CHAPTER I.

"The history of every family is a romance; to those who search its pages, a poem."

LAMARTINE:

THE family of Potts is of German origin, but the branch of which this volume is a memorial sprang from a stock that had flourished in England for more than a hundred years before a scion was transplanted to the New World.

In the sixteenth century the champions of the Pope devastated with fire and sword many parts of Germany, while striving to drive that protesting country back into the fold of Rome; it was probably some wave of the religious persecution of those days that exiled the ancestor of this family to Great Britain.

Sir William Pot was made baronet, and had a grant of arms, in 1583. The coat was " azure two bars or, over all a band of the last, Crest on mount vert, an Ounce eijant ppr. collared and a chained."Two mottoes were adopted by the family," In Vinculis etiam Audax,"and" Vinctus sed non Victus," both crest and mottoes bearing some allusion to bravery while imprisoned or

chained. From Cheshire, the first settlement of the Pottses, where they are still a family of wealth and importance, a branch

Initial Chapter. - 2

went, says Burke, to " Ireland, and to Maryland, U. S." (1) John Pot, a grandson of Sir William, was made a baronet in 1641, and settled in Norfolk, Eng., where, a century after, his branch became extinct. The ancestor of the Irish family was a staunch supporter of King William. Following him to Ireland as an officer in the army, he fought at the battle of Boyne water, and settled not far from where the decisive 'victory was gained over James II., near Atblone., This branch, though few in number, is an influential family; and has a tradition that a brother of their ancestor emigrated to American. (2)

Very soon after George Fox began his public ministry, he gained many followers in the county of Chester. These people, called Quakers, became amenable to the laws of the land, as they refused to pay tithes, to take the oath of allegiance, or to uncover their heads before magistrates they held meetings frequently in such near neighborhood to the parish churches as to disturb the regular services. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that in every town and county they should have been persecuted by the authorities; and in the ancient city of Chester they were fined, imprisoned, and even tortured, (3) at an early date. Among these sufferers we find one Thomas Potts frequently mentioned by Besse.(4)

(1) Burke's Baronetage and Landed Gentry; Walford's County Families. When this was printed in England, several of the Pottstown branch of the family were living in Alexandria, Va., and the neighborhood. Virginia and Maryland being adjoining States, the locality is not very inaccurate.

(2) Letter of William Potts, Esq., of New Court, near Athlone, to the author.

(3) There was in Chester one of those dreadful relics of the dark ages, a dungeon cut in the rock. too small for a full-grown person, and fitted with appliances for making it still smaller. It was derisively called Little Ease, and into its terrible embrace many a contumacious Quaker was barbarously thrust.

(4) A Collection of the Sufferings. of the People called Quakers for the Testimony of a Good Conscience. By Joseph Besse. London, 1753.

Initial Chapter. - 3

In 1653,the first year of persecution in Cheshire, lie was fined, and with five others suffered distress of goods "to the value of L11 10 s. for going but two miles from their habitations to a meeting." According to the form of a warrant given by Besse, persons over sixteen years were subject to imprisonment for unlawfully assembling together, on pretense of joining in religious worship to God. In 1665 eighteen persons were taken at a meeting at the house of Edward Alcock of Mobberly, and were committed to the House of Correction at Middlewick for two months. Here they suffered so greatly, in the depth of winter, that one of their number died; at the end of two months the seventeen were released, but four of them, namely, Thomas Janney, Thomas Pott, Jeffery Burgess, and Edward Alcock, were soon after taken again at a meeting, and recommitted for four months.

Potts could have been released but a short time, when we find him in 1666 committed to the common jail a t Chester with four others, having been convicted of attending a meeting at the house of Thomas Janney at Pownal-Fee.

In 1671, Thomas Potts, for 20 S. tithes claimed by Peter Ledsham, priest of Wilmstow, had goods taken of much greater value. In 1673, Thomas Janney,(1) Thomas Pott, and Robert Pearson, (2) for tithes claimed of them. worth 62 IV., had property seized to the value of L 10 19 s. The last mention of this person by Besse is under date of 1684: "Thomas Potts, of Wilmstow, for a meeting at his house, was fined L20; but he being very poor, the officers who broke open his doors and rifled his house could find no more

(1) Thomas Janney, probably the same here mentioned, became one of Penn's Council in Philadelphia.

(2) It was in compliment to his son, Thomas Pearson, that William Penn changed the Swedish name of Upland, the place where be first landed, in 1682, to Chester; he settled in that county, and became the grandfather of Benjamin West, the artist.

4 - Initial Chapter.

goods than amounted to 63 6d., which they took, and the poor man and his family were obliged to seek for lodgings at their neighbors' houses."

The Shield, in which a Thomas Potts, with his wife and children, were passengers, had arrived at Burlington in 1678, six years before the event mentioned in the last paragraph took place, and the person of that name who came in it could not therefore have been the persecuted Quaker of Wilmstow. But there is little doubt that, stripped of all his property by fines and imprisonments during thirty-one years, he or his family, soon after 1684, emigrated to William Penn's colony, and that his children became the ancestors of the numerous families of the same name in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

"Anno 1677, on the 18 th of the month called July," says Besse, the priest of Treseylwys and the priest of Llanidles in Montgomeryshire, Wales, gave information of a meeting at the house of John Jarman,* in that borough town-on the Severn, upon which the mayor and constables came thither and arrested seven of the assembly and committed them to prison, and fined several others, who had their cattle seized for their fines "; five of these last are mentioned, and at the head of the list is "John Potts. One cow and six young beasts worth L12 10 s." From this fact he appears to have been the most important man at the meeting, and living near the town of Llanidles, or Llanydloes, on the Severn in North Wales, not far from Montgomery. This part of the Principality is so near and convenient of access to Chester, that the inhabitants consider that ancient Roman town as their metropolis. The writer has

(1) John Jarman is mentioned in the History of Delaware County by Dr. George

Smith, as having settled in Radnor, Pennsylvania, before 1684, as at that date he was a minister of the society of Friends there. He had a son of the same name celebrated as a mathematician. I find the name of one of these Johns, in 1750, signed is a witness to the receipt of a legacy, among the family papers in my possession.

Initilial Chapter - 5

been unable to make any personal investigations in England concerning the family, but there is no doubt that the different branches of the same name in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are descended from these two persecuted Quakers. The tradition current in the Colebrook Dale family, that their ancestor came from Wales, where lie was interested in iron-works, finds some corroboration in the following facts, and points strongly towards John of Llanidles, who, according to Besse's account, lived at that borough town on the Severn, which is not far from Colebrook Dale, one of the most important iron-works at that early day in Great Britain.

Thomas Potts, who was married at Germantown in 1699, became engaged in developing the iron-mines of Pennsylvania in 1723; and though these had been worked several years on the Manatawny, Schuylkill, and French Creek, no furnace bore the name of that on the borders of Wales until he called his own mines Colebrook Dale, which became the name of. the township, and the designation by which he is still distinguished in the family. The part of the county containing Pottstown, when it was separated from Philadelphia, received the name of Montgomery.

That John of Llanidles and Thomas of Wilmstow were allied in the old country there is every reason to believe ; but what the relationship was, I have no means of ascertaining here. Wilmstow appears to be a name of German origin, as a town in Bavaria is called Wilmstoven; it may have been the place in Cheshire where the German ancestor of the family settled. It is worthy of remark, in this connection, that one of the first houses built by the Colebrook Dale family is called Stowe, though there is no village or town of that name. It is still standing about two miles from Pottstown, and is a handsome building of fine dressed sandstone,one end having a Mansard roof. The plantation on which it stands comprised two hundred and fifty acres it has been the

Initial Chapter - 5

birthplace and the home of several generations of different branches of the family. It was confiscated during the Revolution as the property of the Tory, judge John Potts, and was purchased of government by his patriotic brother, Dr. Jonathan Potts, mere ly to keep it in the family, as he sold it, a few weeks after, to his brother David, who had already a very large landed estate.

Some of the descendants of the various persons named Thomas Potts have been sorely puzzled to account for the number in Pennsylvania and Jersey who bore that name as early as 1698. It is now certain that there were several of the name who came over from England before I 1700. The writer purposes only to trace the descendants of Thomas of Colebrook Dale in this volume; although her extensive researches among the records of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have given her valuable information concerning the contemporary ancestors of the other families, it would increase the size of this book too much to insert it here.

CHAPTER II - 7

GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

"That brother band,

The sorrowing exiles from their Fatherland,

Leaving their homes in Kriesheim's bowers of vine,

And the blue beauty of their glorious Rhine,

To seek amidst our solemn depths of wood

Freedom for man and holy peace with God,

Who first of all their testimonial gave

Against the oppressor, for the outcast slave."

Whittier.

HE records of the early Friends of Germantown are at Abington, which was once included within the limits of that settlement, and until 1701called the Mill Township. From these I extract the following: "At a monthly meeting, held the 20th of 8th mo., 1699, whereas Thomas Potts and Martha Courlin,(1) having declared their intention of marriage with each other before two monthly meetings, inquiry being made by persons appointed and found clear from all others on account of marriage, did, accomplish

(1) Keurlis seems to have been the German orthography.

8 - Germantown, Pa.

their marriage in the unity of Friends, as is signified by their marriage certificate.'

Martha was the daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Keurlis, and had come from Germany with her parents, in company with Pastorius, sixteen years before. An allotment of land was made to Peter Keurlis in the laying out of Germantown, and his name appears frequently in the early records as one of the original householders. Like most of these German names, it is variously spelled in different documents, and seems finally to have been anglicized into. Kerlin.

So little has been printed which is accessible to the general reader regarding this first German colony in the United States, that the author believes that a few of the facts she has gathered from the German letters of Pastorius and other sources will not be uninteresting to the descendants of Martha Keurlis.

