"John Holme 1632-1703/04"

Reference: Law Making and Legislators in Pennsylvania

A biographical Dictionary

Volume one 1682-1709

�John Holme
Assembly, Phil. Co 1692
�� John Holme, a prominent Philadelphia Baptist who served one term in the Assembly, is notable for his disapproval, as a justice of the peace, of the legal prosecutions arising from the Keithian schism among the Quakers.� Holme also wrote a verse description of the province, "A True Relation of the Flourishing State of Pennsylvania," that was probably the first poem written in Pennsylvania.
�� Holme's background remains obscure.� Said to have been from Somerset, England, he lived for a time in Barbados but arrived in Pennsylvania on 23 June 1686 aboard the Desire, which sailed from Plymouth, Devonshire,in company with Francis Rawle* and James Fox.* Holme brought three servants with him; apparently his children immigrated some time afterward. Evidently Holme was an individual of some education, as his poem, written ten years after his arrival, demonstrates facility in three different verse forms.� Within two years of his arrival, he married Mary Hedge More, the widow of Nicholas More,* a union that brought him control of More's large but debt-encumbered estate.� Holme negotiated the division of Moreland Manor among More's children and subsequently helped to dispose of the More family's land to liquidate their debts.� His transactions included selling Greenspring, the More plantation in the Northern Liberties, to Griffith Owen* and 300 acres of manor land to Robert Heaton (d. 1743).'
�� Holme's occupation has not been found. He was accorded the honorific title of "Mister" and was also referred to as a gentleman. In 1693 he had an estate in Philadelphia assessed at 100 pounds, a moderate sum, but whether he held any Pennsylvania land apart from the More estate is not clear. In June 1694 his wife received a patent from the executors of John Fenwick for 2000 acres along the Delaware River in West New Jersey. Although Holme and his wife deeded the tract to their daughters Hannah and Elizabeth in November 1694, 11 days before Mary Holme's death, Holme continued to sell pieces of it as late as 1703, including 300 acres to Samuel Carpenter.
�� Meanwhile, Holme's social prominence had led to office-holding in Pennsylvania. In January 1690 he was commissioned a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County.� Three months later. evidently concerned by the outbreak of war between England and France, he joined with William Markham. * Lasse Cock. " Swan Swanson,* and Andrew Bankson* in a petition to the Provincial Council asking that the province be put in a posture of defense; within a few years, however, Holme seems to have adopted a pacifist stance.� In 1691 he joined in a protest against encroachment on the public landing place at the Blue Anchor Tavern in Philadelphia.� The same year, because of his position as a judge of the county court, Holme was appointed an alderman in the abortive Philadelphia city charter.� Holme was returned a delegate from Philadelphia County to the 1692 Assembly, but he does not seem to have been an active participant in the proceedings, and the Assembly itself was dismissed without passing any legislation after a protest over proposed taxation.
�� Holme's most significant political action occurred after his service in the Assembly, when, in August 092, during the Keithian divisions among the Quakers, he and Lasse Cock refused to join with the other justices of Philadelphia County in proceeding against George Keith and his supporters.� The only non-Quaker justices in the commission, Holme and Cock contended that the charges against Keith arose out of "a Religious Difference among themselves (viz. the Quakers) and did not relate to the Government." Apparently willing to keep an open mind, however, Holme advised his fellow justices to allow Keith to explain himself and offered to join in the prosecution "if it any way appears that he strikes at the Government. "When the Quaker justices ignored the suggestion, Holme and Cock left the court. Holme was on the bench, however, when Keith was brought to trial in December.� When Holme incautiously objected that Sheriff John White* had packed the jury with Keith's enemies, "he was sharply reproved and menaced on the Bench by Samuel Jenings and Arthur Cook. Apparently, however, he remained on the bench for Keith's trial.�
�� Because of his social position Holme was certainly the most prominent Baptist in Pennsylvania at this time. He is said to have been a preacher, although he was never ordained. His step-daughter Mary More married the Reverend Elias Keach, the first pastor of Southampton Baptist Church in Bucks County, and his eldestson. John, became a member of Pennypack Baptist Church in Philadelphia County.� Holme ,was present at the formal organization of the first Baptist congregation in Philadelphia.� in December 1698. probably as a representative of the Baptists of Salem County. West New Jersey, where he and the Reverend Thomas Killings-worth, a Baptist minister from New England, had become leaders of a congregation.
�� By November 1695, probably in connection with his marriage to widow Elizabeth Willis. Holme had moved to Salem Countv, where he apparently resided on a plantation belonging to his stepson William Willis. Holme was a justice of�the peace for Salem County in 1696, 1697, ,and 1703, and in December 1703 he was named to a special commission of Dyer and terminer for the county.'
�� Only an extract of Holme's will, dated 17 January 1704 and probated the following 4 February, has been located.� Among those included in the will were his children John, Samuel, Benjamin, Hannah, and Elizabeth, and his stepson Nicholas More. �He named his son John and his brother-in-law Samuel Hedge trustees for his daughters. The Reverend Thomas Killingsworrh was one of his executors. Holme left a personal estate worth 258 pounds, including a maidservant, valued at 3 pounds,and a silver seal and a gold ring set with diamonds, together valued at 10 pounds.
�� Holme's descendants gave their name to the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia. His poem, complimentary to Pennsylvania but, ironically, apparently written about the time of his removal to New Jersey, remained unpublished until 1847.

JLS