DEWITT, SIMEON, American patriot and statesman: b. Wawarsing, Ulster County, N. Y., 26 Dec. 1756; d. Ithaca, N. Y., 3 Dec. 1834. His father was a physician and descend ant from a pioneer settler, of Esopus, Tjerck Claessen DeWitt, who probably came from East Friesland. Studied under Domine Dirck Romeyn and was at Queens (now Rutgers) Col lege, New Brunswick, N. J., when Washington retreated before the British in the autumn of 1776. Returning home, he continued the study and practice of the surveyor's art under the experienced direction of his relatives, the Clintons, and in 1777 enlisted as adjutant in the State militia and was drafted in the campaign against Burgoyne. Early in 1778 be came assistant to Col. Robert Erskine, topo graphical engineer to Washington, and suc ceeded him in 1780. His duties were to chart the territory covered by his chief's forces and to lay out lines of defense, in which capacities he shared the Yorktown campaign. At the close of the war the topographical materials of his office, 200 manuscripts, were deposited with the New York Historical Society. In May, 1784, DeWitt was called to succeed Gen. Phili Schuyler as surveyor-general of the State an though tendered a similar position in the Federa service by Washington in 1796, he continued in the service of his native State for 50 years, sqpervising in field and office such. major en terprises as the establishment of the State boundary lines, the laying out of the extensive public lands and of the city of New York above the older portion, and the laying out and construction of the Erie, Champlain and smaller canals of the State,— in all of which he was the trusted adviser of both Gov. George
Clinton and Gov. DeWitt Clinton. In laying out the State lands DeWitt used with good re sults the system of square townships based on lines of latitude, which had come into use in scattered instances by the time of the Revolu tion and was later applied extensively by the Federal government in the western domain. Credit long enjoyed by DeWitt for the classical township names of central New York probably belongs to Robert Harpur (q.v.). In 1802 he brought out the first State map based on sur veys. In 1804-09 he served as one of the com mission to build the first capitol at Albany. His scientific interest and ability were recog nized in 1790 by election to the American Philo sophical Society. In 1798 he was made a mem ber of the Board of Regents of the State Uni versity and served as vice-chancellor and chancellor. He was active in the organization of several societies for the encouragement of agriculture and the useful arts. These societies were in 1824 merged into the Albany 'Institute, which for many years had a wide repute for its scientific researches and learned publications. DeWitt acquired a large tract of land at the head of Cayuga Lake and by his liberality fostered a settlement which has grown to the city of Ithaca. Publications: (The Elements of Perspective' ; (Considerations on the Estab lishment of an Agricultural College (a re markable plea to the New York legislature in 1818), and a number of scientific essays.