Proud, a Quaker historian, says, "The first German emigrant Quakers were from Greisheim in the Palatinate"; but Eberling, a German, in his " History of Pennsylvania," after quoting this from Proud, when speaking of the English settlement of Pennsylvania, says, " About this time a German society was formed at Frankfort on the Main, Duisberg, Bremen, Lubeck, and other places, who undertook in concert to send emigrants to Pennsylvania, and to open a trade with that country. This took place under the guidance of the Licentiate Pastorius from the free city of Windsheim, who carried over a number of Germans, who established themselves at Germantown, and brought that place into great repute." Francis Daniel Pastorius was the son of Melchior Adam Pastorius, Mayor of Windsheirn in Franconia, judge of the highest court, and a person of much dignity and importance. Francis Daniel, after graduating at the University of Altorf, continued his studies in the law at Strasburg, Basle, Jena, and Ratisbon, and

Germantown, Pa. - 9

received the degree of Doctor Utriusque Juris at Nuremberg in 1676. He spent the next two years at Windsheim, and then went to Frankfort on the Main to practise law, where he also delivered lectures on the subject to some young patricians. Here he became acquainted with Dr. Spener, the head of the Pietists, who recommended him to a young nobleman who was about to make the tour of Europe, and with whom he spent two years in visiting Great Britain and the most important capitals of the Continent. From his own account he appears to have led a gay life, and, finding all vanity and vexation of spirit, was always seeking for true Christians in every great city, but found them only in Cambridge,(1) England in the town of Ghent, who taught him many things and confirmed his good resolutions; so that when he returned to Frankfort in 16So he was quite ready to embrace the idea of emigrating to America, which was proposed to him by a few gentlemen who had become interested in Penn's colony, and had formed a company to purchase lands in the New World. Though some sort of contract was made in Germany, Pastorius, having been appointed by the company, went over to London, after Penn had sailed for America, and bought of his agent Ford twenty thousand sores. (2) for which he received a certificate, and the promise that fifteen thousand should be located together on a navigable stream; also three hundred 'acres in the city liberties. The following extracts are translated from the original German, a collection of the letters of Pastorius to his father and friends, printed at Frankfort and Leipzig, 1700-4:

"After I went from London to Deal, I hired four men-servants and two maids to come over with me, and started with a company of eighty persons; the ship drew thirty feet of water. Our allow-

(1) These were the Puritan divines of the University.

(2) In a later letter he says thirty thousand acres.

10 - Germantown, Pa.

ance of food and drink was very bad ; for ten persons' supply three pounds of butter were given, and daily four quarts of beer and one quart of water; for dinner every noon we had two dishes of pease ; four times a week we had meat, and three times salt-fish, which we had to dress ourselves with the butter distributed to us. What was left from the dinner we had to save for supper. This food being very inadequate, every one must provide himself, before entering the ship, with provisions.

"I undertook this journey and voyage across the great ocean under God's holy guidance; and with nine persons related to me, we sailed from Deal, June 7, 1683.

"On the 16th of August, 1683, we came in sight of America, but it was the 18th of the same month when we came to the Delaware River. On the 20th we sailed past Newcastle and Upland, and arrived towards evening happily at Philadelphia, where I was received by the Governor, William Penn, with love and friendship."

This was Pastorius's first -acquaintance with the founder of Pennsylvania, although the ship in which he and his colony came brought also some Quakers to Philadelphia.

The name of the vessel was the America, Captain Wasey; and for the accommodations recited above, the forty-one Germans who came in her paid six pounds sterling, or thirty-six thalers, passage money each.,

There is some account in these letters of the trouble concerning the location of the lands bought in London, and much interchange of sentiment took place in the Latin and French tongue between Penn and Pastorius.; but when the final arrangement was made, the Germans felt aggrieved that their town did not extend to the Schuylkill, the navigable water promised.

There is no reason to suppose that Pastorius or his eleven families were Quakers when they arrived here. In his letters home he

Germantown, Pa. - 11

calls the Friends of Philadelphia Tremulendos," and he disclaims for himself the name of Pietist. He had, it is true, a longing for a more spiritual worship than was in fashion among the. " mouth Christians " of his day, but he was willing to welcome to his colony any one from the Fatherland who loved God and his neighbor; but in his writings he insists strongly on the doctrine of the Trinity (2) as of saving importance. He gives two reasons for coming to this country, and surely he was the best judge of his own motive for emigration, - first, to provide a Pellae, or refuge from the judgments soon to overwhelm the Old World for its sins; and, secondly, to civilize and Christianize the " naked-going savages." With these last lie always maintained most friendly relations, and instructed them as well as he could, with his slight knowledge of their language,in the Christian religion and " the Holy Trinity."

While the location of the land bought by the Germans was undecided, they lived in Philadelphia, in the caves on the riverbank, which Penn's company were then vacating for their newly built houses. Some, no doubt, following the example of their leader, built small cabins; but neither he nor his German colony had any intention of remaining there, for the plan, from the first, was to found a German province, where they could speak their own Ianguage and continue the customs of the Fatherland. Pastorius, in a letter home, after alluding to the city of Philadelphia, which he describes at this date as consisting of a few rude huts, says:

On the 24th of October- 1683,I,Fr Daniell Pastorius, laid out, with the consent of our Governor, another new city named Germantown or Germanopolis, two hours (3) away from Philadelphia, where

(1) Although William Penn belongs to the sect of Quakers, or Tremulendos, be does not force any one's faith, but allows freedom of belief to each nation." ~ PASTORIUS'S Letters.

(2) This doctrine William Penn was accused of denying.

(3) In German an hour and a mile are equivalent, and are equal to three English miles.

12 - Germantown, Pa.

there is good, black, fertile soil and healthful springs of water, many oaks, walnut and chestnut trees, and good pasturage for cattle. The beginning consisted of only twelve families of forty-one persons, mostly High Germans, many of them mechanics and weavers, because I perceived we could not do without linen cloth. The principal streets are sixty feet wide, and the cross streets forty. The spacium, or square, allowed for each building, is three acres, but for my dwelling double as much. I had at first, in Philadelphia, a little house built, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide; the windows, on account of the want of glass, were of paper washed with oil. Over the house door I bad written ' Parva domus sed amica bonis procul. este prophani'; at which our Governor, when he visited me, broke out -into a laugh, and encouraged me to build on further. I have managed to obtain for my High German society fifteen thousand acres of land together in one Piece, with the condition that in a year's time I shall really settle thirty households on it;. also that we High Germans shall receive a separate little province, and can keep ourselves so much the more secure from oppression. It would be also very well if the European societies would send over several of the best of the company; for the Governor said to me, only day before yesterday, that the zeal of the Germans in building pleases him well, and he commends them for it more than the English, and intends to give. them certain privileges."

The ground plan of Germantown as originally laid out is still in existence; and several years ago Peter Keyser, a descendant of one of the early settlers, had the maps copied by a surveyor (B. Lehman) under his own direction, and arranged with extracts from original documents relating to them, into a -large and elegant volume of great value to the antiquarian as well as to the owners of real estate in that neighborhood. Through the kindness of his son, Dr. Keyser, I examined this book, and was assisted by him in

Germantown, Pa. - 13

making the following abstract: Germantown was surveyed and laid out by the surveyor-general, 2d of February, 1684,and it is probable that at this period the three acres were distributed to the twelve original householders, as described in Pastorius's letters. It was resurveyed in 1687; and on the 3d of April, 1689, a patent was issued by William Markham, for Penn, Of 5,700 acres. 1,375 acres of this was distributed in amounts Of 50 acres each to the fifty-five settlers there, and was drawn by lot April 4 Of that year. The limits of the original Germanopolis were, on the southern side, towards Philadelphia, Danenhower's Mill Road; on the north, Keyser's Lane, which was a road leading from Roxborough to Abington, and now called Washington Street; on the western side were included Bowman's, now Indian Queen Lane, Bensell's Lane, Rittenhousen Mill Road, and Johnson's Lane; on the east, Pickes's or Bristol Lane, Kunnerd Weaver's Mill Road, and Danenhower's Mill Road. This land was divided into twenty-seven and a half lots on either side of the main street, giving a width of forty-eight feet in front, and extending back fourteen perches; thus forming a long and narrow section of land, and bringing the houses near enough together to make a compact street. This fact is mentioned in a petition of the Corporation of Germantown to their dear Governor, William Penn That seventeen years before they had laid out the township in lots and more compact settlements than had been done elsewhere." Forty-nine persons took up these lots numbered fifty-five, but some contained one and a half and some two and two and a half of the amount of perches and feet given above; those. taking more land in the town received less in the side lots, which were laid out both above and below the town. For instance, Peter Keurlis drew lot No. I ; his land was the first lot in the town, lying nearest to Philadelphia, and doubtless the most desirable for that reason

it contained fifteen acres. It was situated a square or two above

14 - Germantown, Pa.

the lower burying-ground, near Fisher's Lane; his side lot was also the first lot from the city, now Naglee's Hill, which was afterwards bought by Mr. Logan.

The twelve(1) original householders who came with Pastorius, including himself, are as follows, the three Cap den Graeffs counting but one household: Dirck, Herman, and Abraham Op den Graeff, Leonard Arets, Tunis Kunders,(2) Reinert Tison, William Streepers, Jan Lansen, Peler Keurlis, Jan Simens, Johannes Bleickers, Abraham Tunes, and Jan Lucken.(3)

How the services of Pastorius's church were conducted, lie does not tell us; but there is not the least hint in all his religious disquisitions - and they are numerous in his letters - that it was according to the rule of Friends; indeed, there is very good authority for saying that it was not, as will appear further on. The privileges promised by William Penn to Germantown were granted by charter in 1689, which received the royal sanction in 1691 at that time a city corporation was chosen consisting of a bailiff, three burgesses, a recorder, clerk, and sheriff; the seal adopted was a trefoil, exhibiting upon its leaves a grape, a flax-flower, and a spool; with the legend, " Vinum, Linum, et Textrinum." The first Court of Records was held at that date in the public Meetinghouse; and Pastorius writes to his father: " The Governor, William Penn, has appointed me first burgomaster and justice of the peace in this town, so that we now hold our sessions for Common Council and our own courts, but all after the English laws."

