J4 HISTORY OF 



creek, ye severall courses thereof, vntill they took in 

 Radnor and Herford townshipps then downe to the 

 Skoulkill; then vp wards along the several courses there- - 

 off, without limmitt. 



Therefore, wee humbly pray you will be pleased t©^ 

 confirme ye said bounds, wherebye the coimty of Chester 

 may be in some measure able to defray their necessary 

 charge, and wee shall, as in duty bound.'^* 



It was signed by John Blunston, Thomas Brassie,, 

 Randell Vernon, Caleb Pusey, Thomas Usher. The 

 prayer of the petitioners was considered at several 

 councils, viz : March 25 and 26, 1689. Some time in 

 1693, the petitioners,. inhabitants of Chester county, who 

 had sufferred long for the want of the division, between 

 the county of New Castle, State of Delav/are, and 

 Chester county, having again prayed the council to adjust 

 bounds, a temporary division between the two counties 

 was ordered to be made, August 9, 1.69 3.t The 

 boundaries of the county extended indefinitely west- 

 ward, and remained unchanged till Lancaster and Berks 

 were successively formed. 



The increase of inhabitants. in the colony and' in Ches- 

 ter county, between the time of adjusting the boundary 

 between New Castle and Chester and Penn's second 

 arrival, was considerable;; gradually augmenting the 

 population ; and the settlement extended to Brandy wine 

 creek; where, tO; meet the wants of the people, Corne- 

 lius Empson, as early as l'6S9^ erected a mill;; being, as 

 it is believed, the second mill erected in the county of 

 Chester;: Karkus's mill having been erected about 1681. 



It has been stated that Penn was not successful in his 



•Col. Rec. J. 221. fCol. Rec. I. 340, 345. 



