Thomas Fitzwater
Thomas Fitzwater ( - 1699[1]: 422 ) was a Quaker preacher, a civic leader, and was among the first English settlers of colonial Pennsylvania. He arrived in America along with William Penn, the founder of the colony.
Biography[edit]
Fitzwater left Deal, England aboard the the Welcome in August of 1682.[2] The ship suffered a serious smallpox outbreak during its voyage, which killed almost 1/3 of the passengers. In Fitzwater's family, his wife Mary and children Josiah and Mary died; two sons, Thomas and George, survived the journey. [3]
William Penn granted Fitzwater 1000 acres, and Fitzwater later purchased additional land.
In 1683 Fitzwater was appointed to be a charter member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, representing Bucks County; [1]: 235 he later represented Philadelphia County. [1]: 353 He was a member of the first ever Pennsylvania grand jury, which was convened to adjudicate a case of counterfeiting Spanish silver coins. [1]: 240-241
Fitzwater discovered limestone on his property.[4]: 7 He petitioned the Provincial Council in 1693 to build a road to get the lime from his kilns to Philadelphia, where it could be used in building mortar. [4]: 7 This road which became known as Limekiln Pike was the first road built in Upper Dublin. [4]: 9
Namesakes[edit]
Several things in the region of Fitzwater's homestead bear his name, most notably Thomas Fitzwater Elementary School, Fitzwatertown Road, and Fitzwatertown.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Proud, Robert (1797). The History of Pennsylvania, in North America, from the Original Institution and Settlement of that Province, Under the First Proprietor and Governor, William Penn, in 1681, Till After the Year 1742. Philadelphia: Zachariah Poulson.
- ^ Hutto, Cary (2011-10-24). "What ship carried William Penn and some of the first settlers to Pennsylvania across the Atlantic Ocean in 1682?". Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
- ^ The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania. "Ancestors". The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
- ^ a b c Historical Society of Fort Washington (2004). Fort Washington and Upper Dublin. Images of America. Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-7385-3520-3.