Andrew Ellicott His Life and Letters (Classic Reprint) ~ Paperback ~ Catharine Van Cortlandt Mathews

Excerpt from Andrew Ellicott His Life and Letters It has long been the desire of the descendants of Andrew Ellicott that a record of his life and work should be made in the definite and permanent form of a biography. This has been felt to be a recognition which is justly due to the useful and enduring nature of most of his public work. Except for a brief statement of the main facts of his life given in the Genealogy of the Fox, Ellicott, and Evans families; a short but excellent biographical sketch in Stuart's Civil and Military Engineers of America; and a few stray newspaper articles relative to his work on the surveys and plans of the city of Washington, no really adequate account of Major Ellicott's career has hitherto found its way into print, and thereby, into public notice. This book therefore presents for the most part entirely new material, and is taken largely from a mass of valuable and interesting papers, letters, diaries, and documents of various sorts, which are in the possession of Mr. Ellicott D. Curtis and other of Major Ellicott's descendants, and which have never before been published. Especial mention should be made of Mrs. T. K. Alexander of Washington, D. C., who, besides the many papers and journals of Major Ellicott which are in her possession, has collected many documents relative to his part in the surveys and plans of the District of Columbia. The thanks of the author for kindly advice and assistance given are due to Mr. Henry W. Lanier of Doubleday, Page & Co., to Mr. John B. Church of Geneva, N. Y., and to Dr. Richard B. Coutant of Tarrytown, N. Y. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.