MDMD2: Qualifications

[Dave Monroe]

"Despite what Re-assurances you might have had from Mr. Bird and Mr.
Emerson, and I hope others, as to my suitability, and I hope others, as
to my suitability,-- yet, yourself being Adjunct to the Prime Astronomer
of the Kingdom, 'twould be strange,-- not odd of course, but unexpected,
rather,-- if you did not entertain a professional Doubt, or even two, as
to my Qualifications." (M&D, Ch. 2, p. 12)

>From Edwin Danson, Drawing the Line: How Mason and Dixon Surveyed the
Most Famous Border in America (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001), Ch.
5, "The Transit of Venus," pp. 40-59 ...

   "One cannot help feel that there are facts about Jeremiah the passage
of time has erased.  He may have learned his trade in his father's coal
mine mapping the galleries, or apprenticed to a local surveyor.  During
his examination at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, he candidly
confessed to the board he had neither attended Oxford nor Cambridge
universities and had received no formal training in astronomy.  The
chairman of the examination panel was perplexed and asked Dixon: 'Then
at what other seat of learning, pray?'  Dixon replied, 'In a pit cabin
at Cockfield Fell.'   It can be assumed that he started his professional
career as he ended it, probably surveying the medieval common fields of
his home county for the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts.  It was not
uncommon for bright boys to come under the patronage of an aristocratic
benefactor, as happened to William Bayly, the son of a Wiltshire
artisan, who also became an assistant in the Royal Observatory.  Dixon
may have benefited from some prestigious sinecure, for by the time he
was examined at Woolwich and selected for the transit of Venus
expedition at the age of twenty-eight, he had been practicing his
profession some ten years." (p. 54)

>From H.W. Robinson, "Jeremiah Dixon (1733-1779)--A Biographical Note,"
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 93, No. 3 (June
1950): 272-4 ...

   "It is known that Jeremiah received his early education at John
Kipling's School at Barnard Castle and it was here that he first became
interested in mathematics and astronomy.  Apparently he did not think
much of the teaching at the school for when later examined at the Royal
Military Academy in Woolwich he is reported to have stated that his seat
of learning was 'a pit cabin upon Cockfield Hall.'
   "From the time when Jeremiah left school until 1760 we must assume
that he had some training in surveying work and it was then that he
decided to adopt this work for his profession.
   "He had from an early age made the acquaintance of many eminent men
(all of kindred genius) who emanated from South Durham in the eighteenth
century.  He was on very intimate terms with William Emerson, the
celebrated mathematician of Hurworth, County Durham, and also with John
Bird of Bishop Auckland, the well-known mathematical instrument maker.
Thomas Wright, the natural philosopher, was also a member of this group
and must have had some influence upon Dixon.
   "In all probability John Bird, who was an active Fellow of the Royal
Society, recommended Dixon as a suitable companion to accompany Mason.
According to records existing in the family, Dixon was examined at the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich before he wa appointed.  A search of
the minute books of the Ordinance Board (a body which among other
activities governed the Academy) has been made, but no mention of any
such examination has been found.  It is quite likely that the interview
was a personal one in order to satisfy the Royal Society that Dixon was
a suitable man for the work." (pp. 272-3)

Note, by the way, already the variations in historical accounts here
(although Danson does not list Robinson's note in his bibliography), and
then what Pynchon does with this information (and, as Foreman
demonstrates, Pynchon on the other hand might well have utilized
Robinson's article).  And I'll have more to post about Mr. John Bird,
RS, shortly, but see also ...

Cope, Thomas D.  "Collecting Source Material about Charles Mason
   and Jeremiah Dixon."  Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society,
  Vol. 92, No. 2 (1948):    -   .

Sorry, no page numbers at hand.  Now I can't even get at the stuff I
have print copies of here.  But hoping for a strong finish this weekend,
so ...