USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
Chester from the Arrival of Wm. Penn to the year 1850. 19
early settlers. Hence we have reason to believe that the first per- son of the name of Pearson in this Province was Thomas, and we know that neither of the Thomas Pearsons-for there were two of that name-came here until the following year, 1683. Thesecond of that cognomen in a diary memorandum written by himself, also in the Historical Society's collection, clearly states when he came. To quote his own words, after setting forth his various adventures, he says :- "On ye 25th day of July, in ye year 1683, I set sail from Kingroad, in ye ' Comfort,' John Reed, Master, and arrived at Up- land in Pennsylvania ye 28th of September 1683," almost a yearafter Penn's arrival. In the report of the vestry of St. Paul's Church, Chester, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in the year 1704, occurs this sentence: "The people of Ches- ter county showed very early zeal to have the Church of England worship settled among them. This county is so called because most of the inhabitants of it came from Cheshire, in England. Chester the chief town of the county is finely situated on the river Delaware."
Bampfylde Moore Carew, the celebrated "King of the Mendi- cants," who, while escaping from banishment in Virginia, passed through Chester in 1739, in relating his adventures, records that he came "to Chester, so called because the people who first settled there came for the most part from Cheshire. The place is also called Upland."
In fact the name of Chester, we know, was given to the county when Penn, shortly after his arrival, divided the settled parts of Pennsylvania into three divisions, in deference to the desire of the English settlers, the major part of whom had come from that locality in England, as stated in the extracts quoted; and the name of the shire town soon assumed that title, although its ancient name did not entirely disappear from familiar use until nearly three- quarters of a century had elapsed after William Penn's first visit to the Province. The Pearson story, for the first time, appeared in our Annals in Proud's History of Pennsylvania, a work which was not published until more than a century had elapsed after the incident is said to have occurred.
On the 18th day of November, 1682, three weeks after his ar- rival, William Penn issued his writs to the Sheriffs of the three
20
Historical Sketch of Chester.
original counties of Pennsylvania, as well the three lower counties, requiring them in their respective bailiwicks, "to summon all free- holders to meet on the 20th instant and elect out of themselves, seven persons of most note for wisdom, sobriety and integrity to serve as their deputies and representatives in General assembly, to be held at Upland, in Pennsylvania, December 6 (4th?) next " In pursuance of this proclamation the Assembly met at Chester on the day designated, December 4, 1682, and organized by the elec- tion of Nicholas Moore, of Philadelphia county, President of the "Free Society of Traders," as Chairman of that body. The first two days of the session were consumed in hearing cases of contested election, the adoption of rules governing the meeting, passing the act of Union, which annexed "the three lower counties," (those comprising the present State of Delaware) and providing for the naturalization of the inhabitants thereof, as well as the Swedes, Finns and Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania. On the third day they received from William Penn the " Printed Laws, and the " Writ- ten Laws, or Constitutions." The "Printed Laws" were "the laws agreed upon in England," which had been prepared by learned counsel there, at Penn's desire, and printed in that country, and the " Written Laws, or Constitutions," were the ninety bills pre- sented to the Assembly by the Proprietary, out of which the meet- ing passed the sixty-one chapters of " the great body of the laws." A strange fact is that not one of those enactments, as adopted, is now in force in this Commonwealth. As soon as the statutes had been acted on, the members from the lower counties particularly, became anxious to return to their homes, and so intimated to the Assembly. The speaker considered this desire to adjourn as unbe- coming in the members, and bordering on an insult to the Governor. A committee of two of the deputies was appointed to wait upon Penn respecting it, and he consented " that the Assembly be ad- journed for twenty-one days, which was accordingly ordered by the Speaker." The body failed to meet again at the time designated by adjournment, and at the next regular Assembly in Philadelphia it is recorded that the Speaker " reproves several members for ne- glecting to convene at the time appointed when the House last ad- journed."
