BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



491 



cfites to a Meeting of Friends held " iitt 

 the Governor's house." One of these 

 certificivtcs was from " the monthlj' 

 Meeting tit Ffrenshaj, in the County 

 of Gloucester."' The other was from 

 " Thorubur}- Meeting." He may have 

 settled on his new purchase in 168.'>, 

 but his name first appears as an active 

 member of Chichester Friends' Meeting 

 in 1G86; shortly after which, meetings 

 were sometimes held at his house. 

 Besides being strict in his attention to 

 his religious duties, he gave a share of 

 his time to civil affairs, and of his 

 means to the inii)rovement of the coun- 

 try. He represented Chester County 

 in the Provincial Assembly in 11 06, 

 and was one of a companj- who erected 

 " the Concord mill," the first mill 

 erected in his neighborhood. His chil- 

 dren were Betty, George, Joshua, Ann, 

 Margaret, Mary, Caleb, Gainer, Hannah 

 and John. Betty intermarried with 

 Vincent Caldwell ; Ann with John Gib- 

 bons ; Mary with Joseph, and Hannah 

 with Edward Brinton, both grandsons 

 of the elder, William Brinton; Joshua 

 with Ann Mercer ; Caleb with Hannah 

 Cloud, and Gainer with Sarah Walter. 

 George Pearce was living in 1712. 



Pearson, Thomas, frequently called 

 Thomas Person, with his wife JIargcry, 

 came from England with William Pcun 

 when on his first visit to Pennsylvania. 

 If any reliance can be placed on tra- 

 dition, it was upon his suggestion that 

 the name of Upland was changed to 

 Chester. He settled in Marple town- 

 ship on the tract marked " Thomas 

 Perce" on Holme's map. His children 

 were Robert, Thomas, Lawrence, Enoch, 

 John, Alice, Sarah and Benjamin, all 

 born in this country. His daughter 

 Sarah, intermarried with John West, 

 and was the mother of the great painter 

 Benjamin West. His son Hubert Pea? $07i, 

 intermarried with Catharine the daugh- 

 ter of James Thomas of Merioa. Thomas 

 Pearson the elder was alive in 1706. 

 Besides Pearson, some of his descen- 

 dants took the name of Parsons, Person 

 and Pierson. 



Pearson, Benjamin, with his wife Su- 

 sanna and family, emigrated from the 

 town of Rotherham in the West Riding 

 of Yorkshire, England, al)out the year 

 1712, and settled in Darby. His wife's 

 maiden name was Burbeck. They were 



in membership with Friends at the 

 time of their arrival. Benjamin was a 

 very sedate man, strongly English in 

 his notions, and never became fully 

 reconciled to this country. He never 

 would admit that its products were 

 equal to those of England — turnips only 

 excepted. He died in 1703 aged 81 

 years, the death of his wife having oc- 

 curred eighteen years earlier. They 

 had been better educated than was 

 usual for immigrants in that day, but 

 Benjamin feeling so little interested in 

 the country never made any exertions 

 to acquire property in it. Their chil- 

 dren were Benjamin, Thomas and Isaac 

 born in England, and John, Joseph, 

 Samuel and Joshua, born in this coun- 

 try. Thomas, the second son, married 

 Hannah the daughter of Samuel, and 

 grand daughter of the immigrant John 

 Blunston, and settled in Darby. From 

 their oldest son John Pearson, who 

 married Anne Bevan all the Darby 

 Pearson families have descended. 



Person, or Pearson, John, was an 

 early settler in Newtown township, and 

 was a brother to Thomas Person or 

 Pearson of Marple, and be also had a 

 brother Edward, probably Edward 

 Pierson of Darby. As Thomas and 

 Edward, both came from Cheshire, Eng- 

 land, it may be inferred that he also 

 migrated from the same place. He be- 

 queathed £10 towards building a meet- 

 ing-hotise at Newtown, and £0 towards 

 '^]>alin(/ in" a grave yard at Springfield. 

 He died in 17o9, without children, and 

 probably unmarried. 



Pedtiick, Roger, was a purchaser of 

 land in England from John Fenwick, 

 and probably arrived at Salem, N. J. 

 with that adventurer in 1675, and 

 located his land on Old Man's Creek. 

 In November 1677, we find him a resi- 

 dent and taxable of Marcus Hook, and 

 the records of Chester Monthly Meeting 

 show, that his daughter Rebecca by his 

 wife of the same name was born at 

 Marcus Hook, on the 14th of the 7th 

 month (September) 1678, the earliest 

 well authenticated birth within the 

 limits of Pennsylvania, where both 

 parents were natives of England, that 

 has come under the notice of the author. 

 Their son Thomas was born the 14th 

 of the 2nd mouth 1681. The subject 

 of this notice was empanueled on the 



