Part 16

In order to shew the present importance of that article, as a manufacture, in the United States, and which was first fabricated in this country by the Rittenhouses, the reader is presented with the following view of the quantity of paper, of various descriptions, annually made at one hundred and eighty-five paper-mills, within the United States; taken from the latest information furnished on this subject.

Tons. Reams. Value. For Newspapers, 500 50,000 $150,000 Books, 630 70,000 245,000 Writing, 650 111,000 333,000 Wrapping, 800 100,000 83,000 —-— —-—-— —-—-— 2580 331,000 811,000

Footnote 59a:

The number of Newspapers, printed annually in the United States, is estimated at twenty-two and an half millions.

Footnote 60:

Mr. Benjamin Rittenhouse, a younger brother of David, speaking of his paternal ancestors, in a letter addressed to the writer of these memoirs, says: “The family originally settled in the state of New-York, while a Dutch colony; and were, undoubtedly, the first paper-makers in America.” This fact was also communicated to the writer, by Dr. Franklin, some years before.

Footnote 61:

At the peace of Breda, in 1667, the Dutch colony of New Netherlands was confirmed to the English, to whom it had been ceded in 1664. But the Dutch having reduced the country in the years 1672 and 1673, it was finally restored to the English by the peace of Westminster, on the 9th of February, 1674. The Rittenhouses are supposed to have seated themselves, before this latter period, in that part of the colony afterwards called East-Jersey. Some of the name reside in the state of New-Jersey, at this day; but it is not known that any of them are inhabitants of the state of New-York. Those in New-Jersey, with most of those of the name in Pennsylvania, are descendants of Nicholas.

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Nicholas Rittenhouse, the grandfather of our Philosopher, died about the year 1730; leaving three sons, William, Henry, and Matthias; and four daughters, Psyche, Mary, Catharine, and Susanna. Of these daughters, Psyche intermarried with John Gorgas, from whom are descended the Gorgas’s of Cresham and Cocolico; Mary, with John Johnson, the father of Casper, John, Nicholas, William, and Benjamin Johnson, some of whom are now (or were lately) living, in the neighbourhood of Germantown; Catharine, with Jacob Engle, in the same vicinity; and Susanna, with Henry Heiley of Goshehoppen.

William Rittenhouse, the eldest brother of our Philosopher’s father, died at the paper-mills, near Germantown. He left several children, one of whom did lately, and perhaps yet does, carry on those works.—Henry and Matthias removed to the townships of Worcester and Norriton, about the year 1732 or 1733; where both lived to be upwards of seventy years of age.

The old American stock of the Rittenhouses were Anabaptists, and persons of very considerable note in that religious society. Probably, therefore, they were induced to establish their residence in Pennsylvania, towards the close of the seventeenth century, by the tolerating principles held forth by William Penn, in respect to religious concerns; the justness of the tenure by which he became proprietor of the soil; and the excellence of the political regulations established by that great legislator, for the civil government of his newly-acquired domains.

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Footnote 62:

The Rittenhouses who first settled in America, are supposed to have leaned towards the religious tenets of (if they did not belong to) that peaceable branch of the Anabaptists, denominated Mennonites. Simon Menno, the founder of this sect, was one of the first reformers: he was born at a village called Witmarsum, in the Batavian province of Friesland, in 1505; the same year in which John Knox was born, and four years before the birth of Calvin.

Menno had been a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, and some have endeavoured to stigmatize him, as one who was “a notorious profligate.” This, however, may be attributed to his having left the communion of the church of which he was originally a member: for, he is represented to have been “a man of probity, of a meek and tractable spirit, gentle in his manners, pliable and obsequious in his commerce with persons of all ranks and characters, and extremely zealous in promoting practical religion and virtue, which he recommended by his example as well as by his precepts.” He was, moreover, a man of genius and eloquence, and possessed a considerable share of learning. This extraordinary man died in the duchy of Holstein, in the year 1561.

The fundamental principles of the followers of Menno are, in some respects, similar to those of the people called Quakers: They use, likewise, great plainness in their apparel, and adhere to some of the practices of the primitive Christian church. But this peaceable sect baptize adults, and celebrate the eucharist in a manner peculiar to themselves.

Some of Menno’s disciples came into Pennsylvania from New-York, in the year 1692. The principal congregation of this sect was established at Germantown, soon after the Rittenhouses had settled themselves there; and this may be considered as the mother of the sect, in America. The Mennonites have since become a numerous body in Pennsylvania, principally in the county of Lancaster; and this religious society comprehends, among its members, many intelligent worthy men, and valuable citizens.

Footnote 63:

In the Preface to a printed copy of the celebrated Speech delivered in the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, on the 24th of May, 1764, by the late John Dickinson, Esq. the Merits of the Founder of Pennsylvania, as they were declared at various times, in the proceedings of the Legislative Body of the colony, and in some other public Documents, are thus summed up by the writer.

“WILLIAM PENN, A Man of Principles truly humane; An Advocate for Religion and Liberty; Possessing a noble Spirit, That exerted itself For the Good of Mankind; was The great and worthy Founder of PENNSYLVANIA. To its Inhabitants, by Charter, He granted and confirmed Many singular Privileges and Immunities, Civil and Religious, Which he continually studied To preserve and defend for them; Nobly declaring, That they had not followed him so far, To lose a single tittle Of the Great Charter, To which all Englishmen were born. For these Services, Great have been the Acknowledgements Deservedly paid to his Merit; And his Memory Is dear to his People, Who have repeatedly confessed, That, Next to Divine Providence, Their Happiness, Prosperity, and Increase Are owing To his wise Conduct and singular Goodness; Which deserve ever to be remembered With Gratitude and Affection, By PENNSYLVANIANS.”

For the materials of which the foregoing Eulogy is composed, its author has referred his readers to the Minutes of Assembly, for the years 1719 and 1725, to those from the year 1730 to 1740, both inclusive, excepting only 1736, 1737 and 1739; also, for 1745, 1755 and 1756; to other proceedings of the assembly, in the years 1730 and 1738; and to their Address to Governor John Penn, in 1764.

A very respectable Memorial of another nature, in honour of the justly celebrated Penn, decorates the edifice of a noble public institution in the capital of his former domain; an institution devoted to the purposes of charity, humanity and benevolence. It is a finely executed metallic statue, in bronze, of that great man; representing him in his appropriate attire, and holding in his right hand The Charter of Privileges. The statue stands on an elegant pedestal of marble, in an handsome area on the south front of the Pennsylvania Hospital: and the four sides of the pedestal contain these modest inscriptions; viz.

“William Penn—Born, 1644—Died, 1718.” (And underneath, the Family-Arms, with his Motto; viz.) “Mercy—Justice.”

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“Pennsylvania Granted by Charles II. to William Penn, 1681.”

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“The Proprietary arrived in 1682; made a just and amicable arrangement with the Natives, for the purchase of their Lands; and went back to England in 1684.”