Pennsylvania, where they arrived May 17, 1825, making the trip by boat,
their new home being located on the Ohio River twenty miles from the
first home of the society, at Harmony, and eighteen miles from
Pittsburgh.
George Rapp died August 7, 1847, aged ninety years. The society remained
intact, although reduced in membership, until May 12, 1903, when there
were but four members.
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Johan Printz Arrives as Governor of New
Sweden, February 16, 1643
The Swedes followed the Dutch in settling along the Delaware River,
which they called the Zuydt or South River. The Swedes formed several
companies for the purpose of trade with the New World, as America was
then called.
The first expedition came under Peter Minuit, a Hollander, in March,
1638, and settled on Christiana Creek, near the present Wilmington, Del.
Here they built Fort Christiana and gave the country the name New
Sweden. Two other expeditions came from Sweden and with them came
colonists whose names are still borne by families in Pennsylvania.
In 1642, Johan Printz, who had been kept busy capturing delinquent
Finns, who were committing all sorts of depredations in Sweden, and
refusing to either desist or return to their own Finland, was knighted
by the Swedish Government and appointed Governor of New Sweden.
He had been a lieutenant colonel of a regiment of cavalry in the Thirty
Years’ War, and had been dismissed from the service because of what was
held to be a too feeble defense of a city in which he had command.
Accompanied by his wife, daughter Armegot, and a minister, the Rev. John
Campanius, and two vessels, the Fawn and the Swan, loaded with wine,
malt, grain, peas, nets, muskets, shoes, stockings, wearing apparel,
writing paper, sealing wax, oranges, lemons and hay, and having on board
a number of poachers, deserters and culprit Finns, he arrived at Fort
Christiana, February 16, 1643, after a stormy voyage of five months.
This was an unusual expedition in that it was the most important of all
those sent out by Sweden and in the further fact that Printz was, next
to Minuit, the most conspicuous figure connected with New Sweden.
In the instructions he received with his commission, he was to deal with
the English at Varkens Kill, near the present Salem, New Jersey, and the
Dutch at Fort Nassau; to treat with the Indians with humanity, protect
them, and “civilize” them—especially to sell them goods at lower prices
than the English or Dutch.
He was allowed to choose his residence at Cape Henlopen, Christiana, or
Jacques Island; but he was ordered to see that his fort commanded the
river, and that a good winter harbor for vessels was close at hand.
Printz lost no time in carrying out his instructions. Proceeding up the
river from Christiana, he decided to make the seat of government at
Jacques Island, the place called by the Indians Tenacong and since
Tinicum. Here he built a fort of green logs, mounted on it four brass
cannon, and called it Nye (New) Gottenburg.
Thus Printz made the first settlement by white men in what is now
Pennsylvania which was destined to survive. Kling was sent to make a
settlement on the Schuylkill, and he built a fort near its mouth, called
New Korsholm.
Printz, however, was not content with the forts already erected, but a
third was built, in 1643, on the east side of the river below Mill
Creek, called Fort Elfborg, which was mounted with eight cannon and a
mortar, and garrisoned with thirteen soldiers, under Swen Skute. The
story is that later the men were driven out by mosquitoes. This fort was
intended to shut up the river, a matter which greatly exasperated the
Dutch, whose ships, when passing, had to lower their colors and were
boarded by the Swedes.
In 1645 these Swedes started what was undoubtedly the first industrial
plant in Pennsylvania. That was a small grist mill, which they built on
the waters of Cobbs Creek, and when its wheels began to turn the
industry of the greatest industrial State in the world began its
production.
At Tinicum the Swedish settlements now centered. In three or four years
following Printz’s arrival, Tinicum gradually assumed the character of a
hamlet.
In 1645, he built a mansion on Tinicum Island, and it long bore the name
of Printzhof.
A church was also built at this time, which the Reverend Mr. Campanius
dedicated September 4, 1646. This was the first house of Christian
worship within the present limits of Pennsylvania.
Indian troubles threatened during 1644. The shocking and unpardonable
cruelties of Kieft, the Governor of Manhattan, in which hundreds of
Indians, along the Hudson, were slain, caused the belief among the
natives that the newcomers were cruel.
