Pearce’s MacRae-Brazier map was published in 1859; it represents the final chapter[[As of 2022, Chapter 1 is yet to be written for this blog, but you can read Chapter 2 and Chapter 3]] in the long life of the 1833 copper plates used for the original MacRae-Brazier map.
Samuel Pearce was born in Truro, Cornwall, UK, in 1807. The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography[[See http://ncpedia.org/biography/pearce-samuel for biographical information on Samuel Pearce; however, the information it provides on Pearce’s maps is not reliable.]] reports that he came to the U.S. (Virginia) at an early age and was eventually ordained as a Methodist minister. He gave up the life of a circuit-rider when he settled in Hillsborough in 1848, though he continued his calling as a minister. Pearce also briefly operated a school and was an agent for northern book publishers. In 1852, Pearce, Calvin Wiley, and William Cooke began collaboration for the publication of a new map of the State to be accompained by a gazetteer.[[The gazetteer was never published, but for the publication history of Cooke’s map, see the PDF available here.]] Suffice it to say that Wiley dropped out very early to pursue other interests and Cooke and Pearce apparently had different visions for their enterprise. Cooke announced the dissolution of his partnership with Pearce almost simultaneously with his announcement that the map had been sent to the publisher to be engraved. Pearce didn’t let this minor setback dissuade him. Unable to copy Cooke’s map, he resorted to the seemingly immortal MacRae-Brazier plates.
By summer of 1859, Pearce’s project was in motion, prompting advertisements soliciting subscriptions. An example from a July 1859 issue of The Spirit of the Age (Raleigh) is shown below.
A December 1, 1859, advertisement confirmed publication of the map. None of the items listed “in preparation”, including the pocket map, made it to publication.
Samuel Pearce’s wall map of North Carolina, the largest map of the state published in the 19th Century, was embellished with more than twenty border vignettes.
Many of the New York vignettes included on the publisher’s mock up map have been replaced by vignettes of buildings in North Carolina and the District of Columbia, and several North Carolina natural landmarks, such as Pilot Mountain. However, there are still a number of unlabeled vignettes at the bottom of the map that represent buildings in New York. For example, one building has “Dr. J. Trissler” above the portico. The home and office of Dr. John Trissler was in Vienna (Phelps), Ontario County, New York.[[It can be seen at left center on this 1859 map of Ontario County.]] The logical assumption is that Pearce was unable to supply a sufficient number of engravings of local (NC) homes, schools, and landmarks to complete the border. The “foreign” vignettes included labels on the New York county map from which they were pirated. The publisher wisely chose to remove those labels on Pearce’s map. North Carolinians likely assumed, as this author initially did, that the unlabeled vignettes were of homes in the Tar Heel State.
Did you notice that the map was not just credited to Pearce, but to “Pearce & Best”? Henry Best was a resident of Snow Hill, in Greene County. Best’s role in the partnership was very likely limited to that of a financial backer. However, specific details of the partnership are unknown. Henry Best died on May 8, 1860, “aged 54 years, 1 month, and 2 days.”[[Daily Progress (New Bern), Saturday, May 26, 1860, page 2.]] One month later, Pearce announced, “The partnership existing between Samuel Pearce & Henry Best having been dissolved by the death of H. Best… The said H. Best’s interest in the Map is for sale. Apply to Samuel Pearce, sur[viving] Part[ner], Hillsboro’, N.C.”[[The North Carolina Standard (Raleigh), Wednesday, June 6, 1860, page 3.]]
Pearce’s map likely met with slow sales. Only three surviving copies are known: Library of Congress, State Archives in Raleigh, and Duke University. In December 1860, six copies were advertised for sale in Salisbury. Ten months later, in October 1861, (those same?) six copies were advertised for sale in Salisbury.[[Carolina Watchman (Salisbury, NC), December 18, 1860; Salisbury Banner, Tuesday, October 15, 1861, page 4.]] During the latter months of 1861, after the first major land battle of the War Between the States near Big Bethel, Virginia, in June 1861, Pearce advertised his map as “Map of North Carolina and Virginia”,[[An example of this recurring ad can be seen in the December 25, 1861 issue of The State Journal (Raleigh, NC).]] though it only included Virginia as far north as Richmond. The fate of the unsold maps is unknown.
Although this is the final chapter of the MacRae-Brazier map, it is not the final chapter for Samuel Pearce. Following his service as a chaplain in the CSA during the war, he once again turned his energies towards the production of a new map of North Carolina. Pearce loaned his map (the manuscript?) to the Senate in 1869, and the published map was completed in December 1870, with delivery in January 1871. We’ll save that map for another day.
Do you have comments, corrections, or questions? Please use the “What’s on your mind?” comment box at the bottom of this page.