A Genea-Biographical History of the Rittenhouse Family and All Its
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' l_ IIr N l_ 11 i-± ¦ > ": IT= ? o =-— P" o ~n =**. • z O « 0 JZ ¦ : ro m Z —— ' i S 2 0 Z :• oI ' _Z j = 8 S — \ rio _z: ; - ~* ' ,I __ I : —_ \j [f Ml 111 KSEI Daniel K. Cassel. Wit §ulknU this Wiorl: FIRST, TO THE MEMORY OF OUR ANCESTORS, WHO BEQUEATHED TO US THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, AND SET US EXAMPLES OP BLAMELESS, EXEMPLARY LIVES. SECOND, TO OUR PARENTS, WHO TAUGHT US TO PRIZE THIS INHERITANCE AS A PRICELESS BOON, DIRECT FROM THE HAND OP GOD. THIRD, TO OUR CHILDREN, WHOM WE ADJURE TO CHERISH THEIR INESTIMABLE PRIVILEGES, AND KEEP UNSULLIED THE FAMILY"NAME, UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD. FOURTH, TO OUR POSTERITY. KAY THEY EMULATE THE WORTHY EXAMPLE OF THE "GOOD AND TRUE" WHO HAVE PRECEDED THEM, AND "HONOR GOD AND OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS." A GENEA-BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE RITTENHOUSE FAMILY AND ALLITS BRANCHES IN AMERICA, jr" WITH SKETCHES OF THEIR DESCENDANTS, FROM THE EARLIEST AVAILABLERECORDS TO THE PRESENT TIME,INCLUDING , THE BIRTH OF WILHELM IN1644. Wiitlx portraits and other Jtlustrations. BY y/ DANIEL K. CASSEL, OF GEKMAUTOWN, PHILADELPHIA,PA. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALVAH RITTENHOUSE, M.D. VOLUME I. -j-rv- Uan : PUBLISHED BY THE RITTENHOUSE MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, PHILADELPHIA,.PA. 1893. COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY THE RITTENHOUSE MEMORIALASSOCIATION. Press of Wm. f.Fell& Co., 122024 SANSOM ST., PHILADELPHIA. MOTTO. Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us That the generations to come might hnoio them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children. —Psalm LXXVIII;Verses 3, 6. CONTENTS. PART FIRST. PAGE Notice to the Public, xv Historians, Contributors of Information, xvii Biography, xix Introduction by Alvah Eittenhouse, M.D., xxi Pedigree and Origin of Name, xxxi Charter, xxxvi Eittenhouse Family Eeunion, xxxviii Eeport of D. K. Cassel, xlii Fourth Annual Eeunion, xliv Poem, xlvi Paper, Origin of, 1 Paper Mills in America, 4 Bond from Clans Eittenhouse, 8 Proposals for Printing a Large Bible by William Bradford, 14 Searches for the Eittenhouse Arms, 18 Origin of the Coats of-Arms, 19 A List of Foreign Letters Concerning the Eittenhouse Family, Seal, Insignia, Coats-of-Arms, etc., 20 ABrief History ofthe Eittenhausens inEurope, 28 Altorf, 33 Broich, 33 MUlheim an der Euhr, 34 Seals Used by the Families, 34 ABrief Sketch ofthe Life ofGeorge W. Bailey, '36 Beginning ofthe Genea-Biographical History of the Eittenhouse Family inAmerica, 39 Preface to Part Second, 41 Explanations for this Volume, 45 Abbreviations Used, 46 PART SECOND. History of the Eittenhouse Family inAmerica, 47 Broich, 48 Westphalia, 49 Oath of Citizenship, 51 Willem, Wilhelm, or William Eittenhouse, his Descendants and their Branches, 51 Water Mark (Clover Leaf), 58 VII Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE Mennonites, 65 A Short and Sincere Declaration, 67 Second Generation, 70 "Will of Gerard Rittenhouse, 75 Will of Heivert Papen, 84 Old Receipts, 89 Will of Henry Rittenhouse, 91 The Norriton Church, 97 Further Accounts of William Rittenhouse, 102 Will of Garret Brownback, 116 Jacob Scheimer, 126 Abstract of the Willof Abraham Rittenhouse, 130 Copied, froma Printed Notice, 130 Paternal Ancestors of David Rittenhouse, 135 David Rittenhouse, the American Astronomer, 137 Biographical Sketch of David Rittenhouse, 16J. Fort Rittenhouse, 174 AnInteresting Landmark, 174 Rittenhouse Observatory, 175 Rittenhouse Mansion,— 175 The Observatory A Mausoleum, 177 Trouble Comes— The Case of the Sloop "Active," 177 Benedict Arnold's Speculation, 178 State Rights vs. Continental Rights, 179 Prolonged Litigation, 180 Brigadier General Bright Appears on the Scene, 180 Strategy Better than Force, 181 General Bright Committed and Punished, 182 From M. Auge's "Biography of Great Men of Montgomery County, Pa.," 183 Articles Written by David Rittenhouse, LL.D.,from 1732 to 1796, . 186 InCouncil of Safety, 187 Warrant Creating the Board of War, 188 Portraits of David Rittenhouse, 190 AnEnglish Obituary Notice of Dr. Rittenhouse, 191 Character of Dr. Rittenhouse, 192 David Rittenhouse on Slavery, ? 200 From Memoirs of David Rittenhouse, 204 Petition, 216 Rev. Thomas Barton, 217 Benjamin Rittenhouse Appointed as Associate Judge, 224 Abraham Scheimer, 243 Appendix, 249 The Rittenhouse Family, 252 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Frontispiece, Daniel K. Cassel. Portrait of Alvah Rittenhouse, M.D., xxi Maple Spring Hotel, xxiii First Board of Officers, xxiv PAKT FIKST. Group of First Board of Managers, xxv Log Cabin, xxvi Gavel, xxvii Badges, xxix Charter Members, xxxvi PAET SECOND. Clover Leaf, or Klee-Blatt, 16 Seals of Rittenhouse Family inEurope, 25 Portrait of John Sebastian Rittershausen, 27 Original Insignia of Patent of Coat-of-Anns Granted to Matthias, ... 