The Map & Chart Makers

Thomas Wheeler

Thomas Wheeler was one of Samuel Holland’s team of talented surveyors and map makers working on Holland’s great survey of the North American coast, started in 1765.

The team included Charles Blaskowitz, George Sproule and James Grant. Every one of this team of surveyors and draughtsmen were capable of working on their own or in small collaborative groups. During this period, leading up to the War of Independence, Wheeler worked more often than not with James Grant. Together they produced a of a series of surveys of Plymouth and the greater Boston region many of which were later adapted by J.F.W. Des Barres for inclusion in his folios of the Atlantic Neptune.

In 1774 Wheeler was specifically charged by Holland with surveying the land and coastline of Massachusetts between Boston and Plymouth.

In September 1777 Wheeler is noted in dispatches as holding the rank of Ensign in the 40th regiment of Engineers working around New York, but was later seconded to the staff of Sir William Howe, Commander in Chief of the British forces.

Associated Charts and Maps: A104, A105, A110, A111