1858 Chace Wall Map of Hillsboro County, New Hampshire (Nashua, Manchester)

Jacob Chace Jr. (January 27, 1819 - February 18, 1903) was an American surveyor, civil engineer, educator, and map publisher. Born in North Hoosick, New York, Chace became one of the most prolific creators and publishers of county maps of the northeastern United States in the mid-19th century. He was involved in the production of large-format county maps, published mostly between 1854 and 1860. Many of these counties were in Maine, but he also produced maps of Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. There is some ambiguity in historical accounts of his date of death. Many references state that he died in 1864 while Ambrose F. Church was working for him to create a map of Nova Scotia. However, references to a Jacob Chace surveying towns for maps of Virginia and North Carolina appear in newspaper columns in the 1870s and 1880s. Chace's name is sometimes misspelled on maps and references as 'Chase'. Our own research confirms that Chase died in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 18, 1903. More by this mapmaker...

Smith, Mason, and Company (fl. 1850 - 1865) was a map publishing firm with offices in several cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Troy, and Manchester, NH. They published numerous county wall maps, mostly focusing on New England, through the second half of the 19th century. The plethora of offices and addresses on their imprints suggests a large business, but the reality may be that most of these were little more than addresses and short-term annexes established to promote and sell individual maps. The firm was operated by Hoarce Mason, but due to the commonality of this name, we have had some difficulty narrowing his identity. Smith's like refers to 'H. and C.T. Smith', prominent map publishers in their own right. There are papers associated with Smith, Mason, and Company preserved at the Library of Congress, which remain undigitized but which may illuminate this firm. Learn More...