27 Improved Coat-of-Anns Conferred upon George in1662, 28 Portrait of Conradi Rittershausen, 29 Portrait of Nicolaus Rittershausen, 30 Portrait of Georgius Rittershausen, 30 Seal of Adrian Rittershausen, 32 Family Seals, 35 George W. Bailey (Tank Kee), 36 Rittershausen Family at Hague, 38 Map of Westphalia, 49 Obligation of Citizenship, 50 Spruce Tree, 52 Paper Mill, 53 Clover Leaf, the Rittenhouse "Water Mark, 58 Garritt Roosen, . 59 Germantown Mennonite Meeting-house 71 A Draught of the Division of the Land of William Rittenhouse, ... 90 Mathatchon Mennonite Meeting-house, 91 IX LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. X Presbyterian Church atNorriton, 97 Deed from Matthias to David Rittenhouse, 98 Residence of Gerhard Brownback, 106 German Reformed, or Brownback's Church, 106 Portrait of Garret E. Brownback, ofLinfield, 119 Portrait of Jacob Rittenhouse, 129 Portrait of David Rittenhouse, 134 Birthplace of David Rittenhouse, 134 Residence of David Rittenhouse atNorriton, 139 The House atNorriton, Not a Special Building, where David Ritten house made his First Wooden Clock, HI The Transit ofVenus in1769, 145 Observatory at Norriton, 146 Rittenhouse Mansion at Seventh and Arch Streets, 166 Rittenhouse Clock, 185 Meridian Stone, or Memorial toDavid, 188 Rittenhouse Clock in the Room of the Philosophical Society, .... 202 Rev. Thomas Barton, 215 St James Episcopal Church, 219 Germantown Seal, 251 Paper MillDam, 254 INTRODUCTION. ONE NOT A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. A desire to preserve a family history, even though the known ancestry be recent, is among the most praiseworthy sentiments that man can have. An honest pride in the knowledge that an ancestor has made his name respected and honored among men may almost be termed a virtue, since itis calculated to act as an incentive to the living descendants at least to do nothing which will cast a smirch upon the name to which lustre has been given. Among the families in this country that may preserve and exhibit its history with satisfaction and pride is the one whose records are given in the following chapters. De scended from the Kittershausens of Westphalia, one member of which received a—patent of nobilityin the sixteenth cen tury for valor inwar a patent which was renewed to another member before the century closed —they have, under the Anglicized name of Bittenhouse in this country, furnished some men for other Americans to respect and honor. William and Nicholas Bittenhouse, who established the first paper-mill in this country, enrolled their names with credit on the early pages of American history; while the name of David Bittenhouse, after the lapse of more than a century and a half, is yet a household one as among the greatest astronomers and philosophers that ever lived, and a statesman and patriot of the first order. The gathering together of the records of a particular branch of a family is esteemed, and is,a task of magnitude ; but when all the branches for two centuries, male and female, XI Xll THE RITTENHOUSE FAMILY. are to be embraced, the labor, except to the most dauntless becomes appalling. Often one or more branches have failed either tokeep written records of births, marriages, and deaths, or through carelessness or accident have lost them. To recover these lost or broken threads forms the most difficult task of the family historian. Long, painful, and frequently disheartening searches among old and often nearly forgotten graveyards, weary investigations into the histories of other families supposed to be connected, patient reading of musty public documents, and long journeys from one part of the country to another, are but a tithe of the labor required. With the difficulties which invariably and continuously present themselves during the work, itis almost impossible to finallyexhibit a perfect record. Some gaps must exist, broken threads which no human hand, however patient, can probably ever unite. No apology, therefore, should be deemed necessary, or expected, from the compiler of a family history. Inseeking the genealogy of the Bittenhouses, he to whom the task was entrusted was confronted with all the difficul ties common to those who have performed similar work for other families. A prolific race, the Rittenhouses had scat tered all over the United States and Canada. There is. scarcely a Commonwealth between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans but contains many representatives of the family. Some, when the investigation was begun, had become lost to their kindred, and to find these and to unravel other tangled threads, Mr.Daniel K.Cassel himself traveled more than three thousand miles. Fortunately, in his labor of love he had many enthusiastic and intelligent assistants, otherwise his work would not yet have been completed to the point which warranted publication. The result has been a work which, it is hoped, will have a wider interest than family histories ordinarily possess, since, William, Nicholas, and David Rittenhouse, many other names are familiar as having been honorably identified in the army, THE RITTENHOTJSE FAMILY. xm the law, and the ministry. Moreover, the manner in which the lives of the earlier Rittenhouses were interwoven with the struggling colonists hefore and during the War of Inde pendence made necessary the welcome publication of many of the scenes and incidents of those times.