In the spring of 1644, two white soldiers and a laborer were killed on
the Delaware, below Christiana, and later a Swedish woman and her
English husband were killed between Tinicum and Upland. This event was
the first tragedy in which white blood was shed in Pennsylvania by the
Indians.
Printz assembled his people for defense at Upland, but the Indian chiefs
of the region came in, disowned the act, and effected a treaty.
There was a long period during which no ships from Sweden came, and the
colonists were destitute for necessities which they depended on
receiving from the homeland. There was no vessel from March, 1644, until
the “Golden Shark” arrived October 1, 1646.
The settlement of the country, however, proceeded very slowly under
Swedish enterprise, while trade was pushed to an extent never before
known upon the river. This greatly annoyed the Dutch, and in consequence
of having lost this trade to the Swedes, the Dutch Governor, Kieft, sent
Hudde to keep watch on the proceedings of Governor Printz and to resist
his supposed innovation. These two soon got into angry controversy, but
through the negotiation of the Reverend Mr. Campanius, an amicable
arrangement was entered into regarding the trade of the Schuylkill.
But the real object of the Dutch was to plant a settlement on the
western shore of the Delaware, and to this Governor Printz entered a
sharp protest.
Governor Kieft was recalled about this time, and he was succeeded by
Peter Stuyvesant, whose Administration commenced May 27, 1647, and
continued until 1664, when the American interests of the Dutch passed
into the hands of the English.
The disagreement between the Dutch and Swedes continued, giving rise to
mutual hatred and jealousy. The Dutch “arms” were set up on the west
bank and as promptly taken down by the Swedes.
Printz had requested to be relieved, but he was ordered to remain when
new grants of land were made to him, and he remained at his post until
October, 1653, when he transferred the charge of the Government to his
son-in-law, John Papegoja, and sailed for Sweden.
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Captain William Trent Leads First English
Armed Force to Forks of Ohio,
February 17, 1754
Previous to the French and Indian War, and in fact until the Revolution,
Virginia held that the upper Ohio Valley, in what is now Pennsylvania,
was a part of their Dominion.
Governor Dinwiddie feared the aggressions of the French in that region
and commenced preparations for raising a force to be sent to the “Forks
of the Ohio” (Pittsburgh), to occupy that strategic point, and build a
defensive work that would enable him to resist the French.
This force, a company of Colonial Militiamen under command of Captain
William Trent, marched from Virginia, in January, 1754, and reached the
Forks February 17, following.
Work was begun, but proceeded slowly on account of the severity of the
weather, and Captain Trent returning to Will’s Creek, left in charge a
young commissioned officer, an ensign, named Edward Ward.
This was not, however, the first aggressive action on the part of
Virginia.
Pennsylvania authorities believed that the limits of the State were
about what they are today, but they had so many internal jealousies and
quarrels on their hands at the time the French became active intruders
along the French Creek, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, that they delayed
making any action against them.
While Virginia was experiencing almost similar difficulties as
Pennsylvania, she did, in 1753, take steps to put a stop to the farther
advance of the French.
Governor Dinwiddie dispatched Captain William Trent to ascertain the
activities of the French, but he neglected his duty, and went no farther
than Logstown. In a letter to the Lords of Trade, Dinwiddie said of
them: “He reports the French were then one hundred and fifty miles up
the river, and, I believe, was afraid to go to them.”
The home government advised Dinwiddie to obtain information and for this
purpose to dispatch a messenger. Acting under these instructions,
Dinwiddie sent a young man who was destined to become finally the most
illustrious figure in American history. This was George Washington.
Following out his instructions, young Washington proceeded to Logstown,
and thence with Tanacharison or the Half-King, Jeskakake, White Thunder,
and Guyasutha or the Hunter, he set out November 30, and on December 11,
reached Fort Le Boeuf, which was on the site of the present Waterford,
Erie County, Pennsylvania.
Having accomplished the purpose of his mission, and obtained full
information of the strength and plans of the French, and an answer to
the letter which he had carried from Governor Dinwiddie to the French
commandant, he returned with much hardship to Virginia, reaching
Williamsburg, January 16, 1754, where he made his report to the
Governor.
This information led at once to military measures for the defense of the
Ohio, and the command of Captain Trent pushed forward.
The French were promptly warned of the arrival of Trent’s troops, and
were not long idle.
