1845 Farnham / Morse Maps of the Republic of Texas and Upper California

Maps of the Republic of Texas and Upper California in 1845, issued for Sidney E. Morse's Cerographic Atlas. The maps are printed back-to-back, but collectively represent the region in the year prior to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848), in the final days of the Republic of Texas (1836 - 1846) and Mexican California, considered the first atlas map of Upper California.

Texas

The Texas map (1:2,450,000) covers from the Rio Grande to the Red River and from the Wichita Mountains to the Sabine River. The map exhibits an early county structure in east Texas. The sites of several battles are noted, inkling the Alamo in San Antonio and 'Fannings Battle' in Goliad County.

Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was a short-lived nation established in March 1836 when it seceded from Mexico. Following the independence of Mexico from Spain, the American Stephen Fuller Austin led a group of 300 Empresarios to settle Texas, near Austin, where they received a grant from the Mexican government. As more Americans moved to Texas, resentment and strife began to build between the American settlers and Mexican authorities. This and other factors ultimately led to the Texan Revolution in 1835 and the declaration of Texan independence in 1836. Texas remained an independent republic until it joined the United States ten years later in 1846.

Map of the Californias by T. J. Farnham

This map (1:3400000) is significant as the first atlas map of Upper California, issued in the leadup to the Mexican-American War. Coverage embraces from Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan to the Oregon Border, and from the Pacific to Santa Fe. Both the Mission of San Francisco and the Mexican settlement of Yerba Buena are labeled, as are San Jose, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, among other sites. OF significant Sutter's Colony (Sutter is in a pre-Anglicized form 'Suter') on the Sacramento River. The overland route runs east, directly across the Great Basin to pass north of Great Salt Lake (L. Timpanigos). The cartography is heavily influence by the voyage of Thomas Jefferson Farnham.

Thomas Jefferson Farnham

Thomas Jefferson Farnam (1804 - 1848), a lawyer by trade, led an ambitious 1839 expedition to Oregon and California. Known as the Peoria Party Expedition, it conceived with a dual mission: 'to raise the American flag and run the Hudson's Bay Company out of the country'. Farnham was elected as the group leader and his wife, Eliza Woodson Burhams, crafted the expedition flag, bearing the rallying cry: 'Oregon or the Grave!' The unity of the expedition was tested when the group split at Bent's Fort. Thereafter, guided by Capt. Hall J. Kelly, they navigated to Fort Davy Crockett situated at Brown's Hole on the Green River (here labeled). Their journey continued to Fort Hall before finally reaching Oregon. Farnham then ventured further south into California, where he boarded a ship heading back east. He returned to California in 1856. There, two years later in San Francisco, he died. Farnham's widow Eliza moved to Santa Cruz, California and became a leading abolitionist, novelist, and early feminist.

Publication History and Census

The Texas map was engraved in 1844, and the Californias map in 1845, both likely by J. N. Nicollet. Texas bears the Sidney E. Morse and Samuel Breese imprint, but the California map is copyrighted to 'Thomas J. Farnham'. Both maps appear in the 1845 edition of Morse and Breese's Cerographic Atlas of the United States - the first atlas printed the revolutionary cerographic process (wax engraving). The map is scarce but appears occasionally on the market.