Near the limits of Germantown some German and English Quakers held meetings at Abington, then called Milltown, and the

(1) They are sometimes called twelve, and at other dates thirteen.

(2) Now Conrad.

(3) Now Lukens.

(4) The German title of the principal officer of a small town.

Germantown, Pa. - 15

first mention in those records of a meeting at Germantown is 1st mo., 1687; a meeting was ordered to be held at Germantown, alternating with three other places, " the last fourth day of the. month next ensuing." This was a week-day meeting, and may have been held, as Watson says, at the house of Tunis Kunders; but the date he gives 1683 is wrong, for the German colony only arrived in Philadelphia late in that year. Jacob Schumacher,* who was 'not one of the original thirteen householders, was a German Quaker, and it seems to have been through his instrumentality that a meeting was really organized there, as the following proves: " At a Court of Record, held at Germantown, 20th day of November, 1693, Jacob Schumacher delivered to the people called Ouakers a deed containing three perches square for a meeting house." (2) Where these three perches of land were situated, the record does not state; but it may have been on Schumacher's own ground,for Watson says Quaker meetings were held at his house, which was standing until a recent time.

The second Friends' meeting-house (allowing that one was built on the three perches of land) was in Germantown proper, on land bought of Heivert Papen for L60. It stood in the present graveyard on the street. The' German subscription list is as follows. Only five are the original twelve or thirteen householders. Aret Klinken,L10 4S.; John Lucken,, L10 5S.; William Streepers, L9 4s.; Tunis Kunders, L10 11s.; Leonard Arets,L6 1s.; Peter

(1) Jacob Schumacher was not a householder, because he was one of the servants of Pastorius. See MS. book in Pa. Hist. Soc. Lib.

(2) In a letter received from Dr. Keyser, he writes Mr. Seidensticker says (in an account printed in the Penn Monthly, January and February, 1872) that the first meetinghouse was built in 1686. How can this be, when the lots were not divided until 1689 ? My impression is that they continued to meet in Kunder's house until after the drawing of the lots, and then arranged to build for they bought Heivert Papen's lot, or a lot from him, for L60."

Germantown, Pa. - 16

Schumacher, 64; James Delaplaine, L5; Paul Wulf, L6; F. D.

Pastorius, L 4 ; Abraham Tunes, L 5. Several paid their subscription part in work and part in materials.

In Dr. Keyser's MS. book is a petition (in 1691) of sixty-four

inhabitants of Germantown, who, being foreigners, and not freemen according to the laws of England, requested to be made freemen,

for the better securing of their estate, both real and personal.

"Those marked q are Quakers."* Twenty-four only out of the sixty

four have this letter appended, showing that a fraction over one

third of the taxables only were Friends. Of the original house

holders, the following are thus marked: L. Arets, T. Kunders, R.

Tysen, William Streepers, Peter Keurlis, A. Tunes, and Jan Lucken. Counting the fourteen men who came with Pastorius; six had not, in 1691, become Quakers.

A community which kept the 28th of December, as the records prove, because on that day " Herod slew the Innocents," could not

have been followers of Fox, who-protested against all holy and

saints' days as idolatrous practices, against which Friends were

called on to bear testimony. The church of 1686 was built for the

colony, and was used for all public purposes. Had it been a

Quaker meeting-house, it was unnecessary for Schumacher to give

land or for them to buy a new lot of Papen, for this church must

have been centrally situated; and even if the building had fallen

into decay, which is not probable, the -round set apart for sacred purposes must still have remained.

I have been thus particular in this resume to endeavor to correct the error which has crept into history, that the protest of these Germans against slavery was the protest of Friends, while the facts

* This official paper of naturalization is recorded in the Rolls Office in Philadelphia, Book A, P. 275. Dr. Keyser writes that he believes the copy in his book is accurate, and that the q is in the original document.

Germantown, Pa. - 17

of the case are that the paper was addressed to the Quakers, protesting against their practice of holding men in slavery, and endeavoring to show them the heinousness of the offence in a religious and moral point of view. For the last fifteen years so much has been said and written about this Quaker protest, that it is quite time the Germans should have the honor due them for the noble stand they took against this sin, instead of the very sinners themselves being held up for our admiration. I have therefore printed the protest in the Appendix, and the action, or want of action, taken upon it at the Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings to which it was sent.

In the above account the writer has been actuated only by a desire to make known the truth, in which wish she is confident Friends themselves will be the first to unite with her; for while that Society cannot claim so early a record " against the traffic of men-body," as the German-English quaintly expresses. it, yet this very protest may have been the seed* which more than half a century afterwards blossomed into the rule forbidding members of meeting to hold their fellow-beings in bondage.

The real-estate records (Grund und Lagerbuch) of Germantown are now in the recorder's office at Philadelphia. In the beginning of the large folio volume containing them, Pastorius inscribed the following Latin apostrophe; as it is addressed to generations then unborn, it seems appropriate to insert it here for the benefit of a family, the larger part of whom claim descent from one of those who accompanied him into this voluntary exile:

* Since the above was written, Whittier's fine poem, "The Pennsylvania Pilgrim," has appeared, where the same idea is more fully illustrated by the blossoming of the century plant, and the true ground taken that the protest against slavery was not pleasing to the Quakers of that day.

18 - Germantown, Pa.

SALVE POSTERITAS.

Posteritas Germanopolitana!

et ex argumento insequentis paginae

primitus observa

Parentes ac Majores Tuos

Alemanniam

dulce solum, quod eos genuerat alueratque diu

voluntario exilio descruisse.

11: oh! Patrios focos!::ll

ut in silvosa bac Pennsylvania

deserta solitudine

minus soliciti

residuum Aetatis

Germane h. e. instar fratrum

transigerent.

Porro etiam addiscas,

Quantae molis erat

exantlato jam mari Atlantico

in Septentrionali isthoc Americae tractu

Germanium.

condere genterm

Tuque

Seres dilecta Nepotum!

ubi fuimus exemplar honesti,

nostrum imitare exemplum.

Sin autem a semita tam difficili aberravimus

Quod pcenitenter agnoscitur,

Ignosce

Et sic te faciant aliena pericula cautum.

Vale Posteritas!

Vale Germanitas

Aeternum vale

F.D.P.

Germantown, Pa. - 19

I copy from Whittier's charming poem, "The Pennsylvania Pilgrim," his translation of Pastorius's Latin inscription:

"Hail to posterity!

Hail, future men of Germanopolis!

Let the young generations yet to be

Look kindly upon this.

Think how your fathers left their native land,

Dear German-land! 0 sacred hearths and homes!

And, where the wild beast roams,

In patience planned

New forest-homes beyond the mighty sea,

There undisturbed and free

To live as brothers of one family.

What pains and cares befell,

What trials and what fears,

Remember. and wherein we have done well

Follow our footsteps, men of coming years!

Where we have failed to do

Aright, or wisely live.

Be warned by us, the better way pursue,

And, knowing we were human, even as you,

Pity us and forgive!

Farewell, Posterity!

Farewell, dear Germany!

Forevermore farewell!"

For the better understanding of the following pages it is here necessary to give some account of Thomas Rutter, whose descendants for six generations, and during a period of one hundred and fort), years, have intermarried with those of Thomas Potts.

Several persons bearing the name of Rutter are mentioned by Besse as persecuted for their faith in En land, but I have not attempted to trace the connection of the early emigrant to Pennsylvania

20 - Germantown, Pa.

with any of them. Family records assert that Thomas Rutter arrived in the Province the same year as William Penn (1682), and I have found reason to believe that he was a passenger in the Amity, one of the two ships that sailed with the Welcome. On Holmes's map, printed in Penn's time, giving the names and locations of the original purchasers under his charter, Thomas Rutter is put down as the owner of a tract of land bordering on Germantown opposite Cresheim Creek, and adjoining that of Thomas Masters, which is of the same extent. This place was called Bristol township, and is not far from Milltown, now Abington.

Thomas Rutter was a young unmarried man when he arrived in this country, and became a member of the Philadelphia meeting, for in the records of that society is the following, under date 5" of 811 mo. 1685: "According to Thomas Rutter's former request, this meeting hath given him a certificate to Friends of the Falls meeting, concerning his clearness with relation to marriage, and. to be signed in behalf of the meeting by Christopher Taylor."

In the minute book of the Falls meeting dated 8th day of 8 mo. 1685, is the following record: "Thomas Rutter and Rebecca Staples have this day, being the second time, proposed their intention of taking each other in marriage, and it appears by certificate and enquiry that the said Thomas Rutter is clear from all other persons, on that account this meeting doth leave ym at liberty to proceed according to truth's order." Thomas Rutter and Rebecca Staples were accordingly married at Pennsbury the 10th of 11th Mo. 1685.

The newly married pair appear to have at once settled on their

land in Bristol township, for they became members of Abington meeting the same year. Rutter was a Public Friend, as the ministers in that society are called, and an active member there until the schism among the Quakers led by George Keith in 16gi. At that date he subscribed his name, with sixty-nine others, to the

Germantown, Pa. - 21

paper issued at Burlington in defense of Keith. This document does not seem to be generally known. Proud makes no mention of it in his history, and yet he professes to give an impartial statement of this division among Friends, and for that purpose prints three papers against Keith which are mere repetitions of each other, and neglects to give this important one on the opposite side. Having found a loose copy of this Defense, printed on a quarto sheet at the time, I give it in the Appendix to rescue it from oblivion, and to show that there were Quakers of rank and influence who believed that the judgment of the "meetings" against Keith was harsh and erroneous.

