The First Gazetteer
In 1797 Jedidiah Morse published "The American Gazetteer," considered to be
the country's first gazetteer. In this book readers were presented with
more than 7000 separate articles, all bearing on a myriad of geographical
details describing the American continent. Prominently featured were the
populations of most of the states, cities and towns based on the infant
nation's first official census in 1790. Morse's voluminous work also
contained seven new maps, including a map of North America as it was known
at the time, and maps showing the northern and southern parts of the United
States.
The Gazetteer followed his publication of "Geography Made Easy" when he
was 23. After 25 editions of that publication, Morse had earned the
well-deserved title of "The Father of American Geography."
In addition to his accomplishments as a geographer, Jedidiah Morse was a
clergyman, licensed to preach as a Congregational Church minister. Born in
Woodstock, Connecticut in 1761, Morse became pastor of the First
Congregational Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was one of the
founders of two newspapers, The Massachusetts Mercury in 1793 and the New
England Palladium in 1801.