A quarter of a century since an old structure stood on the west-
-
Chester from the Arrival of Wm. Penn to the year 1850. 21
ern side of Edgmont avenue, north of Second street, which was commonly termed " The Old Assembly House," because of the popular belief that it was in this building that the first Assembly convened in Pennsylvania, December 4, 1682. Dr. George Smith, in his valuable History of Delaware County, conclusively establish- es the fact that this building was the first Meeting House of Friends in Chester, and was not erected until 1693, hence the first" Assem- bly, which held its session more than ten years before that date, could not have met in that structure. We know that on the 6th day of the Ist month, 1687, Joran Kyn, or Keen, made a deed con- veying a lot in Chester, adjoining his " lot or garding," to certain persons in trust " to use and behoof of the said Chester-the peo- ple of God called Quakers, and their successors forever," and on this lot, now included in William P. Eyre's ground, on Edgmont avenue, the ancient Meeting House was built.
Dr. Smith thereupon argues that the Assembly must have met in the Court House, or as it was then known " The House of Defence," which stood on the eastern side of Edgmont avenue, above Second street, and so projected into the roadway, that when Edgmont ave- nue was regularly laid out as a street, it had to be removed. The Doctor rightly thinks, " It was the only public building in Upland, at the time, of which we have any knowledge." Martin, in his History of Chester, accepts the Doctor's conclusions as unquestion- ably accurate. Nevertheless, both of these able historians are in error in this. The thought escaped them that perhaps Penn saw that the " House of Defence " was too small for the purpose in- tended, and, therefore, a private dwelling was used for the meeting of the members. Mrs. Deborah Logan informs us in her notes to the "Penn and Logan Correspondence," that the Assembly con- vened in the large, or, as then termed, " The Double House," by way of distinction, which James Sandilands, the elder, had erected for his own dwelling, which stood near the creek, and, subsequently, when the road to Philadelphia was laid out, near that highway. On an old plan of the Borough of Chester, made about 1765, now owned by William B. Broomall, Esq., of this city-a copy of which has been engraved for this work-the lot on which "The Double House " stood, is designated as beginning about two hundred feet southerly from the intersection of the present Edgmont avenue and
-
22
Historical Sketch of Chester.
Third street. The lot itself is about one hundred and twenty feet front on the west side of Edgmont avenue. This House, which was spacious if not pretentious for those times-and would even now be regarded as an unusually large dwelling-had unfortunately been built with mortar made of oyster shell lime, which proved ut- terly valueless. In a few years the building showed signs of decay, then became a ruin, and as such continued until the beginning of - the present century, when its foundations were removed. In time its very existence was generally forgotten, so much so that, as is mentioned, some of our most accurate and painstaking historians were unacquainted with the fact that it had ever performed the im- portant part it did in our early Colonial annals.
Penn, shortly after his arrival at Chester, sent for James Sandi- lands, the elder, to confer with him to the end that the capitol of the Province should be located at this point, for it was " talkt among the people " of that day " that it was Intent to have built a City (at Upland,) but that he and Sanderlin could not agree." The conclusion of this interview was that Penn had to look else- where for a site for the future metropolis of Pennsylvania. This error of the chief owner of land at Chester was disastrous in its results, and was discovered when too late to avoid its consequences, although an attempt was made to correct it, in a measure, on No- vember 19, 1700, when the petition of James Sandiland, the young- er, was presented to Governor William Penn-on his second visit to the Colonies-and his Council, in session at New Castle, setting forth that the Royal Patent to the Proprietary gave him " absolute power to * erect and incorporate Towns, Hundreds and Counties and to incorporate Towns in Boroughs, & Boroughs into Cities & to make & counstitute Fairs & Markets herein, with all other covenient privileges & Immunities according to the merits of the Inhabitants & fitness of ye places. And whereas ye Petitioner is possessed of a certain spot of land lying in sd Countie of Chester, verie fitt & naturally commodious for a Town & to that end lately caused ye sd spot of Land to be divided & Laid out into Lotts, Streets & Market place, a Draft & Model whereof (the gene- rallie desired & Leiked of by ye sd Inhabitants of sd Countie) is not- withstanding herewith presented & submitted to your honors for your approbation and consent " The same day, it was ordered, after
...
Chester from the Arrival of Wm. Penn to the year 1850. 23
the heirs of James Sandilands, the elder, had appeared before Council, that " the Propriet try & Governor & Council having ap- proved of the within Petition & of the design thereof & Looking upon the place within propose I to be fitt for a Town did not onlie approve of ye within & annexed model, but also did erect & do hereby erect the said spot of Land so modelled & Laid outt Into a Town provided the same do not encroach upon other men's Land without their express consent under their Hands and Seals, an l saving to the Proprietor & Governor & everie one their right." It is now generally accepted as an historical fact that Philadelphia was not determined on as the site of Penn's city until he found that no arrangement could be made with Sandilands for lands for that purpose, at this place.
