George F. Cram

George Franklin Cram (1842-1928) was an American map publisher.

He served in the U.S. Army during the American Civil War as a first sergeant in Company F of the 105th Illinois Volunteers serving until the end of the war.

[1] Upon mustering out he then joined his uncle Rufus Blanchard's Evanston map business in 1867.

[2] Cram's firm was instrumental in developing the cerography technique, in which metal printing plates were created by electroplating a wax engraved model.

It made large and vastly less expensive print runs possible, which brought more affordable maps into people's homes.