Rutter was baptized in 1691 by the Rev. Thomas Killingworth, and as he was already a preacher he now set forth Keith's doctrines, of Christ the external Word, and the visible sacraments He commanded as of higher value than "the inward light." Soon after his conversion Rutter baptized Rev. Evan Morgan and Mr. John Hart, both of whom became eminent preachers among the Baptists. He also baptized Henry Bernard Koster, Thomas Peart, and seven others whose names are not recorded.* "These nine persons united in communion [in Philadelphia] June 12, 1698, having Thomas Rutter to their minister, they increased and continued together nine years, but some removing to the country and the unbaptized Keithians falling off the society in a manner broke up in 1707, and then the few that remained invited the regular Baptists to join them and were incorporated with them." Those who followed Keith still further formed Christ Church, Philadelphia, and the Thomas Peart above named was one of them; for having in 1734, shortly before his death, made a conveyance of the premises where the Baptist Church stood, in Second Street, near Arch, to

* Rev. Morgan Edwards's " Materials for the History of the Baptists," a very rare book printed in 1770.

22 - Germantown, Pa.

the Church of England, the vestry of Christ Church demanded possession, and a lawsuit ensued which was finally compromised by the payment of L50.

Thomas Rutter organized another society of Keithian Baptists, in 1697 in Lower Dublin, at the house of Abraham Pratt, but soon those who preferred the seventh day for the Sabbath separated," and in 1702 built a place of worship in Oxford township, on a lot given them by Thomas Graves; but they neglecting to take a conveyance in due time, the Episcopalians have got both the lot and the house; on the lot they have built Oxford Church and turned the Baptist meeting house into a stable while it stood, but now it is no more." Edwards says their ministers, William Davis and Thomas Rutter, quitted them; but it is probable that John Swift, whom Rutter had baptized, was carried over still farther to the old forms and ceremonies, and the majority becoming Episcopalians, they formed this church. About two miles from it are the gravestones of some of these early seventh-day Baptists, the curious inscriptions on which are given in Watson's Annals. They have been removed from their original position, and are now half standing near the spring-house, on the estate of the late James N. Dickson. They should be placed in the beautiful rural graveyard of Oxford Church, of which those whose memory they commemorate were the earliest projectors.*

In the records of Germantown, Thomas Rutter's name occurs frequently, as his residence was near enough to the village to allow him to take an active interest in its affairs.

In 1692 a road is mentioned as leading from "the Mill Street to Thomas Rutter's," and at various times the community seem to have

* The first four Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania, Christ Church, Philadelphia, St. Paul's, Chester, St. David's, Radnor, and this Oxford Church, all owe their existence to the Rev. George Keith.

Germantown, Pa. - 23

been much exercised concerning its location. On the old plan of Germantown, "Rutter's or Rubicum's Road," probably the same one, is laid down.

When, in 1705 - 6, Pastorius resigned the office of head magistrate of his German community, Thomas Rutter succeeded him, and, according to the record, "on the 11 th day of 12 MO., 1706/7, the Court was opened before Thomas Rutter, Bailiff"

About 1719 a religious company of German mystics settled on the Wissahicon, near if not in Bristol township, and over them Rutter seems to have -had great influence, for he persuaded their leader, Conrad Beissel, that the command to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath had never been abrogated by the Christian dispensation; and finally, after much excitement, and the publication of a book on the question by Beissel, the whole community adopted this tenet, and settling at Ephrata they were called Seiben-Tagen on account of it.

Although Rutter appears always to have retained an interest in his property near Germantown, and in the affairs of that settlement, yet in 1717 he removed forty miles up the Schuylkill to the very frontiers of civilization, in order to work the iron-mines of the Manatawny region. This project had often been urged by William Penn and his governors as of very great importance to the infant colony; and though a company had been formed some years previous with this object in view, no practical results had ensued, from their inability to find any person willing or competent to carry it on- Rutter was over fifty years of age when he entered upon this arduous and hazardous undertaking.

In an historical point of view it seems to me proper to throw together in one chapter the facts I have been 'able to collect concerning, these first iron-works in the Province of Pennsylvania. The limits of this volume will only allow me to glean from the great

24 - Germantown, Pa.

mass of family papers some few that cannot fail to be interesting to the antiquarian. As far as possible I quote original documents, but am often obliged to abridge and condense, retaining wherever I can the words and form of expression used.

In my narrative, when I assert facts without giving any authority, the reader may be 'assured of their accuracy, for they have often been gathered piece by piece from various sources, and put together after the manner of a Chinese puzzle, each part fitting exactly when the corresponding one is found.

I at first intended to print the following chapter at the end of the book, but it now seems to me that, by placing it before the history of individuals of the family, the reader will be better able to obtain a right knowledge of the location of the estates of the children and grandchildren of Thomas Rutter and Thomas Potts, and understand more easily the intricate relationships and intermarriages between the two families. On account of the constant repetition of the same Christian name and surname, the custom has grown up of adding the name of the forge or furnace owned or carried on as a distinguishing mark of different branches of this family; the account, therefore, of these early establishments, will show the present generation how and when they originated.

CHAPTER III.

MANATAWNY.

"Fossores varias hic invenere fodinas

Unde metallu patent quae latuere diu."

MAKIN's Account of Pennsylvania in 1728.

"The Indian ....

Wrought for wages at the white man's side,

Giving to kindness what his native pride

And Lazy freedom to all else denied."

WHITTIER.

In the letters of William Penn to James Logan, mention is frequently made of the iron-mine in the neighborhood of Schuylkill, and the wish is often expressed that some one could be found willing to undertake the working of it. Under date Of 1702, Logan writes, " I have spoke to the chief of those concerned in the iron-mines, but they seem careless, never having had a meeting since thy departure; their answer is that they have not yet found any considerable vein;" September 24, 1717,(1) Mr.

Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania, afterwards Sir William Keith,

wrote to the Board of Trade in London, that he had found great

(1) See Catalogue of papers relating to Pennsylvania and Delaware, in the State Paper Office London, published in Penn. Hist. Coll., Vol. IV.

26 - Manatawny

plenty of iron ore in Pennsylvania. They answer, the same year, that they have not had any proposals about the iron ore.

The first iron furnace in the Province is thus mentioned in one of Jonathan Dickenson's letters (in the Logan MSS.), written in 1717:

" This last summer one Thomas Rutter, a smith, who lived not far from Germantown, hath removed farther up in the country, and of his own strength has set up on making iron. Such it proves to be, as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best of Swede's iron doth not exceed it; and we have heard of others* that are going on with the iron-works. It is supposed there is stone [ore] sufficient for ages to come, and in all likelihood hemp and iron may be improved and transported home, and, if not discouraged, certainly a few years may supply this place for its domestic services, as may be readily supposed."

American iron was sent to England in 1717, and so much jealousy was excited by it in the mother-country, that in 1719 a bill was introduced into Parliament to prevent the erection of rolling and slitting mills here; it was then rejected, but in 1750 such an act was finally passed, but allowing the exportation of pig metal to England free of duties.

The Delaware tribe of Indians had at this period withdrawn from the immediate neighborhood of Philadelphia to the fine hunting and fishing grounds on the banks of Schuylkill and Manatawny, and were seated there under the rule of their king, Sassoonan, or Allumonapees.

Part of the Manatawny tract had been included in Pastorius's grant from Penn Of 22,377 acres lying together, while Germantown consisted Of 5,350 acres. Yet Logan writes in 1704, "Johnny's (2)

(1) Probably Samuel Nutt.

(2) This was John Penn, then in his fifth year, the eldest son of the Proprietor by his second wife.

Manatawny. - 27

lands are 1,200 acres at Mahanatawny." I have already mentioned

the difficulties that occurred, soon after the arrival of the Germans, about the location of their lands purchased in England, and that Penn and Pastorius had many interviews and much discussion upon the subject. It seems probable that the discrepancy in the number of acres mentioned at different times arose, not only from the loose surveys, but from a change in the land granted, when the emigrants complained that the navigable river had not been included in Germantown.

About 1709, two brothers, John Henry and Ludwig Christian Sproegel, whom it is said William Penn had invited here, came over from Amsterdam, Holland, and laid claim to Pastorius's patent; Henry Sproegel insisting that he had bought the land in Germany, and that the deed of sale had been lost in a vessel captured by the French. He even succeeded so far as to have a writ of ejectment served, and Pastorius believed he was the victim of a conspiracy,as his opponent had engaged the services of the four lawyers in Philadelphia to prosecute this claim, and he was too poor to go to New York for an attorney. In this emergency he appealed to the Governor and Council; and James Logan, who sifted the matter, has placed on record that David Lloyd was the principal agent in this heinous attempt, and confirmed the Germans in their possessions. That John Henry Sproegel afterwards settled on part of the Manatawny land is a fact, and that twenty-two thousand acres of it was known as Sproegel's manor. His wife and son are buried in a graveyard east of Pottstown, and a creek 'falling into the Schuylkill near the place bears his name. He went to England in 1720, where he died. His brother was an organ-builder in' Philadelphia, and both made generous gifts to Christ Church in that city.

Eight or nine years after this attempt of Sproegel's, the Indians

claimed that William Penn had not bought these lands of them,

28 - Manalawny.

and Logan then had a deed prepared by which they released their claims to the Proprietor for a 'Stipulated sum.

This contested territory was a tract rich in minerals, finely watered, and pleasantly situated. In 1706, Thomas Rutter, succeeding Pastorius as chief magistrate of Germantown, must have been familiar with its value, as the subject was much discussed there; and in 1716-17 he removed thither for the purpose of developing its mineral wealth. He purchased a large tract which has since been named Colebrookdale, Amity, Douglassville, and Boyertown, and erected both furnaces and forges for the making of iron. His eldest daughter had. married Samuel Savage, and he accompanied his father-in-law to this region.