The first street laid out by authority was ordered by the Grand Jury, 8th month 2, 1686, which body reports that they " doe lay out a street and a landing upon the creek to the corner lot far as over against the north west corner of the Court House fifty foote in breadth and from thence up the said Chester town for a street 30 foote in breadthe." This highway was at first called Chester street, then Front street, that runs along the creek, and now Edgmont street, or avenue. In 1689, the Grand Jury continued the street from the present Second street to low water mark on the Delaware river, and from the north-western corner of the then Court House, to low water mark on the creek. This latter short street seems to have been closed at a later date, perhaps before the year 1690, for David Lloyd had the Governor and Council, about that time, to lay out a street thirty-eight feet wide, on the line of the present Sec- ond street, from Chester creek to the plantation he had purchased from Neeles Laerson's heirs in 1689. The plot of the town approved by Penn, November 19, 1700, as shown by many ancient deeds, is almost exactly the plan of the old parts of this city as now laid out on the official map.
Penn remained but a short time at the Essex House as the guest of Robert Wade, and after his return to Chester from New York- whither he had gone to " pay his duty " to the Duke of York, by a visit to the latter's representatives in that place-he lodged for the winter at the Boar's Head Inn, a noted public house at that
-
24
Historical Sketch of Chester.
time, a description of which appears under its appropriate title else- where in this volunie.
Martin informs us on the authority of Mrs. Sarah Shoemaker, aged 92 years, who died near Chester in 1825, and who had heard her grandfather, James Lownes, often speak of the times of which I am now writing, that during the winters of 1682-'83, Upland presented a very animated appearance. It was the only place then- in the Province known to English ship-owners, and consequently, as the destination of the vessels was this port, most of the emigrants landed here and several ships often rode at anchor at the same time off the hamlet. It is stated that the water at that time was deep near the western shore, and vessels could approach so closely to land that the trees would often brush their upper rigging.
The name of Chester, the seat of justice for the new county of Chester, (for the whole territory heretofore termed Upland, had been divided by Penn into the three counties- Chester, Philadelphia and Bucks-which division is said to have been ordered by the Proprie- tary, November 25, 1682,) now appears to have been used in all official documents and public records. Certain it is that at the Court, which convened here February 14, 1683, that name is em- ployed to designate the place where its session was held. Penn himself in several letters written from this town-for he did not re- move to Philadelphia until after March 10, 1683-dated them . sometimes Upland, but oftener Chester. Respecting the occur- rences of public interest during Penn's residence liere, very little has been preserved, and the records are in a large degree devoted to matters pending before the Courts. It is stated that the Proprie- tary was present at Chester Creek Mills - now Upland-when the first dam was built, which in all probability was before the spring freshets of 1683, at which time the dam was swept away.
Gabriel Thomas, in his History of Pennsylvania, written in 1698, in describing the condition of the Province at that time, presents an exhaustive list of the wild game and fruit which abounded near the settlements, and speaks in glowing terms of the plentiful har- vest which rewarded the farmer for his toil. In 1683, fish were abundant, for it is recorded that the early fishermen could take six hundred fine fish at one draught. Richard Townsend states that, at Chester, in the year 1682, he and " Joshua Tittery made a net
Chester from the Arrival of Wm. Penn to the year 1850. 25
and caught great quantities of fish, which supplied ourselves and many others ; so that, notwithstanding it was thought near 3,000 persons came in the first year, we were so providentially provided for that we could buy a deer for about two shillings, and a large turkey for about one shilling." Quaint Gabriel Thomas, in striving to account for the fact that female wages were exorbitant at that period, remarks . " They (women) are not very numerous; which makes them stand upon high terms for their several services, in ยท sempstering, washing, spinning, knitting, sewing, and in all the other parts of their employments. . * Moreover, they are usually marry'd before they are twenty years of age, and when once in that noose, are for the most part a little uneasy, and make their husbands so too, till they procure them a maid servant to bear the burden of the work, as also in some measure to wait on them too."
