The map we refer to as the “Tatnall Map” of Long Island was created by Surveyor General (and Loyalist) Josiah Tatnall in 1792. It appears that he hand-drew the map at one time, based upon grants that were on file at that single snapshot in time. Therefore, it does not necessarily contain the earliest land grants for the island, as those were initially granted as early as 1788, and in the four intervening years, some land was escheated, and some was sold by the original grantees. And it should be noted that only some of the “original” land grantees received their land in 1788; many others received their land in 1789, and a smaller number got their grants between 1790 and 1792. So in theory, the Tatnall map represents a close approximation of the earliest land grantees for every parcel of land on Long Island, but in practice we found that we had to use both the Tatnall and L&S maps to produce a map of what we believe were the earliest land grantees on Long Island.

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As noted above, the Tatnall map is very inaccurate both in geography (the parcels are not depicted in the correct size, shape, or location on the island in many instances), or in spelling. In fact, on this one map alone, the same name can be spelled differently! We found that a man listed on the Tatnall map as “John Dunn,” for example, was the same man who is also listed on that map as “John Duncan.” A man whose name was listed on the Tatnall map as “Gese Gold Smith” was eventually determined to be “Jesse Goldsmith.” In short, we struggled to interpret this map, but we believe that we have ultimately ironed out all the inconsistencies, and have been able to use this map to fill in all the pieces of the puzzle.

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NOTE: We make no warranty of the accuracy of the maps on this website for legal purposes.