Jared Mansfield
Encyclopedia
Jared Mansfield was an American mathematician
and surveyor
. His career was shaped by two interventions by President Thomas Jefferson
. In 1801 Jefferson appointed Mansfield as Professor at the newly-founded United States Military Academy
at West Point. Again at Jefferson's appointment, Mansfield served as the Surveyor General of the United States
from 1803 to 1812, charged with extending the survey of United States land in the Northwest Territory.
Mansfield was born in New Haven, Connecticut
, son of a sea captain, Stephen Mansfield. He graduated from Yale
in 1777, and taught in New Haven and Philadelphia
. In 1800 he married Elizabeth Phipps, daughter of an American Naval Officer. In 1801 he had printed some scientific papers titled Essays Mathematical and Physical , which were brought to Jefferson's attention by Senator Abraham Baldwin
. Jefferson appointed Mansfield captain of engineers, so he might become a professor at West Point. After moving to West Point, Mansfield was appointed Surveyor General in Summer of 1803. Jefferson was dissatisfied with the performance of Rufus Putnam
, whose surveys in the Congress Lands
of Ohio
were poorly executed. Putnam was also a Federalist. In 1801, the position had been offered to Andrew Ellicott
by Jefferson, but he refused, because he was upset at slow pay for work he had done for the Federal Government. Mansfield's Essays included sections on determining longitude and latitude, which would be useful in improving precision in surveying. Jefferson made a recess appointment, which was confirmed by the Senate November 15, 1803. He was told to "survey Ohio and lands north of the Ohio River
", with later extensions to Indiana Territory
and Illinois Territory
.
Mansfield and his family moved to Marietta, Ohio
(1803-1805), Ludlow Station (1805-1809) and near Cincinnati
(1809-1812). Under Mansfield's direction the survey was continued down the Ohio River, with grids laid out northward from the river, thus dividing the territory into rectangular townships. Mansfield is credited with "considerable scientific ability and high standards of workmanship." He laid out baselines
and Meridians
astronomically, adapting principles of celestial navigation to surveying, which Ellicott and others had used to extend the Mason-Dixon Line
decades earlier. Among his deputies were Thomas Worthington, Lewis Cass
, and Ethan Allen Brown
.
Jonathan Williams
, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy sent Mansfield a letter March 20, 1809, "...your rank in the Corps doubtless settled, and I wish you were here to take direction of the Academy." The War of 1812
in the West made surveying difficult. Mansfield returned to West Point in 1814 as Professor of Mathematics and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, continuing in this position until his retirement in 1828. He never was to direct the Academy. He and his wife moved back to Cincinnati, and he died February 3, 1830 while visiting New Haven.
He arranged for Thomas Jefferson to sit at Monticello for the painter Thomas Sully
, and the resulting full-length portrait now hangs in the USMA Museum.
The city of Mansfield
, Ohio
is named for Jared Mansfield.
He was father of author Edward Deering Mansfield
.
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
. His career was shaped by two interventions by President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. In 1801 Jefferson appointed Mansfield as Professor at the newly-founded United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at West Point. Again at Jefferson's appointment, Mansfield served as the Surveyor General of the United States
Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory
The Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory was a United States government official responsible for surveying land in the Northwest Territory in the United States late in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The position was created in the Land Act of 1796 to survey lands ceded by...
from 1803 to 1812, charged with extending the survey of United States land in the Northwest Territory.
Mansfield was born in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, son of a sea captain, Stephen Mansfield. He graduated from Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1777, and taught in New Haven and Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. In 1800 he married Elizabeth Phipps, daughter of an American Naval Officer. In 1801 he had printed some scientific papers titled Essays Mathematical and Physical , which were brought to Jefferson's attention by Senator Abraham Baldwin
Abraham Baldwin
Abraham Baldwin was an American politician, Patriot, and Founding Father from the U.S. state of Georgia. Baldwin was a Georgia representative in the Continental Congress and served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate after the adoption of the Constitution.-Minister:After...
. Jefferson appointed Mansfield captain of engineers, so he might become a professor at West Point. After moving to West Point, Mansfield was appointed Surveyor General in Summer of 1803. Jefferson was dissatisfied with the performance of Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam
Rufus Putnam was a colonial military officer during the French and Indian War, and a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
, whose surveys in the Congress Lands
Congress Lands
The Congress Lands was a group of land tracts in Ohio that made land available for sale to members of the general public through land offices in various cities, and through the General Land Office...
of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
were poorly executed. Putnam was also a Federalist. In 1801, the position had been offered to Andrew Ellicott
Andrew Ellicott
Andrew Ellicott was a U.S. surveyor who helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre Charles L'Enfant's work on the plan for Washington, D.C., and served as a teacher in survey methods for...
by Jefferson, but he refused, because he was upset at slow pay for work he had done for the Federal Government. Mansfield's Essays included sections on determining longitude and latitude, which would be useful in improving precision in surveying. Jefferson made a recess appointment, which was confirmed by the Senate November 15, 1803. He was told to "survey Ohio and lands north of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
", with later extensions to Indiana Territory
Indiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
and Illinois Territory
Illinois Territory
The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. The area was earlier known as "Illinois Country" while under...
.
Mansfield and his family moved to Marietta, Ohio
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
(1803-1805), Ludlow Station (1805-1809) and near Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
(1809-1812). Under Mansfield's direction the survey was continued down the Ohio River, with grids laid out northward from the river, thus dividing the territory into rectangular townships. Mansfield is credited with "considerable scientific ability and high standards of workmanship." He laid out baselines
Baseline (surveying)
In the United States Public Land Survey System, a baseline is the principal east-west line that divides survey townships between north and south. The baseline meets its corresponding meridian at the point of origin, or initial point, for the land survey...
and Meridians
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
astronomically, adapting principles of celestial navigation to surveying, which Ellicott and others had used to extend the Mason-Dixon Line
Mason-Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...
decades earlier. Among his deputies were Thomas Worthington, Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass was an American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan...
, and Ethan Allen Brown
Ethan Allen Brown
Ethan Allen Brown was a Democratic-Republican politician. He served as the seventh Governor of Ohio.Brown was born in Darien, Connecticut to a Revolutionary War veteran. He moved near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1803. He was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in 1810 and was re-elected in 1817...
.
Jonathan Williams
Jonathan Williams (engineer)
Jonathan Williams , American businessman, military figure, politician and writer.Williams was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin...
, Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy sent Mansfield a letter March 20, 1809, "...your rank in the Corps doubtless settled, and I wish you were here to take direction of the Academy." The War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
in the West made surveying difficult. Mansfield returned to West Point in 1814 as Professor of Mathematics and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, continuing in this position until his retirement in 1828. He never was to direct the Academy. He and his wife moved back to Cincinnati, and he died February 3, 1830 while visiting New Haven.
He arranged for Thomas Jefferson to sit at Monticello for the painter Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully
Thomas Sully was an American painter, mostly of portraits.-Early life:Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater...
, and the resulting full-length portrait now hangs in the USMA Museum.
The city of Mansfield
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
is named for Jared Mansfield.
He was father of author Edward Deering Mansfield
Edward Deering Mansfield
Edward Deering Mansfield , was an American author.Mansfield was born in New Haven, Connecticut, son of Jared Mansfield.. He graduated from West Point in 1818, but declined to enter the army and studied at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1822. In 1825 he was admitted to the Connecticut bar...
.