History of Kennet Township; Chester County, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Sandra Ferguson <ferg@ntelos.net>.

Copyright 2004.  All Rights Reserved.
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from THE HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA, by Futhey and Cope (1881);
 
   Kennet is first mentioned in court records in Feb of 1705, when Henry Peirce 
appeared in court as constable for that township.  This twp originally included 
all of Pennsbury and a part of Pocopson.  The name is thought to have been 
suggested by Francis Smith, who in 1686 had taken up 200 acres of land at the 
mouth of Pocopson Creek.  Francis Smith ahd dome from Devizes, in Wiltshire, 
England, in which county there is a village called Kennet.  There were several 
resurveys, after the initial one in 1686, and one large survey divided and 
confirmed the eastern portion to Letitia Penn - 1701.  In 1760 the court was 
petitioned for a division of the twp into East and West Kennet by a line from 
the road at the division  of Marlborough and Kennet, at Caleb Pierce's land, and 
from thence along a road towards Wilmington, by John Powell's, to the twp line.  
Ten years later a divisin was made, and Pennsbury taken from the eastern part.