John Filson (c. 1747 – October 1788)[1] was an American author, historian of Kentucky, pioneer, surveyor and one of the founders of Cincinnati, Ohio.
John Filson | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of John Filson | |
| Born | c. 1747 |
| Disappeared | October 1788 Near the Great Miami River, Ohio, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Maps, Books, Co-Founding of Cincinnati |
| Notable work | The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke |
Early life
editJohn Filson was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, around 1747. He was the son of Davison Filson, also of Chester County. He attended the West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Maryland, and studied with the Reverend Samuel Finley, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). Heitman's Historical Register of Colonial Officers reports a John Filson served as an Ensign in Montgomery's Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp and was taken prisoner at Fort Washington on 16 November 1776, during the Battle of New York.
Career
editWriting
editHe worked as a schoolteacher and surveyor in Pennsylvania until 1782 or 1783, when he acquired over 13,000 acres (53 km2) of western lands and moved to Kentucky. He settled in Lexington, taught school, surveyed land claims, and travelled the region interviewing the settlers and leading citizens. He wrote The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke during this period, and travelled to Wilmington, Delaware, to have it published in the summer of 1784. He also had a "Map of Kentucke" engraved and printed in Philadelphia. The edition, including both book and map, consisted of 1,500 copies and was priced at $1.50. The map was reprinted several times before 1793. Filson's plan for a second edition, to be endorsed by George Washington, fell through.
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The book was almost immediately translated into French and re-published in Paris (1785) and somewhat later a German edition appeared (Leipzig, 1790). The appendix relating the adventures of Daniel Boone was extremely popular, and was referenced by (among others) Lord Byron in Don Juan. Gilbert Imlay reprinted Filson's entire work, along with other material, in A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America (volume II, published in London and New York in 1793). Filson left in manuscript A Diary of a Journey from Philadelphia to Vincennes, Indiana, in 1785; An Account of a Trip by Land from Vincennes, hid., to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1785; A Journal of Two Voyages by Water from Vincennes to Louisville, and an account of an attempted voyage in 1786.
Founding of Cincinnati
editAfter spending several years in Kentucky teaching school, surveying, trying (unsuccessfully) to start a seminary, and becoming embroiled in numerous lawsuits and financial difficulties, he purchased from Mathias Denman a one third interest in an 800-acre (3.2 km2) tract at the junction of the Ohio and Licking rivers, the future site of Cincinnati, which he called Losantiville, a name formed by Filson from the Latin "os" (mouth), the Greek "anti" (opposite), and the French "ville" (city), from its position opposite the mouth of the Licking River.
Filson's survey and plan of the town survives in the layout of modern downtown Cincinnati. In 1790, General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of Losantiville to Cincinnati in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers founded by George Washington.[2]
Disappearance
editWhile on a surveying and colonizing expedition near the Great Miami River, he disappeared, October 1, 1788, when the party was attacked by territorial Shawnees, and his body was never found. The Shawnee tribe was upset by his claims that they never resided where he "disappeared," as published in his aforementioned work. Ironically, the Shawnee tribe that he claimed had no ties to Kentucky were the ones to end his life. After his disappearance his partners, Denman and Patterson, transferred his interest in the site of Cincinnati to Israel Ludlow, and his heirs never reaped any benefit from the subsequent increase in the value of the land. He never married and left no direct descendants.
Legacy
editThe Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky is named for him.[3]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ "Subjects of Biographies". Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. Comprehensive Index. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1990.
- ^ Suess, Jeff (28 December 2013). "Cincinnati's beginning: The origin of the settlement that became this city". USA Today Network. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ^ "About The Filson Historical Society". filsonhistorical.org. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
References
edit- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 2. New York: D. Appleton. p. 457.
Further reading
edit
- The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke (1784)
- Durrett, Reuben Thomas (1884). John Filson, the First Historian of Kentucky: An Account of His Life and Writings, Principally from Original Sources. Louisville, Kentucky: Filson Club.
- Helderman, Leonard Clinton (1938). "John Filson's Narrative of His Defeat on the Wabash, 1786" (PDF). Filson Club History Quarterly. 12 (4). Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- Thruston, R. C. Ballard (January 1934). "Filson's History and Map of Kentucky". Filson Club History Quarterly. 8 (1). Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- Wilson, Samuel M. (October 1939). "John Filson in Pennsylvania". Filson Club History Quarterly. 13 (4). Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2011.