236 HISTOHY OP 



"At a council held at Philadelphia, February 6th, 

 1728-9: Present, the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Esq., Lieut. 

 Governor of Pennsylvania, and James Logan, Richard 

 Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, William Fishbourn, 

 Clement Plumsted, Samuel Hazle, Esquires ; a petition 

 of the inhabitants of the upper parts of Chester county 

 was laid before the board and read, setting forth that by 

 reason of their great distance from the county town, 

 where courts are held, offices are kept, and annual elec- 

 tions made, they lie under very great inconveniences, 

 being obliged, in the recovery of their just debts, to 

 travel near one hundred miles* to obtain a writ; that for 

 want of a sufficient number of justices, constables and 

 other officers, in those parts, no care is taken of the 

 high-ways ; townships are not laid out, nor bridges built, 

 when there is an apparent necessity for them; and 

 further, that for want of a gaol there, several vagabonds 

 and other dissolute people harbor among them, thinking 

 themselves safe from justice in so remote a place; and 

 therefore praying that a division line be made between 

 the upper and lower part of said county, and the upper 

 part thereof erected into a county, with all the immu- 

 nities, rights and privileges which any other county of 

 this province does enjoy. 



"The board taking the same into consideration, are of 

 opinion, that the Governor is fully empowered by virtue 

 of his commission, to grant the prayer of the petition, if 

 the same shall appear necessary; but as it is a matter of 

 some moment, and will require a mature deliberation, it 



*The courts, &c. were held at Upland or Chester, on Dela- 

 ware river, 15 miles S. W. from Philadelphia. Upland is an 

 ancient place. The first adventurers under Penn landed here, 

 Dec. 11, 1682. It was also the seat of the first legislature after 

 the arrival of William Penn. 



