Gazetteers are published lists, with descriptions, of a region’s towns, geography and so on, often arranged alphabetically in a book. One of the earliest, preserved gazetteers was dated around 323 BC (the year of Alexander the Great’s death). It described the boundaries, geography, and political divisions of his empire.
But like every gazetteer that followed, it became obsolete as a reference: Its knowledge-gaps and errors were recognized; and many place-names and country boundaries got changed.
For similar reasons, New York State writers in the 1800s produced a record number of distinct gazetteers. (At least six, by one contemporary count, not including “shipping guides”, “railroad guides”, and other, assorted directories.) With the state’s increasing population, and the development, first, of a canal system, and then a railway system, plus impacts from a civil war, there were plenty of changes that called for fresh gazetteers.
Most gazetteers include maps for the regions described. Prior to the American Revolution, most maps of the colonies were European; but during the Revolution, General George Washington decried the maps’ inaccuracies.
He appointed for the Continental Army a Surveyor General — Robert Erskine — whose assistant Simeon DeWitt of Ulster County, NY would later become New York State’s Surveyor General. In the 1800s, DeWitt fostered quality map-making in the state. Gazetteers proved attractive, for their being more portable than large-scale maps, and also providing helpful, related information.
It required, however, considerable time and expense for someone to compile details about roughly all places in a state. If a reference or text-book author was lucky, the legislature might sponsor their work, or buy copies to distribute to schools or agencies.
But many writers weren’t so lucky. Even Noah Webster, compiler of the now-famous dictionary, struggled with poverty, and failed at attempts to secure patronage for his efforts.
Data-Collection Gazetteers
Prior to John Homer French, whose NY gazetteer appeared in 1860, no one had claimed to personally survey (or re-survey) the land features being described.
Obviously, existing maps and records were consulted. Then, compilers would gather info by, for example, extensive correspondence with locals or other informed individuals, and maybe use questionnaires or conduct interviews.
Supplied with this data, experienced engravers and cartographers could craft updated maps. This method, however, could lead to embarrassing errors, as John Disturnell (map publisher, and compiler of a NY gazetteer in 1842) found out: A map of America he published was explicitly referenced in a peace treaty with Mexico — but, unfortunately, El Paso was mapped miles away from its true location, which led to serious border disputes.
Even so, the first gazetteers of the 19th century collected a great deal of information that was found useful by contemporaries, and cited by them in subsequent years.
Horatio Gates Spafford (1778-1832)
The first (and second) compiler of a New York Gazetteer was Horatio Gates Spafford. He knew well the hardships and disappointments of reference book writers — notwithstanding the hopes of his father, Captain John Spafford. Spafford had named his son after his victorious commanding officer in the Battle of Saratoga: General Horatio Gates.
Horatio Spafford had plenty of accomplishments, which included patentable inventions as well as books. Yet he struggled to make money and avoid debt.
He had, though, a knack for fostering good connections. According to historian Julian Boyd, “names of those who corresponded with Spafford, aiding him and deriving aid from him, constitute a roster of the intellectual fraternity of that generation,” including, among many others, Noah Webster, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and members of the American Antiquarian Society and New York Historical Society.
Spafford’s first book was published in 1809: General Geography and Rudiments of Useful Knowledge… on a New Plan, and Designed for the Use of Schools. It was an innovative work, in nine sections, which covered not just geography, but also astronomy, government, education, world religions, and other topics.
Spafford was a great believer in public education. The state’s schools, however, were locked into using Jedediah Morse’s geography textbook; so, Spafford could not break into that market.
Not deterred, Spafford began compiling a gazetteer of the state of New York. He felt confident he’d secure “public patronage” because, as Boyd explains, he had letters of support from no less than Governor Daniel D. Thompkins (for “reasonable access” to state papers, etc.), and Chancellor Robert R. Livingston (for discounted fees for steamboat passages), plus other notables.
Even more promising, his appeals to the state legislature resulted in an Act passed, on his behalf, in April 1811. It authorized a loan for him of $3,000, repayable with interest after three years. He successfully published the book within deadline, in 1813.
Yet things did not pan out for him, financially. A middleman, contracted to manage his state loan funds, went bankrupt, which left Spafford liable and saddled with debt.
Horatio spent years on the book and had paid out more than $7,000, for, among other costs, agents to visit remote counties, and postage to correspond with over 1000 local contacts and officials. Nonetheless, he completed his volume. It had three, descriptively named sections:
1: “Comprehensive Geographical and Statistical View of the Whole State.” (Alphabetical by topic.);
2: Alphabetical list of counties, “With Topographical and Statistical Tables, Showing the Civil and Political Divisions, Population, Post-Offices &C.”; and
3: “A Very Full and Minute Topographical Description of Each Town … &C. in the Whole State, Alphabetically Arranged… Forming a Complete Gazetteer or Geographical Dictionary of the State of New-York.”
