Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800 - 1893)

Colton, founded an American mapmaking company which was an international leader in the map publishing industry between 1831 and 1890. Colton was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and moved to New York in 1831 to establish his firm. For the first ten years, Colton licensed the use of maps from established cartographers such as David H. Burr. Colton also employed some of the preeminent engravers of the time, including Burr, Samuel Stiles, John Disturnell and D. Griffing Johnson. He went on to create railroad maps, immigrant guides, folding pocket maps, large wall maps, and elaborate atlases.