historical 50ciety - Historical Society of Montgomery County

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BULLETIN
joffAe-
HISTORICAL 50CIETY
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
J\rOI^RISTOWN
£omery
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
AT IT5 R00M5 IS EAST PENN STREET
NORRI5TOWN.PA.
OCTOBER,
1939
VOLUME II
NUMBER 1
PRICE 50 CENTS
Historical Society of Montgomery County
OFFICERS
Nelson P. Fegley, Esq., President
S. Cameron Corson, First Vice-President
Mrs. John Faber Miller, Second Vice-President
Charles Harper Smith, Third Vice-President
Mrs. Rebecca W. Brecht, Recording Secretary
Ella Slinglupp, Corresponding Secretary
Annie B. Molony, Financial Secretary
Lyman a. Kratz, Treasurer
Emily K. Preston, Librarian
TRUSTEES
Franklin A. Stickler, Chairman
Mrs. A. Conrad Jones
Katharine Preston
H. H. Ganser
Floyd G. Frederick
i
David Rittenhouse
THE BULLETIN
of the
Historical Society of Montgomery County
Published Semi-Anrvmlly — October and April
Volume II
October, 1939
Number 1
CONTENTS
Dedication of the David Rittenhouse Marker, June 3, 1939
3
David Rittenhouse, LL.D., F.R.S.
A Study from ContemporarySources, Milton Rubincam
8
The Lost Planetarium of David Ritten
house
James K. Helms
31
Charles H. Shaw
35
The Weberville Factory
The Organization of Friends Meeting at
Norristown
Helen E. Richards 39
Map Making and Some Maps of Mont
gomery County
Chester P. Cook
51
Bible Record (Continued)
57
Reports
65
Publication Committee
Dr. W. H. Reed, Chairman
Charles R. Barker
Hannah Gerhard
Chester P. Cook
Bertha S. Harry
Emily K. Preston, Editor
1
Dedication of the David Rittenhouse Marker
June 3, 1939
The picturesque farm of Mr. Herbert T. Ballard, Sr., on
Germantown Pike, east of Fairview Village, in East Norriton
township, was the scene of a notable gathering, on June 3,
1939, the occasion being the dedication by the Historical So
ciety of Montgomery County of the marker commemorating
the observation of the transit of Venus by the astronomer,
David Rittenhouse, on nearby ground, and on the same month
and day, one hundred and seventy years before.
No finer spring day could have been wished for, for the
ceremonies, which were held at three in the afternoon. The
speakers' stand, set up just inside the gateway, under the
shade of the trees, overlooking Mr. Ballard's broad, rolling
lawn, was draped with the national colors. The sunshine was
unfailing. Orioles and "red-wings" whistled from the trees,
or fluted from the grassy open spaces. At the corner by the
gateway, the Norristown High School Band, resplendent in
blue coats and white trousers, with shining brass instruments
throwing back the sunlight, made a fine splash of color. Offi
cers of the Society, speakers and invited guests occupied the
stand; other guests arrived by chartered bus, or came by car,
and parked in the meadow at the foot of the lawn.
Nelson P. Fegley, Esq., president of the Society, acting as
presiding officer, opened the exercises in happy vein, and an
nounced the first number, a selection by the Norristown High
School Band, led by Mr. Damon D. Holton, Director. This and
the following numbers by the band were rendered to the
pleasure of the audience assembled, representing at least four
counties of the state. Then followed the invocation, by Rev.
Nathaniel B. Groton, rector of St. Thomas' P. E. Church,
Whitemarsh; and after another selection by the band, S. Cam
eron Corson, Esq., chairman of the Marker Committee, was
4
BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
announced to make the address presenting the marker to the
Society. Mr. Corson said, in part:
• "The year 1916 was before we got into the World War.
That year saw my introduction to the Marker Committee.
"Rev. Thomas R. Beeber was President of the Historical
Society of Montgomery County, and he announced his appoint
ments to the Marker Committee, and I was the chairman.
After the session was adjourned, I asked him what our duties
were, and what the Marker Committee was? He said, 'I want
you to get in touch with all of the members of the committee,
and tell them that they will be expected to select some worth
while historical bridge, mill or other place in their vicinity and
send to you their selection, with records as historically correct
as can be obtained. You are to do the same in and near Norris-
town. Then compile a complete list of all these historical
places, and present it as your report of the Marker Commit
tee at the next regular meeting of the Society.' When I made
my report, I said I considered the observatory from which
David Rittenhouse observed the transit of Venus on June 3,
1769, to be the outstanding site to mark.
"I have no idea at this time who were on the committee
and very few who were appointed by other presidents since
1916, other than those who took an active part some eight or
ten years ago."
Mr. Corson then touched briefly on the difiiculties besetting
the path of the committee, and proceeded to outline their work
as follows:
"With William Montague, Sr., I made several trips to this
old Rittenhouse farm, seeking the owner to get his permission
for this Society to erect a memorial to David Rittenhouse, but
more particularly to commemorate his observation of the tran
sit of Venus in 1769.
"The first time we came here, we saw the three boxwood
bushes, and Mr. Montague said to a man working near them,
'There were four of these bushes. What became of that one
(pointing to the eastern corner) ?' The man replied, 'A former
gardener, in cleaning out the old garden, burned rubbish too
close to that corner bush, and it was destroyed by fire.'
: v:
Rittenhousb Marker
DEDICATION OF THE DAVID RITTENHOXJSE MARKEE
5
"I said to Mr. Montague, *What are these shrubs? Why are
they planted as we see them here?' He said, 'When the news
of the observation of the transit of Venus reached the Queen
of France, to shoWher appreciation of such a wonderful event,
she sent over four sweet shrubs to be planted one at each
corner of the little cabin. These show that part of the story is
true, they are as planted, with the exception of the one on the
east corner. The man has just explained why that is missing.'
"Then we went on up to the old farmhouse. On a large piece
of brown sandstone set in the south corner of the house, and
about four and a half feet above the ground, were marks or
scratches—initials and dates having to do with the Ritten-
house family. But the treasure of these marks was on a larger
stone on the right side of the door, on which was roughly
sketched a picture of the old log cabin or observatory. As I
have said it was very roughly drawn, but nevertheless one
could see a resemblance to the building as it appears now on
this bronze plaque. We made several other trips to this farm,
without result.
"We next appealed to the County Commissioners, and they
agreed to assist us by giving us permission to construct a
concrete slab over the gutter at a point about 150 feet west
of the present entrance to the lane. I made a plan of this loca
tion, and all the Commissioners signed it. But another snag.
The township officers and some citizens said it would be a
menace to the public, and it was finally abandoned. The Com
missioners had taken a keen interest in this marker, and they
suggested purchasing a plot about ten feet square on which to
erect the marker. James Cresson, then County Surveyor, was
sent there and staked off this ten-foot square plot. This plan
also failed, the owner would not sell. The members of the com
mittee were at their wits' end. Then a very favorable event
occurred. Norris D. Wright purchased this farm, and shortly
after that he sold it to Herbert Ballard, Sr. I was informed that
all was now well. Mr. Ballard would give us permission to
erect the marker."
After explaining the reasons for the failure of some of the
committee's well laid plans, Mr. Corson pointed out that lack
g
of funds also delayed further work on the marker, until the
contribution to the Society of the surplus of the fund raised
for the celebration of the county's sesqui-centennial offered a
means of final accomplishment. He then made the formal pres
entation of the marker, which was accepted on behalf of the
Society by President Fegley.
Mr. Fegley tendered the thanks of the Society to Mr. Ballard, owner of the property, who deeded to the Society the plot
on which the marker is erected; and to Mr. Rajrmond T. Beltz,
who donated the granite boulder to which the bronze tablet is
attached, the boulder having been obtained from Spring Moun
tain. Mr. Fegley hoped the achievement in this instance would
prove an inspiration for the marking of more historic sites.
Following another selection by the band, came the address
of the day, by Mr. Milton Rubincam, Corresponding Secretary
of the National Genealogical Society, Washington, D. G., and
a descendant of William Rittenhouse, which was listened to
with great interest and excited much favorable comment.
[Mr. Rubincam's address in full appears on page 8]
Another number by the band then led to the unveiling of
the marker. All gathered around, while little blue-clad David
Charles Rittenhouse, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Ritten
house, 3rd, of Wilmington, Del., and a direct descendant of
Nicholas Rittenhouse, drew aside the flag, revealing the bronze
plaque. Then all, accompanied by the band, joined in singing
one stanza of "America." The benediction, by Rev. Calvin H.
Wingert, Pastor of the Reformed Church of the Ascension,
Norristown, followed; and then the baritone voice of Mr. Ben
jamin F. Evans, in "Taps," with bugle obligate, ended the
program of the day.
The David Rittenhouse Marker, which stands to the right
of the entrance to Mr. Ballard's drive, consists of a granite
boulder, from Spring Mountain, Perkiomen township, pre
sented by Mr. Raymond T. Beltz, to which is attached a bronze
plaque, made by Joseph C. Laird.
The plot of ground on which it stands was presented to the
Society by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert T. Ballard, Sr., by a deed
DEDICATION OP THE DAVID RITTENHOUSE MARKER
^
now of record in the office of the Recorder of Deeds at Norris-
town. The Society is deeply grateful to the donors for these
generous gifts.
The inscription on the plaque, which displays a picture of
the Rittenhouse Observatory designed by S. Cameron Gorson,
is as follows:
RITTENHOUSE OBSERVATORY
700 FEET N.E. OF THIS MEMORIAL
STOOD THE LOG CABIN FROM WHICH
DAVID RITTENHOUSE
OBSERVED THE TRANSIT OF VENUS
JUNE 3, 1769
PERMISSION TO USE THIS SITE
WAS
GIVEN BY HERBERT T. BALLARD
OWNER OF THIS PROPERTY
ERECTED BY
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP MONTGOMERY CO., PA.
NOVEMBER 11, 1938
David Rittenhouse, LL.D., F.R.S.
A Study from Contemporary Sources
«
By Milton Rubincam
Corresponding Secretary, National Genealogical Society, Washington, D. G.
During the past few years a quantity of information has
been published concerning David Rittenhouse. Virtually every
phase of his distinguished career has been treated in numerous
scholarly discussions. Commencing with the bi-centennial cele
brations in 1932, newspaper and magazine readers have been
made aware of his invaluable contributions in the fields of
astronomy, mathematics, politics, literature—^who among us
have regarded him as a translator of German and French
masterpieces ?—and military science.
We are accustomed to think of Dr. Rittenhouse in terms of
superlatives. After a lapse of nearly a century and a half since
he was interred in his private observatory, his amazing me
chanical genius, his extensive knowledge of astronomy and
science, his inventions and discoveries, still impress us as
something extraordinary in an age when an academic educa
tion was not a usual feature of our civilization. He and his
friend, Benjamin Franklin, were hailed in their own day as
intellectual giants, and by reason of their exalted reputations
were frequently called upon to fulfill many important func
tions and to lend the authority of their names to every project
that was formulated for the public weal. The men of his period
contemplated Rittenhouse with mixed feelings. Dr. Babb aptly
sums up their attitude toward him in a discussion of his mar*Read before The Historical Society of Montgomery County, Norristown, Pa., June 3, 1939, on the occasion of the dedication of a marker
commemorating Rittenhouses's observation of the Transit of Venus,
June 3, 1769.
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. LL.D.,- F.R.S.
9
velous Orrery: "Men like Adams, Jefferson, Washington, and
others recognized the exquisite mechanics" of Rittenhouse in
making this image of the heavens above, though others pro
fessed to believe him an atheist, a mocker of God and a man
of evil."i The near-reverence for his learning that was ac
corded Rittenhouse was attested by Dr. Rush in his Eulogium
delivered a few months after his death: "I can truly say, after
an acquaintance with him for six-and-twenty years, that I
never went into his company without learning something."The year 1732 is memorable in the annals of the world, for
it witnessed the births of six men whose names are written
indelibly in the pages of history as exemplars of progressive-,
ness of political ideals and advancement of scientific knowl
edge. Richard Henry Lee, a member of the Continental Con
gress, the man who introduced the resolution for independence,
and a Signer of the Declaration; George Washington, whose
inestimable services to his country are memorialized annually
on February 22; David Rittenhouse, in whose honor we are
gathered here today; Professor Joseph Jerome Lefrangais de
Lalande, Director of the Paris Observatory, who established
(in 1802) the Lalande Prize, which is still awarded annually
to the person who makes the most outstanding contribution to
Astronomy for the year; Dr. Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer
Royal to King George III, who contributed materially to the
improvement of the science of navigation and was the editor
of the Nautical Almanac; and Colonel John Dickinson, a mem
ber of the Continental Congress, President of the Supreme
Executive Councils of Delaware and Pennsylvania, and a
member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787—all were born
within a few months of one another. Rittenhouse was asso-
iMaurice Jefferis Babb, Ph.D., "David Rittenhouse" (The Pennsyl
vania Magazine of History and Biography, July, 1932, p. 195)
2Benjamin Rush, M.D., An Eulogium Intended to Perpetuate the
Memory of David Rittenhouse, late President of the American Philo
sophical Society. Delivered before the Society in the First Presbyterian
Church, in High-street, Philadelphia, on the 17th Dec. 1796. Agreeably
to Appointment, p. 37.
3^0
ciated with practically all of these eminent men of his own
age during some part of his career. He was personally ac
quainted with Lee, Washington, and Dickinson, and it is quite
likely that he enjoyed a friendly correspondence with the two
great European astronomers, Lalande and Maskelyne. In 1803,
only seven years after Rittenhouse's passing, Lalande wrote
of him in his Bibliographique Astronomique: "He was an up
right man, of a sweet, affable, disinterested disposition; he
has been deeply regretted."^
David Rittenhouse was descended from a noted family that
now has representatives scattered from Philadelphia and the
surrounding counties to all sections of the United States and
Canada. A forty-six-year-old fairy tale has been widely cir
culated to the effect that the Rittenhouses derived their line
age from the ancient noble house Yon Rittershausen of West
phalia, and that the latter in turn sprang from a male branch
of the Austrian Imperial House of Habsburg. This fantastic
theory was originally expounded in 1898 by Mr. Daniel Kolb
Cassel, a worthy gentleman of Germantown, in his otherwise
admirable Rittenhouse genealogy. In recent years a group of
family historians has fearlessly attacked the problem, and, in
the face of vigorous opposition from certain quarters, has pub
licly refuted the tradition. The officers of the Rittershausen
Family Association at Stettin, Germany, upon perusing the
Rittenhouse book, characterized the asserted descent of the
Rittenhouse family from Rittershausen stock as "humbug."
This assertion carried with it the rejection of the alleged
Habsburg origin. Lt. Col. Calvin I. Kephart, President of the
National Genealogical Society, Washington, D. C., in corre
spondence with those officers of the Rittershausen Association
about a decade ago, agreed with their conclusions, and then
determined soon afterward that the Rittenhouse parent stock
must have been the medieval baronial 'hou&evouRodinghausen,
of Westphalia. His article in the December, 1938, issue of that
sjerome de La Lande, Bibliographique Astronomique; avec I'Histoire
de I'Astronomie depuis 1781, jusqu'd 1802, p. 779: "C'etait un homme
integre, d'un caractSre doux, affable, desinterress6; il a et^ tr6s-r6grette."
