Thomas Fisk's Map of the Town of Dublin N.H., 1853 is one of the earliest if not the first survey map of Dublin, New Hampshire and it is extremely rare. The map's key explains the symbols used by Fisk to describe the lots, landowners, structures and occupants. They are unusual to this map. Dublin is a rural town with one of New Hampshire's iconic mountains, Mount Monadnock and this early map by Fisk provides a mid-19th century portrait of the town.
The map identifies all property by the name of the owner, or of the occupant as is explained in the map key. However, the key explains, if there is a building and it is vacant, the symbol "U" is used. That portion of Monadnock Mountain lying in Dublin is shown with a dense line pattern. Roads are described as open, or gated. This fine, small wall map is a pictorial census, road map and topographical survey all in one.
It is not until 1906 that an updated survey map is published. That map, Map of the Town of Dublin, New Hampshire, including the part set off to the town of Harrisville: from survey of Thomas Fisk 1853, with additions and corrections by Samuel Wadsworth, 1906. was published by C.J. Peters & Co, Boston. Because the 1906 map references the Fisk map in the title, this leads to some confusion when occasional sale references are made suggesting that it is the 1853 map that is the subject when it is not. I have located no sales records for the Fisk map. The few published examples of the Fisk map are in institutions.
These two maps viewed side by side provide a remarkable illustration of fifty-three years of New Hampshire town survey work and mapping from the mid 19th century to the turn of the 20th century in rural New Hampshire.
For an example of the Fisk map, see the Leventhal Map Center and the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the Library of Congress. Cobb 209.