On April 17, when the fort was still uncompleted, Ensign Ward suddenly
found himself surrounded by a force of one thousand men, French and
Indians, under the command of Captain Contrecoeur, with eighteen pieces
of artillery.
By Chevalier Le Mercier, captain of the artillery of Canada, Contrecoeur
sent a summons to the commanding officer of the English to surrender,
informing him that he, Contrecoeur, “was come out into this place,
charged with orders from his General to request him (the English
commander) to retreat peaceably, with his troops from off the lands of
the French king, and not to return, or else he would find himself
obliged to fulfill his duty, and compel him to it.” “I hope,” continued
Contrecoeur, in his summons, “that you will not defer one instant, and
that you will not force me to the last extremity. In that case, sir, you
may be persuaded that I will give orders that there shall be no damage
done by my detachment.”
The friendly Half King, who was present, advised Ward to reply that he
was not an officer of rank with power to answer the demand, and to
request delay until he could send for his superior officer.
Contrecoeur refused to parley, and demanded immediate surrender.
Having less than forty men in a half finished stockade, Ward was unable
to resist the force opposed to him, and therefore prudently yielded to
the demand without further hesitation.
He was allowed to withdraw his men and take his tools with him, and on
the morning of April 18, he left the position and started on his return
to Virginia.
This affair was one of the initial events of the French and Indian War,
an epoch-making struggle.
The French took possession of the half-finished fort and completed it,
naming it Fort Duquesne, in honor of Marquis Du Quesne, then Governor
General of Canada.
Captain William Trent who led the first English armed force into the
Ohio Valley, February 17, 1754, was a native of Chester County,
Pennsylvania. His name is given to Trenton, N. J.
In 1746, Governor Thomas appointed him captain of one of the four
companies raised in Pennsylvania, for an intended expedition against
Canada. In 1749, Governor Hamilton appointed him a justice for
Cumberland County, where in the following year he formed a partnership
with George Croghan to engage in the Indian trade, and he went to
Logstown.
In 1753, the Governor of Virginia directed him to build a fort at the
“Forks of the Ohio,” which seems to be the first time he recognized the
authority of Virginia.
Captain Trent again entered the service of Pennsylvania, in 1755, as a
member of the Council, but two years later he again entered the employ
of Virginia.
In 1763, his large trading house near Fort Pitt was destroyed by the
Indians.
During the Revolution Congress gave him a commission as major.
----------
William Rittenhouse, Who Built First Paper
Mill in America, Died February 18,1708
The first paper mill on the American continent was established in 1690
by the Reverend William Rittenhouse, upon a branch of Wissahickon Creek,
and from that date until 1710 there was no other paper mill in the
American Colonies.
This mill was situated on a meadow along the bank of a stream known as
Paper-Mill Run, which empties into the Wissahickon Creek, about two
miles above its confluence with the Schuylkill.
The founder emigrated from Holland, where he was born in the
Principality of Broich, in the year 1644. He spelled his name then
Ryttinhuisen, which is anglicized into Rittenhouse.
His ancestors had been engaged for generations in paper-making, and he
had learned the same business. It has been stated that he had a brother
who originally came to New York while it was a Dutch Colony; that the
brother settled in New Jersey, but William, with his two sons, Claus or
Nicholas, and Garrett or Gerhard, came to Pennsylvania prior to or
during the year 1690. The Rittenhouses were among “sixty-four of the
first Germantown inhabitants,” as they were styled, who were granted
naturalization by Thomas Lloyd, Deputy Governor, on May 7, 1691.
At the time Rittenhouse arrived in Germantown there was a printer,
William Bradford, already established in an office in Philadelphia, and
it may be that he induced the paper-makers to locate there. Anyway they
no sooner settled at Germantown than they began the erection of a paper
mill, on property purchased from Samuel Carpenter, of Philadelphia.
It appears from the original deed that William Bradford, Robert Turner
and Thomas Tresse were interested with William Rittenhouse in the
enterprise. They were deeded twenty acres.
The mill was built, but soon thereafter Robert Turner died, and Bradford
and Tresse assigned their rights to William Rittenhouse, who became the
sole owner. Their deed for this property was acknowledged December 6,
1693. The term of the lease was for 975 years from the 29th of
September, 1705, and the rent reserved was five shillings sterling per
annum.
