Naming of Chester Prior to the arrival of William Penn the settled part of the province was known as Upland County, with the seat of justice at Upland, now Chester, where courts had been held at least from 1676. "A letter addressed to Ephraim Herman, in respect to summoning a Court to be held at New Castle on the 2d of November, and dated at Upland on the 29th of October, shows that William Penn had then arrived at his seat of government. He may have arrived the day before. The fancy of the artist has portrayed the landing of Penn at Upland; but neither the hour, the day, nor the manner of his landing, is certainly known." Dr. George Smith, in the History of Delaware County, continuing and quoting from Clarkson, says: "He landed at Upland, but the place was to bear that familiar name no more forever. Without reflection Penn determined that the name of the place should be changed. Turning round to his friend Pearson, one of his own Society, who had accompanied him in the ship Welcome, he said, 'Providence has brought us here safe. , Thou hast been the companion of my perils. What wilt thou that I should call this place?' Pearson said 'Chester,' in remembrance of the city from whence he came. William Penn replied that it should be called Chester, and that when he divided the land into counties one of them should be called by the same name. 'thus, from a mere whim the name of the oldest town, the name of the whole settled part of the province, the name that would naturally have a place in the affections of a large majority of the inhabitants of the new province, was effaced to gratify the caprice or vanity of a friend." visit"The George Smedley Homepage" http://smedley.lewis.home.att.net additional photos at http://smedley.george.home.att.net

I believe this is a legend as Thomas Pearson/Pierson to whom this is attributed never sailed with Penn. Pearson's two trips to America are documented and neither was with Penn. I could be wrong - have been at least twice in my life! Nadine Holder ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Smedley" <smedley.george@att.net> To: <PA-OLD-CHESTER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 8:19 AM Subject: [PaOldC] Naming of Chester > Naming of Chester > > Prior to the arrival of William Penn the settled part of the province was > known as Upland County, with the seat of justice at Upland, now Chester, > where courts had been held at least from 1676. "A letter addressed to > Ephraim Herman, in respect to summoning a Court to be held at New Castle > on the 2d of November, and dated at Upland on the 29th of October, shows > that William Penn had then arrived at his seat of government. He may have > arrived the day before. The fancy of the artist has portrayed the landing > of Penn at Upland; but neither the hour, the day, nor the manner of his > landing, is certainly known." Dr. George Smith, in the History of Delaware > County, continuing and quoting from Clarkson, says: > > "He landed at Upland, but the place was to bear that familiar name no more > forever. Without reflection Penn determined that the name of the place > should be changed. Turning round to his friend Pearson, one of his own > Society, who had accompanied him in the ship Welcome, he said, 'Providence > has brought us here safe. , Thou hast been the companion of my perils. > What wilt thou that I should call this place?' Pearson said 'Chester,' in > remembrance of the city from whence he came. William Penn replied that it > should be called Chester, and that when he divided the land into counties > one of them should be called by the same name. 'thus, from a mere whim the > name of the oldest town, the name of the whole settled part of the > province, the name that would naturally have a place in the affections of > a large majority of the inhabitants of the new province, was effaced to > gratify the caprice or vanity of a friend." > > visit"The George Smedley Homepage" > http://smedley.lewis.home.att.net > additional photos at > http://smedley.george.home.att.net > > > ==== PA-OLD-CHESTER Mailing List ==== > Unsubscribing..... To leave PA-old-chester-l, send mail to > PA-old-chester-l-request@rootsweb.com > with the single word unsubscribe in the message or subject slot." > > If you have ANY problems, do not send them to the list > contact me personally....list manager ferg@ntelos.net > > NO VIRUS WARNINGS...contact me personally ferg@ntelos.net if posted you > will be unsubscribed > > please visit the Chester Co rootsweb site...it is full of area photos, > helpful URLs and lots of county information > http://www.pa-roots.com/~chester/ > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >