When Penn changed the name of Upland to Chester at the suggestion of Thomas Pearson, the surveyor, Pearson said Chester, referring back to Chichestershire, England. They wanted it to be a place that was familiar to the English that they thought their fellow Friends would recognize and be a welcoming, familiar name to them. I'm not sure which township in England that Thomas Pearson came from, but when he spoke out about Chester, it must have been a place close to his heart and perhaps his homeland. Where was Penn from or raised? Answer: William Penn was born in October 14, 1644, in Parish of St. Katharine, Walthamstow, Essex, England. The following information is taken from Colonial and Revolutionary Familes of Pennsylvania, Volumes I-III Penn Family: "Within a few weeks, his father sailed as captain of the "Fellowship", in the Parliament's navy, and his wife and child took up their home at Wansted, Essex, a suburb of London, where the Admiral and his family made thir home during the better part of his life. William Penn received an excellent education at private schools and with tutors at home, and on Oct. 26 1660 was entered as a "gentleman commoner" at the University of Oxford, (Christ Church). His stay there lasted less than two years, as he had attend a meeting of the Society of Friends, where Thomas Loe, formerly of Oxford University, preached, and he was strongly impressed with the purity and simplicity of the faith of that sect, and with a number of fellow students refused to attend the divine services at the University or to wear the gown of a student'. He was finally expelled from the University for insubordination. He spent two years in travel and study in France and Italy and began studdying law at Lincoln's Inn in 1664-5. He was presented to Court and was in attendance with his father who put him in command of the fleet operating against the Dutch. He was sent by the "Great Captain Commander" with despatches to the King. In 1654 his father sent to him to Ireland where he was received at the court of the Duke of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant, and remained about two years, serving under the Duke at the siege of Carrickfergus, in May, 1666. It was there that the "portrait in armor," of which the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has a copy, was painted. He attended meetings of Friends while in Ireland which were addressed by Thomas Loe, and became finally convinced in the doctrines and on September 3, 1667, suffered his first arrest for his religious convictions, and was actively identified with the Friends. He began to write and speak on their behalf. His "Sandy Foundation Shaken", was published in 1668 and he suffered imprisonment in the Tower of London. He was also later imprisoned at Newgate and in Wheeler street, London, for these same type of activities." "At the death of his father, William Penn came into possession of a large estate amounting to at least 1500 pounds per annum. He married, April 4, 1672, at "a publick Assembly of the People of the Lord" at King's, Charle-wood, in the county of Hertford, Gulielma Maria Springett, daughter of Sir William Springett, (1620-1644) by his wife Mary Proude, (1624-82) daughter of Sir John Proude, by his wife Anne Fagge. At the time of her marriage Gulielma Maria Springett was living with her stepfather, Isaac Pennington, who had married the widow Springett. After his marriage William Penn and his family resided for about five years in Basing House, Rickmansworth, in the county of Hertford, near the line of the county of Buycks, removing to Worminghurst, Sussex, a property inherited by his wife, in 1677, where he continued to reside until 1697, after his second marriage. In that year he removed to Bristol, and seems to have had his principal residence until 1710, when he removed to Ruscombe Manor, in Berks, near Twyford, now on the Great Western railway, where he died, July 30 , 1718." "Of the four years spent in Pennsylvania by the Founder, in two period of nearly equal length, the major part was doubltess spent in the city of Philadelphia, laid out by his direction prior to his first arrival, though his Pennsylvania home was at Pennsbury, Bucks county, from the early in the year 1683. For several months after his arrival in Pennsylvania in the "Welcome", October 18, 1682, Penn seems to have made his home at Chester, later residing at Philadelphia and at Pennsbury, until his return to England in August 1684. In his second visit to his province of Pennsylvania, arriving in Philadelphia, December 3, 1699, he was accompanied by his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, and their eldest child, John Penn, who was born in Philadlephia, January 29 1699-1700. This visit extended to September 1701, and almost his last official act in Pennsylvania was the signing of the charter of incorporation of the city of Philadelphia. From the date of the grant of the the province to him, February 24, 1680-1, to his death thirty-seven years later, practically his whole time and energy was devoted to her interests, and his great regret was that he was prevented from spending the greater part of his time in his beloved province." William Penn appointed,on Sept 14 1682, Wm Biles and Robert Lucas, Justices of the Peace; Commissioners: William Crispin who married Annie Jasper; John Bezar and Christopher Allen, and James Harrison as the Land agent. Each servant was to receive 50 acres and 50 acres for each child. Silas Crispin was Surveyor General and Thomas Holme was appraiser. Silas Crispin, son of Silas Crispin married Ester. Dottie