DAVID RITTENHOUSE, LL.D., F.R.S.
Society's Quarterly, entitled "Rittenhouse Genealogy De
bunked," develops this belief in full detail, with considerable
supporting data and argument. Dr. Anita Neweomb McGee,
the distinguished daughter of an illustrious father, Professor
Simon Neweomb, the astronomer (whose wife was a descen
dant of Capt. Benjamin Rittenhouse, David's younger brother),
also questioned the Rittershausen-Habsburg descent very
early, as did also Mrs. Olive Barrick Rowland, of Richmond;
Va., in her book. An Ancestral Chart and Handbook (1935).
Despite the proficient efforts of these persons, however, many
Rittenhouse descendants still persist in adhering to the re
pudiated story of the family's origin. One lady wrote to Col.
Kephart an indignant letter, wherein she avowed her deter
mination to issue a booklet entitled. The Royal Ancestry of
William Rittenhouse, the First Paper-Maker in America, if he
and I had the effrontery to publish the history of the family
now in preparation, in which we will unequivocally reject the
tale! We are as yet unintimidated by her threat.
Since the thirteenth century the members of the Von
Rodinghausen clan have occupied prominent positions in the
civic life of Hamm, Liidenscheid, and other communities in
which they resided. It is significant that in colonial times (and
even as late as 1821) the New Jersey Rittenhouses used the
Rettinghouse variation of their name,^ and the senior lines in
Pennsylvania were known as Rettenhouses until after the
Revolutionary period.® An examination of a number of current
city directories has revealed the fact that families named
Rettinghouse and Rettinhouse reside in various parts of the
United States today.
The branch from which the American family is immedi
ately derived was apparently not undistinguished in the home
land. Heinrich Nicolaus Rittinghausen, a brother of William,
the Pennsylvania patriarch, left the family homestead at
Miilheim-an-der-Ruhr, Germany, crossed the Netherlands
^Calvin Kephart, Ph.D., "Rittenhouse Genealogy Debunked" {Na
tional Genealogical Quarterly, December, 1938, p. 108).
^Compare the forms given in the Pennsylvania Archives, 6th Series.
12
frontier, and settled in the vicinity of Arnheim, in Gelderland, where he was known usually as Nieolaas Rittinehuisen.
In his new location he prospered, and attained the office of
Alderman of Rosendaal, a village near Arnheim. By virtue pf
his position he was a member of the local government. In 1692
he removed to Dordrecht, where he became a citizen and
where he died in 1718. He was laid to rest in the churchyard
of De Groote Kerk (The Great Church).®
Alderman Rittinchuisen's wife was named Claesken Bid
der, and it was understood by David Rittenhouse's nephew,
William Barton, when he interviewed her son Adriaen in 1778,
that she was a member of the illustrious De Ruyter family, of
naval fame. Although there is apparently no foundation for
this assumption, it is worth noting that there was a remark
able similarity in the given names of the Alderman's children
to those borne by the members of the immediate family of the
great hero, Michael Adriaanszoon De Ruyter, Knight, Duke,
and Lieutenant-Admiral-General of Holland and West Friesland.
The coincidence is so striking as to lend plausibility to the
tradition. Was it purely accidental, for instance, that the
Admiral's brother and sister were named respectively Cornells
and Neeltje (this last being the name also of a daughter of the
Admiral), names borne likewise by a son and daughter of the
Alderman? Or that the Admiral's father and great-grandfather were named Adriaen, as were two of the sons of Nieo
laas Rittinehuisen?' The actual connection with Admiral De
SKephart, supra, pp. 107-108.
•^Petrus
Johannes Blok, Miehiel Adriaanszoon De Ruyter (1928),
p. 450. (Index, in which the various De Ruyter relationships are de
scribed.) It is not certain if the records of all the children of Nieolaas
and Claesken (Ridder) Rittinehuisen have been preserved, due to the fact
that some of the church registers covering that period have disappeared,
but their known children are as follows: Christina, married Gerrit Beek-
man (their son, Henricus Beekman, was baptized September 13, 1696);
Neeltjen, baptized December 26, 1679; Adriaen, baptized November 29,
1680, apparently died in infancy; Maria, baptized March 20, 1684,
married Cornelis Canegies, July 20, 1714, at The Hague; Adrianus,
living in Amsterdam in 1778, when he was interviewed by Dr. Ritten
house's nephew, William Barton; and Cornelis, baptized January 21,
1697. Christina's parentage was not definitely given, but as she was
DAVID RITTENHOUSB, LL.D., F.R.S.
^3
Ruyter had no direct bearing on the pedigree of the Rittenhouse family of Pennsylvania, since it was merely collateral,
but if such kinship existed, the Dutch branch of the Pennsyl
vania clan had contracted a most important matrimonial al
liance, one of which it might justly be proud.
I have gone into far more detail concerning the brother of
William Rittenhouse than I had originally intended, but I
feel that in this citadel of the Rittenhouse family an account
of his European connections will be received with interest.
Much new material that escaped Mr. Cassel's attention has
been unearthed, and it is earnestly hoped that subsequent
investigations will reveal the precise family from which the
brothers descended. In my collections is the photograph of a
document now preserved in the Archives at Dordrecht; it is
dated February 10,1718, and is Nicolaas Rittinchuisen's writ
ten consent to the marriage of his niece, Eva Weijhuysen, to
Isaak Duym. The present representative of the family at
Miilheim is Mr. Gerhard Rettinghauss. These facts are suffi
cient to indicate the amount of unpublished data that are being
extracted from European sources.
The story of the Alderman's brother, Wilhelm Rittinghausen (1644-1708), is so well known that a detailed repetition
is needless, but the mention of a few salient facts about him
is necessary in every account of David Rittenhouse. He pre
ceded Nicolaas to The Netherlands, where he became a citizen
of Amsterdam in 1679, under the name of Willem Riiddinghuysen. After his brother had settled at Velp and Rosendaal,
Wilhelm removed to Arnheim to be near him. Both brothers
were paper-makers by occupation. Wilhelm's importance in
history did not commence until after his emigration to Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1688. He erected (in 1690) the
first paper-mill in America, on the banks of the Wissahickon
Creek, as one of a company of enterprising men who clearly
realized the necessity for such a manufactory in the colonies.
Eventually, William and his elder son bought the shares of
residing in Dordrecht at the same time as Nicolaas, we are safe in as
suming that she was the Alderman's eldest child. Neeltjen, Adriaen, and
Maria were baptized at Velp, Adrianus and Cornelis at Dordrecht.
3^4
the partners, with the result that after the turn of the century
the Rittenhouses were the sole proprietors of the plant. Wil
liam Rittenhouse has the distinction of being the first Mennonite pastor in this country. In 1707, just a few months prior
to his death, he was elected the first Bishop of the Mennonite
Church on the American continent.®
Rittenhouse had at least three children, Nicholas, Gerhard,
and Elizabeth, who married Heivert Papen, a prominent
Germantowner. It is known that in the first years of the 18th
dentury a certain Paul Ruttinghusen resided in Germantown,
but his exact connection with the family has never been ascer
tained. Professor Hull, in his monumental work on William
Penn and the settlement of Germantown, hints® that the
Bishop may have had another son, for there is a record of a
man named Jan Willemse Huyseen. The interpretation of his
name may be: Jan, son of Willem Rittinghuysen, with the
Bitting getting lost somewhere in the shuffle.
We must hasten across the generations that separated
Bishop Rittinghuysen from his most distinguished descendant,
David. We pause only long enough to note that both Gerhard^®
SKephart, supra, p. 105.
®WiIliain I. Hull, Ph.D., William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migra
tion to Pennsylvania (1935), p. 417.
lOCassel is in error when he declares that Gerhard's wife was a Miss
Revacomh. His statement is based on a misinterpretation in the reading
of Gerhard's will (1742), in which the latter named as executors his
"trusty kinsmen," Charles and Justus Revacomh. This is one of the
variations of the name of the Ruhincam-Ruhicam family of Pennsylvania
and its distinguished Confederate branch, Revercomb of Virginia. The
founders (in America) of this family did not emigrate to Germanto^vn
until 1726, many years after Gerhard's marriage. (Milton Rubincam,
"The Family of Jacob Revercomb, the First of the Race in Virginia"
{Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, October, 1938,
p. 110; and "The German Background of the Rubincam-Revercomb
Family of Pennsylvania and Virginia," The American Genealogist,
January, 1939, p. 177). Gerhard's younger son, Peter Rettenhousen, of
Cresheim, near Germantown, was the father of Barbara and Susannah,
who married Charles William Rubincam (Revacomb) and Justus William
Rubincam (Revacomb), respectively. The author is descended from
Charles and Barbara. Peter's elder brother, William Rettinghousen, who
was the progenitor of the prominent Rittenhouse family of Hunterdon
County, New Jersey, was Col. Kephart's ancestor.
DAVID RITTENHOUSE. LL.D., P.R.S.
^5
and the mysterious Paul Ruttinghausen were among the
early patrons of the first school in Germantown, established
in 1702 by Franz Daniel Pastorius; and that Nicholas Kittinghuysen (familiarly called Glaus in nearly all pubic and private
records) was one of three Germantown representatives who
attended the Mennonite Conference (held in 1725) that
adopted the famous Dordrecht Confession of Faith of 1632.^^
The other delegates from Germantown were John Conrads and
Clauses son-in-law, John Gorgas, the husband of Psyche Rittenhousel^
David Rittenhouse, the eldest surviving son of Matthias
and Elizabeth (Williams) Rittenhouse, and grandson of Glaus,
was born on the 8th day of April, 1732, in the little stone house
in Germantown, on the banks of the Wissahickon, that had
been erected in 1707 by his great-grandfather, the Bishop.
This dwelling, truly the birthplace of genius and of scientific
achievement, is .one of a cluster of houses that forms the family
community of Rittenhousetown.
We are all familiar with the stories of David Rittenhouse's
early years: How his interest in mechanics was stimulated by
his maternal uncle and namesake, David Williams. — How, on
his uncle's death, he inherited (at the age of 12) a chest of
tools and a small library, from the volumes of which he ab
sorbed everything pertaining to science and mathematics. —
How, after the family had moved from Germantown to Norriton, his brother Benjamin used to find him solving difficult
mathematical problems on the handle of his plow, to the
neglect of his farm work. — How, as he grew to manhood,
his budding genius was brought to full maturity through con
versation and study with a brilliant young clergjonan, the
Reverend Thomas Barton, who married David's favorite
"John C. Wenger, History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Cowference (1937), pp. 289, 318, 429.
i2John and Psyche (Rittenhouse) Gorgas were the ancestors of Brig.
Gen. Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordinance, Confederate States Army; and
of his illustrious son, Maj. Gen. Sir William Crawford" Gorgas, M.D.,
K.C.M.G., Surgeon-General, United States Army, the conqueror of yellow
fever.
10
sister, Esther Rittenhouse, in 1753, thus cementing a firm
friendship that lasted so long as Mr. Barton lived, even when
the brothers-in-law were in different camps during the
Revolution.
Like Washington, Rittenhouse was a surveyor, and at
different periods of his life laid the boundary of Pennsylvania;
settled the boundary separating New York from New Jersey,
and, with the Reverend John Ewing, established the line be
tween New York and Massachusetts. In 1763-1764 he fixed
the circle with the 12-mile radius about New Castle that now
constitutes the border between Pennsylvania and Delaware.
On Saturday, June 3, 1769—exactly one hundred and
seventy years ago today—he performed what was unquestion
ably his most celebrated observation, namely, that of the
transit (or passage) of Venus over the sun's disk. This
phenomenon occurs but rarely. The first one to be observed
was on a Sunday in 1639, by the Reverend Horrox, who was
torn between two conflicting emotions, his duty to his church
(the Sabbath services repeatedly interrupted his observation)
and his interest in science. This was followed by the transits
of 1761, 1769, 1874, and 1882. The next one will take place
only sixty-five years from now, on June 8, 2004, but it is
doubtful whether more than a few adults living today will be
privileged to witness the occurrence.
The American Philosophical Society, of which Rittenhouse
had been a member since January 19, 1768,1^ appointed three
committees to study the transit of 1769. One of these bodies
took its station at Rlttenhouse's observatory at Norriton, where
the young astronomer made elaborate preparations for the
event. For this long-anticipated occasion he constructed an
astronomical quadrant, an equal altitude instrument, a transit
telescope, and a fine clock. As a matter of fact, although not a
clockmaker by occupation, he was noted for the remarkable
timepieces that were created in his shop.
The observation of the transit was thus reported by the
Pennsylvania Gazette for Thursday, June 8, 1769:
of Members of the American Philosophical Society, 1768-1880,
3.
-DAVID RITTENHOUSE. LL.D.* P.R.S.
We hear that the Committee appointed (by the American Philo
sophical Society, held at Philadelphia for promoting Useful Knowledge)
to observe the Transit of Venus, which, happened on Saturday last, hav
ing distributed themselves in three Classes, the Rev. Mr. John Ewing,
Joseph Shippen, Esq.; Doctor Hugh Williamson, Messieurs Thomas Prior,
Charles Thomson, and James Pearson, observed at the public Observa
tory, in the State-House Square; the Rev. Doctor William Smith, John
L'ukens, Esq.; Messieurs David Rittenhouse, and John Sellers, at Mr.
Rittenhouse's Observatory, at Norrington; and Mr. Owen Biddle, near
the Capes of Delaware. The Weather was extremely favourable, and the
Observations at the three several Places, were compleated greatly to
the Satisfaction of the Observers. As soon as the Committees have di
gested their Remarks to lay before the Society, we are promised an
authentic Account of the Results of their Observations, which we under
stand agree to great Exactness with each other, making Allowance for
the Difference of Place, &c.
Dr. William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia,
in his accpunt of the Norriton observations, paid hugh tribute
to Rittenhouse, "to whose extraordinary skill and diligence,"
he informed the Society on July 20, 1769, "is owing whatever
advantage may be derived, . . . to our observatioon of the
Transit itself."^^ A copy of Dr. Smith's account was read by
Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, before the Royal
Society on November 23, 1769, and it was printed in the
British learned Society's Philosophical Transactions for that
year. Over a century later, Simon -Newcomb declared that
Rittenhouse's "observations of the celebrated transit of Venus
in 1769 have every appearance of being among the best that
were made.''^®
About this time Rittenhouse completed his planetarium
misnamed the "Orrery." This machine, which was owned by
Princeton University, was lost nearly half a century ago, but
his second Orrery, now the treasured possession of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, is a most amazing mechanical device.
By manipulating the hands on the dials, it is possible to ob
serve the movements of the celestial bodies over a period of
^^Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, held at PhilO'
delphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, vol. I (1771), p. 9.
issimon Newcomb, "Abstract Science in America, 1776-1876" {North
American Review, January, 1876, p. 95).
