PA-OLD-CHESTER-L Archives

From: "Sandra Ferguson" <>
Subject: Re: Prominent Irish Friends of PA
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 20:28:38 -0500
References: <F54GHC3Liymm5fZ2DyY000167d5@hotmail.com>

These are from IMMIGRATION OF THE IRISH QUAKERS INTO PA 1682-1750, by
Myers.There is info written about each name..James Logan, Captain Thomas
Holme, Robert Turner, Thomas Griffitts, Robert Stettell, William Stockdale,
Nicholas Newlin, Nathaniel Newlin, Lydia Darragh.

" Hi Sandra. I would be very interested in any info on Capt. Thomas HOLME."

There are a good many pages devoted to Captain Holme, so I'll hit the
high spots...He was the Surveyor-General of Pa and a Provincial
councilor...born 1624 in England, possibly Yorkshire, but spend a great part
of his life in Ireland. He evidently came from a good home, probably from a
younger branch of the Holmes of Huntington (he used an armorial seal on his
official papers with he arms of this family).
He lived in Limerick in 1655, when he was persecuted for religious
reasons, seized by a guard of soldiers, committed to prison and banished.
In 1659 he and 52 others published an address to parliament discussing the
"Druel and Unjust sufferings of the Quakers".... thre are indications
thatmay have come into ireland as a member of Cromwell's New Model Army,
when officers received land as their allotment...he then became a convert to
Quakerism. In 1660 he and others were taken from meetings in Dublin and
committed to newgate prison by order of the mayor of Dublin....in 1672 he
published more papers on the sufferings of the Quakers.
He was one of the first of the irish Friends ot take an active interest
in Wm. Penn's proposed colony of pennsylvania, and was a First Purchaser,
acquiring the title to 5,000 acres. HE was appointed Surveyor-General by
penn in 1682. He sailed for Pa on the Amith, and left in 1682, bringing
with him his family, arriving in Pa in late June. Not only was he busy
with country purchasers and surveys of their land, byt he also acted in the
development of plans for the city of Philadelphia...Holme laid out the city
in much the same form as we know it today. He is also well known for his
large "Map of th eImproved part of the province of Pennsilvania in America
Begun by Wil: Penn Proprietary and Governor thereof Anno 1681." It is the
most important of all the early maps as it shows the settled portion of the
province and the lands seated, with the owner's name on each tract.
Holmes served as a member of the first Assembly of the Province in 1682
and was a rep. from Philadelphia Co to the provincial Council...he was a
member of the committee tht drew up the new Charter and Framed the
government..in 1684 he was one of 3 appointed to draw up a charter for the
incorporation of Philadelphia as a borough. When Thomas Lloyd, president of
the state council was absent, HOlme acted as Governor of the province, in
1685. He died in 1695. His children were Tryall (died before his father),
Eleanor,Joseph, & Esther. His wife's name is unknown.

This thread:

• Re: Prominent Irish Friends of PA by "Sandra Ferguson" <>