Background
Thomas Holme was born in 1624 in Lancashire, England. He was the son of George Holme и Alice Collyer.
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Thomas Holme
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It is said that Holme was a captain in the Parliamentary forces during the Civil Wars, that he accompanied Admiral Penn on the Hispaniola expedition of 1654-1655, and that he was one of Cromwell's soldiers who received a land grant in Ireland about 1655. He joined the Society of Friends and in 1672 was associated with Abraham Fuller in the publication of a pamphlet describing the suffering and persecution of the Irish Quakers.
Holme's connection with the history of Pennsylvania began on April 18, 1682, when he was appointed surveyor-general of the province by William Penn. He sailed on the Amity, April 23, and reached his destination some time in June. Acting with the Commissioners for Settling the Colony, he was instructed by the proprietor to choose the site for a great city which was high, dry, and healthy, and provided with a good deep harbor. A preliminary survey was made, but the final selection of the site was delayed until after Penn's own arrival in the province in October 1682. Holme then laid out that part of the city of Philadelphia which lies between South Street and Vine Street and extends from the Delaware to a distance of three blocks beyond the Schuylkill. He also prepared a map, entitled A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia, which was first printed in A Letter from William Penn to the Committee of the Free Society of Traders (London, 1683). With the exception of some changes made in 1684 under Holme's supervision, the Portraiture is still substantially accurate.
On the completion of this task, he began a survey of the southeastern section of the three original counties (Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester), and drafted a Map of the Province of Pennsilvania, which was first published in London about 1687. He was also a member of the first Assembly of Pennsylvania, which met at Upland (Chester), December 4, 1682, a member of the Provincial Council, 1683-1686, and for a short time in 1685 and 1686, acting-president of the Council and acting-governor. He served on many important committees, including the committee that drafted the Frame of Government of 1683 and the committee that was appointed in 1684 to consider the boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland. He was interested in Indian affairs and took part in the negotiation of several Indian treaties. According to John F. Watson, one of these treaties, concluded in 1685, while Holme was presiding over the Council, was the basis of Penn's claim to the city of Philadelphia and the adjacent country as far west as the Susquehanna.
Holme visited England in 1688-1689 and again from 1690 to 1694. In the year of his second return to the province he was appointed one of the commissioners of property. He died on his plantation in Dublin township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in March or April 1695.
Achievements
Religion
Holme was a member of the Society of Friends.
Connections
Holme was married to Sarah Holme. She died before 1682. They had, supposedly, nine children, of whom four probably came to America with their father.
- Father:
- George Holme
- Mother:
- Alice (Collyer) Holme
- Spouse:
- Sarah Holme
- Brother:
- Ealse Holme
- Brother:
- John Holme
- Brother:
- Michael Holme
- Sister:
- Mary Holme
- Daughter:
- Hester (Holme) Crispin
- Daughter:
- Sarah Holcombe
- Daughter:
- Mary Holme
- Daughter:
- Susanna Holme
- Daughter:
- Esther Holmes
- Son:
- Samuel Holme
- Son:
- William Holme
- Son:
- Thomas Holmes
- Son:
- Tyrall Holme