Jg
ten thousand years—5000 years prior to" 1770, and 5000 sub
sequent to 1770. Complete data regarding eclipses of the sun
and moon during these many millenia are obtainable to the
precise hour, minute, and second of the occurrence, whether
an eclipse took place in the year of Asshurnazirpal Ill's ac
cession to the Assyrian throne, or whether one will transpire
2,824 years hence, when our genealogies and family records
will have crumbled to dust. In 1782 Jefferson was thinking of
the planetarium when he penned these immortal words in his
valuable Notes on Virginixi:^^
We have supposed Mr, Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living;
that in genius he must be the first, because he is self taught. As an
artist he has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius as the
world has ever produced. He has not indeed made a world; but he has
by imitation approached nearer its Maker than any man who has lived
from the creation to this day.
The Orrery astounded the people of his day no less than it
impresses us with the constructor's ingenuity. The Pennsyl
vania Gazette for Thursday, April 26, 1770, carried a story
about the first Orrery, in the course of which the reporter
wrote:
. . . As this is an American Production, and much more complete
than anything of the kind ever made in Europe, it must give Pleasure
to every Lover of his Country, to see her rising to Fame in the sublimest
Sciences, as well as every Improvement in the Arts. . . .
A few years later John Adams, on his way to Philadelphia
to attend the sessions of the first Continental Congress,
stopped off at Princeton. On August 27,1774, he made the fol
lowing entry in his diary:"
here we saw a most beautiful machine—an orrery or planetarium,
constructed by Mr. Rittenhouse, of Philadelphia. It exhibits almost every
motion in the astronomical world; the motions of the sun and all the
planets, vnth all their satellites, the eclipses of the sun and moon, &c.
Andrew A. Lipscomb, editor. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson,
vol. II (1904), p. 95.
i^Charles Francis Adams, editor. The Works of John Adams, vol. II
(1850), p. 356.
•
^9
, It is interesting to note.that.nine,years, later, on Jaiûs
ary 13, 1783, at a meeting of the> American Philosophical
Society, Jefferson moved that Rittenhouse make an Orrery for
Louis 'XVI, King of France and Navarre, evidently. as a
gesture of appreciation for the invaluable services .rendered
by our royal.ally during the late .war. At the meeting, of
March 6, it was announced that Rittenhouse had agreed to
construct the planetarium for His Most Christian Majesty,
and on September 26,1783, a letter was read from the French
Minister, to the effect that the King would accept the Orrery,
and "by his Royal Patronage excite an Emulation between the
Literary Societies of France and the United States."^®
In 1770 Rittenhouse moved to Philadelphia with his young
wife, the former Eleanor Coulston, whom he had married in
1766, and their two infant daughters, Elizabeth (who married
the Honorable Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant in 1788) and
Esther (who became the wife of Dr. Nicholas Baker Waters
in 1789). Shortly afterwards, on February 23, 1771, his wife
passed away, following by two days a stillborn child of
theirs.i^ On December 31, 1772, he took as his second wife.
Miss Hannah Jacobs, a remarkable woman who was subse
quently of the greatest assistance to her husband in the per
formance of his arduous public duties.
Unlike Great Britain, the colonies had no Governmentsubsidized observatory, but in May, 1775, the Pennsylvania
Assembly was petitioned by the American Philosophical
Society, which requested that such an observatory be erected
with Rittenhouse as director. No finer tribute could have been
paid the 43-year-old astronomer than the desire of our lead
ing learned society that Rittenhouse should occupy in America
a position analogous to that enjoyed by his great contempor-
"i-ÊoHy Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for the
Promotion of Useful Knowledge, Compiled by one of the Secretaries
From the MS. Minutes of its Meetings from 17M to 1838; transcribed by
J. Peter Lesley (1884), pp. 116-118.
lOWilliam Wade Hinshaw and Thomas Worth Marshall, Encyclopedia
of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 11 (1938), p. 413.
2Q
bulletin of historical society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
ary Maskelyne in England. But at that moment we were
plunging headlong into our first war with the Mother Country,
and more important matters claimed the attention of the
honorable legislators. Over in London His Most Gracious
Majesty our Sovereign and liege Lord was busy living up to
his mother's injunction, "George, be a King!" and consequently
he was striving assiduously—a fact of which he was sadly
unaware! — for the permanent separation of a fair portion
of his hereditary realm. The American Revolution was a great
lesson for Great Britain; if not for George III, at least for
his successors. It prevented them from repeating their mis
takes over sixty years later, when the Canadian provinces
were allowed responsible government. .
The record of the Rittenhouse family during the Revolu
tion is an impressive one. I have collected data pertaining to
no fewer than twenty-seven bearers of the name who partici
pated actively in the historic conflict, and doubtless there were
others whose service to the cause of independence have not
yet been brought to light. David's younger brother Ben
jamin—^who, many years later, aided materially in the organ
ization of Montgomery County—accepted the commission of
Captain in the local military company of Worcester, where he
resided, and early in 1776 he became Superintendent of the
Gunlock Factory. Like many other families of the day, the
Rittenhouses were divided in their allegiance. The Rev.
Thomas Barton, brother-in-law of David and Benjamin, who
had served as a Captain in the Anglo-American forces during
the French and Indian War, chose to uphold the British cause.
A certain William Rittenhouse, who had wandered as far
south as South Carolina prior to the war, enlisted in the
British Army, as did his son, who died as a result of wounds.
One Canadian record'^® gives his name as Ritten Hour, and
we naturally hesitate to connect him with the Rittenhouse
family when he might have belonged to the numerous Ritenour
family. But I have seen his original Loyalist's claim in the
20 (Miss) Marion Gilroy, Loyalists and Land Settlement in Nova
5'cotia (1937), p. 51.
DAVID RITTBNHOUSE, LL.D., F.R.S.
£1
Library of Congress,and his name is unmistakably given as
Rittenhouse.
David Rittenhouse's contributions to the patriot cause were
rendered, not on the field of battle, but in the laboratory where
he conducted experiments in rifling cannon, and in the various
revolutionary councils that were created to cope with the
emergencies that confronted the insurgents. He held the offices
of Engineer to the Committee of Safety, Vice-President of the
Council of Safety, and President of the Board of War for the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania—an organization that con
trolled the life and death of the citizenry of the State.
In the fall of 1776 the British advanced upon Philadelphia,
and Vice-president Rittenhouse of the Council of Safety issued
a stirring proclamation "To the Freemen of the City and
Liberties of Philadelphia" in which he exhorted them to
Consider your situation, and determine what part you will take. There
is no time for delay; and by your conduct the Continent will be influ
enced. We therefore entreat you, by the most sacred of all bonds—^the
love of virtue, and liberty, and of your country—to forget every dis
tinction, and unite as one man in this time of extreme danger. Let us
defend ourselves like men determined to be free.22
The revolutionary Government hastily fled the capital as
the triumphant foe advanced, and Rittenhouse accompanied
it to Lancaster. After the British had evacuated the city many
months later, Jefferson wrote to Rittenhouse from his Virginia
estate, Monticello, on July 19, 1778: " I sincerely congratulate
you on the recovery of Philadelphia." After asking about the
orrery and the astronomer's papers, and discussing an eclipse
that had recently occurred, he made the celebrated declaration
that is always scrupulously quoted as additional evidence of
the esteem in which he held the Philadelphian:
I doubt not there are in your country many persons equal to the
task of conducting government; but you should consider that the world
has but one Rjrttenhouse, and that it never had one before.23
^^Proceedings of the Loyalist Cowmissioners, 1784-1790: Pemberton
Papers, vol. VII (1786),pp. 126-128, MSS. Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, D. C.
22peter Force, editor, American Archives, 6th Series, vol. Ill, p. 809.
230riginal in the Benjamin Smith Barton Papers, MSS. Department,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
22
BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY
On March 5, 1776, Rittenhouse took his seat as a member
of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (in succession
to the able Dr. Franklin), and while serving in this capacity
he became a member of the first Constitutional Convention of
the State. From 1776 until his resignation in 1789 he served
efficiently as State Treasurer of Pennsylvania.
In 1779 he was elected the first Professor of Astronomy at
the University of Pennsylvania—recently created out of the
old College of Philadelphia—and in 1780 he was chosen the
University's first Vice-Provost. Dr. John Ewing was the Pro
vost, and it was agreed that he should teach the students logic,
metaphysics, and moral philosophy, and the Vice-Provost should
instruct them in geography and practical astronomy. They
divided between them the courses in geometry, mathematics,
and natural and experimental philosophy.^^ In 1782 Ritten
house resigned as Professor, and was elected a Trustee of the
University. A great compliment was shortly thereafter paid
the astronomer when the University's seal was designed with
the figure of his famed Orrery.
At the conclusion of the war Rittenhouse wished to show
his personal appreciation of Washington's priceless services
in effecting our independence. Accordingly, he made a pair
of spectacles and a reading glass, which he presented to the
General with his compliments. On February 18, 1783, Wash
ington assured him that
The Spectacles suit my eyes extremely well—as I am persuaded
the Reading-Glasses will when I get more accustomed to the use of
them.25
The high regard that Dr. Franklin entertained for Ritten
house is finely exemplified in the opening sentence of his letter
to the astronomer, dated at Passy, France, December 15,
1783:26
24photostatic reproductions of the Minutes of the Board of Trustees,
University of Pennsylvania (Rittenhouse Bicentenary Papers, MSS.
Dept., Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).
^swilliara Barton, Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, LL.D.,
F.R.S. (1813), pp. 299-300.
^^The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin, vol. VIII (1888),
p. 389.
23
All astronomical news that I receive I think it my duty to com
municate to you.
It is apparent that about this time a movement was under
way to install Rittenhouse in William and Mary College, prob
ably in a professorial capacity. On August 20, 1785, Jefferson,
who was one of the trustees of the college, wrote to his friend
and fellow-alumnus, John Page, a former Congressman and
future Governor of Virginia, who had recently been associated
with Rittenhouse in establishing the boundary line between
Pennsylvania and Virginia
I have been much pleased to hear you had it in contemplation, to
endeavor to establish Rittenhouse in our College. This would be an im
mense acquisition, and would draw youth to it from every part of the
continent.
But the plan evidently failed to materialize. Perhaps Rit
tenhouse himself vetoed the suggestion, owing to the pre
carious condition of his health, or perhaps he thought that his
official duties were so urgent as to require his continued pres
ence in Pennsylvania. On June 26, 1786, Rittenhouse wrote to
Jefferson, who was then our envoy in France
I am at present engaged in preparing for a Tour to the Northern
Boundary of this State which will require my attention for the remain
der of this season. Indeed I have for some years past been such a Slave
to public Business that I -have had very few leisure hours more than
must necessarily be indulged in a crazy constitution.
About this time he was exercising his linguistical knowl
edge by translating Lucy Sampson, or The Unhappy Heiress
from Lessing's German, and the Idylls from Gessner*s
French.^®
In 1790 the versatile Dr. Franklin died, and at this point
in the story it is my sad and painful duty to explode a very
pretty legend, a legend that undoubtedly had emanated from
the fertile brain of the eminent Dr. Benjamin Rush, Ritten27Lipscomb, supra, vol. V (1904), p. 8^
280riginal in the Thomas Jefferson Papers, MSS. Division, Library
of Congress, Washington, D. G.
29Babb, swpra, p. 222.
24
house's friend and adulator. Dr. Rush was regarded in his
own time as the foremost physician of the day, and we of the
modern age have dutifully inherited this time-honored opinion.
As a matter of fact, his services as a statesman and public
servant were of much greater significance to our national
progress than his alleged contributions to medicine. During
the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, he remarked casually that
"Moschetoes . . . were uncommonly numerous."^® If he had
taken the trouble to lift his nose from the pages of the musty
manuscripts and books into which he had buried it in a
desperate effort to learn how to stem the tide of death, and had
studied those same mosquitoes, he would have preceded Reed
and Gorgas by a century in the discovery that those insects
were the carriers of the yellow fever germ.
Dr. Rush was first, last, and always a romanticist, and he
would have us believe that a few nights after Franklin's
death a violent storm swept the countryside. At the house of
Governor Thomas Mifflin a social gathering of notables, in
cluding Rittenhouse, Dr. Smith, Rush, and others, was held,
and the conversation naturally turned on the many remark
able achievements of their departed friend, whereupon Dr.
Smith penned the following famous verses:
Cease, cease. Ye Clouds, your elemental Strife;
Oh! rage not thus, as if to threaten Life I
Seek, seek, no more to shake our Souls with Dread!
What busy mortal told you—Franklin's Dead?
What though he yields to Jove's imperious Nodd,
With Rittenhouse he left his Magic Rod!
It is a dramatic tale, one worthy of Dr. Rush, and a warm
tribute to Dr. Smith's literary skill, but alas! there is no
truth in it. And our authority for this startling revelation is
Dr. Smith himself. In the summer of 1802, Rush and Gilbert
Stuart, the artist, paid a visit to Smith at his country home.
On this occasion Rush recalled the meeting with Governor
Mifflin in 1790, and attributed to Smith the statement: "This
is a terrible gust—I believe the clouds know that Dr. Franklin
soVictor Robinson, M.D., The Story of Medicine (1931), p. 451.
'
25
is dead." A few days later, on August 5, 1802, Smith wrote
to Rush that he could not remember anything of the anecdote
rdated by the Doctor, which, he said, "I would rather ascribe
to your own fine, fervid, and friendly Imagination," and went
on to say that his remark "would have been spouted out
extempore" in the verses I have just quoted.®^ It will thus be
observed that they were composed twelve years after Frank
lin's death, and six years after Rittenhouse's demise, and not
two nights after the former's passing and within the lifetime
of the latter, as commonly stated. It is a curious instance of
how dramatic tales become distorted, and fiction is solemnly
proclaimed as fact and believed even by serious students of
history.
In 1791 Rittenhouse was elected the second President of
the American Philosophical Society, in the place of Franklin.
In April, 1792, an Act of Congress created the United
States Mint, and on the 14th of the month President Washing
ton appointed Rittenhouse to the post of Director. He fulfilled
the functions of this office very acceptably until his resigna
tion in 1795, for reasons of health.
Like all public figures, Rittenhouse had his detractors,
men who were not fully capable of understanding him or of
appreciating his genius. His successor at the Mint, Henry Wil
liam De Saussure, of South Carolina, answered the distin
guished astronomer's critics with the just observation that
The solid talents of Mr. Rittenhouse will be remembered with pride, and
his mild virtue recollected with tenderness by his countrymen, when
many of his censors will be forgotten in the silent dust.32
That irascible English journalist, William Cobbett, other
wise known as "Peter Porcupine," was especially vehement
in his denunciation of the eminent philosopher. In 1797, after
the latter's death, Cobbett inquired:
What good did Rittenhouse do to mankind? Dr. Rush, indeed, says that
he did a great deal and particularly to his own country; but with all due
3iPhotostatic reproduction in the Rittenhouse MSS., MSS. Dept.,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
32Barton, supra, p. 393.
