A Map of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
Surveying was a lucrative profession for Purcell. His 1807 probate inventory totaled $4557.50. An advertisement for an auction of his estate included “one sextant, one level, and a complete set of surveyor’s instruments…” As might be expected, the vast majority of Purcell’s work consisted of legal surveys with little decoration. This map is the only published map to bear Purcell’s name. In fact, it is one of the only depictions of the young United States by a Southern cartographer. It is also geographically significant for several reasons: It shows southern land claims to the Mississippi River; the locations of Native American tribes such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminoles, and Creeks; and the briefly proposed State of Franklin in East Tennessee.
RELATED OBJECTS: The MESDA Collection contains a decorative plat drawn in 1788 for John Ball (1760-1817) (MESDA Acc. 4490.1)
REFERENCES: Wooldridge, Mapping of Virginia, 145.