  joseph ellicott (november 1, 1760 in bucks county, pennsylvania &ndash; august 19, 1826 in new york city) was an american surveyor, city planner, land office agent, lawyer and politician of the quaker faith. ==life== he was the son of quaker miller joseph ellicott (1732â1780). in 1790, his brother andrew ellicott was hired by the federal government to survey the new federal district, where the new capital city of washington was to be built. joseph was andrew's chief assistant during the latter part of the survey. joseph ellicott was subsequently sent to georgia to survey the boundary line, established by treaty with the creek tribe. he was then engaged to survey some property in western pennsylvania which has been purchased by a group of dutch investors, who had formed the holland land company. he also extended the new york - pennsylvania border westward. when the company purchased a huge tract of western new york (that became known as the holland purchase), ellicott was hired in 1797 and was sent to perform the monumental task of surveying it. ellicott spent two years (1798â1800) living outdoors in summer and winter, laying out the townships of the new land in order to complete the great survey of the land in october 1800. in 1800, the principal agent of the company, paolo busti, gave him a new position as their agent at their headquarters in batavia, new york. from this office, for the next 21 years he supervised the sales of the tract, with his personal signature on many deeds. ellicott was an observer for the investors at the big tree treaty when the senecas sold their rights to the land in western new york. in 1801, he laid out batavia, new york, and in 1804 the village of buffalo, and established mill sites and communities. ellicott was a presidential elector in 1804, voting for thomas jefferson and george clinton. from march 1806 to june 1807, he was first judge of the genesee county court. he advocated a canal to be built from the hudson river to lake erie, and was among the erie canal commissioners appointed in 1816 to supervise the
1760_births 1826_deaths American_Quakers American_surveyors American_urban_planners Erie_Canal_Commissioners New_York_state_court_judges People_from_Bucks_County,_Pennsylvania People_from_Genesee_County,_New_York Suicides_by_hanging_in_New_York United_States_presidential_electors