26
submission to the hyperbolical bombast of Dr. Eush, . . . I never heard
of any good to mankind, and particularly America, that he did except
determine the boundaries of some of the States "which he did with
great precision," and which I could have done as well as he, had I re
ceived the same pay for it.^^
Truculent old John Adams was another gentleman who
flayed Rittenhouse. On March 14, 1814, from Quincy, Massa
chusetts, Adams wrote to Jefferson:®^
Rittenhouse was a virtuous and amiable man; an exquisite mech
anician, master of the astronomy known in his time, an expert mathe
matician, a patient calculator of numbers. . . . In politics Rittenhouse
was good, simple, ignorant, well-meaning, Franklinian, democrat, totally
ignorant of the world, as an anchorite, an honest dupe of the French
Revolution, a mere instrument of Jonathan Sergeant, Dr. Hutchinson,
Genet, and Mifflin. . . .
Adams's rancor against Rittenhouse was due primarily
to the fact that on the outbreak of the French Revolution in
1789 Washington, Mifflin, McKean, Rittenhouse, Sergeant,
Rush, and other leaders, welcomed the overthrow of their
erstwhile ally King Louis, in the sincere belief that democratic
principles were about to prevail in the ancient Bourbon mon
archy, while he (Adams) almost alone held out for complete
aloofness from the new Republic. The Adamses of Massachu
setts apparently did not care very much for the Rittenhouses
of Pennsylvania. In 1821 Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams received David Rittenhouse's grandnephew, Thomas
Pennant Barton, a son of the celebrated surgeon. Dr. Ben
jamin Smith Barton. Adams noted in his Diary:®®
Mr. T. P. Barton came, a son of the late Dr. Barton, of Philadel
phia, a young man who is going to spend four years in Europe for
improvement—that is to say, make himself good for nothing. He was
with his father in London when I saw him there in 1815, and was then
33William Cobbett, Porcupine's Works, vol. IV (1801), "The Political
Censor, No. VIII," pp. 361-362.
34Adams, supra, vol. X (1856), pp. 89-90.
ssGharles Francis Adams, editor. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams.
Comprising Portions of his Diary from 1795-18^8, vol. V (1875), p. 340.
DAVID RITTENHOUSB, LL.D., F.B.S.
27
a boy. He is now a handsome young man, just fit to be ruined by a
residence in Europe for improvement.
J. Q. Adams lived long enough to see this despised scion of
the house of Rittenhouse uphold the dignity of the United States
as Charge d'Affaires at Paris, and in after years become cele
brated as a bibliophile and one of our distinguished Shake
spearian authorities. His marvelous library is now one of the
treasured collections of the Public Library of the City of
Boston.
Many academic honors had been conferred on Ritten
house—^the Master of Arts degree by the College of Philadel
phia, Princeton, and William and Mary. The latter institution,
indeed, recognized him as the Principem Philosophorum, or
"Chief of Philosophers." In 1789 Princeton bestowed upon
him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He was a Fellow
of the American Society of Arts and Letters, of Boston, and
a member of the Society of Arts and Sciences, of Virginia.
The highest of his many honors came in 1795, when he was
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. The Assistant
Secretary of the Royal Society has very kindly supplied me
with a photostatic reproduction of Dr. Rittenhouse^s certificate
of candidature, which was read before the society on Novem
ber 6,1794:
David Rittenhouse Esqr President of the American Philosophical
Society at Philadelphia, a Gentleman of high reputation in the Literary
World, whom we the Underwritten think well deserving the honor of
becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, is hereby recommended by us
as a Candidate for election on the foreign list.
It was signed by Henry Cavendish, Jesse Ramsden,
Antony Shepherd, Alexander Aubert, Nevil Maskelyne, and
Caleb Whitefoord. All of these gentlemen were eminent scien
tists, but it was left for Cavendish to combine genius with ec
centricity. A half year older than Rittenhouse, he was a grand
son of the second Duke of Devonshire. He is credited with
being the discoverer of hydrogen.^® It is said of him that he
s&Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, p. 349.
28
"ordered his dinner daily by a note left on the hall table," and
he was so intent on avoiding conversation that Lord Brougham
facetiously commented that Cavendish "probably uttered
fewer words in the course of his life than any man who ever
lived to fourscore years, not at all excepting the monks of La
Trappe."®^ The humor of this remark is apparent when we
recall that the monks of La Trappe are sworn to perpetual
silence.
On January 11, 1793, Dr. Rittenhouse discovered a comet
in the Constellation Cepheus. He was able to follow it for sev
eral succeeding weeks, until it completely disappeared on the
evening of February 8.^®
There is no need to linger over the eminent astronomer's
declining years. On June 22, 1796, he suffered an attack of
cholera. His nephew and family physician, Dr. Benjamin
Smith Barton, was hastily summoned. He became alarmed at
his uncle's condition, and called into consultation Dr. Adam
Kuhn, but despite every effort exerted by them to prolong the
life of their illustrious patient, Dr. Rittenhouse quietly passed
away on Sunday, the 26th day of June, 1796.®® He was laid
to rest beneath the pavement of his observatory in the garden
adjoining his home. A few years later his remains were taken
to the Presbyterian Church burial grounds at 4th and Pine
Streets. On January 18, 1878, the bodies of Dr. and Mrs.
Rittenhouse were removed to their present resting place in
Laurel Hill Cemetery, where are also interred the bodies of
their elder daughter, Elizabeth, her distinguished husband,
Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, Congressman and AttorneyGeneral of Pennsylvania, and their family.^®
It is no easy task to summarize the contributions made by
David Rittenhouse in the interests of science, education, and
public affairs. So full and varied was his life, and so great
vol. 9, p. 352.
^^Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. Ill (1793),
p. 261.
ssBarton, supra, pp. 442-444.
ôinformation supplied by Laurel Hill Cemetery, September 27, 1937.
DAVID RITTENHOUSB, LL.D., P.R.S.
29
was his influence on his times, that I find it difficult to indicate
those accomplishments which are especially outstanding and
of most importance to us. Briefly, they may be listed as
follows:
He was instrumental in settling the boundaries of more than half
the British colonies in America.î
In 1778 he made the first careful observation of an eclipse of the
sun in this country.^2
His calculations based on his observation of the transit of Venus
in 1769 determined the approximate distance of the sun from the earth
more accurately than those of other astronomers.^^
In 1785 he invented the collimating telescope, which has been de
scribed as "a useful contribution to practical astronomy that has been
duly credited/'-^^
In 1786 he introduced spider threads in the eyepiece of the tele
scope, which one outstanding authority regards as his principal merit;^®
by some scholars, it is thought that Fantana preceded him in this instance.^®
As professor and vice-provost, he assisted materially in the organ
ization of several departments of the University of Pennsylvania.
As Director of the Mint, he organized that very necessary Gov
ernmental bureau.
In the dining room of the stately mansion at Mount Vernon, for generations the home of the Washington family,
hangs a splendid portrait of Dr. Rittenhouse. The visitor from
Pennsylvania who is proud of the great men of his state re
ceives a genuine thrill at the sight of the astronomer's wellknown features. If he has sufficient powers of concentration
to dissociate from his historic surroundings the gaping and
pushing throngs, our visitor derives pleasure by reflecting on
^^Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XV (1935), p. 631.
42Prof. S. A. Mitchell, Eclipses of the Sun (1923), pp. 128-129.
43James Renwick, David Rittenhouse {American Biography, edited
by Jared Sparks, vol. VII, 1837, pp. 353-354).
^^Dict. Amer. Biog., vol. XV, p. 631.
^Êncyclopedia Britannica, 14th edition, vol. XIX, p. 323.
46Babb, supra, p. ?20.
30
the firm bond of friendship that united Rittenhouse and the
first President of the United States, and he realizes that the
portrait in the dining room is a rare tribute indeed to an
extraordinary man. It was hanging there the day Washington
died.
The scene changes, and we find the pilgrim in a quieter en
vironment, where he is not likely to be disturbed from his
meditations. As he stands in reverent homage beside a modest
grave in Laurel Hill Cemetery, his mind reverts to Pastor
Green's noble description of David Rittenhouse's original
resting place in the private observatory at Seventh and Arch
Streets, Philadelphia: "This is, emphatically, the Tomb of
Genius and of Science!"*'^
.^Tfiarton, supra, p. 451.
Additional Note: The Rittenhouse Memorial Association was founded
in Germantown, Philadelphia, in 1890. Its purposes were quite laudable:
to collect, preserve, and publish information pertaining to the Rittenhouse
family, to establish a museum where might be deposited relics, heirlooms,
and papers belonging to the family, to hold family reunions, and other
wise to perpetuate the fame of this distinguished clan that was so
intimately identified with the cultural development of the United States.
After making these noble resolutions and issuing two volumes on the
family genealogy (very valuable for some of the American branches,
but hopelessly inadequate in vol. I's treatment of the European lines)
the Association apparently expired.
The author confesses frankly his great desire to witness the resus
citation of this organization. The Rittenhouse family has produced leaders
in numerous fields of endeavor since the time of David, although it must
be owned that no member of the House has attained his intellectual
stature. The Rittenhouse Memorial Association should be revived—even
the name retained—to carry out the program outlined by its defunct
predecessor. In co-operation with historical and genealogical societies, as
well as individuals, the Association should exert a supreme effort to
collect every scrap of information relative to the family in America, and
to penetrate the mists that obscure the European horizon. All Ritten
house descendants—regardless of surname—would be eligible for admis
sion to the Association. The time to act is—now!
"The Lost Planetarium" '
of. David Rittenhouse*
By James K. Helms
"In 1768, he (David Rittenhouse) made his first planetar
ium for the Princeton College, which is regarded as a wonder
ful piece of scientific mechanism, and which may still be seen
there, and for which he received three hundred pounds Penn
sylvania Currency. Dr. Gordon, writing in 1790, says of this
work:
"There is not the like in Europe. An elegant and neatly ornamental
frame rises perpendicular near upon eight feet, in the front of which
you are presented, in three several apartments, a view of the celestial
system, the motions of the planets around the Sun, and the satalites
about the planets. The wheels, etc., that produce the movement are be
hind the wooden perpendicular frame in which the orrery is fixed. By
suitable contrivances you in a short time tell the eclipses of the sun
and moon for ages past and ages to come; the like in other cases of
astronomy.'
"He afterwards constructed another planetarium for the
University of Pennsylvania." {History of Montgomery County
within the Schuylkill Valley, by William J. Buck, in 1858,
published in 1859, p. 117.)
"There is also a good collection of philosophical apparatus
there, which includes that wonderful piece of scientific
mechanism, the planetarium of Doctor David Rittenhouse.
Through the politeness of Professor MacLean, I was permitted
to examine its construction, and view the wonderful precision
with which the machinery performed its difficult functions.
On the front is: 'INVENTED BY DAVID RITTENHOUSE,
A.D. 1768; Repaired and extended by HENRY VOIGHT,
*Eead before the Society April 30, 1927.
31
32
1806; both of PHILADELPHIA.'" (Lossing's Field Book,
Vol. II, p. 36. Description of Nassau Hall, Princeton.)
"At the age of twenty-three, he (David Rittenhouse) made
his famous orrery, for presenting the motion of the heavenly
bodies. This was bought and is still in the possession of Prince
ton College. A duplicate was made for the Philadelphia Acad
emy and was purchased by the Assembly." (Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia, p. 263.)
"His (David Rittenhouse) first great work, among others,
marvelous in their time, constructed wholly at night, his idle
hours as he called them, was the famous orrery now in Prince
ton University." (The Wissahickon, by T. A. Daly, published
in 1922, p. 24.)
The birthplace of David Rittenhouse stands along Lin
coln Park Drive, about three hundred yards above where this
drive leaves the Wissahickon, very familiar ground to me. In
reading up the life of this great scientist, one of the items that
always seemed to interest me most was the planetarium, and
so I became determined to see it for myself.
Last summer (August 10, 1926), having occasion to be
in Princeton, the first thing that interested me was to see this
wonderful piece of mechanism, and so the best part of an
afternoon was wasted trying to find some one who might
direct me to it; but it being vacation season, no one there
at that time seemed to know what piece of apparatus was
meant, and no one could give any directions whatever about
it, so it was necessary to leave discouraged.
Still being determined to see the planetarium, and having
another opportunity to go to Princeton in the Fall of 1926, I
found this time the College was in session, and being ac
quainted with the Dean of the School of Architecture, Sherley
W. Morgan, I was finally directed to Doctor Adams in the
Physical Laboratory. He informed me that he had heard that
there was such a piece of mechanism in the University some
years before his time there; but he had never seen it, al
though he had been instructor there for many years. How
ever, he told me that he was sure that if I got in touch with
Mr. Magee, he would be able to tell me all about it. As Mr.
Magee was not about, .Doctor Adams got in touch with him
THE LOST PLANETARIUM OF DAVID EITTENHOUSE
33
by telephone, and made an appointment for 2 P.M. that same
afternoon.
At the appointed time I met Mr. Magee, and he was pleased
to see some one interested in the old planetarium; but said
that although he would like to accommodate me, still he could
only give me bad news, which he extremely regretted. He
stated:
That he (Mr. Magee) had been connected with Princeton
University continuously since 1876, either as a student, or as
an instructor. He remembered having seen the old Planetar
ium when he first came to the University in 1876, but that it
had not been used for a long time, and was only regarded as
a very ancient piece of mechanism.
That in 1876, when preparing for the great Denver eclipse,
Mr. Blacket and Mr. Young, who were in charge, needed some
parts for their apparatus. As the old planetarium was no
longer used, they took it apart, so as to make use of some
gears and other parts, which they built into the new device.
Mr. Magee further stated that it was without doubt their
intention after returning from the observations of the eclipse
to re-construct the old planetarium, and try to put it back in
working order, and for that reason all the parts not used were
carefully packed in a large packing case.
While they were away, for some reason—^why, no one ever
knew—the packing case with all the parts, except those used
for the eclipse machinery, was removed and could never be
located after their return from the west. It was, therefore,
not then considered necessary to dismantle the device they
made. Mr. Magee had never seen the device they constructed,
to his recollection.
And so, was lost forever this wonderful contrivance, which
gave David Rittenhouse a reputation in this Country and
Europe, although publications are no doubt still stating that
it might be seen in Princeton.
34
Having been bitterly disappointed at Princeton, I was
determined to see the other planetarium built by David Rittenhouse, now at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadel
phia, and I was directed to see Dr. T. D. Cope, Instructor in
Physics, who advised me to see Dr. M. J. Babb, Department of
Mathematics, in Bennett Hall. This was on Saturday,
April 23d.
But Dr. Babb was not at Bennett Hall, and so I called him
at his home in Ardmore, He requested me to call him between
1.15 and 2 P.M. on Monday the 25th; and if he could spare
the time, he would be only too pleased to show me the plane
tarium.
Dr. Babb agreed to meet me that day, at the College, in
the Office of the Provost, where we looked over the planetar
ium, until Mr. DuBarry, Vice-Provost, arrived, who explained
in detail as to the general arrangements.
This planetarium is in a large antique cabinet, it is in three
distinct compartments. On the left it is empty, and it prob
ably never contained the special arrangements for Saturn and
Jupiter, or else they were removed by David Rittenhouse
himself.
The central part is the solar system, while on the left is
the special mechanism, arranged to show the eclipses of the
sun and moon, for 5000 years gone by, and 5000 years to
come. It is in good working order, and Dr. Babb will some
day take the trouble to demonstrate it thoroughly.
