Years in parentheses are years of service as a Director of The Bank of Delaware County and/or The Delaware County National Bank

Peter Deshong (1815-24), son of Peter and Susanna (Gilman) Deshong, was born in Philadelphia in 1781. When a young man he located in Chester, where he embarked in merchandising and became a leading factor in the affairs of the borough. In 1803, he owned the Lapidea grist mill on Crum creek, which he had then leased to Joseph Walker, and in 1807 to Foster and Hinkson, who purchased the premises the following year.

He was one of the organizers of The Bank of Delaware County, and was elected a director March 10, 1815, in place of Captain Thomas Robinson, resigned. He held the position for ten years, and was the first notary of the bank.

In the early twenties, he owned the packet sloop "Mary and Louisa," named for his wife and daughter, making regular trips between Chester and Philadelphia, leaving the former place Tuesdays and Fridays and returning Thursdays and Saturdays. He was for nearly twenty years a vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chester, and one of the incorporators of the church in 1818.

Peter Deshong was the last man in this neighborhood who wore his hair dressed in a queue. He married Mary Odenheimer, who survived him many years, dying in Chester, January 1, 1870, in her ninetieth year. Peter Deshong died December 26, 1827, aged 46 years. 

[Obituary]