Lower Chichester Township.

Sweden. The following translation of this royal gift is reputed to be the most accurate extant:¹

"We Christiana, by the Grace of God, Queen of Sweden, Gothen and Wenden, Grand Princess of Finland, Duchess of Eastland, &c.:
"Be it known that of our favor, and because of the true and trusty service which is done unto us and the Crown, by our true and trusty servant, Captain Hans Ammundson Besk, for which service he hath done, and further is obliged to do so long as he yet shall live; so have we granted and given unto him freely as the virtue of this open letter is and doth show and specify, that is, we have given and freely granted to him, his wife and heirs, that is heirs after heirs, One Certain piece and tract of land, being and lying in New Sweden, Marcus Hook by name, which does reach up to and Upwards of Upland Creek, and that with all the privileges, appurtenances and conveniences thereunto belonging, both wet and dry, whatsoever name or names excepted of them, that is which belonged to this aforesaid tract of land, of age, and also by law and judgment may be claimed unto it and he and his heirs to have and to bold it unmolested forever for their lawful possession and inheritance. So that all which will unlawfully lay claim thereunto, they may regulate themselves hereafter. Now for the true confirmation hereof have we this with our own hand underwritten, and also manifested with our seal, in Stockholm, the 20th of August, in the year of our Lord, 1653.
"Neils Tungell, Secretary.

Only that portion of Lower Chichester lying east of Marcus Hook Creek was included in this patent, as has been very conclusively shown by the late Edward Armstrong, and it is unnecessary for me to further allude to his argument.² The land west of that creek, comprising all the remaining territory now known as Lower Chichester, was patented by Governor Andros, March 28, 1679,³ to Charles Jansen, Olle Rawson, Olle Nielson, Hans Hopman, John Hendrickson, and Hans Olleson, containing one thousand acres. Dr. Smith says, in the survey, it is mentioned that this land "was formerly granted unto the said persons in the time of the Dutch Government."⁴ The quit-rent reserved in the patent by the Duke of York was ten bushels of winter wheat. At Upland Court, March 13, 1678/9, Rodger Pedrick appeared and acknowledged that he had sold to William Hughes, in fee, half of his land at Marcus Hook, which land he, Pedrick, had purchased of John Hendrickson; and at the same court, Hans Ollsen (Olleson) acknowledged a deed to William Clayton for all his land, "right & interest of & to his houses and appurtances Lying and being att Marretties hooke."⁵

⁵ Record of Upland Court, p. 135.

The ancient name of Marcus Hook was sought to be changed by the residents of that locality early under Penn's administration, for at the court at Upland, June 13, 1682, the old records show that "the grant formerly made from Governor Markham to the inhabitants of Marcus Hook, at their request for the the calling of said Chichester, which said Grant bears date the Twentieth day of April, Anno 1682, and was read and published in the Court held at Upland June the Sixteenth, Anno 1682, according to order as a record thereof."

Although in legal documents for many years thereafter the settlement at Chichester is thus designated, the popular name was so fixed in the public mind that it would not accept the more modern title, and to this day, despite legislation and executive power, the village still retains its time-honored nomenclature.

In September, 1682, as before mentioned. Marcus Hook was visited by Lord Baltimore when the latter was on his way to New Castle, after his unsatisfactory interview with Markham at Upland, and by his assertion of title to that place and all the territory north of the degree of forty, occasioned the utmost consternation among the settlers there. The first appearance in our records of Chichester township was at the court held 27th of Fourth month (June), 1683, when Willard Hughes was appointed constable for "Chichester liberty." What territory was included in that term liberty is now purely conjectural, but Dr. Smith is doubtless correct in declaring that it was probably the township of Chichester, as it had been laid out by Charles Ashcome. That there was some dispute respecting the bounds of that municipal district is evident from the decree of court made the 6th day of Eighth month, 1685, whereby it was "Ordered that the township of Chichester extends its bounds as formerly laid out by Charles Ashcome until further ordered."

After the coming of Penn, in 1682, Marcus Hook grew apace, and for a time it was a formidable rival to Chester. In 1708 the two places were of almost equal size, for a writer at that time, describing them, states that both of these settlements "consist of almost 100 houses."⁶

In the early judicial records of Chester County, Chichester, being an important locality, furnished perhaps more than its due proportion of business for the courts of those days, which, no doubt, was largely owing to the fact that during the Swedish administration the Fins, who were mostly of the convict class of the mother-country, had collected to the east of that hamlet. The cases were generally of that character of misdemeanors prevalent among the lower order of society, - particularly where ignorance is the rule. I do not propose to draw largely from the records or to present extended extracts from the proceedings in those cases, but I cannot refrain from calling attention to two trials, the particulars of which, even in the lapse of two centuries, will be of interest to the modern reader. The first case was tried at