48 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM THE ARRIVAL OF WILLIAM PENN TO THE ERECTION OF 

 LANCASTER COUNTY. 



Pemi went to Upland (Chester) on the 29th of October, [1682.] On 

 his arrival there he changed its name. "This was a memorable event 

 and to be distinguished by some marked circumstance. He determined, 

 therefore, to change the name of the place. 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. A¥illiam 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."^ 



From Chester Penn is said to have proceeded with some of his friends 

 in an open barge, in the earliest days of November, to a place about four 

 miles above the mouth of the Schuylkill, called Coaquannock, "where 

 there was a high, bold shore, covered with lofty pines. Here the site of 

 the infant city of Philadelphia had been established, and we may be as- 

 sured his approach was hailed with joy by the whole population: the old 

 inhabitants, Swedes and Dutch, eager to catch a glimpse of their future 

 governor; and the Friends, who had gone before him, anxiously await- 

 ing his arrival." 2 



The following tradition connected with his arrival is given by Watson : 

 "The Indians, as well as the whites, had severally prepared the best 

 entertainment the place and circumstances could admit. William Penn 

 made himself endeared to the Indians by his marked condescension and 

 acquiescence in their Avishes [1682]. He walked with them, sat with 

 them on the ground, and ate with them of their roasted acorns and hominy. 

 At this they expressed their great delight, and soon began to show how 

 they could hop and jump; at which exhibition William Penn, to cap the 

 climax, sprang up and beat them all ! We are not prepared to credit 

 such light gaiety in a sage Governor and religious chief; but we have 

 the positive assertion of a woman of truth, who says she saw it. There 

 may have been a very wise policy in the measure as an act of concilia- 

 tion, worth more than a regiment of sharpshooters. He was then suffici- 

 ently young for any agility, and we remember that one of the old 

 1 Clarkson. 2 Janney. 



