Simeon DeWitt (1756–1834), surveyor, was born in Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York, and studied in Schenectady before attending Queen’s College (later Rutgers University), which awarded him a B.A. in 1776. At the outbreak of the American Revolution he enlisted as an adjutant in a local militia battalion and became a private when this unit was absorbed into another regiment. In 1778 DeWitt was appointed as assistant to the army’s geographer-in-chief, and he took over leadership of that department two years later. From December 1780 he was attached to the main encampment of the Continental army making surveys and maps in aid of military operations, and after hostilities ceased he stayed on at George Washington’s request, creating a cartographic history of the Revolutionary War based on field maps. DeWitt was named surveyor-general of the state of New York in 1784 and held the position for the remainder of his life, living for most of his career in Albany. He was active in various scholarly and educational organizations, including service to the University of the State of New York as regent from 1798, vice chancellor beginning in 1817, and chancellor from 1829 until his death. DeWitt was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1787. He was a founder of the New York Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures in 1793 and became its president in 1813. DeWitt also developed the settlement that eventually became Ithaca, New York, where he relocated permanently in 1831 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Theodoric Romeyn Beck, Eulogium of the Life and Services of Simeon De Witt [1835]; Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 [1904–37], 18:1118 [4 Dec. 1780]; Heitman, Continental Army description begins Francis B. Heitman, comp., Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783, rev. ed., 1914, repr. 1967 description ends , 196; Washington, Papers, Confederation Ser., 1:34–6; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Minutes, 19 Jan. 1787 [MS in PPAmP]; DeWitt to TJ, 28 Aug. 1804 [MHi]; New-York Spectator, 11 Dec. 1834).