THE LANDING OF PENN AT CHESTER.

THERE are several facts of interest connected with the ancient town of Chester; none more so, than the landing there of William Penn, and the hospitable reception himself and friends received at the "Essex House," then the residence of Robert Wade. His house, at which the scene of the landing is laid, stood about two hundred yards from Chester Creek, near the margin of the Delaware, and on a plain of about fifteen feet above tide water. Near the house by the river side, stood several lofty white pines, three of which remain at the present day, and thence ranging down the Delaware stood a large row of lofty walnut trees, of which a few still survive.

Essex House had its south east gable end fronting to the river Delaware, and its south west front upon Essex Street; its back piazza ranged in a line with Chester Creek, which separated the house and farm from the town of Chester; all vestiges of the house are now gone, but the facts of its location and position have been told to me by some aged persons who had once seen it. The iron vane once upon it was preserved several years, with the design of replacing it upon a renewed building once intended there.

Robert Wade owned all the land on the side of the creek opposite to Chester, extending back some distance up that Creek; the Chester side was originally owned wholly by James Sanderland, a wealthy Swedish proprietor, and extending back into the country a considerable distance; he appears to have been an eminent Episcopalian, and probably the chief founder of the old Episcopal church there of St. Paul, as I find his memory peculiarly distinguished in that church by a large and conspicuous mural monument of remarkably fine sculpture for that early day; the figures in fine relief upon it is a real curiosity, it represents him as dying in the year 1692, in the 56th year of his age. None of the family name now remain there.

On the same premises is a head stone of some peculiarity, "in memory of Francis Brooks, who died August 19, 1704," and inscribed thus:

"In barbarian bondage and cruel tyranny
Fourteen years together I served in slavery
After this, mercy brought me to my country fair;

At last, I drowned was in the river Delaware."

In the same ground stands a marble, commemorative of the first A. M. of Pennsylvania, to wit:

66

Here lieth Paul Jackson, A. M.

He was the first who received a degree

in the College of Philadelphia,-a man of

virtue, worth and knowledge. -Died, 1767, aged 38 years."

I might add, respecting him, that he was the ancestor of the present Dr. Samuel Jackson of Philadelphia, had been a surgeon in the Braddock expedition, was a brother-in-law of the Honourable Charles Thomson, and one of the best classical scholars of his time.

The brick house is still standing, now a cooper's shop, owned by John Hart, in which, it is said, was held the first Assembly of Pennsylvania. It is a one and a half story structure of middle size, close by the side of the creek. The oaken chair, in which William Penn sat as chief in that Assembly, is said to be now in the possession of the aged and respectable widow of Colonel Frazer,-a chair to be prized by us with some of that veneration bestowed on the celebrated chair in Westminster Abbey, brought from Scone to help in the investiture of royal power.

At the mill-seat up the Creek, now belonging to Richard Flowers, was originally located, near thereto, the first mill in the county; the same noticed in Proud's history as erected by Richard Townsend, who brought out the chief of the materials from England. The original mill is all gone; but the log platform under water still remains at the place where the original road to Philadelphia once passed. The iron vane of that mill, curiously wrought into letters and dates, is still on the premises, and is marked thus:

W. P.
S. C. C. P.
1699.

The initials express the original partners, to wit: William Penn, Samuel Carpenter, and Caleb Pusey.

Close by the race stands the original dwelling house, in which it is understood that Richard Townsend once dwelt, and where he was often visited by the other partners; it is a very lowly stone building of the rudest finish inside, and of only one story in height. Such was their primitive rough fare and rude simplicity; yet small as was this establishment at the head of tide water, it was of much importance to the inhabitants of that day.

Not far from this, at Ridly Creek mills, is a curious relic-an engraving upon a rock of "I. S. 1682," which marks the spot against which John Sharpless, the original settler there, erected his temporary hut, immediately after his arrival in that year.

The Yates' house, now Logan's, built about the year 1700, was made remarkable in the year 1740-1, (the season of the "cold winter,") for having been visited in the night by a large black bear, which came into the yard and quarrelled with the dog. It was killed the next day near the town.

There is in the Logan collection at Stenton a small folio volume

of manuscript court proceedings at Upland, chiefly respecting lands along the Delaware, at Shackamaxon, &c., while under the Duke of York's patent, and subject to the New York Governors, from 1676 to 1681.

The original expectations of Chester were once much greater than since; they once thought it might grow into a shipping port. In an original petition of the inhabitants of Chester of the year 1700, they pray, that "Whereas, Chester is daily improving, and in time may be a good place, that the Queen's road may be laid out as direct as possible from Darby to the bridge on Chester Creek." This paper was signed by ninety inhabitants, all writing good hands. Vide the original in my MS. Annals in the City Library.

Besides this, Jasper Yates, who married Sanderland's daughter, erected, about the year 1700, the present great granary there, having the upper chambers for grain and the basement story for an extensive biscuit bakery. For some time it had an extensive business, by having much of the grain from the fruitful fields of Lancaster and Chester Counties; but the business has been long since discontinued.