In the minutes of the City Council, April 9, 1705, "Samuel Savage is this day admitted a freeman, and paid for the same L1 2s. 6d." This process was necessary to entitle tradesmen to carry on business for themselves. In June, 1718, in the minutes of the Common Council we find that in consequence of a petition from several tradesmen and manufactors complaining that, notwithstanding they had taken out their freedoms, many strangers daily came in and settled, who were not entitled to carry on business, the Council therefore permitted such trades as desired it to be incorporated. The establishment of an "iron-work," as it was then called, required not only ability but an amount of capital not usual among the colonists of that day. The attempt of Rutter, Savage, and Nutt to do this unaided, proves that they were men of property. The furnaces set up in Virginia about this time were helped by capitalists in England, but I cannot find any proof that these three pioneers in the iron business of Pennsylvania were thus aided. At a later date two or three gentlemen of Philadelphia formed a company at Colebrookdale, of which Thomas Potts was the agent. The expense of building a furnace then was estimated at about L500, while the

Manatawny. - 29

wages of the men employed amounted to a large sum annually; the cost of horses, oxen, and wagons, to transport the wood and iron, added another large item.

It was calculated that an area of woodland two miles square was sufficient to feed the furnace; but this had to be cut and made into charcoal. The only one of the old furnaces I shall mention, now standing in Pennsylvania, is Warwick, and the cost of the large bellows, there turned by an immense water-wheel, was nearly L200. Such a furnace, when in blast, made about twenty-five tons of iron per week; in 1734 pig-iron sold for about L6, and bar-iron from L10 to L16 per ton; and when this was exported to England, the freight, commissions, and other charges there, amounted to between L1 and L2 per ton.

Samuel Savage aid not long survive to assist Thomas Rutter in developing the mineral riches of the Manatawny region; for we find his will, dated 25th of September, 1719, was proved in Philadelphia the 19th Of July, 172o. He is styled of Mahanatania in said county. He names his wife Anna sole executrix but she is to " take the advice and consent of my brother John Savage, and my father-in-law Thomas Rutter," and mentions his four sons,

Thomas, Samuel,(1) Joseph, John, (2) and two daughters, Ruth and Rebeccah. Ruth married John Potts, and Rebeccah Samuel Nutt, Jr., while their mother married for her second husband Samuel

(1) The two sons, Samuel and Joseph, had married and were dead before 1760, as their mother thus mentions them in her will; they left no sons, as some time previously she had entailed upon their heirs male a property near Coventry, called Cold Spring. In 1797-98, the entail was broken by the two eldest grandsons of Samuel Savage, Jr., appearing in court for that purpose; they were the children of Martha (Savage) Walker, who died before 1770, and Ruth (Savage) Hockley, who died in 1797.

(2) John, the youngest son, was a lad when, playing one day at the spring near Coventry House. he was bitten by a rattlesnake and died in a few hours.. Those bearing the name of Savage descending from this family must therefore claim Thomas as their ancestor, as I think he left sons.

30 - Manatawny.

Nutt, Sen.; thus they were the grand-daughters, daughters, and wives of the first pioneers in the iron business of the Province, and their descendants for one hundred and fifty-five years have been largely interested in it also.

About if not at the same time as Rutter, Samuel Nutt also went up to the region on the opposite side of the Schuylkill. He may have had some connection with Rutter even before he married his widowed daughter, Anna Savage. The west side of the river was richer in mineral wealth than the Manatawny district, and the beautiful region of French Creek abounded in deposits of the ores of copper, lead, and iron. " Asbestos, magnesites, amethyst, jasper, garnet, schorl, chalcedony, agate, sapphire, and beryl" (1) are also found there.

For a part of this region Samuel Nutt received the following order from the Proprietor's trustees:

"TO JACOB TAYLOR SURV. GEN'L_

By the commissioners of Property. Pensilvania ss.

"At the request of Samuel Nutt now of Chester County that we would Grant him to take up near the Branches of the ffrench Creek the quantity of Eight hundred acres of Land for which be agrees to pay to the use of the Trustees Eighty pounds money of Pensilvania for the whole, and the yearly quit rent of one Shilling Sterling for each hundred acres. These are to authorize and require thee to Survey or cause to be Survey,d unto the said Samuel Nutt at or near the place aforesaid according to the method of ye Townships appointed, the said quantity of Eight hundred acres of Land, that has not been already survey'd nor appropriated nor is Seated by the Indians, and make returns thereof unto the Secretary's office, which Survey in case the said Samuel fulfil the above agreement within -months after the Date hereof shall be valid, otherwise the same to be void as if it had never been made, or -this Warrant ever Granted. Given under our hands

(1) Sketch-Book of Pennsylvania.

Manalawny. - 31

and Seal of the Province of Philadelphia ye 2d day of October. Anno D'ni 1718

"RICHARD HILL.

ISAAC NORRIS.

JAMES LOGAN."

This place he called Coventry, probably because he came from the neighborhood of that ancient town in England; Family tradition asserts that he was the younger son of a baronet; and the coat of arms he brought with him from England, a copy of which is' inserted in this volume, bears a crescent, the mark of a second son. He afterwards received another grant of a thousand acres, and by deeds appears to have bought out some few settlers who had purchased small tracts near him.

On the French Creek he built both furnaces and forges. Day's

Pennsylvania Historical Collections " thus notices this: "A settler by the name of Nutt early built a forge called Coventry within the limits of this township, and made other extensive improvements. It went into operation about the year 1720, and made the first iron manufactured in America." In Bishop's .1 History of American Manufacture" is the following: "In 1718 Jonathan Dickenson mentions in a letter, that the expectations

from the ironworks, forty miles up the Schuylkill, are very great. The reference here was probably to the Coventry forge on French Creel, in Coventry township, Chester County. This bloomery was built by a person named Nutt, who made other large improvements at the place. It is said to have gone into operation and to have made the first iron manufactured in Pennsylvania." This account, although it may seem to conflict with that given by Dickenson, may be reconciled by the fact that Samuel Nutt was probably at first connected with Rutter, whose daughter, soon after 17:20, he married. Mr. Nutt brought over skilled workmen from Germany, and made at French Creek the first steel in America;

32 - Manatawny.

he also laid out, and it. is believed made at his own expense, the first road of any extent in the Province, from his estate of Coventry to Philadelphia, a distance of nearly forty miles. It is still called by aged people in the neighborhood the Nutt or Great Road; it passes through Valley Forge, crossing the creek of that name near Washington's head-quarters. These first iron-works being carried oil thus early by different members of the same family, I pass from one to the other over eight or ten miles of hilly (1) country, and even now very rough road, and mention facts according to the dates of their occurrence.

When Thomas Rutter, Samuel Savage, and Nutt settled on Manatawny and French Creek, they were in the very midst of the Delaware Indians. The true name of this tribe was Lenni Lenape, meaning " the original people," and they seem to have been a much less warlike (2) race than the Iroquois. Pastorius had made some attempts at Christianizing the Indians in his neighborhood, and had a great deal of friendly intercourse with them, which he says in all the time he lived there had never been broken by any attempt on the part of the savages to injure the white men, though they often had great opportunities for doing so. Rutter, knowing them in Germantown, was also on friendly terms with the savages, and it is said employed them as laborers in clearing and building. From an account in Colonial Records, Sassoonan, the king of the Delawares, seems to have considered the presence of Thomas Rutter a protection to him when he appeared at the Council in Phila

(1) One of these long hills has been called by the family "Feather-bed Hill," and we may say that the feather-bed is supported by more than the proper number of bolsters and pillows.

(2) On one occasion Sassoonan told the Council in Philadelphia, that the Five Nations called his tribe women, and told them to plant corn, while they would attend to affairs of peace and war. To this peaceful disposition of the Delawares is to' be attributed in great part the freedom from Indian atrocities enjoyed by Penn's colony.

Manatawny. - 33

delphia in 1728. The attack upon the iron-works at Manatawny, in May of that year, was made by some foreign Indians called Twechtwese, of the Miami tribe, instigated probably by the French, who at that time were endeavoring to stir up the Five Nations against the English. Fearful reports of the number of men killed and wounded in the attack were noised abroad, and it is even now set down in some accounts that " the Indians were repulsed with great slaughter."

As this seems to have been the only instance, at that early date, when the Pennsylvania colonists were molested by the savages, it is not out of place here to give an account of it as described in the records of the period ; and from the numerous pages devoted to the subject I have selected and abridged the following connected narrative : At a meeting of the Governor and Council, May 10, 1728, the Hon. Patrick Gordon told the board "that he

was setting out for Mahanatawny, upon advice brought him this morning by express, that a party of, foreign Indians were fallen in amongst our inhabitants in these parts, and had committed several acts of hostility, particularly that they had fired upon some of our people, who to the number of twenty had advanced towards them, to know what they wanted, and had wounded several slightly, and one man mortally; that our people thereupon had returned their fire, and as it is believed killed their captain, who appeared to be a Spanish Indian, and that it was dreaded some further mischief would ensue." On the 15th the Governor acquainted the board that last night he returned from Mahanatawny, where he found the country in very great disorder, occasioned by the noise of the skirmish that happened between some of the people and a small party of Indians; that many of the. back inhabitants had quitted their houses, and seemed under great apprehensions of numbers of Indians coming to attack them; that several Palatine families were

34 - Manatawny.

gathered together at a mill near New Hanover township, in order to defend themselves, and that there he saw the man who was said to have been killed by the Indians, but he appeared to be only slightly wounded in the belly; that having examined several persons there and at Colebrookdale, touching the said Indians, he understood that they were eleven. in number, and had been in that neighborhood for some days; that they were all armed and had a Spanish Indian for their captain ; and that having been rude in several houses where they forced the people to supply them with victuals and drink, some of our inhabitants to the number of twenty, a few of whom were armed with guns and swords, went in search of the said Indians, and coming up with them they sent two of their number to treat with the captain, who, instead of receiving them civilly, brandished his sword and commanded his men to fire, which they did, and wounded two of ours, who thereupon returned their fire, upon which they saw the said captain fall, but he afterwards got up and ran into the woods after his party, having left his gun and matchcoat behind him, and that since that time they had been no more seen. " The Governor said that though he had this account from one of those who were then present, he could not help thinking that our people had given some provocation." He had used every method to quiet the country, and to induce the people to return to their habitations, and he was preparing to come home when he received the melancholy news by express from Samuel Nutt, Esq., as follows:

MALANTON, May 11, 1728.