It is indeed fortunate that this historical piece of appara
tus is spared; and the University values it highly, and re
quested that it would be appreciated if any one in the Histori
cal Society of Montgomery County could advise them, as to
who built the antique cabinet for the planetarium (?).
fi|,
1!.'! .r^;-
U'TUi r.. t .
SZlniii
Rl
••
Weberville Factory
: lit
"
• '
*.
• ***1
The Weberville Factory*
By Charles H. Shaw
Weberville Factory, or what was probably better known in
latter years as Trooper Mill, was situated on the east side of
a public road about one quarter of a mile southwest of the
Ridge turnpike. This road crossed the Ridge pike at Trooper,
and was originally laid out by court order in 1773 to be 40'
wide. For several years it was used as the route to transport
gun powder from Sumneytown to Port Kennedy, for blasting
limestone at the latter place.
The mill, when built in 1847 by Jesse L. Bean, was used
as a saw and grist mill, and was known as the Trooper Steam
Mills, as a steam engine was used for power. There were two
houses on the property; one near the road used for the miller,
and the other used as a springhouse. This springhouse was
originally a dwelling of one story and attic, and at that time
the spring was on the outside. There was a fireplace on the
first floor approximately 4^ feet wide, and years ago it was
said that Colonel John Bull lived there for a time. Both of
these old houses and the mill were built of stone, most of
which was quarried from the opposite side of the road.
In 1855 Dewalt Weber converted this mill into a cotton
and woolen factory, and at that time another two-story stone
building was erected. The second story had many large win
dows for the benefit of the weavers, and the first story held
the finishing machines. The original mill was four stories, and
the main entrance was on the east side. The first floor was
used for the office, the fulling machines, and engine room. The
second story was used for spinning, the third for carding, and
the fourth for picker room. The cotton and wool was hoisted
to the fourth story by a windlass, and then came down each
*Read before the Society April 29, 1939.
35
30
story as it was processed, so there was no waste motion in
handling. There were two other smaller buildings. The first,
of stone, housed two boilers, over which was an open drying
platform; and next to this boiler house was the dye house, of
frame construction. The coal for the boilers was shipped by
canal boat to a wharf at Port Indian. At that time the road
was along the river opposite the Jonas Ashenfelter property,
and the coal was unloaded and put on a pile on his lot. He and
his sons then hauled the coal to the mill. To make a shorter
haul, a road was cut through some distance below the mill
from Trooper road to where the Port Indian road met the
Egypt road.
The mill property consisted of ten acres and sixty-three
perches more or less. Houses were built on the property prob
ably at the time the mill was converted, and were a part of the
property. Records show there was one brick house, four frame
houses, and one old stone house, all abutting on Trooper road;
and to the east and south of the mill were eight small stone
houses and four double stone houses. All these houses were
built on deep lots for gardening. The people who lived in them
were mostly English and Irish, and all seemed to get along
well together making a happy community. They worked sixty
hours a week, and pay day was monthly. Their children went
to Indian Creek School, that being the district from Ridge
pike to the Schuylkill on the east side of the Trooper road.
Mathias Harley, of Fairview Village, was the merchant tak
ing orders and delivering groceries twice a week, and who
said he never lost a dollar on bad accounts.
From 1855 when the mill was converted by Weber to a
cotton and woolen mill until 1866, Christopher Blounts was
owner and manufacturer with various partners at different,
times. A record of September, 1857, mentions a Leonard Thurlow as a partner, taking over with Blounts some stock of Paul
Thurlow; again from 1862 to 1863 a Benard McCane was
mentioned, and a record of sale of machinery and property
back to Blounts was made. In 1855 James Shaw, from Mana-
yunk, was employed by Blounts as manager. Mr. Shaw had
been an expert finisher, who had learned his trade in England.
In 1856 James Kenworthy was employed as a weaver and
i:-
James Shaw
THE WEBBBVILLB FACTORY'-
3X
later as a bookkeeper. These^two men are mentioned on ac
count of subsequent connections with
milL At tMs time
the mill, was a thriving .place of manufacture, and .an inven
tory of machinery was as follows: 2 renovators, 2 wool pickers,
1 special picker, 2.mule spinning frames, 2 card grinders,.!
ring twister,. 1 spooling frame, 47 looms, 1 beaming frame, 4
fulling machines, 1 gig, 5 cloth shearing machines, 1 brushing
machine, 1 cloth winder, 2 cloth presses. The dye house fixtures
consisted of 1 power scouring machine, 1 extractor, and 7 dye
tubs with water and heating pipes necessary for same. At a
later date the looms were increased to 64 in number. A book
account of 1856 gives the following employees:
Robert Platt
Benjamin Mason
Robert Hall
James McGinley
Benjamin Buckley
Margaret Holcroft
Amanda Moyer
Mary Hall
Sarah Fox
Emily Fox
Ann Wilkinson
Martha Fox
Mary McGarvey
Jane Kenworthy
Susan Walker
Matilda Barrett
Mary Keains
Wesley McCoy
Elizabeth Walker
Sarah Walker
Jane Walker
Mary Walker
Henriette Froeb
Elizabeth McHamer
Sophia Crowder
William Crowder
Samuel Crowder
John Walker
Anna McGinley
Mrs. McCoy
Mary Holcroft
On January the 1st, 1864, Christopher Blounts, Joseph
Shaw, James Shaw, and James Kenworthy entered into part
nership as Blounts, Shaws and Company, and leased the Bodey
Mill or what is better known as the Blue Mill at Basin and
Violet Streets in Norristown. The dye house at the Weberville
Factory was torn down at that timeas the dyeing and finishing
were done at the Norristown mill, and goods were hauled back
and forth from the mills. The hauling was first done by horses
but afterward by mules, as they seemed to stand the work
better and lived longer. During the Civil War cloth was made
gg
for the government, and afterwards looms were put on plain
and fancy jeans with cotton warp and wool filling.
On November 1,1866, the firm of Blounts, Shaws and Com
pany was dissolved by the withdrawal of Christopher Blounts
from active business, and the others continuing the business
under the firm name of J. & J. Shaw and Company. In March,
1881, James Shaw withdrew from the firm, and in 1883
Joseph Shaw and James Kenworthy closed the mill, but con
tinued the Blue Mill until 1887. After the mill was closed in
1883 all the machinery was sold and the houses on the mill
property vacated. On the 22nd of October, 1885, Christopher
Blounts, who was still owner of the property, gave James
Kenworthy power of attorney to advertise and sell to the
highest bidder all the real estate with the buildings thereon,
and on March 25, 1886, the sale was made.
This Weberville factory was on property which was
originally part of the farm of the Weber family, hence its
name. During the Weber ownership of the farm there was a
water grant which appears in the deeds. The water from a
spring on thefarm was used by having a dam builtand a ditch
dug to convey the water to a well on the factory property, and
it was then pumped through a leaden pipe to the factory. The
factory also had a source of water from a farm north of the
public road, and a spring on the mill property supplied a con
tinuous flow of cold water in the engine room, which was used
for drinking purposes.
Some years ago the mill buildings and all of the houses
were torn down, with the exception of the brick house near
the road where James Shaw resided for a time, and today there
is no vestige of the once prosperous Weberville Factory and
community.
The Organization of Friends' Meeting
at Norristown*
By Helen E. Richards
When Miss Slinglulf asked me to write about the "Organ
ization of the Friends' Meeting in Norristown," I told her she
was about ten years too late to get any interesting personal
recollections.
The first mention of any Friends' Meetings in Norristown
is found in the Journal of Elias Hicks. In his entry for 9th mo.,
24th, 1817, he says; "On the fourth day we had an appointed
meeting in a Village called Norristown. It was held in their
Court House, there being only a few scattered members of
our Society living in the place. The meeting was pretty large,
principally of people of other professions; among whom was
the Chief Judge, and through the condescending goodness of
the Shepherd of Israel, it was, I trust and believe, to most
present a very instructive and precious season."
The first reference to the establishment of a meeting is
found in the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting minute of the 6 mo.
2nd, 1842.
"MINUTE.
"This Meeting was informed that Lindley Rossiter holds by deed
about 2 and 1/2 acres of land in the Borough of Norristown, which has
been purchased by funds mostly procured by subscription for the pur
pose of furnishing a situation for a Meeting House for Friends, and a
graveyard, that he now wishes to transfer it to trustees appointed by
this Meeting to hold the said property for its use and under its direc
tion for the aforesaid purposes—^the following named Friends are
appointed to become fully acquainted with the case, and if way opens,
propose to next Meeting the names of some Friends suitable to be ap
pointed trustees—Evan Jones, David Thomas, Alan W. Corson, John
Wilson, William Jeanes, Thomas Shoemaker, Lewis Jones, Joseph
Fouike, Wm. Foulke and Elijah F. Pennypacker."
•Read before the Society April 29, 1939.
39
40
At the next Monthly Meeting 6th Mo. 30th, 1842, the com
mittee makes the following report:
"TO bWYNEDD MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS."
"The committee appointed on the infotmation received by this
Meeting in relation to the proposition of Lindley Rossiter to convey a
certain lot of lands situate in the Borough of Norristown for the pur
pose of furnishing a situation for a Meeting House for Friends and a
graveyard, report that all of them except one Friend had a full inter
view with Lindley Rossiter on the subject referred to them and viewed
the site. That on conferring with him and endeavoring to .become ac
quainted with the circumstances of the case, it was the judgment of the
Committee, that the trustees to whom the conveyance is proposed to be
made, should be selected by the grantor (rather than be appointed by
the Meeting) to be held by them in trust for the purposes aforesaid,
until other friends to succeed them shall be appointed by a Preparative
Meeting of Friends, whenever way should open and one be established
upon said premises, to whom (the said property could then be trans
ferred and held by them as trustees of said Preparative Meeting for its
use and benefit, in the same manner as other properties are usually held
for like purposes for- the use of Friends, in which view Lindley Rossiter
acquiesced, which is respectfully submitted to the Meeting.
"Signed on behalf of the Committee.
"Evan Jones, Wm. Jeanes & Elijah F. Pennypacker.
which is united with by the Meeting and the Committee released."
The land referred to was situated at the corner of Swede
and Jacoby streets, and contained 2 acres and 76 perches.
April 7,1842, this land was deeded by Samuel Jacoby and his
wife Susanna to Lindley Rossiter for the sum of $1237.50.
(Deed Book No. 60, page 80.)
And June 24,1843, Lindley Rossiter and his wife Margaret
deeded the land to Elijah F. Pennypacker, Schuylkill township,
Chester county; Thomas Hopkins, Upper Providence; Isaac
Roberts and Robert Iredell, Norristown; Jos. W. Conard,
Upper Merion; Thomas Livezey, Plymouth; Isaac Shoemaker,
Norriton; Daniel Foulke, Nathan C. Cleaver and Lewis Jones,
Gwynedd, for the sum of $937.50, having contributed $300 as
his share. At the same time a.
THE ORGANIZATION.'OP-'FRIBNDS' MEETING; AT. NORRlpTOWN
Declaration op Trust was made by
•
Elijah F. Pennypacker, bt al,
To • ^ -
The Society bp Friends of Norristown
Part of the declaration reads: "Which said consideration
moneywas contributed by-divers persons, for purchase.of said
lands and the appurtenances and the same was conveyed to
us by the appointment of the Contributors Jw Trust, only for
the purpose of erecting a Meeting House, for the use of the
Society of Friends in uniting with the Yearly Meeting of
Friends held in Philadelphia, and also for a burial place for
the dead."
Joseph Foulke in a very interesting letter written at his
Gwynedd Boarding School in 1860, to an unknown friend,
gives a list of the subscribers and the sums contributed, from
his memorandums.
There were 113 contributors and many of them from other
meetings and some I am sure were not Friends.
JOSEPH FOULKES' LETTER
"Gwynedd Boarding School 5th of December, 1860
"Dear Friend:
"Agreeably to thy request I copy from my memorandums The
Preamble and Subscription for Friends Meeting at Norristown,
"We the undersigned, do each of us agree to pay unto Lindly Rossiter the sums by us respectively, set opposite our respective names as
part of the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars or thereabouts, the
purchase money of two Acres and a half of land, bought by him of
Samuel Jacoby for the purpose of erecting a Friends Meeting House
thereupon, and graveyard. Said payment to be made on or before the
1st of 4 mo., 1842.
•
Subscribing
Subscribing
Names
Names
Jos. Thomas
.
, Thos. Shepard
$
50.00
. 25.00
Saml. Thomas
50.00
John Shepard
*Jesse Wager .
20.00
Lindly Rossiter
10.00
300.00
Mary Rambo
15.00
Rebecca C. Rambo ....
J. C. Rambo
5.00
10.00
*P. B. Kersey
*John S. Kersey
Robert T. Potts
5.00
5.00
10.00
42
BULLETIN OP HISTORICAL'SOCIETY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Subscribing
Subscribing
Names
Names
•John Supplee
5.00
Jos. W. Conard
Jona. Conard
Eliza Roberts
12.50
12.50
5.00
Joseph Davis
Stepphen Stephens ....
Rebecca Stephens
Stephen Stephens, Jr. . .
6.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
Wm. Carson
Jane Cleaver
10.00
5.00
John Davis
•Jacob Hoffman
*D. Sower
•David E. Wood
•Isaac Roberts
D. Thomas
•Henry Kerr
*J. T. Moore
•Isaac Moore
•Joseph Roberts
•Ezekiel Rhodes
•Evan Jones
•Robert Iredell
•Aaron Conard
•James Dill
•Geo. M. Potts
•Saml. Brown
•John Harper
•D. H. Mulvaney
•James Kirby
•C. Hubner
*S. G. Feriger
•A. Markley
*D. P. Snyder
•George Mulvaney
•Jos. Walker
•Howard Walker
•Moses Walker
•William Walker
•P. W. Moore
•Richard Walker
•Jos. B. Walker
•Isaac Eastburn
.
20.00
5.00
10.00
5.00
25.00
10.00
5.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
10.00
5.00
15.00
5.00
5.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
6.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
•Daniel Sheats
6.00
Henry Freedley
6.00
•Aaron Roberts
•Joseph Foulke
•William Jones
•Nathan Hallowell
•W. B. Thomas
•Mark Brack
Cadw. Hallowell
Harman Yerkes
Robert Conard
Henry Conard
Isaac Shoemaker
Saml. Roberts
6.00
20.00
5:00
6.00
6.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
10.00
10.00
5.00
5.00
John Styer
5.00
John Conard
Nathan Conard
Thos. Shoemaker
Saml. Lukens
William Wood
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
Streeper Conard
Amos Phipps
Jos. Mather
5.00
5.00
5.00
20.00
20.00
5.00
10.00
John Shoemaker
Rachel S. Holt
Cash
Wm. Corson
Isaac Williams
Adam Hoffman
5.00
5.00
3.00
6.00
15.00
1.00
Wm. Ely
Thos. Livezey
Jonathan Conard
Daniel P. Reiff
Cash
5.00
10.00
5.00
3.00
5.00
Jona. Ellis
Esther Jones
Saml. Powell
Wm. Jeanes
Charles Thomas
J. M. Huddleson
Cadw. Foulke .
Hannah Foulke
Joshua Paxson
.. .