The dispute between Penn and Lord Baltimore, respecting the boundary line of their colonies, had assumed such a form in a short period that it compelled the return of the former to England. To represent him in his absence he appointed Thomas Lloy 1 Presi- dent of Council, to whom he delegated the executive authority in the Province, established a Provincial Court and a commission to sell and transfer the title of his lands to purchasers, and on Au- gust 12, 1684, sailed for Europe
The history of Chester from this time until the return of William Penn, in 1700, is very meagre and what little is known between those years, will be noted under the article entitled Court Houses and Prisons, elsewhere in this volume, for it is simply in the records of Court, that any incident of public interest is found. In 1688, the inhabitants of the Province were greatly alarmed by reason of a rumor diligently circulated, that an Indian woman from New Jersey had informed an old Dutch resident near Chester, that the Aborigines had determined, on a designated day, to attack and massacre all the white settlers on the Delaware. To add to the general consternation about ten o'clock at night of the evening fixed upon by the savages to begin the attack, a messenger came hurriedly into Chester with the report that three families residing about nine miles distant, had been murdered by the Indians. The people of the town gathered to consider the startling intelligence, and at midnight a Quaker, resident here, accompanied by two young
26
Historical Sketch of Chester.
men, went to the place mentioned, and found that the parties there, alarmed by this rumor, had abandoned their dwellings and fled to the homes of their parents at Ridley creek. The report had been also carried to Philadelphia-had reached there while the Provin- cial Council was in session-and one of the members, from Chester county, volunteered to go to the Indian encampment on the Bran- dywine, provided five other persons would accompany himn. They there learned that there was no truth in the rumor, and were well received by the Indians, who assured them that they had no cause of complaint against the English.
From the evidence in a contested election case in 1689, we learn that the ballot-box was in use here at that early day, for Griff Jones testified that " at Upland & all the Lower Countyes * black and white beanes (were) put in a hatt, wch is a balloting in his sense & canot be denyed by the Charter when it is demanded."
Chester at this time had considerable trade, and so great was the pressure upon it for entertaining travelers and strangers, that it is said almost every dwelling in the town was then a public house.
In the fall of 1699, the yellow fever visited Philadelphia as a pestilence. Many of the inhabitants died of the disease, and the utmost alarm prevailed throughout the Province. Although we have no direct record that the malady made its appearance at Ches- ter, that such was the case may be inferentially concluded from the fact that the September Court adjourned without transacting any business, an incident without a parallel in our county's history. Later on, in November of that year, William Penn made his sec- ond visit to his Colony, although before leaving England he an- nounced that it was his intention to make it his permanent resi- dence. As the vessel sailed up the Delaware, the Proprietary caused it to be anchored off the town, and "coming ashore he, for a second time, became an honored guest at the Essex House. Robert Wade, his friend, was dead, but Lydia, his widow, welcomed Penn, and here he met Thomas Story, who had recently returned from a religious journey to Virginia. The next morning, as is related by Clarkson, Penn was rowed across the creek in a boat to the eastern side, " and as he landed, some young men officiously, and contrary to express orders of some of the magistrates, fired two small sea pieces of cannon, and being ambitious to make three out of two,
Chester from the Arrival of Wmn. Penn to the year 1850. 27
by firing one twice, one of them darting in a cartridge of powder before the piece was sponged, had his left arm shot to pieces ; upon which, a surgeon being sent for, an amputation took place." The young man, Bevan, thus injured, died the following April, and the expenses attending the nursing and ultimate burial of the wounded lad, were discharged by Penn. This, I believe, is the incident in which the traditionary account, before mentioned, of the injury to one of the crew of the " Welcome," and the death of the sur- geon, had its origin, and that story is simply a fictitious outgrowth founded on the actual facts, just narrated.
Penn was not destined to remain in his Colony. William III. is believed to have regarded him in no friendly spirit, and when the Proprietary learned that the ministry, with the intention of con- verting the Provincial government into a Regal one, had introdued a bill to that effect in Parliament, the urgency of affairs compelled his prompt return to England. He sailed from Philadelphia, No- vember 1, 1701, never to return to the Commonwealth he had founded. Before his departure he established a Council of State, and appointed Andrew Hamilton as Deputy Governor. He had also, October 13, 1701, granted a charter to Chester as a Borough, with the privilege of a market town, and declares, in defining the limits of the municipality, that it " shall ever hereafter be called Chester."