MAY IT PLEASE THE GOVERNOUR:

Just now I R'ved the Disagreeable news that one Walter Winter and

(1) Malanton, the place from which this letter of Samuel Nutt was written, is a misprint for Morlatton, near Colebrookdale ; part of it is now called Douglassville. It is forty-four miles from Philadelphia, on the Reading Railroad. It was settled early by the Swedes, and the name is supposed to be derived from a district in Sweden. An old Swedish church still stands there, called St. Gabriel's.

Manatawny. - 35

John Winter have Murdered one Indian Man and Two Indian Women without any cause given by the sd Indians; and the sd Winters have brought two girls (one of which is Cripled) to George Boon's to receive some Reward. I desire the Governour may see after it before he goes Down, for most certainly such actions will create the greatest antipathy between the Several Nations of Indians and the Christians. The Bearer John Petty has heard the full relation of this matter, to whom I shall refer the Governour for a more full account and remain the Governour's

most hearty friend and Serv't to Command

SAMLL NUTT.

Immediately upon the receipt of this letter, the Governor issued a proclamation, commanding the people, in his Majesty's name, to levy Hue and Cry with Horse and with Foot within the Province of Pennsylvania" for the apprehension of these murderers. The unfortunate men soon gave themselves up, and said in justification of their act, that from the " Reports in the Countrey of the Indians having Killed some white men, they thought they might lawfully kill any Indian they could find." But the were" ordered to prison and a sure guard." And then the coroner was despatched to make an inquisition of the dead bodies and to bury them wrapt in linen, and was further directed, if any of their relations should be there, he should present them with strowds(1) to cover the dead bodies, and give two strowds to the Indian girls, and to employ some person to cure their wounds, and further to assure their friends that the offenders should not go unpunished. After returning to Philadelphia, the Governor issued a proclamation in regard to the Indian treaties and the present alarm and murder, in which he says: "The said natives have not to this time been guilty of any failure or breach on their part of the said treaties.".

June 3, the Governor, hearing that the king. of the Delawares

(1) Strowdwater blankets, so called from the place in England where they were made.

36 - Manatawny

would meet him at Morlatton, sent word for him and the other chiefs to come to Philadelphia and hold a council, or treaty, and it was ordered that presents should be prepared for them, and that they should be hospitably entertained during their stay.

The following day Sassoonan appeared with ten other Shacamackons with unpronounceable names, and many of the Delaware nation, accompanied by an Indian of the Five Nations and another of the Shawenees tribe; two interpreters, the Governor and Council, with many other gentlemen and inhabitants of Philadelphia, being present. The Governor made a speech, beginning with the first treaty of their great father, William Penn, and going over the links of the chain made between him and the Indians, and to confirm the league and chain he presented 'them with many blankets, shirts, powder, lead, knives, scissors, etc. After this the Governor related, in more extended and high-flown language than I have done on the preceding pages, the attack at Manatawny and the murder, and finished by giving to the relations of the deceased Indians " these six handkerchiefs to wipe away their tears."

The Governor then appointed to meet them again the next morning. It would seem that the excitement was so great the next day that the court-house was too small for the occasion, and the meeting was held in the great meeting-house, and a vast audience filled the house and all its galleries." Allumanapees, or Sassoonan, spoke through an interpreter, in the name of all the Indians present; but what he said was little to the purpose, and he ended by saying he would return in two months and speak more fully. He was then told that, if the Indians had anything on their minds, now was the time to speak it. " He therefore called on Thomas Rutter, Sen., to come and sitt near him, and proceeded to say that he is glad of the Friendship and Agreement that subsists between the Indians and the Christians, he will always endeavor to strengthen and increase

Manatawny. - 37

it . . . . he will make the path between this Town and the Place where he lives as far as the Mingoes open and plain, he will always keep it wide and root and cutt up every Bush and Grub that may stand in the Way." (The record explains that this language is metaphorical.) He then alluded to the accident, and says he will cover it over with earth. Addressing James Logan, Penn's deputy. Sassoonan said he was "grown old, and was troubled to see the Christians settle on lands that the Indians had never been paid for; they had settled on his lands, for which he had never received anything. That he is now an old man and must soon die; that his children may wonder to see all their father's lands -one from them without his receiving anything for them; that the Christians now make their settlements very near them, and they shall have no place left of their own to live in." To this plaintive speech Mr. Logan replied by saying that there were "people among us who stirred up the Indians to make these complaints"; and he then produced deeds signed by Sassoonan and Opekasset that all this land had been paid for about ten years ago, when the Indian chiefs came, to

Philadelphia, having a notion that they had not been fully satisfied for their lands.

The chiefs examined the deeds and their marks, and acknowledged them, but thought these only included lands to Oley, and that the Tulpyhocken lands beyond had not been bought. This the interpreter confirmed. The lands alluded to were being settled by the Palatines, which the "great goodness and royal bounty of Queen Anne, relieved from the hardships that they then suffered in Europe, had transported to the Colony of New York," where they

were dissatisfied and came to Pennsylvania. Logan was particularly severe upon Sir William Keith,(1) who had allowed this.

(1) He had acted as deputy-governor under William Penn.

38 - Manatawny.

Mr. Hamilton then wished to speak, and said he had accompanied the Governor to Manatawny "and had heard some things very positively advanced among the inhabitants concerning this injustice to the Indians, and, as there were some now present who had been very free in talking to that purpose, he thought they should declare openly to this audience what they had to say."

"Thomas Rutter, Sen., who had been call'd on by Sassoonan, stood up and denied that he had ever uttered any such thing as that the Indians had not been satisfied for their lands, &c." (1)

As the recorder by the " &c." clearly shows that Thomas Rutter's speech is not reported in full, we may hope that he did say something favorable for his friend the king of the Delawares; but it must have required a good deal of assurance in the midst of that array of Governor and Council, Secretary and ex-Governor, who held the title-deeds of the lands, and with whom a controversy was hopeless, to assert what it is pretty evident was Thomas Rutter's opinion.

Sassoonan's speech of love and friendship was evidently directed to Thomas Rutter, and for him he would root and cut up every bush and grub, and make the way wide to Philadelphia.

On May 20th the board received a verbal message from Kakowwatchy, the chief of the Shawenees, giving his account of the attack at Manatawny.

"That he having heard that the Flatheads were come into this Province with a design to make war upon our Indians, he had sent eleven of his men armed to inquire into the truth of the report; . . . . and their provisions failing them, they were obliged to get from our inhabitants the wherewithal to subsist; but they offered

(1) In a pamphlet printed in London in 1701, against Penn's government, the writer says minutes are made with " &c.," and adds that it is impossible to obtain justice against Quakers.

Manatawny. - 39

no rudeness till our people used them ill, and fired upon them that he is very sorry for what has happened, and that he has great love for us all as his brethren, but that one of their number is wounded and lost his gun, which he desires may be sent The Governor sent answer, that they must be more cautious in future of their behavior, and care should be taken to inquire for the gun! and that three matchcoats be sent to Kakow-watchy as a present, together with the matchcoat belt and hatchet which were left by their Indians."

It seems a little singular that the Governor was so ready to take the part of the Indians, to restore the gun and belt captured in a fight which they began; but he was evidently determined to find the Manatawny people in the wrong from the first, although it subsequently appeared, at a meeting of the Governor and Council in September, that he had been warned in April by James Letort, an Indian trader, that Manawkyhicon, whose relative had been executed for crime in Jersey the last year, was endeavoring to stir up the Twechtwese, called the French Miamies, and also the Five Nations, against the Christians; and the Governor and Council began to believe it when none of these Indians came down in the fall according to promise, and they were then a good deal disturbed, and sent messages of inquiry and orders very generally among them. It appears from reading these detached records, that the back inhabitants were really at this period very much exposed to a fearful massacre. The families of our friends at the ironworks seem to have dwelt in security under the patronage of Sassoonan, the king of the Delawares, and I do not find anything to prove that they shared the terror of the rest of the inhabitants.

Samuel Nutt, Rutter's son-in-law, did what he could to arrest the Winters, who were afterwards tried, convicted, and hung; but the person who was arrested as their accomplice was acquitted, as it

40 - Manatawny.

seems it was only his misfortune to have witnessed the- murder, without taking any active part in it.

During a recent visit to Pottstown I endeavored to identify the spot where this attack of the Indians was made. A local (1) antiquary informed me that, according to the best information he had been able to obtain, it was at a place called Pool Forge, which he believed was the first "iron-work" erected upon the Manatawny. This place is now so little known, that one of the family who had been born near it, and traveled all his life over the road which runs within a few rods of the stream, had never even heard of it, and expressed his surprise that a forge had once stood there. I visited the spot, which is about three miles from Pottstown and not far above Glasgow Forge, and could see some remains of the dam, and an excavation in the bank where buildings once stood ; my guide, (2) whose memory reached back to the commencement of this century, said he had never seen any other evidence of the old iron-works than are now visible. Pool Forge is put down on a map printed in London in 1775, which was collated from still older surveys. (3)

Bishop's " History of Iron Manufactures " has the following:. " A forge is mentioned in March, 17I9-20, at Manatawny, then in Philadelphia, but now in Berks or Montgomery County. It was attacked by the Indians in 1728, but they were repulsed with great loss by the workmen."

I think there is every reason to believe that Pool Forge was the scene of the Indian fight. To-day it is more lonely and desolate than it was a hundred and forty-four years ago; no house is visible,

(1) The Editor of the Montgomery County Ledger.

(2) Squire Thompson.