When the first colonists, (arrived by the Factor) were frozen up at Chester, in December 1681, and these being followed by several ships in the spring of 1682, before the City of Philadelphia was chosen and located, they must have given an air of city life to the Upland Village, which may have well excited an original expectation and wish of locating there the city of brotherly love. It was all in unison with the generous hospitality afforded at Wade's house and among all the families of Friends previously settled there from Jersey; but Chester Creek could not compete with Schuylkill River, and Chester was rivalled by Philadelphia; "so that it seemed appointed, by its two rivers and other conveniences, for a town."

At this late day it is grateful to look back with "recollected tenderness," on the state of society once possessing Chester. My friend, Mrs. Logan, who once lived there, thus expressed it to me, saying, she had pleasure in her older years of contemplating its society as pictured to her by her honoured mother, a native of the place. Most of the inhabitants, being descendants of the English, spoke with the broad dialect of the North. They were a simple hearted, affectionate people, always appearing such in the visits she made with her mother to the place. Little distinction of rank was known, but all were honest and kind, and all entitled to and received the friendly attentions and kindness of their neighbours in cases of sickness or distress. Scandal and detraction, usual village pests, were to them unknown. Their principles and feelings were too good and simple, and the state of the whole was at least a silver age."

VOL. I.-R

The road below Chester was called the King's road.

THE LANDING OF PENN

AT THE

BLUE ANCHOR TAVERN.

Here memory's spell wakes up the throng
Of past affection-here our fathers trod!

THE general voice of mankind has ever favoured the consecration of places hallowed by the presence of personages originating great epochs in history, or by events giving renown to nations. The landing place of Columbus in our western world is consecrated and honoured in Havana; and the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth is commemorated by festivals. We should not be less disposed to emblazon with its just renown the place where Penn, our honoured founder, first set his foot on the soil of our beloved city. The site and all its environs were abundantly picturesque, and facts enough of the primitive scene have descended to us,

"E'en to replace again

The features as they knew them then."

Facts still live, to revive numerous local impressions, and to connect the heart and the imagination with the past,—to lead out the mind in vivid conceptions of

"How the place look'd when 'twas fresh and young."

Penn and his immediate friends came up in an open boat or barge from Chester; and because of the then peculiar fitness, as "a landing place," of the "low and sandy beach," at the debouche of the once beautiful and rural Dock Creek, they there came to the shore by the side of Guest's new house, then in a state of building, the same known in the primitive annals as "the Blue Anchor Tavern."

The whole scene was active, animating and cheering. On the shore were gathered, to cheer his arrival, most of the few inhabitants who had preceded him. The busy builders who had been occupied at the construction of Guest's house, and at the connecting line of "Budd's Long Row," all forsook their labours to join in the general greetings. The Indians, too, aware by previous signals of his approach, were seen in the throng, or some, more reservedly apart, waited the salutation of the guest, while others, hastening to the scene, could be seen paddling their canoes down the smooth waters of the creek.

Where the houses were erecting, on the line of Front Street, was the low sandy beach; directly south of it, on the opposite side of the creek, was the grassy and wet soil, fruitful in whortleberries; beyond

it was the "Society Hill," having its summit on Pine Street, and rising in graceful grandeur from the precincts of Spruce Street,-all then robed in the vesture with which nature most charms. Turning our eyes and looking northward, we see similar rising ground, presenting its summit above Walnut Street. Looking across the Dock Creek westward, we see all the margin of the creek adorned with every grace of shrubbery and foliage, and beyond it, a gently sloping descent from the line of Second Street, whereon were hutted a few of the native's wigwams, intermixed among the shadowy trees. A bower near there, and a line of deeper verdure on the ground, marked "the spring," where "the Naiad weeps her emptying urn. Up the stream, meandering through "prolixity of shade," where "willows dipt their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink," we perceive, where it traverses Second Street, the lowly shelter of Drinker, the anterior lord of Dock Creek; and beyond him, the creek disappears in intervening trees, or in mysterious windings.

That scenes like these are not fanciful reveries, indulged without their sufficient warrant, we shall now endeavour to show from sober facts, deduced from various items of information, to wit:

Mr. Samuel Richards, a Friend, who died in 1827, at about the age of 59, being himself born and residing all his days next door to the Blue Anchor Tavern, was very competent to judge of the verity of the tradition concerning the landing. He fully confided in it; he had often heard of it from the aged, and never heard it opposed by any. His father before him, who had dwelt on the same premises, assured him it was so, and that he had heard it direct through the preceding occupants of the Inn. All the earliest keepers of the Inn were Friends; such was Guest, who was also in the first Assembly; he was succeeded by Reese Price, Peter Howard, and Benjamin Humphries, severally Friends All these in succession kept alive the tradition that "when Penn first came to the city he came in a boat from Chester, and landed near their door." It was then, no doubt, the readiest means of transportation, and would have been a highly probable measure, even if we had never heard of the above facts to confirm it.

The aged Mrs. Preston, who was present on that occasion, used to say, she admired the affability and condescension of the Governor, especially his manner of entering into the spirit and feeling of the Indians; he walked with them, sat down on the ground with them, ate with them of their roasted acorns and hominy. When they got up to exercise and express their joy by hopping and jumping, he finally sprang up, and beat them all. I will not pretend to vouch for this story; we give it as we received it from honest informants, who certainly believed it themselves. It was a measure harmless in the abstract; and as a courtesy to the Indians may have been a fine stroke of policy in winning their regard. He was young enough to have been gay; being then only 38 years of age. And one of the old Journalists has left on record, that he was naturally too prone to