westward.

When the company purchased a huge tract of western New York (that became known as The Holland Purchase), Joseph was sent to establish the monumental task of surveying it. Ellicott spent two years (1798 - 1800) living outdoors in summer and winter, laying out the townships of the new land.

In 1800, the principal agent of the company, Paolo Busti, gave him a new position as their agent at their headquarters in Batavia, New York. From this office, for the next 21 years he supervised the sales of the tract, with his personal signature on many deeds. Ellicott signed as attorney for the investors on the Big Tree Treaty when the Iroquois gave up their rights to much of the land claimed by the land company. He also laid out the village of Buffalo, established mill sites and communities, became a judge for Genesee County, and advocated a canal to be built from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. He lived long enough to see the Erie Canal started in 1821 and completed in 1825 and was the first canal commissioner.

As seller and land agent, Ellicott offered generous terms to the buyers, some of whom purchased farms for as little as 25 cents down. When some buyers could not make payments he often extended the terms and sometimes forgave interest if they had made improvements. He offered some selected parcels free upon condition that the buyer would establish a mill or an inn, to help stimulate growth in the area. In later years, Ellicott became the target of complaints by citizens who were unhappy with the land company.

Ellicott was held responsible for the state of New York's decision not to buy up unsold land of the land company, and he retired in 1821. He then attempted to finance the purchase of the unsold land himself, but no one would join his venture, and he had to abandon the plan. His final years were marred by serious mental problems. Family members had him admitted to an asylum in New York City, where he died in 1826 by hanging himself. He was buried originally in that city, but was soon exhumed and re-buried in Batavia, New York.

Ellicott had never married, and at his death left an estate valued at about $600,000, which was a considerable fortune in that day.