Upper Chichester Township.

mark and fix the line dividing the townsh^s of upper & lower Chichester afores^d or such other Way as you in your Wisdoms shall see meet.
"And your Petitioners as in duty Bound Shall Pray

The movement was, however, met by sturdy opposition from the leading citizens and land-owners of Lower Chichester, which was presented to the court at the same session as that at which the people of Upper Chichester preferred their request. The following was the counter-statement made by the remonstrants:

"To the Honourable Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be held at Chester on the 27th day of February, 1753.
"The Petition of Several of the Inhabitants of the Township of Lower Chichester in the said County on behalf of themselves & the rest of the Inhabitants of s^d Township Humbly Showeth.
"That Your Petitioners Apprehend that the Inhabitants of the Township of Upper Chichester Intend to Petition your honours for men to be Appointed to Run out Survey Mark and Fix the Boundaries of the said Townp of Upper Chichester, but more Especially the Line dividing the Township of Upper Chichester from the Township of Lower Chichester afsd. But as the said Townships are as they now Stand, Convenient enough, they Apprehend there is no Need of any Separation, And as Your Petitioners, have of late laboured under many hardships by Reason of Mending the highways in the said Township of Lower Chichester, they being very bad, and also by reason of having Several Poor to Provide for, for which reasons and for none Else Your Petitioners Conceives the Inhabitants of the said Township of Upper Chichester Intends to Petition Your honours.
"Your Petitioners, therefore Pray that your honours Would be Pleased to Reject the said Petition of the Inhabitants of Upper Chichester And Your Petitioners as in duty bound Shall Ever Pray &c.

The knotty question thus submitted to the justices for adjudication the grave magistrates seemed loath to determine, but in some way not apparent permitted the matter to drag along for six years, during which time the reasons for the official recognition became apparent to the remonstrants. Hence at the August court the following petition was presented, bearing the signatures of almost every freeholder in Upper and Lower Chichester, which was approved by court:

"To the Honourable Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of ye Peace to be held at Chester for the County of Chester, the 28th day of August, Anno Dom. 1759.
"The Petition of the Inhabitants of the township of Upper Chichester and of the Inhabitants of the township of Lower Chichester in the said county.
"Honestly Sheweth
"That on or about the year of our Lord 1718 the then Inhabitants of the township of Chichester did (among themselves) divide the said township into two townships and did call the upper part thereof Upper Chichester and the lower part thereof Lower Chichester, that through some Neglect or omission at that time the division was not (as your petitioners can find) ever presented to or approved of by the Court, that Notwithstanding the said Omission the township of Chichester has ever since been deemed and reputed two distinct & seperate townships in all respects save that of maintaining the Poor, that it does appear by the records of this Court that they are called two Townships, that some uneasiness and Contention have lately arisen & may hereafter arise occasioned by the division aforesaid not being recorded among the records of the Court to prevent which for the Future Your Petitioners humbly pray that the township heretofore called Chichester may now be divided and that the division line may Begin at the corner of the land of Francis Johnston & in the line of the land of Joseph Parker, Esq., and extending thence West by South along the Head of the Hook lotts untill it intersects the line dividing the Counties of Chester and New Castle and that the township of Upper Chichester may in all respects hereafter be deemed, & taken to be a distinct & seperate township from that of lower Chichester & Your Petitioners Shall Pray.

The following is the list of the justices of the peace for Upper Chichester:

Chichester Friends' Meeting. - The present Friends' meeting-house is the second building erected by that society on the lot of two acres lying east of Chichester Creek, in the sharp angle of the road leading from Chichester Cross-roads to the highway from Aston to Marcus Hook. Chichester Meeting, for record and business, was held for the first time on the 17th of First month, 1684, although religious services had been had in that section of the county as early as 1682. The meeting originally comprised Aston, Bethel, Birmingham, Concord, Thornbury, and Westtown, and beyond the limits of these townships, west and north, indefinitely. At this time the religious meetings were held at private houses; and after the organization of Monthly Meetings, Friends would assemble at designated dwellings.

In the record of Chichester Meeting we find that a