ey. His son, Oscar A. Lawson (1813-54), was chart
engraver of the United States Coast Survey, 1840-51. Samuel Allerdice
engraved a large number of plates of Dobson's edition of Rees's
_Cyclopaedia_, 1794-1803. Hugh Anderson, a Scot, did good line and
stipple work in Philadelphia in the first quarter of the nineteenth
century. George Murray, born in Scotland, died in Philadelphia in
1822, organized the bank-note and engraving firm of Murray, Draper,
Fairman & Co., in 1810-11, the best note engravers in this country in
their day. John Vallance, also born in Scotland, died in Philadelphia
in 1823, was one of the founders of the Association of Artists in
America, and Treasurer of the Society of Artists in Philadelphia in
1810. James Smillie (1807-85), born in Edinburgh, died in New York,
was celebrated as an engraver of bank notes and as an engraver of
landscapes. Among his best works are Cole's series "The Voyage of
Life," and Bierstadt's "Rocky Mountains." Dr. Alexander Anderson
(1775-1870), the "Bewick of America," born in New York of Scots
parentage, at the age of ninety-three engraved some illustrations for
Barbour's "Historical Collections of New Jersey." Robert Hinschelwood,
born in Edinburgh in 1812, studied under Sir William Allen, was
landscape engraver for Harpers and other New York publishers and also
engraver for the Continental Bank Note Company. John Geikie Wellstood,
born in Edinburgh in 1813, was another eminent engraver. In 1858 his
firm was merged in the American Bank Note Co., and in 1871 he founded
the Columbian Bank Note Company of Washington, D.C. He also made many
improvements in the manufacture of banknotes. Charles Burt (c.
1823-92), born in Edinburgh, died in Brooklyn, a pupil of William Home
Lizars of Edinburgh, did some fine plates and portraits for books and
for several years was one of the chief engravers for the Treasury
Department in Washington. Hezekiah Wright Smith, born in Edinburgh, in
1828, engraved portraits of Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, and his
head of Washington, after the Athenaeum head by Gilbert Stuart, is said
to be "the best engraving of this famous portrait ever made."
Nathaniel Orr (b. 1822), of Scottish ancestry, retired in 1888 "with
the reputation of having brought the art of wood engraving to the
highest perfection, and the signature 'Orr,' cut in the block was
always a sure guarantee of art excellence." Robert Shaw, born in
Delaware in 1859 of Scottish parentage, has