Old Chester County

Contents [hide] 1 Boundaries 2 Related 3 Counties 4 Purpose

Welcome to the Old Chester Tapestry ……………………..The Tapestry Families Old Chester OldAugusta Germanna New River SWVP Cumberland Carolina Cradle The Smokies Old Kentucky

Old Chester Tapestry Data Maps Library History Culture Index

▼Boundaries

▼Related

Transcript:Scot Irish Immigration to Pennsylvania, 1736

▼Counties

Chester County, Pennsylvania was one of the three counties initially established in 1682 by William Penn. Originally it encompassed a broad area westwardly of the Delaware River, extending to the far western portions of Pennsylvania, south to Maryland, and north to the Schuylkill River. Over the course of the next two hundred years its area was periodically reduced by the formation of new counties. Need to Add Franklin County to west.

▼Purpose

The purpose of the Old Chester Project is to provide information about the families that once lived in this area. However, if the original boundaries of Chester County were used to define "Old Chester", the area covered would be so broad as to make the project impossible. On the otherhand, for most of its history Chester County referred to a much smaller area, including in particular, modern Chester and Delaware Counties, extending to the Octoraro River on the west, and to Berks county on the north. During this time period a substantial portion of modern Cecil County Maryland was also considered to be in Chester County. Many of the people in this latter area thought of themselves as Pennsylvanians, and were culturally more closely tied to Pennsylvania than to Maryland. For present purposes "Old Chester" is defined as the area encompassed by modern Chester, Delaware, and Lancaster Counties, Cecil County MD, and New Castle County DE. Adams, Berks, and York Counties are not explicitly included within the confines of "Old Chester", but many settlers in this area are likely to be considered here simply because they ended up migrating to other areas with in "The Tapestry" (e.g., Old Augusta, Southwest Virginia, and points in between.)