In brief, PA was the next to the last colony officially founded (only Georgia is younger), and therefore a number of people were legally living on both sides of the Delaware River long before William Penn and the "Welcome fleet" arrived - Dutch, Swedish and British, not to mention Native American tribes. The river served as the central backbone, not the edge of settlement. Today's New Jersey was originally two for-profit private business ventures known as East Jersey and West Jersey, which like Jamestown, tried to attract settlers to help promote development and profit. Starting in 1675, a number of Friends immigrated from the UK to West Jersey, settling in Fenwick's Colony, Salem and Burlington, NJ. The records of the West Jersey Proprietors, most of whom were Quakers, are still preserved in the Corporation's original office in Burlington, NJ. These give a detailed view of the people, settlement, commerce, etc., of the early colony. As Mark says, much interesting history here. One thing modern people forget is that is that it was MUCH easier to travel up and down, and across the Delaware, than inland. So, a number of West Jersey Friends found their way over to the PA side and were here to greet Penn and his immigrants. Most people with early PA ancestors will find they also have Jersey connections. The PA - Jersey travel and trade started under the Swedes and Dutch (1624 on) and continued right up until the 1950s, when my relatives still followed a multigenerational pattern of regular visiting across the river, and swapping cranberries for apples, chestnuts for oysters, etc. We use powerboats instead of sailing sloops, as our ancestors did. Only with federal limited access highways and modern bridges do people think interstate travel is new. NOT! Thy friend, Nancy Webster, Curator Friends Historical Association