346 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1791. 



pursued, it is truly wonderful that our ancestors ever consented 

 to this division, which necessarily subjected them to all the in- 

 creased municipal burdens incident to a small county. 



The first election for the County of Delaware was held at the 

 usual time in October, 1789, when Nicholas Fairlamb was duly 

 elected Sheriff, and Jonathan Vernon, Coroner. On the 12th of 

 October, John Pearson, Thomas Levis, Richard Hill Morris, and 

 George Pearce, were duly commissioned, by the President and 

 Council, Justices of the Court of Common Pleas of the same 

 county. The appointment of a President of the Court was de- 

 layed till the 7th of November, when the position was una- 

 nimously conferred upon Henry Hale Graham. It was soon 

 discovered, however, that the appointment of Mr. Graham was 

 illegal, as he did not then hold a commission of Justice of the 

 Peace; whereupon, the President and Council "revoked and 

 made null and void" the commission they had granted to him, 

 commissioned him a Justice of the Peace, and then appointed 

 him President of the several Courts of the new county. 



The first Court for the County of Delaware was held February 

 9th, 1790. No Orphans' Court business appears to have been 

 transacted till March 2d, following. 



On the 2d of September, 1790, a new constitution was adopted 

 for Pennsylvania. John Sellers and Nathaniel Newlin repre- 

 sented Delaware County in the Convention, by which that most 

 important document was framed. Under this constitution, Jus- 

 tices of the Peace ceased to sit as Judges of the Courts. The 

 courts were about this time organized as they now are, with a 

 President and two Associate Judges. 



On the 9th of April, 1792, an act was passed to incorporate 

 the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company. The 

 work of making the road was immediately commenced, but w^as 

 not completed till 1794, It cost $465,000, or about $7,516 per 

 mile. This important road passes only about four miles through 

 Delaware County. It was the first turnpike road constructed in 

 America.^ 



The making of this turnpike seems to have inspired the people 

 along the Brandywine with the idea that an easier and cheaper 

 mode of transportation for their produce, and for that brought 

 along the road, to tide water, would be found in a canal and lock na- 

 vigation by that stream. Accordingly an act was passed in 1793, 

 concurrent with one passed by the Legislature of Delaware, author- 



1 When the books were opened for subscription to fhe stock of this turnpike, so great 

 was the anxiety of the people to obtain stock, that the Commissioners were obliged to 

 close the doors and windows against the crowd that pressed upon them. The appli- 

 cants were obliged to have recourse to lots to determine who should subscribe first. — 

 Hist. Cheater Co. 