6.00
10.00
5.00
3.00
6.00
THE ORGANIZATION OP FRIENDS* MEETING AT NORRISTOWN
Subscribing
Subscribing
Names
Names..
5.00
5.00
Samuel Freas
5.00
Jesse Sheppard
5.00
'
Hannah Livezey
5.00
Jonathan Jones, Junior
5.00
3.00
1.00
Benjamin Jones
Chalkley Kenderdine . .
Joseph Reif
Chas. Williams
Jno. Riter
43
3.00
Isaac Jones
8.00
2.00
Adam Conard
2.00
5.00
Harrison Shoemaker
.
5.00
12.00
2.00
Total
.$1178.00
"The names marked (*) paid their subscription money to Lindley
Rossiter and as he has subscribed 300 dollars and was the pioneer in
establishing the Meeting, he is justly entitled to the principal say in
relation to it. I hope he and the rest of you on whom the responsibilities
of the Meeting principally rests, may be encouraged to keep a single eye
to the wisdom of Truth, which alone is 'profitable to direct' in all things,
especially in relation to Meetings.
"I feel a most ardent desire for the prosperity of Norristown Meet
ing. I know there are many discouragements, and there, as in many
other places there are discordant materials to compose a meeting, but
under these circumstances and other obstacles Friends should cling the
more closely to the power of the principle, and they will be sustained,
being well assured that Friends Meeting at Norristown has been estab
lished and opened in best wisdom. I have thought while sitting here that
every cloud has passed away. In relation to the burying ground I feel
easy to concur with whatever Friends may think best. But my judgment
continues that in accordance with the petition to the Legislator and the
advice of the Monthly Meeting, a piece even a small portion should be
purchased and I think Friends would freely assist. Joel says he will
give 20 dollars and I have no doubt others would do likewise. I never
saw the Montgomery Cemetery in the comer of the Borough, a quarter
of an acre might answer well and Friends plain way of interments free
from costly monuments, would be an encouraging example to others to
do likewise. I have walked through those grounds in N. Y., in Baltimore
and other places where I find here and there a family apartment of
Friends of standing, all plain and consistent. I am inclined to think the
time will come when it will be more common for the different societies
to bury their dead in one common large enclosure well walled in and
a house to worship in common to all, and sheds, &c. and each society
as a family occupy a part to themselves. But I am wandering from my
subject. I feel passive to the judgment of Friends whose chief concern
should be to keep the Pole Star of bearing witness to the truth in all
44
BULLETIN OF HISTOKlCAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY' COUNTY
things, in thought, wbrd and deed. I feel well assured-'that all who
earnest endeavor to follow that guide will in the end be Triumphant.
"With feelings of respect and esteem I remain thy affectionate
Friend
"Joseph Poulke.
"I was going to write more but perhaps have written enough with
adding that my wife Joins me in love to thee and wife, to Lindly & wife
and to all friends as if named."
^
My mother knew all these people mentioned in the early
Minutes, and their children-were her playmates. (Her grand
parents and Uncle were on the committees.) I almost feel as
though I knew them myself hearing so much about them; She
used to tell about Elijah F. Pennypacker being called to Court
as a witness. He was a very fine man and a Minister, and when
he was asked to take the oath he said his aye was aye and his
nay was nay. The Judge accepted his testimony without the
oath.
The Meeting House was built before 4th mo. .29th, 1852,
and from the old bills found must have cost about $5000.
($5172.91)
The first meeting in the new house was held 29th of 4th
mo., 1852, as shown by a Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Minute.
"The subject of the establishment of a Meeting proposed to be held
in Friends new Meeting bouse in Borough of Norristown, being intro
duced by the following address, signed by members residing in said
Borough and its vicinity. Upon consideration the Meeting united in
judgment that the application be granted and that an indulged meeting
be there established, under the care and direction of this Meeting, to
commence on First Day, the 16th of next month at 10 o'clock in the
morning, and the following named Friends appointed a committee to
attend said meeting, in conjunction with a similar committee of
"Womens' Meeting, from its opening until released by this Meeting and
make report as way may open.—Jonathan Lukens, Salathiel Cleaver,
Wm. Foulke, Jonathan Jones, Silas Walton, Sam: Lukens, David Jones,
Thomas P. Baynes, John Conard, Wm. Zoms, Charles Shepherd, Cadwallader Foulke, Jesse Hammer, Jos. Foulke, Isaac Jones, Joel Lare,
Amos Phipps, John Wilson & Wm. Hallowell. The women appointed
were Elizabeth Foulke, Martha Cleaver, Mary Yerkes, Hannah Foulke,
Mary Ji Ambler, MaryJeanes, Mary'C. Lare, Ann L. Hammer & Eliz.
Lukens."
THE ORGANIZATION OF FRIENDS' MEETING AT NORRISTOWN
45
The address
"To Gwynedd Monthly Meeting"
"Dear Friends:
"The members of the. Society of Friends whose names are here
unto annexed, residing in the Borough of Norristown and its vicinity,
having duly considered the question whether the time has not arrived
when a meeting of Friends; should be regularly opened and established
(on First days) in the new Meeting House of Friends at this place, are
united in judgment that it would be right to request the Monthly Meet
ing, if way should open to take such action in the case as may be consistant with the pointings of truth.
"4-24-1852
Signed,
"Lindley Rossiter, Sam. Foulke, Robert Iredell,
Wm. L. Paxson, Oliver Paxson, Isaac Roberts, Jno. Roberts, Isaac Shoe
maker, Jr., I. B. Stokes, Harrison E. Shoemaker, Wm. H. Jones, Ellwood
Jones, David Ely, Mary A. Davis, Mary Roberts, Joseph Roberts, Mary
W. Roberts, Margaret F. Rossiter, Terese Iredell, Anne J. Foulke, Jane
R. Paxson, Sarah Ann Shoemaker, Ruth Roberts, Susan S. Abbott, Lydia
Stokes, Mary H. Abbott, E. S. Paxson, Catharine A. Stokes, Rebecca G.
Shoemaker, Abigail P. Ely, Emeline Ely, Hannah E. Davis, Susan D.
Walker, Mary M. Stephens, Rebecca Adamson, Sarah R. Moore, Wm. L.
Lukens, Jabez Wilson, Rebecca G. Wilson, Ann Eliza Wilson, Susan
C. Wilson, Mary M. Wilson, Hannah Adamson, Samuel Rossiter, Joseph
P. Rossiter, Sallie Jones, Lewis Walker, Isaac Shoemaker, Mary Shoe
maker, Elizabeth Shoemaker, Rachel Shoemaker, Elijah Thomas, Jane
L. Thomas, Jacob L. Jones, Elizabeth Ellis, Thomas R. Walker, Mary
B. Walker, Aaron Lukens."
Charles Major used to tell an incident in connection with
the building of the Meeting House. Among the workmen was
a colored man whom the others suspected of being a runaway
slave and they thought they would prove it. So one day during
lunch hour they started to talk about runaway slaves, and said
that two men from the South were up here looking for them.
At the last remark, the colored man jumped up and started to
run away without even picking up his coat; but they called
him back and said they were just joking, there were no men
after him. But in those days it was rather a cruel joke.
It seemed to be a weighty problem to establish a Meeting
and the discussion is continued through a number of Minutes,
which Charles Major has copied and given to the Meeting.
46
The first records of Norristown found are dated 5th mo.
29th, 1858, and are called "Minutes of Adjourned Meetings of
Norristown Friends." These are the only records of that name
in the Swarthmore Library. All the others are called indulged
meetings. At that meeting Benj. Borden was appointed Clerk
and Robert Iredell, Treasurer.
At a later meeting in 1858: "The subject of asking the
privilege of holding a preparative meeting at this place was
again taken up by this meeting. But previous to proceeding
further in the matter, it was thought best to appoint a com
mittee to draw up and circulate a subscription in order to
raise funds to purchase a burying ground, as directed hy Act
of Assembly, And also, to endeavor to ascertain where a suit
able piece of ground can be procured, and the cost of the same.
Jacob Fitzwater, Elijah Thomas, Benj. Borden, Seth Walton,
& Cornelius Conard, are appointed to that service and report
to our next meeting."
The following undated letter seems to fit in here.
To the "GWYNEDD MONTHLY MEETING OP FRIENDS"
"The undersigned, Members of said Society of Friends residing in
or near the Borough of Norristown.
"Believe that it would be better for the Monthly Meeting to apply
to the Legislature, for Power to dispose of a Portion of the Ground held
for a Meeting House and Grave Yard in said Borough, if required at
any time hereafter, for the purpose of aiding in the Erection of Meet
ing House, Sheds, Fence &c. on said Lot, and procuring Ground ad
jacent to said Borough, for a Burial Ground in a less objectionable
place.
Margaret F. Rossiter
Rebecca G. Shoemaker
Teresa Iredell
Sarah Ann Shoemaker
Isaac Roberts
Sarah R. Jones
Sarah R. Moore
Mary H. Abbott
Mary G. Moore
Susan S. Abbott
Lindley Rossiter
-
Loyd Jones
Robt. Iredell
Isaac B. Stokes
Lydia Stokes
Wm. L. Paxson
Emma S. Paxson
Jacob L. Paxson
Mary Shoemaker
Eliza Cowgill
Isaac Shoemaker, Jr.
H. E. Shoemaker
Catharine A. Stokes
John Roberts
THE ORGANIZATION OF FRIENDS' MEETING AT NORRISTOWN
Rebecca Adamson
Charles Sheppard
Tabitha Adamson
Joel W. Andrews
Elizabeth Conard
Wm. Hallowell
Mary A. Davis
Lewis A. Lukens
Anna M. Lukens
Aaron Lukens
Margaret A. Lukens
Mary T. Lukens
John Richards"
47
The grave yard was discussed for many years but never
purchased.
The Preparative Meeting was finally established in 1860
as shown by the following Minute.
The First Minute of Preparative Meeting.
"Norristown Preparative Meeting of Friends, established this 26th
day of the 12th mo., 1860.
"Benj. Borden was appointed Clerk for the day.
"The following Minutes and Extracts were produced to this Meet
ing and read, and directed to be recorded, viz: At Gwynedd Monthly
Meeting of Friends, held at Plymouth, the 27th of 9th mo., 1860.
"The Committee having charge of Friends Meeting at Norristown
made the following report in writing, and the Committee released at
their own request, viz:
"At a meeting of the committee having charge of Friends Meeting
at Norristown held at that place the 15th of 9th mo., 1860, in company
with a number of men and women Friends of Norristown, the proposal
of opening a Preparative Meeting at that place was offered to the com
mittees for its consideration. After a time of deliberation and free ex
pression on the subject it was concluded to encourage Friends of Nor
ristown, to lay the subject before the Monthly Meeting in writing, they
having as appears by their Minutes the concern of 'purchasing and pro
curing' a piece of ground for a burying place, in order to carry into
effect the advice and council of the Monthly Meeting on that subject.
Though considerable exertion has been made on the part of Friends at
Norristown, and with the assistance' of the Committee, no suitable place
has yet been found that is entirely satisfactory. It is nevertheless be
lieved, that way will be opened shortly to make Friends easy on that
subject. The subject of the above was directed to be offered to the
Monthly Meeting as a report of the Committee which being of long
standing now requests to be released. All of which we submit to the
Meeting.
"Signed by direction and in behalf of the Committee.
"Joseph Foulke, Clerk."
48
BULLETIN OP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTS
The following application from Friends of Norristown for
the establishment of a Preparative Meeting at that place was
received and read. Upon consideration the subject was re
ferred for the consideration of next meeting, viz.:
"To Gwynedd Monthly Meeting of Friends.
"At a meeting of men and women Friends held at Norristown on
the 17th of 2nd mo., 1860. The subject of considering the propriety of
holding a Preparative Meeting at this place, being brought before this
Meeting by reading the Minutes of last meeting and a considerable
portion of the Monthly Meeting Committee present, the meeting was
united that we request of the Monthly Meeting the privilege of holding
a Preparative Meeting at this place, on fourth day before the last second
day in each month, the meeting to be convened at half past ten o'clock.
And that we also ask to have our midweek meetings changed to the
fourth day of the week, and the hour for gathering to half past ten
o'clock for all our meetings.
"The Clerk of this meeting is directed to forward a copy of this
Minute to our next Monthly Meeting, and sign it on behalf of this
Meeting.
"Benj. Borden, Clerk."
At Gwynedd Monthly Meeting of Friends held the 1st of
nth mo., 1860.
"The subject of the application of Friends of Norristown for the
establishment of a Preparative Meeting at that place having again
claimed attention was upon consideration approved thereof.
"The Clerk was directed to forward a copy of this Minute with the
application, and our reports to the Quarterly Meeting for its delibera
tion, and judgment thereon."
Gwynedd Monthly Meeting held at Pljmiouth 29th of 11th
mo., 1860.
"The following extract from the Minutes of Abington Quarterly
Meeting of Friends relative to the establishment of a Preparative Meet
ing at Norristown, was received and read, and upon consideration the
following named Friends appointed to attend the opening of said Meet
ing on the 4th day the 26th of next month, with copies of the Quarterly
and Monthly Meetings Minutes on the subject. This Meeting having pre
viously concurred in the establishment of a Preparative Meeting at that
place, to be held on 4th day before the last 2nd day in each month—
also in changing the time of holding their midweek Meetings from the
THE ORGANIZATION ..OP FRIENDS' MEETING AT NORRISTOWN
49
6t}i to the 4th day of the week, all their meetings to convene, at half
past 10 o'clock, and make report to our next meeting, viz: Isaac Jones,
Hugh Foulke, Sr., Nathan Cleaver, Thomas P. Baynes, "Wm. Zorns, Jesse
Hammer, Daniel Foulke, Martha L. Jones, Mary C. Lare, Mary L. Am
bler, Susan C. Foulke."
MINUTE.
"At Abington Quarterly Meeting of Friends held at Horsham the
8th of 11th mo., 1860.
"Gwynedd Monthly Meeting in their report represent that the sub
ject of establishing a Preparative Meeting at Norristown to be held on
the 4th day before the last 2nd day in each month at half past 10
o'clock, has claimed their consideration and approved, and they for
warded the subject to this meeting for its deliberation and judgment.
Upon consideration thereof, this Meeting consents to the establishment
of a Preparative Meeting as therein proposed: And women Friends in
formed that they also have consented thereto. The Clerk is directed to
inform Gwynedd Monthly Meeting of the conclusion of this Meeting in
the case.
"Benj. G. Foulke, Clerk."
"Extracted from the Minutes of Gwjmedd Monthly Meeting by
Daniel Foulke
Clerks,
Hannah Ann Foulke
"The Committee named in the foregoing to attend the opening of
this meeting are mostly present.
"The first Clerks appointed are Benjamin Borden and Jane L.
Thomas and the Treasurer, Jacob Fitzwater."
In those days they were not bothered by Union wages. The
man who had the care of the Meeting House and mowed the
yard as often as necessary was paid $30 a year, and he could
also have the grass on the yard. In another Minute they paid
a woman $7.50 to whitewash the fence.
During the Civil War years, I was surprised to find so few
references to war. But while they had a testimony against
war, they also had one against slavery, and undoubtedly their
sympathies were with the North.
