CLAUDE JOSEPH SAUTHIER’S SUPERB MAP OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK IS A TOUR-DE-FORCE. Sauthier (1736-1802) was an engineer who accompanied Governor William Tryon to North Carolina in 1761. In 1771 he remained in his service when Tryon transferred to New York. In 1773 Sauthier was named surveyor of the Province of New York. He was commissioned to produce a survey from New York to Quebec and using the work of Bernard Ratzer along with his own surveys he produced ‘A Map of the Province of New York’ published by William Faden in 1776, on the day of the Declaration of Independence.

As war broke out he was made military surveyor and New York was in a most strategic location. Not only was the city the headquarters of British occupation during the conflict but the Province would see much of the conflict as control of the Hudson River was seen to be pivotal. It could drive a wedge between New England and the southern colonies. More accurate mapping was required and Sauthier set about the task particularly in regions less well known such as the Catskills and further upstate. This, the resulting map, was on a scale three times greater at nearly five miles to the inch and records extraordinary detail recording individual farms and farmhouses, taverns, ferries, bridges and even the names of landholders. Amongst the latter are the 5,000 acres granted to Sauthier for his services in Norbury, Vermont. Phillips (1901) p. 505; Sellers & Van Ee (1981) 1070.