It thus appears that there was at first a company regularly organized to
establish a paper mill. Samuel Carpenter and Robert Turner were
extensive land owners and were advisers and coadjutors of William Penn.
Thomas Tresse was a rich iron monger and William Bradford was the famous
printer who established the first printing press in the middle colonies
of America, in 1685.
The chief and most important member of this company was William
Rittenhouse, who became the sole proprietor prior to 1705, unless the
interest of Tresse was purchased by Claus Rittenhouse, about 1701. It
also seems that the son bought Bradford’s interest in 1704. Father and
son were practical papermakers and the owners.
Bradford got himself into trouble when he printed the charter without
leave of the ruling powers, and then for printing a pamphlet of George
Keith, a seceding Scotch Quaker. He was arraigned in court, and in 1693
left Philadelphia and established himself in New York, where he
introduced the first printing plant in that province.
When Bradford left Philadelphia he was to receive for his share of the
mill paper of the value of six pounds, two shillings, and the assurance
that he had a monopoly of the entire printing paper that was made in
America from September 1, 1697, until September 1, 1707. The quantity is
not stated, neither is there anything by which we can determine, at this
late day, the capacity of the mill.
All paper was then manufactured by hand, each sheet being made
separately. At that early day and long afterward the rags were pounded
into pulp in stone and iron mortars by the aid of trip-hammers, and
several days were required to furnish a sample sheet of dry-finished
paper. At that time a day’s production per man was one and a half reams
of newspaper of the size of 20 by 30 inches. Small as was this mill, its
importance can hardly be understood, for the greatest commercial
metropolis of America drew its supply of printing paper from this mill.
There, in this secluded spot, away from any except the hermits who lived
in the caves along the Wissahickon, and with no access to Philadelphia
except by Germantown, William Rittenhouse, and his son devoted
themselves with untiring industry to their useful and honorable art.
They soon acquired a wide reputation as producers of “good paper,” and
to this they usually affixed a water-mark.
In 1701 a great misfortune overtook the honest craftsmen. The little
stream on which they depended for their water-power experienced a
freshet of such fury that the mill was swept away and entirely
destroyed, and all machinery, stock, tools and much personal property
carried away in the flood.
Nothing daunted they resolved to begin anew. They chose another site a
short distance below the first mill and in 1702 a mill, better than the
original, was erected.
In the new mill Bradford still retained an interest but Claus
Rittenhouse would not renew his monopoly on the mill’s supply. On June
30, 1704, Bradford sold his share in the mill, and from that day the
paper mill became a Rittenhouse concern and so continued for
generations, until the mill had been rebuilt a fourth time, when it was
converted into a cotton factory.
William Rittenhouse died February 18, 1708, and was succeeded in the
business by his son, Claus. Both father and son were also Mennonite
preachers.
Claus continued to supply not only Bradford in New York, but the home
market in Germantown and Philadelphia. Bradford paid partly in fine rags
for his paper.
A second paper mill was erected in 1710, in Germantown, by William De
Wees, a brother-in-law of Claus Rittenhouse, under whom he learned the
trade of papermaking. Claus Rittenhouse obtained possession of this mill
in 1713, and it was operated for many years.
When Andrew Bradford established The American Mercury, in Philadelphia,
December 22, 1719, the first newspaper ever printed in the British
Middle Colonies, the paper for his Mercury was made at the Rittenhouse
mill.
Claus Rittenhouse, the second papermaker in America, died in May, 1734,
aged sixty-eight. He was born in Holland, June 15, 1666. He was the
grandfather of David Rittenhouse, the American astronomer, who was also
treasurer of Pennsylvania during the Revolution.
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Canal System Started with Committee Report
of February 19, 1791
In the earliest days, before railroads and steam power were developed,
water communication was the popular mode of commercial transportation.
The spirit of the early settlers in Pennsylvania was alive with the idea
of internal improvement, and very early they were anxious to reach out
toward the western empire that was to become the promised land and
furnish food for the world. The ultimate result of this vision was the
construction of the grand system of canals connecting the navigable
rivers, Delaware and Ohio, by which products of the States and
Territories to the westward could be carried to Philadelphia, the
metropolitan seaport city of Pennsylvania.