In 1862 several copies of an address to the Religious So
ciety of Friends by the Representative Committee upon their
50
testimony against war were received and directed to be dis
tributed among our members.
In 1864 and 1865 in answering the 6th query, they re
ported that "Not all are clear of Military service."
A committee was appointed in 1864 to have the Poplar
trees removed from the yard and others planted in their place.
The Preparative Meeting at Providence was laid down in
1867 and its members attached to Norristown. It then became
an indulged meeting. Several lots on Jacoby street were sold
at a public sale in 1872 to defray the cost of curbing and pav
ing, and for an iron fence on Swede street. The sale of these
lots left the property as it is today.
Nothing of special interest occurred until 1897, when a
Committee was appointed to consider the advisability of men
and women Friends meeting in joint session. At the next
Preparative Meeting their report was approved and separate
sessions were discontinued.
In the early days circular meetings were held on First day
afternoons when prominent speakers would attend. Some of
these Ministers were Lucretia Mott, John Hunt, Rachel
Barker, Sarah Hunt, Joel Lare and others of whom I have
often heard but whose names I have forgotten. The meetings
were so well attended there was hardly a vacant seat.
For social affairs there was a very active Literary Society
in the 70's and early 80's, and from the stories I have heard
they must have had some very good times. They also had a
Friends Association which continued to my time, but this was
more to study the history and lives of prominent Friends, and
friendly interests.
And now if there are any present who have transgressed
the first query, as it read in those days, by sleeping in Meeting,
they have my sincere sympathy.
Map Making and Some Maps of
Montgomery County*
By Chester P. Cook
After consulting with the few that are left of the once
great map-making establishments of the city of Philadelphia—
where most of the maps of the United States were made prior
to 1860, and also afterwards—and after reading two Encyclo
pedias on the subject, I still have little to tell about mapmaking.
The surveyor has always been either just behind or just
ahead of the trader in the onward march of civilization. He is
an important factor in the laying-out of public roads, and in
the establishment of private property lines. He is always an
educated man, whether self-taught or college-made. He is, to
the men under him, an absolute autocrat, but always com
manding their respect.
The draughtsman, from the field notes furnished him by
the surveyor, draws the map, and it is to him and his skill that
the map owes much of its beauty.
The printer next gets the drawing. I understand that the
early maps were etched upon copper plates, and when the art
of lithographing was discovered, the map design was etched
upon or as the map-maker expressed it "needled into" flat
sandstone plates, and various colored inks were then used
for the first time. These stones came from Bavaria. Although
the art of lithographing was discovered shortly before 1800,
it was not until 1818 that it was first successfully used in
Philadelphia by Bass Otis.
Zabel Brothers Co., Inc. still print fine maps at 5th and
Columbia avenue, Philadelphia, and have been in business for
75 years.
A. Hoen Company, located in Baltimore, Maryland, are
*Read before the Society November 17, 1934.
51
52
the greatest printers of fine maps in the United States. This
establishment has been in existence for 125 years.
After the maps are printed, they are taken to the mapmounter. Here muslin is pasted on the backs of the paper
maps to prevent tearing, and they are arranged either for
hanging on the wall or for folding. C. S. Werstner & Son, of
13th and Vine streets, in Philadelphia, are the leading mapmounters of our section at this time.
Thus from the surveyor, the draughtsman and the experts
in the printing-houses and map-mounting establishments,
great skill and honest work is demanded, if the map is to gain
the respect of the discriminating citizen.
Really good individual maps and the makers of Political
Subdivisions disappeared with the Civil War, although the
Atlas period, which began about that same time, deserves
great praise. This is also true of the Topographical maps made
by Government Engineers, which are designed to show by
contour lines the height of the Mountains and the depth of the
valleys.
Maps were made of the United States, individual states,
counties, and townships, going into great detail. I find that the
map-makers from 1816 to 1862 command my greatest admira
tion for their artistry. It was in 1862 that Commander M. F.
Maury issued his especially fine Washington map of the United
States.
In 1897, by Act of Congress, all County Seats were ordered
to send their maps to the Congressional Library; and in 1901
P. Lee Phillips, Chief of the Division of Maps and Charts,
issued the Government Publication called "A List of the Maps
of America." This is about the only informative work that
exists in regard to the maps that have been made, although
many good ones never reached the Library, and consequently
were not recorded in the List compiled by Mr. Phillips.
Maps are now made by mass production methods, they go
but little into detail and thus are, in the main, very much like
our modern literature, of not much permanent value. Few of
them ever have any name on them except that of the pub
lisher, and thus they can show little of the pride of good work
manship.
;MAP MAKING AND SOME MAPS OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
53
I have been unable to find a map of Montgomery county at
the time of its erection; but during the 15th year of our In
dependence, as he puts it, Reading Howell brought out his
map of Pennsylvania, showing the roads, streams, boundaries
and townships of Montgomery county, and doing the same
for the other counties in the State. This is the last of the great
state maps of Pennsylvania to be embodied in her Archives.
The next map of Montgomery is that of John Melish, an
original of which may be found at the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, 13th and Locust streets, Philadelphia. The
title of this map reads, "Map of Montgomery County, con
structed by virtue of an Act of the Legislature of Pennsyl
vania, passed March 19th, 1816, The Schuylkill River from
Actual Survey in 1827 by F. H; Gill, Esq. Published by B.
Tanner, Philadelphia, Pa." The map is not dated but it prob
ably was published in 1827. Its statistical table gives the popu
lation of the county in 1810, as numbering 29,703, and in
1820, as 35,793. There were 20 Post Offices, of which Reeseville, near King of Prussia, was the only one in the county on
the west side of the Schuylkill. Norristown had a population
of 827 people in 1820. This map gives county lines, township
lines, common roads, turnpike roads, churches, meeting
houses, academies, mills, manufactories and Post Offices.
There are also numbers along the line of the roads denoting
distances from Philadelphia.
In 1826, John Melish, assisted by some of the best en
gineers that our Pennsylvania counties ever knew, published
a great map of Pennsylvania, the like of which had never
before been seen. When this wonderful, monumental work was
ready for distribution, so great was his pride and interest, he
could not refrain from saying, "The whole work being now
before the Public, it would be superfluous to descant on its
merits. It is hoped, and believed, that it will be an honour to
the STATE of PENNSYLVANIA, which gave it birth; and
prove a stimulus to OTHER STATES, and thus bring to ma
turity the GEOGRAPHY of a much favoured Country." This
may be found printed on the lower left hand corner of the
map.
From the "Dictionary of American Biography," we learn
54
that John Melish was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1769, and
died in Philadelphia, December 30th, 1822. Geographer,
traveler and merchant, he was orphaned at an early age, and
was apprenticed to a Mr. Patterson, one of the largest and
wealthiest cotton factors in Glasgow. Later he was graduated
from the University of Glasgow, and finally was made a mem
ber of Mr. Patterson's firm. His first visit to the United States
was made in 1806, when he sailed for Savannah in the inter
ests of his firm. He traveled extensively through the cotton
states, purchasing and shipping the raw material to Scotland.
He determined to become a resident of this country on ac
count of more freedom of action, and finally, in 1809, he
brought his family over with him and settled in Philadelphia.
He then spent much of his time in traveling, and having a fine
talent for draughtmanship, he drew all the eight maps which
illustrate his first work on "Travels in the United States of
America, in the years 1806, 1807, 1809-1810 and 1811, etc."
published in two volumes, Philadelphia, 1812. Before coming
to this country, he founded the Glasgow Public Library, by
donating two volumes himself, and inducing his friends to do
likewise. He lived long enough to learn that it had become an
Institution. He was the first person to engage in map-publish
ing to any extent in the United States, and at one time there
were 30 persons employed by him in his business of making
and coloring maps. He regularly entertained his whole force
at his home at Christmas-time. His greatest work in map
publishing was his map of Pennsylvania, provided for by the
Legislature of that state in 1816. It was compiled on six plates,
and measured 6 feet, 3 inches, by 3 feet, 9 inches. Much of
the data was collected by himself. He was a friend of Jefferson
and Madison, and a warm promoter of the industries of his
adopted country. He made many maps.
Next we come to the map of Montgomery county made by
W. E. Morris in 1848, showing Montgomery county on a
larger scale than the maps of Melish, and also showing rail
roads, canals, inns and taverns, and all dwellings in the county,
except in the boroughs of Norristown and Pottstown. A very
fair map, indeed, with a picture of Norristown and Marion
Meeting on the border.
MAP MAKING AND SOME MAPS OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY
55
From "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," we learn that
a Wm. Ellis Morris, eldest son of Judge Samuel Wells and
Anna Ellis Morris, .was bom at Muncy, Pennsylvania, Janu
ary 29, 1812. He received an Academic education and at the
age. of 16 years left his paternal home at Wellsboro, Pennsyl
vania, to accept the lowest position on an engineering party,
which was in charge of the building of canals in Western
Pennsylvania. He rose rapidly in his chosen profession and
became first assistant engineer of the West Branch Canal Co.,
then later engineer-in-chief of the Bald Eagle Canal Co., and
finally was appointed by Governor David R. Porter one of the
state engineers of the Canal Commission. He became very
eminent in his profession and constructed many important
works, among them the Waterworks at Holidaystown, the
Spring Garden Waterworks at Philadelphia, Waterworks at
Athens, Schenectady, Rondout and Oswego, New York;
Vicksburg and Meriden, Mississippi; as well as erecting works
and improvements at Morristown, and Trenton, New Jersey;
in Easton, Doylestown, and Bristol, Pennsylvania, and in
Wilmington, Delaware. In 1843 he was called to the presidency
of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown R. R., which
position he held for ten years, when he was elected president
of the Long Island R. R., and was then made acting president
of the New York and Harlem R. R. His health failed, he re
turned to Philadelphia and eventually regained it, and then
became consulting engineer, and was invited to get up plans
for a greater water supply for Philadelphia. He died in Phila
delphia, October 15, 1875.
We come now to the Township map of Lower Merion, by
John Levering, Surveyor, in 1851, the only township wall map
ever made of any township (at least to the writer's knowl
edge), in the county of Montgomery. Mr. Levering was also
at one time the principal of Lower Merion Academy. No map
could have been better made than this one of Mr. Levering's,
its every detail seems perfection.
Then comes the map of Bucks and Montgomery Counties
by R. K. Kuhn and J. D. Janney,'dated 1857; then another
with the title, "Actual Surveys of D. J. Lake and S. N. Beers,"
published in 1860, by John J. Gillette and C. K. Stone, in
50
BULLETIN OF HISTOKICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
which Montgomery county and Pottstown are shown in'detall.
Of the careers of these men I know nothing, and can discover
nothing, but their work speaks for itself and that must be
their eulogy.
Dr. B. F. Fackenthal, Jr., president of the Bucks CountyHistorical Society, told me a few days ago that his father,
Benjamin Franklin Fackenthal, Sr. (1825-1892), told him
many years ago that much of the data for these maps was sup
plied by men whose scientific equipment consisted of a sur
veyor's compass mounted on a wheelbarrow. The circumfer
ence of the wheel was known, the revolutions counted and
changes in bearings noted as it was wheeled along the road.
I also invite your attention to a wall map of the Borough
of Norristown, by T. A. Hurley, made in 1857, and to one by
Alan W. Corson, in 1889, for both are masterpieces of the
map-maker's art.
A fine map of Pennsylvania showing counties in detail was
made by Apollos W. Harrison, having its title in both English
and German, "The Keystone State, Pennsylvania, and her
Eminent Men," 1847. One was also made by W. E. Morris in
1849, and another by Morris, dated 1851. All three of these
maps show the railroads that had come into being since the
state map of John Melish in 1826.
Then came the Geological map of Henry D. Rodgers, State
Geologist, constructed from original surveys between the
years 1836 and 1857, and published in 1858. In 1862, a full
Topographical map of Pennsylvania by H. F. Walling, and
published by Smith, Palmer & Co., 850 and 360 Pearl street.
New York, and 27 South Sixth street, Philadelphia.
Most of the maps herein referred to, and those in my pos
session, were, as Mr. Zabel said to me the other day, "Years
in the making, when it was thought that a thing worth doing,
was worth doing well." The fine map-makers were contem
poraneous with the age of our great American poets, probably
America's most golden years in all things worth while.
Only one who has dragged a surveyor's chain and at
tempted to make nice drawings, can fully appreciate the su
preme excellence of these 19th century maps, and well may it
be said of their makers that "their works do follow them."
Records from Bibles in Possession of Histori
cal Society of Montgomery County
(continued)
BUSCH-BUSH BIBLE
Masriages
Andrew D. M. Busch & Elizabeth Sell were joined in mar
riage by the Rev. Pastor Smith, July 5,1798. Philadelphia.
of this marriage there was only one living issue, who was
christened at Philada. by the Rev. Pastor Smith of the Ger
man Lutheran Congregation.
Andrew Bush was married to Mary Ann Reiff (widow
of Nathan Reiff and daughter of John Baugh of Coventry,
Pa.) by the Rev. I. C. Guldin on, the 24th. of December 1835.
Births
Andrew D. M. Busch born at Wesel, January 1, 1763.
Elizabeth Sell born near Germantown, Pa. October 21st.,
1758.
Of this marriage the only living issue Andrew Bush who
was born April 7, 1805 in Philadelphia.
Eliza Davis Bush born December 19th., 1836 in Coventry,
Chester Co., Pa.
Caroline B. Bush was born in Coventry, Pa. Chester Co.,
August 20, 1838.
Howard B. Bush was born in E. Coventry, Chester Co., Pa.
July 29th., 1849.
Mary Florence Bush was born in E. Coventry, Septem
ber 28,1853.
Born to Samuel 0. Perry and Caroline B. Perry on the
fourteenth day of April 1865 a son Owen H. Perry.
67
gg
BULLETIN OP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
(25th) twenty fifth of August 1867, Mary Bertha Perry.
twenty second of October 1869, Cora Reiff Perry.
Born to Williairi McC. Rogers and M. Bertha Perry Rogers
on the twentieth day of January 1896, Carrie Gladys Rogers.
Born to Wm. McC. Rogers and M. Bertha Rogers, on the
10th. day of November 1900, Samuel Perry Rogers.
Born to William McC Rogers and M. Bertha Perry Rogers
on the 15th day of July, 1905 William Ra5Tnond Rogers.
Born to Albert Edward Finn and Cora R. Perry Finn on
the twenty first day of July 1901, William Albert Finn.
Nathan Reiff was born January 29th., in the year of our
Lord one thousand Eight hundred & two.
Mary Ann Baugh was born July 3rd., in the year of our
Lord one thousand Eight hundred & eight.
They were married January 17th. in the year of our Lord,
one thousand eight hundred & twenty eight.
Nathan Reiff died on the third of November in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty three
and was buried at Trappe in the old churchyard.
John B. Reiff was married to Clementine B. Grubb by
Rev. John Price, January 15th. 1856.
On the 9th. of March in the year of our Lord one thousand
Eight hundred & twenty nine was born unto us a Daughter
and her name was called Deborah Ann B. Reiff.
On the 7th. of November in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred & thirty was born to us a son & his
name was called John Baugh Reiff.
