Thomas Holme (1624–1695) was the first Surveyor General of
Pennsylvania to actually serve, in which capacity he laid out the original plan for the city of
Philadelphia.
Life
He was born in
Lancashire,
England on November 3, 1624, to a
yeoman named George and his wife Alice. He married Sarah Croft in 1649, and soon enlisted in the army under the leadership of
Oliver Cromwell, where he attained the rank of
captain. It may have been in the army that he gained some experience in surveying. After retiring he was granted more than 4,000 acres (16 km²) in
County Wexford,
Ireland, which was under the control and colonization of the English at the time.
At some point he joined the
Quaker movement in Ireland. There he met
William Penn, the founder and namesake of Pennsylvania, who was also a Quaker. In 1682, Penn wrote to Holme from
America asking him to come be his surveyor, since his original surveyor, Captain William Crispin, had recently become ill and died on the voyage to America. Shortly after, Holme sailed to America.
Holme designed the plan of the city of
Philadelphia and produced the first detailed
map of Pennsylvania, entitled "
A Mapp of Ye Improved Part of Pensilvania in America, Divided Into Countyes, Townships and Lotts...." (published circa 1687). On Penn's arrival in the colony, he appointed Holme as one of his councillors.
He held the office of Surveyor-General until his death at the age of 71 in the spring of 1695, in
Dublin Township,......
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