William Penn fostered the idea and recommended a scheme to connect the
Susquehanna at what is now Middletown with Philadelphia by uniting the
waters of the Schuylkill River at Reading with those of Tulpehocken
Creek and the Quittapahilla, which flowed into the Swatara ten miles
westward and thence into the Susquehanna at Middletown.
As early as 1761 Commissioners were appointed by the Proprietaries to
clear, scour and make the Schuylkill navigable for boats, flats, rafts,
canoes and other small vessels, from the ridge of mountains commonly
called the Blue Mountains to the river Delaware. This action was the
initial step in the formation of the Schuylkill Navigation Company.
The broad river itself in many portions was concentrated into pools
forming slack water navigation and these pools were connected by
sections of canals with a depth of six feet of water, passing boats with
a capacity of 200 tons.
The committee appointed in January, 1791, to examine the report of the
Commissioners who explored the Delaware and western waters of the
Susquehanna, reported February 19. They considered the Delaware toward
New York State and to Lake Ontario; the Lehigh and Schuylkill, the
latter with the object of reaching Harrisburg; the Juniata and the north
and west branches of the Susquehanna.
The several principal canals of the State in the order of the dates in
which they were created by acts of Assembly, and from which all others
were either extensions or feeders, were as follows:
1. Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company, created September 29,
1791, passed through the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon and Berks. It
began at Columbia on the Susquehanna and extended to the mouth of the
Juniata, then later on up along that river to Hollidaysburg at the
eastern base of the Allegheny Mountains—a total length of 171 miles.
2. Delaware and Schuylkill, April 10, 1792, in Berks, Montgomery and
Philadelphia Counties.
3. Conewago Canal in York County, April 10, 1793.
4. Brandywine Canal and Lock Navigation, April 10, 1793.
5. Lehigh Navigation, February 27, 1798, in Northampton and Luzerne
Counties. A total of forty-six miles.
6. Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, February 19, 1801.
7. Concocheague Navigation, February 7, 1803; connected Chambersburg
with the Potomac.
8. Conestoga Lock and Dam Navigation, March 17, 1806, in Lancaster
County, was an improvement of Conestoga Creek by locks and dams from its
mouth to the city of Lancaster, a distance of fourteen miles.
9. Union Canal Company, April 2, 1811, connected the Susquehanna at
Middletown to the Schuylkill two miles below Reading; length eighty-two
miles. There was also a branch canal and feeder twenty-two miles in
length with a railroad of four miles to Pine Grove coal mines.
10. Neshaminy Lock Navigation, March 26, 1814.
11. Schuylkill Navigation, March 8, 1815, in Schuylkill, Berks,
Montgomery, Chester and Philadelphia Counties. This began at Port Carbon
on Schuylkill, and ran to Philadelphia, a distance of 108 miles.
12. Lackawanna Navigation, February 5, 1817, a part of the Delaware and
Hudson Canal, from Honesdale on the Lackawaxen to the mouth of that
stream, a distance of twenty miles.
13. Monongahela Navigation, March 24, 1817, in Fayette, Greene,
Westmoreland, Washington and Allegheny Counties. From Johnstown on the
Conemaugh, at the western base of the Allegheny down the Conemaugh,
Kiskiminetas and Allegheny to Pittsburgh—distance, 105 miles.
14. Octoraro Navigation, March 29, 1819.
15. Conewago Canal, east side, March 29, 1814.
In the report of Canal Commissioners made in 1827 was this paragraph:
“In the latter end of May the location of a line from the mouth of the
Juniata to Northumberland was commenced, beginning at Duncan Island, and
extending up the west side to a point opposite Northumberland.” This
canal was thirty-seven miles in length.
The North Branch began at Northumberland and extended to two miles below
Wilkes-Barre, and later extended to New York State line.
The West Branch began at Northumberland and ran to Muncy Dam, a distance
of twenty-six miles, but later was extended to Bald Eagle, where it
united with the Erie Canal.
After extensive surveys made in 1824 and 1825, the Commonwealth entered,
in the year 1826, into the actual construction of an extended system of
internal improvements and continued the annual expenditure of large sums
of money for canals and railroads for fifteen years, or until 1841.