CUMBERLAND County, New Jersey - Theodore Sutton PARVIN (1817-1901, cartographer)

An untitled manuscript map of Cumberland County, New Jersey, and the surrounding area

[No place but Burlington, Iowa: circa 1838]. Pen, ink and watercolour map of Cumberland County, with the properties of D. Parvin and D. Harris, and numerous towns located, the demarcation line between marsh and solid ground marked, and the routes and names of all the main rivers and creeks shown, some roads marked in pencil, and the route between Salem, Salem Co., and the tip of Cape May marked with a purple dotted line. Sheet size: 16 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches.

An attractive map of Cumberland County, in southern New Jersey.

The Parvin property is identified as being on the southern bank of the Cohansey River in Fairfield Township. The Harris property is in adjoining Downe Township. These are the only two individual properties identified on the map, suggesting that the map was either compiled for or by a member of the Parvin or Harris family. This map was loosely inserted in an 1838 edition of Bradford's Illustrated Atlas, inscribed on the title "Theodore Sutton Parvin, Burlington, Iowa, August 15/ [18]38", and an examination of the map of New Jersey in the atlas shows that the Cumberland County area was squared up for enlargement. All of which gives a source and probable author of the map. Parvin has added some names and geographical features in addition to those shown on the Bradford engraved map. Theodore Sutton Parvin was born in Cedarville, Cumberland County, N. J., on January 15, 1817; and died June 28, 1901. He graduated at Woodward College, Cincinnati, in 1836; he studied law; was private secretary of Robert Lucas, the first governor of the Iowa Territory, and was the first librarian of that territory. Later he was librarian and professor in the Iowa State University; was a founder of the Iowa State Historical Society in 1857, and for the years 1863-65 was its corresponding secretary and editor. He was the founder, in 1844, of the Iowa Masonic Library, and through his exertions this library has its present building at Cedar Rapids. From its foundation until his death, fifty-seven years, he was its librarian. (Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, [1905]. vol.X, part II, p.871).

Item #23980

Price: $1,500.00