Elias Pym Fordham (1788-1850) was the original surveyor of

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. He was an English immigrant to the United States and author of an American travel memoir. Elias Pym Fordham was born in

Royston, Hertfordshire Royston is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Hertfordshire, District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated on the Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, which brush ...

, one of two sons and seven children to Elias Fordham (1762-1838) and his first wife Ann Clapton.Sheryl D. Vanderstel. "Elias Pym Fordham", in ''The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis'', 1994. The family background was of liberal nonconformism in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, exemplified by his uncle

Edward King Fordham Edward King Fordham (1750–1847) was an English banker and political reformer. Career and the Royston Bank The second son of Edward Fordham (1721–1778) of Therfield in Hertfordshire and his wife Mary Carter (1722–1798) he moved to Roysto ...

. He studied civil engineering under

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...

(a developer of the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

). Fordham immigrated to the US in 1817 with his sister Maria and travelled to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

where he purchased a tract of land in what was known as "the English Prairie", settled also by his first cousin George Flower (1788-1862), a founder of

Albion, Illinois Albion is a city in and the county seat of Edwards County, Illinois, Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,971 at the 2020 census. The city was named "Albion" after an ancient and poetic reference to the island of Great Bri ...

. In April 1821 he along with

Alexander Ralston Alexander Ralston (1771 – January 5, 1827) was a Scottish surveyor who was one of two co-architects for the design of the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. He also helped to design Washington, D.C. Life Alexander Ralston was born in Scotland ...

received joint appointments as surveyors of Indianapolis. Little else is known of Fordham. He was well educated and articulate as evidenced by his ''Personal narrative of travels in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky : and of a residence in the Illinois Territory: 1817-1818'' which was not published until 1906 (now out of print). He eventually returned to England and continued working on projects with George Stephenson. On 16 Jul 1832 he obtained a licence to marry a widow, Priscilla Ebenezer Morris at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. His death was listed in the Dover Telegraph as having occurred at age 62 on 19 October 1850 in

Capel-le-Ferne __NOTOC__ Capel-le-Ferne is a village situated near Folkestone, Kent. Its name derives from the phrase "Chapel in the Ferns". It had a population in 2011 of 1,884. It is perched on top of the White Cliffs of Dover. Its foremost attraction is ...

. His will was proved on 14 December 1850, his wife surviving him.England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858

Notes

External links

*Ogg, Frederic Austin (editor)
''Personal narrative of travels..''
Cleveland: A.H. Clark Co. 1906. * http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mrawson/news50c3.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Fordham, Elias Pym 1788 births 1850 deaths American surveyors