(3) A map of Pennsylvania, exhibiting not only the improved parts of that Province, but .,so its extensive frontiers, laid down from actual surveys, and chiefly from the late map of W. Scull, published 1770, humbly inscribed to Thomas and Rich Penn.

Manatawny. - 41

but imagination peoples the waving woods and the banks of the beautiful stream with living beings long since passed away, -the painted savages in all their horrid accessories of war; the workmen issuing from their fiery labors at the sound of the Indian warwhoop, their black and grimy faces blanched with fear, yet each strong arm wielding gun, pick, or hammer, whatever was nearest at hand; the screaming women and. children flying along the path by the water-side to reach a place of safety; while, roused by the news, the venerable Thomas Rutter rides rapidly down from Popodickon, and Thomas Potts from Pine Forge, with his son John in the strength of manhood and youth, armed with rifle and saber, go forth to stop the fight. Farther on, riding, in the King's name, from his home on the other side of the Schuylkill, comes Samuel Nutt, a fine English gentleman with no sign of the Quaker garb and plainness; the careful appointments of his magnificent horse, his laced ruffles and cocked hat, all show that he was a man having authority. But the scene vanishes. I hear no words of query or answer; the summer woods wave as green as on that May day so long ago, and the bright rippling Manatawny flows on in peace, though to my listening ear it repeats the story this 30th of May, in the year of grace 1872, that it heard on that memorable May day in 1728.

Another Pool Forge is known, to have existed four miles farther up the stream, but it was probably built after this one was abandoned, as it seems to have been a custom at that time to continue the name even in a new place. Another point where it is known that iron-works stood in the olden time, is on the banks of the Schuylkill, near the Pottstown Bridge. I am inclined to think that the first furnace was established here by Thomas Rutter*; its neighborhood to the river would enable him with 'more ease to transport the ore from the mines above by water, than through the unbroken

Manatawny. - 42

forest; some slight remains, I was told, could be, or had been, discovered here by an experienced eye.

The grist-mill near this point shows it to have been an early settlement, and it is doubtless the one spoken of by Governor Gordon, where he found the people gathered together for defence near New Hanover township. It is mentioned in John Potts's will (1768), and is an old stone building still standing, not far from High Street in Pottstown, the line of New Hanover running near it.

The number of forges and furnaces on the Manatawny and its branches, of which I find mention in family records, deeds, wills, plans, etc., before the Revolutionary period, are Mount Pleasant Furnace and Forge, Spring Forge, Colebrookdale Furnace and Forge, Amity. Forge, Rutter's Forge, Pool Forge 1 and 2, (1) Pine Forge, Little Pine Forge, McCall's Forge; all these were owned and carried on by the united families of Rutter and Potts. I have been unable to trace the exact date at which Thomas Potts left Germantown and followed the fortunes of Thomas Rutter to the Manatawny. About 1725 he was there, acting for Anthony Morris, who was a relative of his, and for George McCall, who was part

owner of the forge that bears his name.

From the " Pennsylvania Gazette," published in Philadelphia, dated "March 5 to March 13, 1729-30," 1 extract the following obituary:

"March 13. On Sunday night last died here Thomas Rutter, Sen., of a short illness. He was the first that erected an iron-work in Pennsylvania."

Here we have contemporaneous evidence that he was the pioneer in the iron business of this State. His will, made in 1728, was proved in 1730; in it are named his sons, sons-in-law,

(1) Perhaps one of these may have been a furnace. Manatawny Furnace and Forge are also mentioned, but these may have been the same as Colebrookdale.

Manatawny. - 43

and daughters, and two grandchildren. A large part of his lands, mines, forges, and furnaces in Mahanawtania" he gave to his sons Thomas (1) and John; to Thomas and Samuel Savage, the sons of his daughter Anna, his stone quarries near Howell's Mill, Germantown; and, among other bequests, he left to his children, grandchildren, and their heirs forever, his burial-ground of half an acre, situate in Bristol township. After the death of Thomas Rutter, his heirs, with Thomas Potts, Sen., became the owners of a large tract of mineral land, and the furnaces and forges erected to develop it. Thomas and John Rutter died in less than six years after their father, each leaving a daughter Rebecca, who inherited a large share of this property; these two cousins marrying David and Thomas Potts, Jr., and their aunt's daughter, Ruth Savage, the elder brother, John Potts, a great part of the iron-works of the Province were thus centred in one family.

In the next generation the marriage of John Potts's eldest son with his first-cousin, Anna Nutt, the heiress of both the Messrs. Nutt, added the large establishments on French Creek to the family possessions; and that of his eldest daughter to the only son of the second Thomas Rutter kept that family still under the same influence.

I have been unable to find any memoranda of the erection of the first forges and furnaces on the Manatawny by Thomas Rutter, Sen., but soon after his death some of these iron-works belonged to a company of which I can give the following authentic account, copied from the original papers.

In 1731 Colebrookdale Furnace and Pool Forge were owned by

(1) This Thomas Rutter, Jr., was a member of Assembly from Philadelphia County in 1728, and was one of the eight members who retired from the House because the Speaker would not issue a writ for the election of a representative to fill the place of Sir William Keith, who had gone to England.

44 - Manatawny.

the persons whose names are here given, in the proportion of shares annexed to each name:

It would appear that at the above date this company was formed to rebuild and carry on (through Thomas Potts) Colebrookdale Furnace; for in the paper from which this is copied is the amount of subscription paid by George Mifflin and others to Thomas Potts, and the document is indorsed No. 1. The whole amount subscribed was L550.

The cost of rebuilding this furnace I copy verbatim, as it is the oldest record I have been able to discover. It is written very handsomely on a folio. sheet of paper, and is Thomas Potts's account with the company

Dr.The ffurnace.

1733s. d.

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No dates are given in the latter part of this account; but by the item of the diet of a mason for seventeen weeks, and half the account, covering a period of five months, we may conclude that the greater part of a year was occupied in constructing the furnace.

To give some idea of the way in which this partnership was conducted, I copy the following from an original paper with autograph signatures.

"To the Persons in this minitt named, viz.: Alexd Woodrupps, Wm. Attwood, Wm. Pywell for Thos. Rutter, Anth. Morris, George Mifflin & Tho's Potts, Being a Majority of the Proprietor's of Colbrook ffurnace Mett This 16 day of 6mo. 1736.

" And on a Complaint yt some. of the Ownrs of sd ffurnace were deficient in finding their proportion of Wood for Coal for the Carrying on the Blast

Manatawny. - 47

of sd ffurnace According to articles of Agreement W1h Thomas Potts, Therefore made Inquiry Thereunto And find that there is a deficiency Chargable upon the Persons under-named And it is now Agreed & Concluded that they & every of them Immediately find & Provide the Quantity of woodland annexed to their Names and yt ye possess Thos. Potts with the wood thereon Standing for the use of the sd. Colbrook furnace the next ensuing Blast. On failure whereof 't is Concluded & Agreed yt the sd. Thomas Potts reserve & Sell so much of their part & Share of the Pigg Iron Cast or to be runn & Cast as shall or may fully purchase or pay for their full Proportion of wood according to the undr Estimate made the day & date above, viz

"Thomas Rutter (1) deceased, to make good . . . . . . . 55 acres woodland.

John Rutter(1) deceasd, & Thos Potts. . . . . . . . . . 75 Ditto

Samuel Preston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Ditto

Edwd ffream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Do

Nathl ffrench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Do

Jno. Leycock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Do

Geo. Boon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 ½ Do

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 1/2

Capt Attwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Taken from the Minutes of sd Compy And signed by us,

"ANTHo MORRIS

ALEXANDER WOODDROP

WILLIAM PYEWELL

GEORGE MIFFLIN

WM. ATTWOOD

THOMAS POTTS."

The amount of wood consumed by these charcoal furnaces was enormous. Warwick when in blast used from five to six thousand cords of wood annually, the product of about two hundred and forty acres of woodland.

Soon after Colebrookdale was rebuilt, Mount Pleasant Furnace

(1) These were the two sons of Thomas, Sen. Thomas, Jr., died in 1735, and John in 1734.

48 - Manatawny.

must have been erected, as I find a paper giving the first six blasts between the years 1738 and 1740. This furnace was situated on Perkiomen Creek, thirteen miles above Pottstown; no remains of it are now visible. Iron-works bearing the same name were afterwards built near the old site, of which some walls are still standing. Mount Pleasant was carried on by Thomas Potts and his sons; in 1748, David received a deed of one sixth of it from his father. The following paper proves that it was in active operation in 1738:

Account Pig Metal & other Castings made att Mount Pleasant Ffurnace

During the Following Blasts Viz

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Following the order of time, we must now cross the Schuylkill and look in at the French Creek Iron-Works. Those in operation there about 1734 were, as far as I can learn, Redding(1) Furnace, Coventry Forge, and the Vincent Steel-Works; though the place once occupied by the last two has been pointed out to me, I was unable to trace any remains of the buildings that once stood there.

The mines which supplied these works are situated a few miles above, and consist of surface deposits of brown and other hemitite ores; they are worked in an open quarry over several acres, and by a shaft one hundred and eighty feet deep. This rich mineral deposit was partly included in the grant of eight hundred acres to Samuel Nutt in 1718, and of one thousand more in 1733

That copper as well as iron was extensively mined at French Creek is proved by a letter from Richard Peters, Secretary to the Board of War, August 19, 1777, wherein he asks that a load of copper, which had been sent to Philadelphia from that place, and is said to belong to the State, may be appropriated to the use of a furnace which had been casting cannon and was standing still for want of that metal. He also mentions that the affairs of French Creek Furnace, etc., are unsettled.

(1) The name is so spelled on old plans and maps. Two furnaces were erected bearing that name. about a mile from each other; one after the other was abandoned.

50 - Manatawny.

Mr. Nutt, who had no children to inherit his name and property, appears to have been particularly attached to his wife's daughter, Rebecca Savage. Having a nephew and namesake in England of a proper age, he sent for him to come over and marry her, arranging the matter according to the English fashion of those days; both parties, as far as we can learn, were quite willing to enter into the engagement made for them by their elders.

