Anton R. Roessler

Anton R. Roessler (c. 1833–1893) was an Austro-Hungarian-American cartographer and geologist. Little is known about his early life. He first appears in records in Texas in late 1858.

Roessler worked as an assistant and draftsman in the first state Geological and Agricultural Survey of Texas, the "Shumard Survey", conducted by the chief geologist of the state, Benjamin Franklin Shumard. He continued to work in that position until 1862, when the survey was disbanded and the survey's offices in Austin, Texas, were converted to wartime uses during the American Civil War. Roessler then served the Confederacy as the chief draftsman at the Texas State Military Board's arsenal, also in Austin. However, in February 1865, Roessler mysteriously arrived in Louisiana where he shared information to Union Army authorities concerning Confederate defenses, strategic resources, and geographic conditions in the eastern and central portions of Texas. By April of that year, Roessler had helped the Engineer's Office of the Military Department of the Gulf create a map that aided in the Federal reoccupation and Reconstruction of Texas. Later he worked as a geologist at the United States Land Office, creating a map of Texas, published under his own name as well as 16 maps of Texas counties. He participated in a mining engineering expedition with the Texas Land and Copper Association. He died in 1893.

Roessler produced the only existing maps from the Shumard Survey of Texas. His maps, including his small-scale maps of geological regions in the state, are often considered his greatest works. He is also often regarded as one of the best geologists in Texas during the 19th century.