Owen S. Grubb was married to Deborah Ann Reiff in
Philadelphia by Mayor Vaux Nov. 4th., 1857.
A. Florence Reiff died in East Coventry, March 4th., 1872
aged 15 years.
Owen H. Perry son of Samuel 0. Perry and Carrie B. Perry
on May 14, 1888 in Philadelphia left his boarding to take a
BIBLE RECORDS
59
walk as was his custom and did not return to his place of
business as clerk in the office of the Penn. R. R. Co., 233 South
4th, Street. Aged 23 years.
Died January 26, 1919 Samuel 0. Perry, aged 87 years,
5 mo., 16 days.
Births
Andrew Bush born April 7th., 1808.
John Baugh Sr. was bom the 9th of April 1774. And was
married to Mary Price the 12th. of April, 1796. And she was
born October 21st., 1777.
George Baugh was born October 17th., 1797.
John Baugh was born October 8th., 1799.
Daniel Baugh was born October 14th., 1801.
Sarah Baugh was born August 2nd., 1803.
Hannah Baugh was born October 20th., 1805.
Mary Ann Baugh was born July 3rd., 1808.
Lydia Baugh was born December 9th., 1810.
Eli Baugh was born July 19th., 1813.
Eliza Baugh was born September 7th., 1815.
July 20th. 1818 was born unto us a daughter, not named.
Lavine Baugh was born December 23rd., 1819.
Marriages
Samuel 0. Perry was married to Caroline Bush on the
ninth day of September 1863.
On the twenty-eighth of March 1895 William McC Rogers
to Mary Bertha Perry. On the fourteenth of December 1898,
Albert Edward Finn married to Cora R. Perry.
Deaths
Mrs. Florence B. Montgomery died at Reading, Pa., the
20th. day of November 1914. Aged 61 years, 1 month, and
22 days.
Solomon Sell died at Philadelphia on the 29th. of March
1810. Aged 79 years.
gQ
Mary Sell died at Pricetown on the 26th. of July 1826.
Aged 21 years.
Christianna Minner died at Norfolk, Va. on the 17th. of
August 1831.
Andrew D. M. Busch died in Philadelphia, April 14th,
1836. Aged 73.
Elizabeth Busch died in Coventry, Chester Co. Pa. Octo
ber 24th., 1838. Aged 80.
Grandmother Mary Baugh died Jan'y 10, 1853. Aged 75
years 2 months, 19 days.
Dr Andrew Bush died in East Coventry, Chester Co., Pa.
December 20, 1874. Aged 69 years, 8 months, and 18 days.
Howard B. Bush died in East Coventry, Chester County,
Pa, January 1st., 1880. Aged 30 years, 5 months, and 2 days.
Mary Ann Bush widow of Dr. Andrew Bush died in Pottstown, Pa. Aged 79 years, 3 months and 23 days., on Octo
ber 26, 1887.
This Bible contains invitations to three funerals;—
Mary A. Bush, widow of the late Dr. Andrew Bush, on Octo
ber 29th, 1887.
David W. Jones, Jan. 8th., 1881.
Lavinia B. Jones December 18th., 1878.
Probably also a passport in German.
SUPPLEE BIBLE
Births
Andrew Supplee Son of Andrew and Deborah Supplee was
born November the 9th. 1723.
Susannah Supplee Daughter' of James and Mary Bean
was bom August the 20th. 1724.
- BIBLE BEGOBDS
@1
Enoch Supplee Son of Andrew and Susannah Supplee was
born August the 16th. 1755.
Eizabeth Supplee Daughter of William and Mary Wright
was born July the 6th. 1764.
Sarah Supplee Daughter of John and Ann Cunrad was
born March the 12th. 1760.
William Supplee Son of Enoch and Elizabeth Supplee was
born January the 23th. 1786.
John Supplee Son of Enoch and Elizabeth Supplee was
born December the 21st. 1787.
Susannah Supplee Daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth Sup
plee was born January 25th. 1790.
Jehu Supplee Son of Enoch and Elizabeth Supplee was
born December the 1st. 1791.
Was bom a son and Daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth
Supplee July the 5th. 1794.
Mary Supplee Daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth Supplee
was born the 81st May 1795.
Deaths
A Son and Daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth Departed this
life, July 5th. 1794.
Elizabeth Supplee Departed this life February the 21st.,
1797. Aged 32 years 7 months, 2 weeks and 1 day.
William Supplee Departed this life August 15th. 1800.
Aged 14 years 6 months 3 weeks and 2 days.
Jehu Supplee Departed this life August the 17th, 1800.
Aged 8 years 8 months 2 weeks and three days.
Sarah Supplee Departed this life November the 21st. 1825.
Aged 65 years 8 months 1 week and 2 days.
02
Enoch Supplee Departed this life August the 11th 1831.
Aged 75 years 11 months and 25 days.
Andrew Supplee Departed this life December the 5th
1806. Aged 83 years 3 weeks, and 5 days.
Susannah Supplee Departed this life February the 21st.
1809. Aged 87 years 6 months, and 1 day.
Marriages
Enoch and Elizabeth Supplee was Married September the
26th. 1784.
Enoch and Sarah Supplee was Married December the 11th.
1790.
Two printed invitations to the funeral of Susan L. Black,
July 3, 1839.
GOSHOW FAMILY BIBLE
Births
John Goshow was born October 15th. 1791.
Mary Hallman was born November 17th., 1792.
John Goshow and Mary Hallman were married on Janu
ary 11th. A.D. 1816.
Isaac Goshow was born March 16th., A.D. 1817.
William Goshow was born February 4th., A.D. 1819.
John Goshow Jr. was born April 6th., A.D. 1821.
Francis Goshow was born February 23rd, A.D. 1823.
Silas Goshow was born January 22nd., A.D. 1828.
Mary Ann Goshow was born May 16th., A.D. 1830.
Davis Goshow was born December 8th. A.D. 1833.
Deaths
Departed this life January 8th. A.D. 1837, Mary H. Gos
how consort of John Goshow, aged 44 years, 1 month, and
21 days.
BIBLE RECORDS
03
Departed this life April 25th., A.D. 1860. John Goshow
Aged 68 years, 6 months and 10 days.
Departed this life April 28th., 1859 (?), Mary Ann Nickless aged 25 years, eleven Month and 12 days.
Departed his life May 28, 1880, John Goshow aged 58
years 1 month 22 days.
William Goshow was buried the 10th. of Jan. 1889.
Married
Davis Goshow and Hettie Conn Married Dec. 24th, 1859.
Hettie Conn Born Nov. 11th., 1834.
Hettie Conn Goshow died November 5, 1904.
Davis Goshow died Oct. 12, 1922.
Newspapers clippings of the death of Mrs. Anna Nickerson and Mrs. Hettie Goshow are pasted in this Bible.
SHOEMAKER FAMILY BIBLE
Tha Agis of Jacob Shoemaker and Mary
Jonathan and Matthias Shoemaker was Born tha 14 day
the 12 Month 1736
Barbary Shoemaker Bom 80 day of 6 Month 1738
Jonathan Shoemaker Bom the 16 day of 12 Month 1739
Isaac Shoemaker Born tha 16 day of 11 Month 1741
Hannah Shoemaker Born tha 10 day of 9 Month 1743
Elisabeth Shoemaker Bom tha 30 day of 11 Month 174-(?)
Sarah Shoemaker Born tha 3 day of 2 Month 1748
David Shoemaker Born tha 30 day of 1 Month 1750
on th 21 day of the 12 Month on 2 day of the week Mathias
Cunard was buried in the year 1725
04
GEORGE B. KIRK BIBLE
Maseiages
George B. Kirk and Mary Jane Moore were married Janu
ary 1th., A.D. 1854.
George B. Kirk Was Born July 3th., A.D. 1830.
Mary Jane Moore Was Born March 13th., A.D. 1834.
Emma Jane Kirk Was Born November 17th., A.D. 1855.
Anna Catharine Kirk Was Born May the 25th., A.D. 1859.
Ida Mary Kirk Was Born August 80th., 1861.
Samuel L. Kirk Was Bom July 20th., A.D. 1863.
Harry A. Kirk Was Born December the 10th., A.D. 1865.
Louis Franklin Kirk Was Born May the 7th., A.D. 1866.
'
R. Kirk Was Born May 31st., A.D. 1868.
Martha M. Kirk Was Born July 23, A.D. 1870.
Deaths
Emma Jane Kirk Died November the 29th. A.D. 1855.
Anna Catharine Kirk Died May the 31st., A.D. 1859.
Ida Mary Kirk Died September the 1st., A.D. 1861.
Samuel L. Kirk Died July 31st., A.D. 1863.
Harry A. Kirk Died December the 14th., A.D. 1865.
Louis Franklin Kirk
R. Kirk Died June 4, A.D. 1868.
George B. Kirk Died July the 3rd., A.D. 1870. Age Forty
Years.
Report of Recording Secretary
Rebecca W. Brboht
REGULAR MEETING OF APRIL 29, 1939
The moTnin? session was called to order by the president, Nelson
P. Fegley, Esq., at 10.30.
Routine business was transacted.
A vote of thanks was given to Dr. W. H. Reed for making finan
cially possible the enlarged Bulletin just published.
The president announced the committees for the year with the fol
lowing named persons chairmen:
Annalist
Auditing Committee
Library Committee
Program Committee
Hospitality Committee
Reception Committee
Miss Nancy 0. Cresson
Miss Elinor Brecht
Miss Emily K. Preston
Miss Ella Slingluff
Miss Nancy C. Cresson
Mr. William R. Fisher
Marker Committee
Mr. S. Cameron Corson
Outing Committee
Miss Nancy P. Highley
Publication Committee
Miss Emily K. Preston
Membership Committee
Mr. Chas. Harper Smith
Prize Essay Committee
Mrs. Stuart Molony
It was announced that the Montgomery Trust Company has placed
a bronze tablet on its building noting that it stands on the site of the
former Washington Inn and also the County Commissioners will erect a
tablet in the Public Square near Swede and Penn Streets to mark the
site of the county's first Court House, and one at Swede and Airy Streets
where the first prison stood.
The morning program consisted of two papers: The Weberville
Factory at Trooper, Chas. H. Shaw; The Organization of the Friends
Meeting at Norristown, Miss Helen E. Richards.
Lunch was served by the Hospitality Committee.
. The meeting re-convened at 2.00 P.M. Mrs. Molony gave a report
of the Prize Essay Contest and presented the winners who read their
essays and were given their respective prizes by Mr. Fegley.
66
00
First Prize—"A Short History of St. John's Episcopal Church, Norris-
town, Pa."—Robert Hart, Eisenhower High School, Norristown, Pa.
Second Prize—"The Origin of My Name—UpdengrafE"—Robert Updegrove, Eisenhower High School, Norristown, Pa.
Honorable Mention—"St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Barren
Hill"—Eleanor Gunning, Conshohocken High School
Second Honorable Mention—"How Horsham Got Its Name"—Virginia
Steever, Hatboro High School
A paper, "The Old Lancaster Road," prepared by Mrs. Dora Har
vey Devlin, was read by Mr. Chester Cook.
Report of Corresponding Secretary
Ella Slinglufp
DEATHS
Miss Sarah E. Fry
May 14, 1939
Miss Ada Powell
May 14,1939
Mrs. Mjrrtle Propes
June 10,1939
John Hartenstine
Aug:ust 18,1939
NEW MEMBERS
Mrs. Joseph G. Patterson
John S. Wurtz
April 29, 1939
April 29, 1939
Mrs. John S. Newbold
April 29, 1939
Joshua M. Francis
June
Douglas Macfarlan, M.D
June 27, 1939
W. F. Zimmerman
July 21,1939
3,1939
Report of the Librarian
Emily K. Preston
The following books have been added to the library since the pub
lication of the last issue of the Bulletin:
,
With Rifle and Plow—Stories of the Western Pennsylvania Frontier, by
J. E. Wright, Elisabeth M. Sellers and Jeanette C. Shirk.
REPORTS
67
Reminiscences of the First Presbyterian Church, Mendham, New Jersey,
by Helen M. Wright.
The Brenneman History, by Albert H. Gerberich.
Whiskey Rebels—The Story of a Frontier Uprising, by Leland D.
Baldwin.
Thirty Ancestors of Richard Henry Koch, 1939.
Historic Records Survey of Luzeme County.
The Norristown Herald and Free Press, 1834-1836.
Three Years in a Field Hospital, by Anna Morris Holstein.
The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon and the Escape, by Albert
D. Richardson.
In pamphlet form:
The Harmony Society in Pennsylvania.
Asa Packer, 1805-1879—Captain of Industry, Educator, Citizen.
The German Background of the Rubincam-Revercomb Family of Penn
sylvania and Virginia.
The Family of Jacob Revercomb, the First of the Race in Virginia.
The Republican Candidate for the Governorship of Pennsylvania in
1875.
History of the Ordinance of 1787 and the Old Northwest Territory.
The Beautiful and Accomplished Charlotte Temple, An Account of Her
Elopement with Lieut. Montroville.
The Jenkins Town Lyceum, 1838-1938.
The Pilot (5 numbers)—Containing the History of the Schuylkill Navi
gation Company, by J. V. Hare.
Sands and Logan—Records of the Two Families (Manuscript).
The Society has also received, too late to list here, a collection of
over one hundred volumes, containing many early imprints, some family
Bibles, early school books, etc. These were the gift of Dr. W. H. Reed.
The names will be given in the next issue.
Museum Accessions
Photostats of letters of Benjamin West and Robert Fulton to Governor
Mifflin, 1796.
Plan of two lots of ground in Rittenhousetown, Philadelphia, devised by
Enoch Rittenhouse to Peter Rittenhouse, 8-21-1860.
Service Record of the 124th Penna. Vols.
Two Clay and Frelinghuysen banners—campaign of 1844.
The Historical Society of Montgomery County has for
its object the preservation of the civil, political and religious
history of the county, as well as the promotion of the study
of history. The building up of a library for historical
research has been materially aided in the past by donations
of family, church and graveyard records; letters, diaries
and other manuscript material. Valuable files of newspapers
have also been contributed. This public-spirited support has
been highly appreciated and is earnestly desired for the
future.
Membership in the Society is open to all interested per
sons, whether residents of the county or not, and all such
persons are invited to have their names proposed at any
meeting. The annual dues are $2.00; life membership,
$50.00. Every member is entitled to a copy of each issue of
The Bulletin free.
Historical Hall, 18 East Penn Street, Norristown, with
its library and museum, is open for visitors each week day
from 10 to 12 A.M. and 1 to 4 P.M., except Saturday after
noon. The material in the library may be freely consulted
during these hours, but no book may be taken from the
building.
To Our Friends
Our Society needs funds for the furthering of its work, its expansion,
its growth and development. This can very nicely be done through
bequests from members and friends in the disposition of their estates.
The Society needs more funds in investments placed at interest; the
income arising therefrom would give the Society an annual return to
meet its needs. Following is a form that could be used in the making
of wills:
I
HEREBY
GIVE
AND
BEQUEATH
TO
THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY,
PENNSYLVANIA, THE SUM OP
DOLLARS (?
)

historical 50ciety - Historical Society of Montgomery County

Transcription

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