Thomas Poppleton (1765-1837)
MSA SC 3520-2757
Biography:
Thomas Holdsworth Poppleton was born in London about the year 1765. His education and training as a surveyor are unknown. What is known is that around 1809 he and his business partner, Henry Ashley Keeble, fell into financial difficulty, with Keeble later being arrested due to debts. Poppleton emigrated not long after.
Following the declaration of war with England in June 1812, Congress passed a law requiring all British citizens living in the United States to appear before the federal marshal and report their residence. In accordance with this law, Poppleton appeared before the marshal in Baltimore in July 1812. He was 47 years old at the time and reported that he and his wife had been living in the United States for 2 years. Poppleton also appears in New York around this time.
In 1812, Poppleton signed a contract to a create a survey of the City of Baltimore. The survey was published in 1822 and became the standard reference map of the City until the Bromley Atlas was published in 1896. Poppleton Street appears in Baltimore around the 1820s as well. At the time Poppleton had a contract with the City of Baltimore, he also served as the City Surveyor in New York. He published a survey of New York in 1817.
Poppleton appeared before the Baltimore County Court in July 1830 and declared his intention to become a United States citizen. Later that year he applied for relief under the insolvent laws of the state. Poppleton died in Baltimore on March 28, 1837, and was buried at a Methodist Protestant burial ground in the City. His only survivor was his wife, Ann. Ann Poppleton operated a confectionary in Baltimore.Return to Thomas H. Poppleton's Introductory Page
JH, 10/2012
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