(Note to readers: The Urbanna Town Council on Thursday, June 12, at the council meeting recognized St. Clare Walker Middle School sixth grader Caden Richardson “Richard” Spurlock, winner of the Friends of Urbanna’s annual John Mitchell Map essay contest. Below is Richard’s essay.)
by Caden Richardson “Richard” Spurlock
Who made the most important map in American history? John Mitchell was born in Lancaster county, Virginia in 1711. John Mitchell was a man of many careers including his creation of the “Mitchell Map”, dubbed “Without serious doubt the most important map in American history” (Lawrence Martin). His ambition and perseverance for scientific discovery lives on as his legacy.
John Mitchell had a love for science. When living in Urbanna county, Virginia he conducted many experiments and did lots of research. Including his research on race and why skin color could vary on a human being. He claimed that the original skin color of the human race was reddish, common with indigenous people, but skin color changed as generations upon generations were raised in different climates. This was one of the many reasons he was invited to the Royal Society. At one point in his life he planned to travel to Philadelphia and stay for a day but ran into Benjamin Franklin whom he became good friends with. He ended up staying in Philadelphia for three weeks exchanging experiment results and getting to know Franklin better.
At age 11 John Mitchell attended the University of Edinburgh receiving his Masters degree in 1729 but not receiving his Doctrine. He returned to Virginia to practice medicine in Urbanna County. He treated many patients including slaves and the rich planters as well as poor farmers that owned smaller farms. And after getting into natural history, or botany, he started growing his own medicinal plants. He used these to create the medicines he prescribed to his patients. This gave him the title of a Physic. A street near him was named Physic Lane after his business as a physic.
Due to sickness that is thought to be Malaria, Mitchell and his wife moved to London for a milder climate. On his way he was robbed of most of his belongings and botany supplies by privateers. He arrived in London with not much money so he decided to become an expert on exotic botany, giving noblemen suggestions and ideas for planting gardens and courtyards.
During his time in London he noticed the issue of the Ohio river valley disputes and Lord Halifax, the person in charge of commercializing the colonies, needed a more reliable and accurate map of the whole east coast. So John Mitchell agreed to make a map for him. Halifax asked all the colonies to have themselves surveyed so that Mitchell could have some smaller maps to start with. Mitchell had no prior cartography experience, but for two years he made his first map. The map was not exactly what Halifax wanted so in 1750 Mitchell spent another five years creating a more complex masterpiece.
Completed in 1755 the map was put together from eight sheets of paper and was 52 inches tall by 75 inches wide when assembled. The map marked towns, roads, borders, rivers, topography, tribal lands, and resources. It is considered the largest, most accurate map of the 18th century. The map was so important at that time that it was used to settle negotiations at the Treaty of Paris after the American Revolutionary War. It also settled border disputes between Maine (USA) and Canada in 1970 over who had fishing rights off the coast of northern Maine.
In conclusion, John Mitchell’s “Mitchell Map” and research were influential to the science community of the 18th century. His devotion to the development of so many sciences left a mark on society. The passion John Mitchell had for his many occupations and titles shows his legacy as a man eager for scientific discovery.
