Herman Bőÿe (16 November 1792–20 March 1830), cartographer and engineer, was born in Rudkøbing, on the Danish island of Langeland, the son of Christen Nielson Bőÿe, a merchant and shipowner. Details of his education are not known, but he probably intended to join his father's trading firm. On 14 September 1811 Bőÿe received a certificate of proficiency in navigation from the Board of Longitude in Copenhagen. He served as a corporal in the Danish military from 1813 to 1814 but was identified as a merchant a year later.

Planning to settle in Philadelphia, Bőÿe departed from Norway in 1816 and landed early in May at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Within two years he had moved to Virginia, where he worked for about four years as an engrossing clerk in the office of the clerk of the House of Delegates. Having become known to many of the most important men in the state government, Bőÿe was well placed to take maximum advantage when opportunity came his way. In order to facilitate Virginia's internal improvement program of road and canal construction, the assembly on 27 February 1816 passed "An Act to provide an accurate chart of each county and a general map of the territory of this Commonwealth." Bőÿe worked as principal assistant to John Wood, who was overseeing the drafting of county maps preparatory to producing a map of the whole state. Following Wood's death Bőÿe applied to the governor for the vacant position on 15 May 1822, observing that he had actually executed "the graphical part of all the work, done by Mr. Wood for the public on this occasion" and asserting his "perfect competency for the geometrical and astronomical part still unfinished." Isaac Briggs, who was completing the term of the recently deceased principal engineer of the Board of Public Works, endorsed Bőÿe's application, praised his mathematical skill, and described him as "intelligent and ardent in pursuit of science, yet modest and amiable in his manners." On 22 November 1822 Bőÿe was awarded the contract to complete Wood's work by finishing maps of two counties and directing the preparation and printing of the state map, which he did using drafting instruments he borrowed from Thomas Jefferson.

The Map of the State of Virginia Constructed in conformity to Law, from the late Surveys authorized by the Legislature and other original and authentic Documents was printed in Philadelphia from nine copperplates that engraver Henry S. Tanner executed under Bőÿe's supervision in 1825 and 1826. It was copyrighted on 14 April 1826, and the first prints were made about that time, but most copies were printed and distributed in 1827. Typical of the state maps of the period, it was very large, approximately 62 by 93 inches, and elaborately and beautifully decorated. On 1 May 1827 the state contracted with Bőÿe to publish 400 copies of the map and to prepare a smaller version and have it engraved and printed in an edition of 800 copies, all to be completed by 1 December of that year. For this work he was to receive $6,000. The legislation authorizing the publication of the reduced map allocated the proceeds from the sale of 650 of the copies to support the state library (later the Library of Virginia). Bőÿe was also made responsible for transporting the maps and printing plates from Philadelphia to Richmond. Eight of the nine plates for the large map and all four plates for the reduced map are in the Library of Virginia.

The two maps served as the most accurate representations of Virginia until they were updated in 1859 by Ludwig von Buchholtz, who added new roads, new county boundaries, and other details to the original copper printing plates. The revised nine-sheet map was printed by Selmar Seibert, of Washington, D.C.

While in Philadelphia on 18 June 1825, Bőÿe declared his intention to become a naturalized American citizen. After the completion of the Virginia maps, beginning on 28 August 1828 Bőÿe worked on construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as resident engineer at the site where an aqueduct was being built at the confluence of the Monocacy and Potomac Rivers. Working conditions were conducive to fevers and disease, and during the latter part of 1829 Bőÿe was often ill. He wrote his will on 1 March 1830, naming two Richmond friends as executors and carefully identifying which of his friends were to receive his drafting implements, prints, musical instruments, jewelry, clothing, and papers. Herman Bőÿe died on 20 March 1830 probably in Georgetown, D.C. The next day an undertaker billed his estate $57.75 for supplying a lined mahogany coffin, making funeral arrangements, and digging a grave at an undisclosed location.

Sources Consulted:
Herman Bőÿe Papers (including naturalization application giving birth date), Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. (microfilm copy, Acc. 41008, Library of Virginia [LVA]); a few letters in Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, and The Valentine, Richmond, Va. (photocopies also in Acc. 37408, LVA; letters and contracts printed in William P. Palmer et al., eds., Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 1652–1869 (1875–1893), vol. 10; Bőÿe to governor, 15 May 1822 (first quotation), Isaac Briggs to governor, 24 May 1822 (second quotation), and other letters, Governor's Office, Letters Received, Record Group 3, LVA; Richard W. Stephenson and Marianne M. McKee, eds., Virginia in Maps: Four Centuries of Settlement, Growth, and Development (2000), 121–123; Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, Annual Report of the President and Directors (1830); will and estate inventory in Richmond City Hustings Court Will Book, 5:225–226, 310–312, 508–509; death date in Benjamin Wright to Charles Mercer, 20 Mar. 1830, Records of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, National Park Service, Record Group 79, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography by Marianne M. McKee.

How to cite this page:
Marianne M. McKee, "Herman Bőÿe (1792–1830)," Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia (1998– ), published 2001 (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Boye_Herman, accessed [today's date]).

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