Robert Butler (December 29, 1786 - January 13, 1860) was an American military officer and government surveyor. Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Butler's father, Colonel Thomas Butler (1748 - 1805) died of yellow fever in 1805 and Butler and his siblings became wards of future president Andrew Jackson. Butler married Rachel Hays (General Jackson's niece) in August 1808. He was a graduate of West Point and served as General Jackson's Assistant Adjutant-General during the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1821, having attained the ranks of colonel and commander. He became the acting Governor of East Florida on July 10, 1821 (possibly why he resigned from the Army?) and served for only two days when John R. Bell arrived. He was appointed the first Surveyor General of Florida in 1824 and held the position until 1848. He is responsible for one of, if not the, first maps of Florida after it became a state in 1845. More by this mapmaker...

The General Land Office (GLO) (1812 - 1946) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. Created in 1812, it took over functions previously conducted by the Department of the Treasury. The GLO oversaw the surveying, platting, and sale of public lands in the western United States. It also administered the Preemption Act of 1841, which allowed individuals who were already living on federal land to purchase up to 160 acres of land before it was offered for sale to the general public, if they met certain requirements. Following the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, which was also administered by the GLO, claims under the Preemption Act sharply decreased. The GLO became a part of the newly-created Department of the Interior in 1849. In 1891 Grover Cleveland and Congress created 17 forest reserves, due to public concern over forest conservation, which were initially managed by the GLO, until they were transferred to the Forest Service in 1905. In 1946 the Government Land Office was merged with the United States Grazing Service to become the Bureau of Land Management. Today the Bureau of Land Management administers the roughly 246 million acres of public land remaining under federal ownership. Learn More...

David McClelland (1820 - 1899) was a Washington D.C. based copper plate engraver and publisher active from at least 1840 to about 1876. His work mainly consists of maps and other engraved documents for government publications, including maps for the Army Bureau of Topographical Engineers, Senate Reports, and General Land Office. In 1840, when he was just 19, McClelland was partnered with William Smith under the imprint of 'Smith and McClelland' with offices on Pennsylvania Avenue between 2nd and 3rd. The ordering of names in the imprint suggests that Smith was the senior partner, possibly the person who trained McClelland in engraving. While there is little evidence of Smith, there was an engraver of this name in Washington D.C. doing government engraving in the 1850s, and another living in Philadelphia. It is unclear if they are the same or different individuals. The partnership eventually dissolved, at which point Smith moved to Pennsylvania Avenue near 11h Street and McClellend to the Old Medical Collage at 10th and East Streets. McClelland is best known for his engraving of the important 1861 Albert Boschke map of Washington D.C. and the 1846 Topographical Engineers map of Florida. In 1863, during the American Civil War, McClelland had an altercation with the Federal Government War Department over the plates for the Boschke Map, which he owed in partnership with several others. The plates were ultimately seized without compensation for war use. After the war, McClelland appealed to Congress for restitution, which was finally granted in the 1890s. In the 1860s, McClelland published under the imprint of 'D. McClelland, Blanchard and Mohun' and 'D. McClelland, Blanchard and Mohun, Hugh b. Sweeny and Thomas Blagdon.' McClelland lived in Le Droit Park and is possibly responsible for that neighborhood being named as such. Learn More...