Peter Deshong (1781 – December 26, 1827) was an American businessman and banker in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

. His family maintained their wealthy status through generations including his son

John O. Deshong John Odenheimer Deshong (September 6, 1807 – May 28, 1881) was an American businessman and banker in Chester, Pennsylvania. He came from a wealthy family including his father Peter Deshong and son Alfred O. Deshong. Early life Deshong was ...

and grandson Alfred O. Deshong.

Early life

Deshong was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, to French immigrants Peter and Susanna (Gilman) DeShaw. The family name was

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

to Deshong. As a young man, he relocated to Chester, Pennsylvania and began his career.

Career

Deshong was the owner of the Lapidea Grist Mill on

Crum Creek Crum Creek (from the Dutch, meaning "crooked creek") is a creek in Delaware County and Chester County, Pennsylvania, flowing approximately , generally in a southward direction and draining into the Delaware River in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. It ...

Ridley, Pennsylvania Ridley Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 30,768 at the 2010 census. Ridley Township contains the census designated places of Folsom and Woodlyn along with the unincorporated communities of Crum Lynne a ...

, from 1803 to 1808. Deshong was one of the organizers of the

Delaware County National Bank Delaware County National Bank is a historic bank building in Chester, Pennsylvania, located at the southwest corner of 3rd Street and Avenue of the States (formerly Market Square) adjacent to the Old St. Paul's Church burial ground. It was built ...

, one of its first directors, the first

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

of the bank and a board member until his death. In the 1820s, Deshong owned the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

"Mary and Louisa" which sailed the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

twice weekly carrying cargo between Chester and Philadelphia.

Personal life

Deshong married Mary Odenheimer. Their son

was a wealthy businessman and banker in Chester. Their grandson Alfred O. Deshong was an industrialist, philanthropist and art collector. Peter Deshong was one of the incorporators of the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1818 and served as a vestryman for 20 years. He died on December 26, 1827, and is interred at

Chester Rural Cemetery Chester Rural Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery founded in March 1863 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Some of the first burials were Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who died at the government hospital located at the nearby building w ...

in Chester, Pennsylvania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deshong, Peter 1781 births 1827 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American bankers Burials at Chester Rural Cemetery People from Chester, Pennsylvania People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania