Andrew Talcott, USMA 1818

Cullum Number 181.

Born:    April 20, 1797.

Died:    April 22,1883, Richmond, Virgina.

Invented the zenith telescope in 1834.

In 1835 Hood was associated with Robert E. Lee in a map-making expedition to settle once and for all the Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute. This involved a strip of land averaging six and one half miles in width and extending along the northern border of Ohio west of Lake Erie. Michigan's claim was based on the boundary laid down by the Northwest Ordinance (1787). Ohio's claim was based on the line set forth in its state constitution, which the U.S. Congress had neither confirmed nor rejected when Ohio was admitted to the Union.

To settle this dispute, the government sent Captain Andrew Talcott [USMA 1818, C#181] and Lieutenants Robert E. Lee [USMA 1829, C#524] and Washington Hood [USMA 1827, C#500] to survey and map this area. On the basis of this survey both Michigan and Ohio agreed to compromise and Michigan became a state in 1837. This dispute nearly erupted into a border clash and is often referred to as the "Toledo War."

Source:   http://www.topogs.org/b_hood.htm

 

Genealogy:

His brother was General George Talcott, Chief of the Ordnance Corps.

His grand daughter Lucia Beverly Talcott (1865-?) married inventor Herman Hollerith in 1890.

References:

DAB

Ob-AR 83