Joseph Colton founded his publishing and mapmaking company in 1831. In 1850 he issued a tourist guide book with a map of Florida. This later map was published in his General Atlas as late as 1860. In 1865 his two sons, George W. and Charles B. took over the company and all were prolific publishers of maps of the world, railroads in the U.S., school Atlases, etc. They were followed by Johnson and Browning.
Joseph Colton was born in Long Meadow, Massachusetts and had very little formal education. He worked at various odd jobs and finally moved to New York. Like S.A. Mitchell he was not a cartographer, but obtained his maps from various people. However, his company gained the reputation of being one of the best map publishing companies in the U.S.