Hon. Joseph J. Lewis, in his sketches of Chester county, states that an old woman at this place, many years after the events, re- lated that Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, Governor of the Colony of New York from 1702 to 170S, visited Chester during the fall of the year first given, and that she remembers him because he was the Queen's cousin, and a Lord, and that he wore leather stockings. A more abandoned, infamous scoundrel than this same cousin of two Queen Regents of England, never cursed a people by his mis- rule. I merely allude to this visit of the Royal Governor, to de- monstrate that while our city in its earlier days has entertained dis- tinguished and noble men, its hospitality has also been extended to a rogue, in whom the gallows was cheated of its just due.
Very little of interest attaches to the annals of this city for many years after this event. The Borough grew slowly, for in 1708 Old Mixon refers to it as containing " one hundred houses." Bamp-
28
Historical Sketch of Chester.
fylde Moore ('arew, in 1739, states that Chester " contains about a hundred houses, and a very good road for shipping." In 1754, Acrelius said " it had 120 houses," a statement which fully estab- lishes the accuracy of Lewis Evan's assertion, in a letter written in 1753, quoted by Martin, that " Chester, Bristol and Newtown have been long at a stand." Peter Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, in the fall of 1748, journeying from Wilmington to Philadelphia, - mentions in his journal, " Chester, a little market town which lies on the Delaware. Tho houses stand dispersed. Most of them are built of stone, and two or three stories high, some are, however, made of wood."
In 1713, the inhabitants of Chester county petitioned Governor Goodkin and Counci! " that ye Borough of the Town of Chester, in this Province may be made a free Port." The petition was referred to William Penn, who took no action in the matter; the partial paralysis from which he suffered for several years before his death, had benumbed his faculties in a measure and sapped the energies that were once so elastic un ler adversities. His health gradually declined until July 30, 1718, at which date he died.
At an early time in the Proprietary administration, a public pound was located on the lands of Robert Wade, and he was au- thorized to act as master. After his death it must have fallen into disuse. In 1722, an application was made to Court " for a Pound in said Chester : whereupon the Court orders, that there be a Pound erected in the Market Place 40 feet square well fenced with posts and railings, and a good rack in the middle of sd pound, and that Richd Marsden be keeper of the pound." In lat- ter years, as will be seen from an inspection of the old map of the Borough, in 1765 the pound was located on the triangular lot made by the intersection of Market street and Edgmont avenue.
On the afternoon of August 11, 1732, Thomas Penn, the son of the Proprietary, landed at Chester, and a messenger was dispatched to Philadelphia to apprise the Council, then in session, of his arri- val. The Secretary of that body immediately came to Chester, with the congratulations of the authorities, and " to acquaint him- Penn-that to-morrow they would in person pay their respects to him." The following day the Council, accompanied by a large number of gentlemen, visited the Borough, and " after dinner the
---
Chester from the Arrival of Wm. Penn to the year 1850. 29
Proprietary with his company, now grown very numerous, sett out for Philadelphia."
On September 19, of the following year, Jolin Penn arrived at Chester, from England, and was here met and welcomed by his younger brother, Thomas, and a large number of gentlemen who had come from Philadelphia to greet the eldest son of the Founder. In 1739, the noted clergyman, George Whitfield, preached in Chester, and so great was his fame and the excitement throughout the Colony, occasioned by his eloquence, that about seven thousand persons gathered here to listen to his sermon. It is said that a cavalcade of one hundred and fifty horsemen accompanied the no- ted divine hither. It was during this year that Bampfylde Moore Carew, heretofore mentioned, passed through Chester, and he re- lates how the people for many miles round flocked to the places where Whitfield was to preach. Carew canie here on Sunday, " stayed all night, and the next morning he inquired of one Mrs. Turner, a Quakeress, who formerly lived at Embercomb, by Mine- head, in Somersetshire. From her he got a bill (money) and a re- commendation to some Quakers at Darby, about five miles further." At the time mentioned, this Mrs. Turner lived at the north-east corner of Third street and Concord avenue, in part of the house now owned by Mrs. Shaw.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.