Biographical Sketch of Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) by Isaac Sharpless

Isaac Sharpless (1848-1920) taught mathematics at Haverford College from 1875 to 1884, then became Dean of the Faculty, and in 1887, President of the College. He served until his resignation in 1917.

The manuscript noted here is in Folder 3 of Box 1 of the Isaac Sharpless Papers, 1876-1987 which are in the Haverford College Library. The manuscript is 138 pp. in length, has a few extra sheets laid in and many pages are annotated with corrections and additions. I asked for a photocopy of the whole thing. The following are notes on a few salient features.

p. 4 (6 in pencil). "When the Revolutionary War broke out the elder members of the family, though warmly American in their feelings, were restrained by their pacific principles from taking any active part. But Andrew felt no such hesitancy, and in 1778, when the Elkridge militia was formed, he was commissioned by Governor Johnson, first as captain and afterwards as major. This title clung to him through his life. Though the command saw no active service, he was probably "disowned" by friends for his breach of their testimonies. His after life, except for the simplicity and integrity which is usually associated with the name, and which he possessed in a marked degree, showed but little trace of Quaker affiliations. In those days the numerical names of the months and the singular pronoun when addressing one person were more of denominational marks than at present, and Andrew Ellicott did not use them in later life. He writes, in 1786: "Yesterday I attended the Quaker Quarterly meeting. Our meditations were interrupted but once, and then only for a short time. My speculation turned accidentally upon that easy sum for the Quadrature of a Circle, found out by Mons. Leibting [sic]." He might doubtless have been worse employed than in speculating on the impossible problem of squaring the circle, but mathematical mediation is not exactly the purpose of the silent meeting."

As to be "disowned" note that Ellicott visited his mother at the beginning of his journey down the Mississippi. See his Journal.

Later in the manuscript and while on one of his surveying journeys, Ellicott debated for days one of his fellow surveyors. The topic was whether a Quaker could participate in a "defensive" war. Ellicott felt that this was permissible, but that one could not engage in "offensive" wars.

See what information I can find about Ellicott during the Revolutionary War. Was he indeed called "Major" throughout his life?

p. 34. L'Enfant was dismissed from his work on DC and was bitter about it. "When President Monroe later offered him the post of Professor of Engineering at West Point he gave the Delphic answer, "Not accepted but not refused." "

Need to see if I can verify this using WP records. It may be better to look in Monroe papers, as this even may not have even surfaced at West Point.

p. 53. Enoch Lewis, a young Quaker, came into the library of the Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and asked for Newton's Principia. Ellicottt overheard him and that is how Lewis became Ellicott's assistant. Lewis "became as great a mathematician as his preceptor and the author of several books of merit."

A new name to me. Look in Karpinski for any mathematics texts he may have published. Also, Sharpless may have published some textbooks. Check on those also. There is an article on Enoch Lewis in Appleton's Cyclopedia, which is available on line. He did indeed publish several books.

p. 116. WP was without a single instructor or student on March 31, 1812. Ellicott was hired in September 1813. "He established rigid examinations, excluding a large percentage of candidates."

Rigid examinations before Thayer is an interesting idea. This is something that ST usually gets credit for.

 

p. 117. Boundary with Canada. "May 18th, 1817, left West Point in the "Paragon", Capt. Rhoubach, at 1/2 after 12o'clock in the morning, and arrived at Albany about 5 o'clock P. M. Cloudy and rainy all day." This continues to p. 119 and seems to break off abruptly on June 14 when he was at St. John's.

Probably I can find the exact dates when Ellicott was absent from West Point in records there. Was he gone when Thayer arrived?

 

pp. `125-128. Lists 19 publications. All but 2 are in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1787 to 1810.

    Get copies of these. I wonder if this list is complete?

The ms ends with a crossed out hand written note "This should be followed by A. E. Douglass's account of A. E.'s instruments.

Andrew Elliott Douglass (1867-1920), American astronomer and father of dendrochronology, was the grandson of West Point Mathematics professor, David Bates Douglass. DBD married Ann Ellicott, daughter of Andrew Ellicott, and so AED is the greatgrandson of AE. In 1898, AED donated two of Andrew Ellicott's instruments to the Smithsonian. These are a "transit and equal altitude instrument (catalog number PH*152080) and a "zenith telescope" (catalog number PH*312079).