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Thomas Holme

For other people named Thomas Holme, seeThomas Holme (disambiguation).

Thomas Holme(1624–1695) was the firstsurveyor generalof the colonial-eraProvince of Pennsylvania.He laid out the first and original plan for the city ofPhiladelphia.Holme was a member of theValiant Sixty,a group of early leaders and activists in the Religious Society of Friends, known as theQuakers.

Early life

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Holme was born inLancashire,England, on November 3, 1624, to ayeoman,George Holme, and his wife Alice (née Whiteside). He married Sarah Croft in 1649.

Career

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Holme's 1682 map of thecity planforCenter City Philadelphia
Holme's map of the colonial-eraProvince of Pennsylvania,publishedc. 1687

Soon after his marriage, Holme enlisted in theBritish Army,which was then under the leadership ofOliver Cromwell,where he attained the rank ofcaptain.It may have been in the army that he gained some experience in surveying.

He was reportedly converted to theQuakermovement byGeorge Fox,founder of the sect. There, he met fellow QuakerWilliam Penn,founder of colonial-eraPennsylvania.In 1682, Penn wrote to Holme from the colony asking him to come be his surveyor, since his original surveyor, CaptainWilliam Crispin,had recently become ill and died on the voyage to America. Shortly thereafter, Holme, a widower, sailed with four of his children to America, where he arrived in August 1682.[1]

Holme designed the plan of the city ofPhiladelphiaand produced the first detailed map of Pennsylvania, titledA Mapp of Ye Improved Part of Pensilvania in America, Divided Into Countyes, Townships and Lotts....,published circa 1687.[2]Once Penn arrived in present-day Pennsylvania, he appointed Holme one of his councilors. Holme also served as a justice of the peace and commissioner of property.[1]

Holme held the office of Surveyor-General until his death at age 71 in the spring of 1695, inDublin Township, Pennsylvaniain the present-dayHolmesburgsection ofPhiladelphia.

After retiring, he was granted more than 4,000 acres (16 km²) inCounty Wexford,Ireland, which was then under the control and colonization of England.

In 1863, a memorial was erected at his burial site, in the form of a six-foot-tallmarbleobelisk,near where his home is believed to have been located, which is now part ofPennypack Park.

Legacy

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Philadelphia's Holme Avenue,Holme Circle,Thomas Holme Elementary School, andHolmesburg,a Philadelphia neighborhood, are all named in his honor.

See also

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References

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  1. ^abThomas Holme Historical Marker
  2. ^"A Brief History of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Spring City, Pa" Page 7, 1899

Further reading

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  • Corcoran, Irma (1992).Thomas Holme, 1624-1695: Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, Volume 200 of Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, American Philosophical Society.Diane Publishing. p. 317.ISBN978-0-87169-200-9.
  • Hough, Oliver, "Captain Thomas Holme, Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania and Provincial Councillor,"The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,Vol. XIX & XX, 1895 & 1896.
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