Ma: Holmes Hole 1856 #11 Cover, to Henry Whiting US Coastal Survey, DPO Dukes Co

Description: Po dates: 1797-1871, no letter enclosed, I am getting the date from the pencil notation on the cover, addressed to Henry Whiting, US Coastal Survey, Richmond, Staten Island, NY. Mr. Henry L. Whiting"Assistant U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and Chairman of the Massachusetts Topographical Survey Commission, died at his residence in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, on Thursday, February 4th, the last day of the seventy-sixth year of his life. Mr. Whiting’s position as a public officer was in many ways unique; his services in the corps to which he belonged were noteworthy, and he had, in addition, filled many positions of responsibility and dignity, which came to him in recognition of his high character and professional accomplishments. A brief account of a career so remarkable will be of interest to the many who knew him either personally or through his work, and to all who appreciate a life full of useful activities in faithful and efficient public service. In the length of that service it is doubtful if his equal is now living. Had Mr. Whiting lived a few weeks longer he would have entered his sixtieth year of continued public service, all as an officer of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which he entered at an early age. He served some time under Hassler, the first Superintendent, and for many years he stood alone as the only member of the corps who had served under every superintendent of the Survey. Mr. Whiting was born at Albany, New York. His father was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Troy. His grandfather was William Bradford Whiting, a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and a lineal descendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Plymouth Colony. One of his brothers was a classmate of General Grant at West Point and held high rank in the army at the time of his death; another was graduated at the Naval Academy, was one of Commodore Perry’s officers in the Japan Expedition, himself holding the rank of Commodore at the time of his death. Others of the family were distinguished, but Henry Laurens, the youngest, survived them all, except a sister, now residing in Philadelphia. In the Coast Survey his great work was the development of the topographical operations of that bureau. He was regarded as the father of the system so long and so successfully in use, and every topographer in the service has at some time been under his direction and instruction. He did, indeed, direct at one time the main triangulation of the coast of Florida, but his tastes and instincts were so strong in the direction of topography that he was at an early day given entire charge of that department of the Survey. Besides being actively engaged in field work, he continued throughout most of his life to serve as general topographical inspector. Of the general conference of topographers of the Survey held in Washington in 1892 he was chairman, and although then over seventy years of age, one of its most active and useful members. By detail of the Superintendent, Professor Peirce, Mr. Whiting inaugurated the instruction in land and harbor surveys at Annapolis, and under a similar detail he served for two years as professor of topographical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was consulting engineer for the Massachusetts Harbor Commission for twelve years and a member of the Commission for three years. He was actively related to and a member of other harbor surveys and commissions at various points along the New England coast. With the approval of the Superintendent he was appointed, in 1884, a member of the Massachusetts State Topographical Survey Commission, serving as chairman after the resignation of General Francis A. Walker, in 1892. In 1890 he was appointed a member of the Mississippi River Commission by President Harrison, whose grandfather’s inaugural address he had heard from the east front of the Capitol while temporarily at the office of the Coast Survey after a long period of field duty. He continued to serve on this Commission until his death. In common with a number of his colleagues in the Survey, Mr. Whiting did important service during the Civil War. Of those officers absent in the field at the time of its beginning he was the first to report in Washington for volunteer service, reaching there by way of Annapolis, after Baltimore was cut off, at the same time with the New York 7th Regiment. During the war he made many topographical surveys for military purposes. On the laying of the French cable it was on his recommendation, the question having been referred to him, that Duxbury was selected as the terminal station, his excellent judgment being fully proved by the remark subsequently made by Sir Charles Hartley that it was the most successful ocean cable landing in his experience. Personally Mr. Whiting was most agreeable and charming. He had the dignity of manners which is usually associated with “a gentleman of the old school,” along with a simplicity of character and openness of heart that made him beloved by all who came in contact with him. He was a man of splendid physique, as his long and uninterrupted service shows, and even after passing the allotted threescore and ten he never shrank from any duty, however arduous it might be. His activity in the field ceased only with his death, and in 1894 he was, by direction of the Superintendent, in general charge of the resurveys of Boston Harbor, the field work of which was done by a half dozen of his younger colleagues." ** Click on the blue door next to the "me" and it will take you to our store where covers are broken down by category ** GUARANTEED TO BE OLD & ORIGINAL & GENUINE USA shipping is $2.00 and we will combine Foreign Shipping is $3.00 and we will combine

Price: 50 USD

Location: Rindge, New Hampshire

End Time: 2024-11-28T21:51:30.000Z

Shipping Cost: 2 USD