1876 General Land Office 6-sheet Wall Map of the United States

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. More by this mapmaker...

Charles 'Karl' Richard Roeser (December 15, 1842 - June 23, 1893) was a Prussian-American surveyor and draftsman working with the U.S. General Land Office in the second half of the 19th century. Roeser was born in Merseburg, Saalekreis, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, but emigrated to the United States as a child with his family, settling in Wisconsin. In 1857-61 he took a degree in engineering from Lawrence University, Wisconsin, then went on to take a degree in law from Columbia. Shortly after the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) he entered public service as the Chief Draftsman of the General Land Office. He issued an 1875 map of the United States and an 1876 Centennial atlas of the United States, the Geographical and political atlas of the states and territories of the United States of America. He transferred to the Topographer's Office under Postmaster General Howe in 1882 with the mission to fully reorganize and modernize that department's mapping resources. He maintained the position of Chief Topographer to the Post Office until his death in Washington D. C. in 1893. Learn More...

James Alexander Williamson (February 8, 1829 - September 7, 1902) was an American politician, military officer, and lawyer active in the mid to late 19th century. Williamson was born in Columbia, Kentucky. At 15, his family relocated to Iowa, where he worked as a farmer while studying law, eventually taking the Iowa bar. He served as the chairman of the Iowa State Democratic Committee until the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), when he volunteered for the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Williamson acquitted himself well in numerous battles, quickly rising through the ranks. On December 19, 1864, he received a brevet promotion to brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers, on January 13, 1865, a full promotion to brigadier general and on March 13, 1865, a brevet promotion to major general of volunteers. After the Civil War, he resumed his law practice in Iowa, but in 1876 accepted a position as Commissioner of the United States General Land Office, which he held until 1881. Perhaps through GLO connections, he afterwards became president of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. Learn More...

Julius (Julien) Bien (September 27, 1826 - December 21, 1909) was a German-Jewish lithographer and engraver based in New York City. Bien was born in Naumburg, Germany. He was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Cassell and at Städel's Institute, Frankfurt-am-Main. Following the suppression of the anti-autocratic German Revolutions of 1848, Bien, who participated in the pan-German movement, found himself out of favor in his home country and joined the mass German immigration to the United States. Bien can be found in New York as early as 1849. He established the New York Lithographing, Engraving & Printing Company in New York that focused on the emergent chromo-lithograph process - a method of printing color using lithographic plates. His work drew the attention of the U.S. Government Printing Office which contracted him to produce countless government maps and surveys, including the Pacific Railroad Surveys, the census, numerous coast surveys, and various maps relating to the American Civil War. Bien also issued several atlases both privately and in conjunction with a relation, Joseph Bien. At the height of his career Bien was elected president of the American Lithographers Association. After his death in 1909, Bien's firm was taken over by his son who promptly ran it into insolvency. The firm was sold to Sheldon Franklin, who, as part of the deal, retained the right to publish under the Julius Bien imprint. In addition to his work as a printer, Bien was active in the New York German Jewish community. He was director of the New York Hebrew Technical Institute, the New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and president of the B'nai B'rith Order. Learn More...