1858 Richardson Map of Texas

Charles Desilver (1815 - May 18, 1876) was an American book and map publisher active during the 19th century in Philadelphia. Desilver, the son of Thomas Desilver of the firm Desilver, Thomas and Co., began is cartographic career as a partner in the firm Thomas, Cowperthwait and Company, the publisher of Samuel Augustus Mitchell's popular New Universal Atlas. Thomas, Cowperthwait and Company was succeeded by Cowperthwait, Desilver and Butler. In 1856, when the previous firm dissolved, Desilver succeeded it by starting his own lithographic firm, acquired Mitchell's copyrights, and began publishing his own variant on the New Universal Atlas. Desilver revised Mitchell's maps with a new grillwork border, his own color scheme, new titles, and some updated political data. Despite a noble pedigree, Desilver's maps did not sell well - possibly because they followed the long and very popular run of Mitchell's own atlases. Desliver continued to publish his atlas until 1859 (though we have heard that he also published an 1862 edition). In 1859 he resold the Mitchell copyrights and printing plates to S. A. Mitchell's son S. A. Mitchell, Jr. The younger Mitchell again updated the plates with his own border and color scheme. He began publishing his own successful atlas in 1860. Desilver continued to operate his firm even after selling the Mitchell copyrights, and his sons Harry and Joseph T., joined the firm in 1875 which was renamed Desilver and Sons. Desilver married Caroline Hill on March 29, 1836, in Philadelphia, with whom he had several children. More by this mapmaker...

Willard Richardson (June 24, 1802 - July 16, 1875) was a Texan newspaperman and publisher active in the mid-19th century. Richards was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts. In 1818, he relocated with his brother to Charleston, South Carolina. Shortly thereafter, his brother died of yellow fever. With the support of a local judge, he attended state collage at Columbia, South Carolina, graduating in 1828. He subsequently moved to Texas in 1837 to work as a surveyor. Within a few years, he returned to teaching, establishing a school in Houston, which he ran for nine years. During this time, he befriended Francis Moore, editor of the Telegraph and Texas Register. Moore traveled to Washington D.C. to cover a presidential campaign, leaving Richardson in charge of the Register. Richardson proved so effective he garnered the attention of the Galveston News owners Wilbur H. Cherry and Benjamin F. Neal, who were looking for a new editor and offered him the position. There he developed a reputation for Whig values and supported the state's rights beliefs of John C. Calhoun. He was also an ardent secessionist. He began publishing the Texas Almanac in 1857. In time he became one of the wealthiest and most powerful newsmen in antebellum Texas. Richardson died in Galveston in 1875. Learn More...