Spafford’s next writing project also produced good reviews, but not enough sales to cover costs. He compiled, edited, and distributed, from 1815-1816, almost single-handedly —and also wrote for, under pseudonyms — the American Magazine, A Monthly Miscellany of Many Kinds.
According to the historian Samuel Rezneck, one of Spafford’s articles, which encouraged practical over classical education, was influential, and foreshadowed the founding in Troy, New York of what became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Spafford had been living in the Albany – Troy area.
When that magazine folded, Horatio Spafford focused his energies on inventions, and land speculating — again, with limited material reward. Yet ironically, Spafford may have had a winner, if only he’d followed up on a paper he read to a scientific society, on “the art of making Iron and Steel from native Ores of the United States.”
According to John Boyd, virtually that same idea was patented successfully, years later — and became known as the “Bessemer Process” for removing impurities from iron to produce steel.
In 1821, Spafford began work his second, expanded gazetteer. “Not a second edition of the former one,” he emphasized in its preface, in 1824. This version had two main sections, with an expanded, new map included. Its two sections were:
- Topographical descriptions of counties, towns, cities, etc., arranged alphabetically, with details for rivers, lakes, etc., and statistics for population, industries, and so on; and
- Statewide/general information on topics such as Geography; Mountains; Soil and agriculture; and related, comparative tables.
Spafford retired from writing in 1825; but only after producing two smaller books, A Pocket Guide for the Traveller and the New York Pocket Book, and also an update of his 1809 geography text. In poor health, he continued his mechanics experiments, and his wide correspondence, until his death due to cholera in 1832.
Thomas F. Gordon (1787-1860) and John Disturnell (1801-1877)
Thomas F. Gordon and John Disturnell were both compiling guides of New York State at the same time — Gordon, his 1836 gazetteer, and Disturnell, a New York Travel Guide. Although they left no record of ever meeting or corresponding, Disturnell did acknowledge in his 1842 Gazetteer’s preface that he referenced “similar works which have been published, of a like nature.”
Two key reasons he gave to justify a newer version (even if maybe he knew of Gordon’s recent gazetteer) were (1) the newly published results of the 1840 census, which was very thorough and showed great changes in the state’s population and industry; and (2) recent extensive efforts of State Geologists to expand knowledge of resources, and apply new names to “heretofore unnamed and almost unknown” features.
The organization of Disturnell’s 1842 Gazetteer was quite similar to Spafford’s 1824 Gazetteer: A smaller section covered general topics for the state, like its geology, education, and prisons. A main section listed all State towns and counties, etc., alphabetically, and provided numerous details and statistics for each entry.
In extra appendices, Disturnell added other tables and lists, such as for the 1840 population census, and a list of tolls along the Erie Canal.
What Gordon’s 1836 gazetteer lacked, compared to Disturnell’s, in being less up to date, it made up for by being a (literally) weightier tome, of over 800 pages compared to 475. Gordon was a lawyer and historian, who liked to write. So, his gazetteer included a lengthy “Historical Essay” section, and other extensive materials on the judiciary and criminal code, and similar topics.
As individuals, Gordon and Disturnell were both prolific writers, and both enjoyed more financial stability than Horatio Spafford could ever manage. But like Spafford, they both experienced ups and downs, when appealing for government support for their projects. Their works appeared to be well-reviewed, however, and they found markets; plus, they both also had “day jobs” to fall back on.
Thomas Gordon, as mentioned, was a lawyer — a member of the Philadelphia Bar. He was appointed to such posts, over the years, as Justice of the Peace, and clerk of the Orphan’s Court of Philadelphia County.
As he gained experience, he began to write law books, such as one on Pennsylvania laws for the “powers and practice” of the Orphan’s Court, and also “digests” of laws in other jurisdictions. He eventually expanded his interests, and wrote history books, for different states and countries, and wrote three separate gazetteers — for New York; New Jersey; and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, John Disturnell owned a combined business of printing, publishing, and bookselling. He got his start by re-publishing, in 1823, Samuel Johnson’s influential Dictionary of the English Language, originally published in 1755.
But Disturnell appears to have found his calling when, in 1839, he partnered with a map and stationary business, and began to specialize in maps — both publishing and selling them. He soon owned the business, himself.
Thereafter, Disturnell travelled frequently and wrote books with titles like The Western Traveller (1844), A Trip through the Lakes of North America (1857), and Around the Continent and around the World (1873).
“It is sometimes difficult,” author David D. Anderson admitted, “to tell exactly how much of the last book is based on his own travels… [also, at times] it threatens to become a steamer schedule and railroad timetable.”
Other of his books were intended to be practical, fact-filled guides, with names like: Disturnell’s railway and steamship guide… giving the railroad and steamboat routes, distances, fares, &c. through the United States and Canada: also the ocean steamship arrangements, list of hotels, &c., with a map of the United States and Canada, showing all the canals, railroads, &c.
