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To the Honourable Patrick Gordon Esq'r Governor of the Province of Pensylvania, New Castle Kent and Sussex on Delaware and Council.

The Petition of the Inhabitants of the upperpart of the County of Chester Sheweth that by Reason of the Great Distance we live from the County Town Where Elections & Courts are held & publick Offices kept, The arm of Justice is weakened, The benefit of many Good & wholesome Laws almost if not Intirely Lost, & ye person who has Occasion to apply to them put to great and Burdensom Expense, Thieves Vagabonds & Ill people--Boldly infest our parts (Counting themselves beyond the Reach of Law) to the Disturbance of the Peace & very great Damage of the Inhabitants it being almost Impossible to take & Secure Such Villains where Justices & Constables are So thin plac'd as not one in Twenty or thirty Miles, & Assistance Difficult to be raised on Such Occasions Amongst people who would freely Serve but are Deterred by want of Ready Cash, to bear ye Charges of a Journey of Eighty or a hundred Miles to the County Jail, and as we are Mostly new Setlers far from a Market, and Trade and Commerce among our Selves Mostly by way of Barter, Money cannot be Supposed plenty.  Therefore when Law Suits prove Necessary to Recover our Just Debts, the trouble and Expence of Travelling to Obtain a Writt or Sumons, having it Serv'd bringing Evidence (when needful) attending Two or three Courts, the Repealed Journeys amount to three or four hundred Miles, besides the loss of much time, all which being A ready Money Charge makes the Recovery of a Small Sum more detrimental than the loss of it, and is a very Great Oppression of the Debtor, and in debts under forty Shillings which canot be recovered without an Execution.  The action Drops rather then Cause So great a Charge as would Accrue if the party be Sent to Jail, & taken from his ffriends (if any) who might Assist him, Run away Servants & Suspitious persons who often come this way to hide among us or Escape into the back parts of Maryland are Seldom taken up.  The Reward for Runaways not answering the Trouble, And to far to Send Suspected Persons til they can make proof of their Clearness.  Our highways are unrepaired, Townships Undivided nor Bridges Built, where they are wanted nor can our Taxes be as Regulary Laid, or our Griovance likely to be Redressed when the mean Distance to the nearest place of Appeal is at least fifty Miles, and neither Comishoner nor more then one Assessor (if that) Elected in many years within the Circle of five hundred ffamilies, These and many more Inconveniences of the like nature, & from the Same Cause which may Occur to you on a serious Reflection, we humbly offer to your Consideration, Hopeing as wee are his Majesties Leige Subjects, And Justly Entituled to all the ease & Advantages the Law will Afford, You will in Your Care for the Publick good be Ready to Redress, And in Order thereto as most of Your petitioners Liveing fifty or Eighty Miles from Chester & Some much further, and ye Bounds Yearly Enlarging, We humbly pray you would be pleased to Order A Divission line to be made between the uper and lower part of Chester County, which uper Divission when So made may be a County and Called ye County of--with Privilidge Granted to Elect Representatives, A Sheriff, & Other Officers in number and Manor as they are now Elected in Chester County, And have all other Officers, Offices powers and priviledges Equal with Other Countys, This we humbly Conceive would be the most Effectual means of Redress, of Great Ease and benefit to Your Petitioners, and no ways Prejudicial to Chester County or the province in General And for which your Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall pray &c.

N.B. The under Written names are truly Copyed out of the Original Subscription to a Petition to the Assembly by us.    Jno Wright

              Tho: Edwards