Where can a find a list of all the men who served as Surveyor General
in the U.S.?  Surveyors General worked for the General Land Office. 
This department was merged with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 
The office of Surveyor General was discontinued around 1920.

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 21 Nov 2002 14:25 PST

I have found a history of the General Land Office that includes the
names of U.S. Surveyors General, including dates served, from 1796
(when the first U.S. Surveyor General was appointed) to 1866.  If this
information would meet your needs, I could post it as an answer.

The General Land Office was created as part of the Treasury Department
to handle and dispose of public lands.

1796  Rufus Putnam was appointed first Surveyor General (October 1)
  1803 Jared Mansfield was appointed second Surveyor General,
replacing Rufus Putnam (November

1812 Josiah Meigs was appointed Surveyor General, replacing Jared
Mansfield1814

 1814 William Rector was Surveyor General for Illinois, Missouri, and
Arkansas

Records of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. were destroyed
by fires set by British troops near the end of the War of 1812


1814  Edward Tiffin was appointed Surveyor General (October 11)

1838 Albert G. Ellis was appointed  Surveyor General at the Surveyor
General's office in Dubuque (June 28)

1840George W. Jones was appointed  Surveyor General at the Surveyor
General's office in Dubuque (February 4)
George W. Jones was Surveyor General October 16, 1840 to July 27, 1841

1841James Wilson of Keene, New Hampshire, was appointed Surveyor
General at the Surveyor General's office in Dubuque (AprilJames Wilson
was Surveyor  General May 26, 1842 to July 14,

1845 George W. Jones was appointed  Surveyor General at the Surveyor
General's office in Dubuque (May 9). George W. Jones was Surveyor
General in Dubuque July 14, 1845 to December 11, 1848

1849Caleb H. Booth was appointed  Surveyor General at the Surveyor
General's office in Dubuque (January 12). C.H. Booth was Surveyor
General in Dubuque February 9, 1849 to May 30, 1850

George B. Sargent was appointed  Surveyor General at the Surveyor
General's office in Dubuque (March 24). George B. Sargent was Surveyor
General in Dubuque May 8, 1851 to April 1, 1853

Warner Lewis was appointed Surveyor General at the Surveyor General's
office in Dubuque (April 23)
Warner Lewis was Surveyor General in Dubuque June 6, 1853 to July 27,
1859

1883 The State Land Office was abolished and its functions were
transferred to the office of the Secretary of State. 15 Surveyors
General had been appointed by this time

1946 General Land Office became part of the new Bureau of Land
Management in the Department of the Interior

References
Cazier, Lola. 1977. Surveys and surveyors of the public domain
1785-1975. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior. 228 p.

White, C. Albert. 1983. A history of the rectangular survey system.
Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Land Management.  774 p.

See also timeline of General Land Office
http://www.glo.gis.iastate.edu/pinfo/timeline.html

Search strategy:
"general land office" "surveyor general"

A search for "surveyor general" (make sure to include the quotes) at
the on-line Columbia Ecyclopedia (http://www.bartleby.com/65/) gave 19
hits, about half of which seemed to be U.S. suerveyors generals.  You
might want to have a look and see if you can create a complete
timeline from these results.

You say that the document listing names of U.S. Surveyors General you
found stops in 1866.   You also posted a document listing names of
Surveyors General in Iowa.  I need names of Surveyors General up to
1870 for all U.S. Territories.

Thanks for you help!

Jen1111-ga -

The list of names I found that appeared to stop in 1866 is the same
document that nellie_bly-ga posted as an answer.  I believe that the
persons who were Surveyors General in Dubuque were the overarching
Surveyors General for the United States.  My understanding is that
Dubuque indicated where the office was located, not that the person
was just a local surveyor general as one might think.