His 1842 Gazetteer was, therefore, a natural project for him. Not to waste the stats he’d researched for that project, he soon began publishing in 1843 the first of an almost annual series of The New York State Register. It contained regularly updated facts similar to those in his Gazetteer, plus lists of government officers, attorneys, and so on.
John Homer French (1824-1888) and Franklin B. Hough (1822-1885)
Two things stand out when comparing the Gazetteers of John Homer French and Franklin B. Hough with those of their predecessors:
1) All those books (except Spafford’s first) have a similar structure. (i) A list of general or statewide topics, such as geography, government info, and manufactures, etc.; plus (ii) a main, geographic-place dictionary section. French and Hough both sort the latter first by county, and subdivide these by towns and so on.
2) French and Hough, however, add reams of academic-looking footnotes to many pages — occasionally filling up the whole bottom third or half of pages. Sometimes these notes provide a finer grain of detail; for example, “analysis shows that [the medicinal waters of Chittenango Springs] contain carb. of lime, the sulphate of lime, magnesia and soda, and chloride of sodium.” Other footnotes list all the known founders of particular communities, or even quibble with a factual detail found in a previous gazetteer.
Another difference from predecessors is not as obvious to a casual glance: the fruits of $48,000 French spent to re-survey all New York counties, plus another $46,000 to, correspondingly, update all drawn maps and written descriptions.
Unfortunately, as for Horatio Spafford, all the acclaim and sales for French’s gazetteer did not recoup the author’s costs. In fact, also like Spafford, he patented various inventions over his years (like a folding desk and a folding globe), but didn’t stick with the business side of making them profitable.
French only attended formal schooling until age 17; yet, in those days he could then begin teaching. He studied on his own, working his way up in education to become a high school principal, School Superintendent in Vermont, and Conductor of Teachers Institutes in New York.
Along the way, he wrote algebra and mathematical texts, and devised a binomial theorem that was, for a time, named after him. He kept active writing and teaching in his last years, though working through pain until his death at age 64.
Before compiling his own 1872 gazetteer, Franklin B. Hough was the “Foreman of the Statistical Department” for French’s earlier gazetteer; and before that, the supervisor for the 1855 New York Census.
Hough’s gazetteer’s maps likely remained similar to French’s; but to document the state’s rapid demographic changes, his population tables included statistics for 1860, 1865, and 1870, as well as total votes for political parties over twelve years, and other “extensive” facts about Assessment and Taxation in each county.
Hough, like his predecessors, had a multifaceted career. And curiously, Revolutionary War general and hero Horatio Gates seems to have inspired a second line of future New York gazetteers (or, at least, their names): Like Horatio Gates Spafford, Hough’s father Horatio Gates Hough was born in the midst of the Revolutionary War, in which his own father served; and he was apparently named after the general.
For Hough, his gazetteer was just one step in an illustrious career, whose details could fill another article. He was an MD who, for a time, was an inspector for the United States Sanitary Commission, and later enlisted as a surgeon for the Union effort in the Civil War.
He supervised two additional Census efforts: New York in 1865 and Federal in 1870. But he seems to have found his real passion with forestry, in which field he researched and worked in several roles until his death 1885.
Accessing New York’s Gazetteers
Gazetteer-like publications are still produced to this day. However, they are often more specialized, such as “shipping guides” focused on stations on transportation routes, or auto-club tour guides, focused on places of interest and places to stay.
For genealogical research, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society reproduces old, more local-focused gazetteers, and also publishes updates of their own New York Family History Research Guide and Gazetteer.
All six of the gazetteers discussed in this article are available, in full, online from Archive.org:
Spafford 1813: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate01spaf/page/n10/mode/1up.
Spafford 1824: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate00spaf/page/30/mode/2up.
Gordon 1836: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate00gord_0/page/n6/mode/1up.
Disturnell 1842: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate00albauoft/page/n5/mode/2up.
French 1860: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate04fren/page/n11/mode/2up.
Hough 1872: https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofstate00houg/
As related in his memoir, Seeing Both: A Memoir of Chances, William M. Goodman was raised in New York State, 60 miles north of New York City. He discovered from reading old gazetteers that the creek he grew up near, Moodna Creek, was known in the 19th century as “Murderer’s Creek.” William has a doctorate in Philosophy, and has loved researching and writing on diverse topics—from philosophy to analytical statistics.
Illustrations, from above: Title page of Spafford’s 1813 Gazetteer (Internet Archive); One of Horatio Gates Spafford’s inventions, an Improved Wheel Carriage (from American Magazine); Thomas F. Gordon’s Gazetteer, 1836; John Disturnell’s contentious “Treaty Map of Mexico”; the title page of John Homer French’s 1860 Gazetteer; and the December 1870 edition of Appleton’s Railway and Steam Navigation Guide.
