It was particularly fortunate that the Indians continued to live amicably with the settlers at this period.
Dr. Nicholas More, First Chief Justice,
Impeached May 15, 1685
William Penn appointed his cousin, Captain William Markham, Deputy Governor, and he arrived in the Province in October, 1681. He then appointed commissioners to lay out the proposed great city, who came over toward the end of that year. The commissioners, as originally appointed were William Crispin, Nathaniel Allen and John Bezar.
These commissioners sailed in the ship John and Sarah, taking the southern passage and stopping at Barbadoes, where Crispin died. Crispin was head of the commission, a man of mature years and Penn’s own kinsman, like Markham.
It appears by a letter from Penn to Markham, dated London, October 18, 1681, that Penn intended Crispin to hold high office in the new province. He says:
“I have sent my cosen, William Crispen, to be thy assistant, as my commission will appear. His Skill, experience, Industry and Integrity are well known to me, and particularly in Court keeping &c., so yt is my will and pleasure that he be as Chief Justice to keep ye Seal, ye Courts and Sessions, & he shall be accountable to me for it.”
The honor, therefore, of discharging the highest judicial office in Pennsylvania is to be attributed to the man appointed by the proprietary in pursuance of the act of 1684—that man was Dr. Nicholas More.
It is difficult to understand the abilities and character of More. He was educated in medicine, but drifted away, in his mature years, from the practice of his profession, and in 1681 became the president of the Society of Free Traders, and a large purchaser of land in the new Province of Pennsylvania.