Samuel, Jr., probably arrived here in 1733, and they were married either in that or very early the following year, as Rebecca's name and that of- her husband are signed to the marriage certificate of her sister Ruth and John Potts, April 11, 1734. At this date she could not have been sixteen years of age. Tradition asserts that she was a very beautiful girl, and that her rich dowry was far outweighed by her personal and mental charms. Her wedding dress of very elegant brocade, with high-heeled buckled shoes to match, were imported from England (as well as the bridegroom), and are still in the possession of the family of the writer. The first house built by Samuel Nutt at Coventry, and where probably both Rebecca and Ruth Savage were married, has long since been taken down, but it was described to me(1) as similar to the ancient houses in the old English town of Coventry. The frame was of immense hewn logs, between which were cemented stones; it was built beyond the present mansion house, and higher. up the hill, and was standing until after the Revolution; for during that time Mrs. Grace (formerly Mrs. Nutt, Jr.) entertained there the officers of the army of Valley Forge. It is still spoken of as Coventry Hall. The house, of which a picture is given in this volume, was built, it is supposed, by Robert Grace, for Thomas Potts, on his marriage with Anna Nutt. We know that their daughter

(1) By an elderly lady still living, whose husband, much older than herself, lived in the neighborhood and remembered it well.

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Henrietta was born and married there, and that, sixty years after that last event, her husband, still living at the advanced age of ninety-six, stood upon the same spot in the parlor where more than half a century before he had received the marriage benediction.

Samuel Nutt was a member of Assembly from Chester County from 1723 to 1726, and when a new commission of peace was issued, on Patrick Gordon becoming governor of Pennsylvania, Nutt was appointed one of his Majesty's justices. In 1728 he was chosen by the Governor and Council to run the division. line to separate Lancaster County from the old Chester County. He is the second person named with eleven others as fit and well qualified for this work; but he does not appear to have acted, for doubtless his own extensive private affairs were quite enough for him to attend to.

The 15th day of March, 1736, Samuel Nutt and William Bronson entered into an agreement with John Potts to carry on their furnace called Redding, recently built near Coventry, and of which they are styled "joint owners." He was " to cast the quantity of twenty-eight hundred weight of Cart-Boxes, Sash Weights or any other Particular small Castings every Month during the Continuance of the said Blast . . . . . And they also covenant that they ye said Owners or their Clerks or Agents for the Time being, shall deliver no Quantity of Rum to any of the People Belonging to the Furnace or therein concerned, without a Note or Token from the said John Potts or his Agents or Assistants."

The following advertisement for a runaway servant is copied from the " Pennsylvania Gazette" Of July, 1737, and is given as an interesting relic of the times:

FRENCH CREEK IRON WORKS CHESTER COUNTY

JULY 3rd 1737

"Run away from the iron works aforesaid, a servantman David McQuatty; by trade a Hammerer & Refiner, but has formerly followed shaloping up

52 - Manatawny.

& down the Bay from Egg Harbor. He is a Scotchman but speaks pretty good English, middle siz'd about 28 years of age of a thin visage & a little pockpetten, with a Roman nose & a few spots of gunpowder under his right eye.

He is a talkertive man, given to liquor, & then very quarrelsome. He has such a trembling in the nerves that he can hold nothing in his bands steadily, he has a very small mouth & thin lips. He had on when he went away, a new drugget coat & jacket of a kind of yellowish or snuff color- a good new fine shirt-a new castor hat-a darkish silk handkerchief-a cotton cap -a pair of new linen drawers or a pair of Osenbrigs (1) trowsers, & A pair of large carved brass buckles in his shoes.

"Whoever secures the said servant so that his master may have him again, shall have L3 if taken up in this Province, or L5 if taken up in any other Province & all reasonable charges paid by

"SAMUEL NUTT."

This man no doubt was a Redemptioner or Redemptionist as they were indiscriminately called; these servants were a sort of white slaves allowed in Pennsylvania, who were brought over from Great Britain and Germany by contractors and sea-captains, and on their arrival here were sold for a term of years to repay their passage-money. Lord Altham, the heir to the earldom of Annesley, was sold by his cruel uncle and brought to Pennsylvania, where he served several years as a Redemptioner, on a farm between Philadelphia and Lancaster, until discovered by some men from his Irish home. His case, tried in England, was very notorious, and served as the foundation for the celebrated novel of, " Roderick Random," by Fielding, and the character of Harry Bertram in "Guy Mannering."

Samuel Nutt, Sen., died in 1737. His will was made on the 25th of September in that year. He gave one half of his estate to

(1) A coarse kind of cloth made of hemp tow, and sold in colonial times for one shilling sixpence per yard.

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his son-in-law, Samuel Nutt, and Rebecca his wife, and the other half, after the payment of some legacies, to his Own wife Anna; and he particularly directs that she is to have 120 acres of land on the north side of the south branch of French Creek, one hundred and thirty perches in length upon the stream on which to build a furnace, and leave to cut as much timber upon the lands adjacent as would suffice to erect the same. His idea seemed to have been that she and her sons might carry on this establishment, while her son-in-law managed Coventry.

This furnace was commenced the same year, and-is still in possession of one branch of the Potts family, and known as Warwick. The following description of it is taken from Bishop's "History of American Manufactures": "The Warwick charcoal blast furnace on the south branch of French Creek was built in 1736. It was of such furnaces at the somewhat larger than the ordinary size present day, and having been reduced from nine to seven and one half feet in the boshes, and consequently in its make of iron, is still running, in other respects unchanged. It produced in 1857 from ore of the Warwick and the neighboring mines seven hundred and fifty-nine tons of boiler plate iron. In 1776 this furnace was engaged in casting iron for the State. It was blown by long wooden bellows propelled by water-wheels, and when in blast made twenty-five or thirty tons of iron per week." Before this furnace was finished, and not a year after his uncle's death, Samuel Nutt, Jr., died, and Rebecca was left a widow with one child when only twenty years old. On the 30th of April, 1740, she executed two deeds after the old English manner, a lease and a release to her mother, wherein it is stated that these two, the widow of Samuel Nutt the elder, and of Samuel Nutt the younger, had built a furnace (Warwick) for the seething of iron ore, etc, and she conveyed to her mother, Anna, one half part of two tracts of land, one of six

54 - Manatawny.

hundred and fifty acres, the other of seven hundred and five acres, upon part of which were the Warwick mansion and furnace.

The estate left by Samuel Nutt, Sen., appears by these deeds to have remained undivided for two years after his death, and these papers were no doubt executed to have the property satisfactorily arranged before the marriage of Mrs. Nutt, Jr., with Robert Grace, which took place soon after this date. About the time of the death of Samuel Nutt, Jr., Mr. Grace returned from his three years' travels in Europe; he was a friend and, I think, a relative of Thomas Potts -of Colebrookdale, and he probably went up to that region soon after his arrival in Philadelphia, as we know he had been particularly interested in the study of metallurgy while abroad, as the following extract from a letter of Peter Collinson to John Bartram, the botanist, proves: "London, 1737. 1 hope thou have mine (i. e. letters) and the things by our friend Robert Grace, who has taken some pains to make himself master of fluxing metals. He will be able to give our friend Wolley some satisfaction as to the richness and quality of his ores."

The sister-in-law of John Potts was a young and lovely widow, mistress of a large estate on French Creek, and it would appear that Robert Grace soon paid court to her with success.

Franklin, in his Autobiography, relates the following: "In order of time I should have mentioned before, that, having in 1742 invented an open fireplace for the better warming of rooms and at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, I made a present of the model to Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand." During a visit to Warwick in the summer of 1868, the writer saw at Coventry one of these original stoves. In an inventory, made in 1796, of the personal estate of Colonel Thomas

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Potts's widow, the step-daughter of Robert Grace, one room in her house was designated as the "Stove-room." I had hoped to find this parlor with the Franklin stove surrounded by the ancient tiles remembered by her children, but they had all been taken away when the house was refitted and one part rebuilt, in 1803; but I was able to trace the stove to a house about half a mile distant, where I saw it. The pattern was of more antiquated design than that given by Lossing (1) as probably an original, and so clumsy and massive in structure that no doubt remained in my mind that the great Philosopher had sat beside its hearth admiring his new invention. The words "Warwick Furnace" were cast on the front in letters two inches long, but I searched in vain for any date. On my return to Warwick, I inquired of Mr. Nathaniel Potts (the present owner) for the old models; but he told me that they had all been destroyed long ago, and added that he remembered two of the old stoves in the Warwick mansion which were taken out more than fifty years since and melted up, giving place to more modern improvements. As the same fate seems to have overtaken all the other old Franklin stoves in the neighborhood, I endeavored to persuade the owner of this one to give it to the Pennsylvania Historical Society as a relic, but did not succeed.

Franklin often visited his friend Robert Grace at Coventry, and it is quite probable that he superintended the setting of this one himself. Having traced its history so clearly as an original Franklin stove, I hope-it may be carefully preserved.

After 1740, Grace appears to have carried on the French Creek Iron-works in behalf of his wife, step-daughter, and mother-in-law with John Potts, part of whose interest was derived from his

wife, as one of the heirs of Mrs. Nutt, Sen. As these furnaces and

(1) Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. l. p. 328.

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forges were built by private enterprise, when the owner died the heirs often worked them in undivided shares for the benefit of the family.

The following letter and proposals in the singularly beautiful writing of Robert Grace are in the author's possession, and are

here copied to show how Warwick was managed in 1744:

"Mr. JOHN POTTS

"These are Proposals which I hope you will find calculated for the mutual advantage of all Partys.

"If you have any reasonable objection against any Clause or any Part of it, please to let me know it in writing. I shall readily agree to any Alteration that shall be judged equitable. The Circumstances of our affairs require that we should come to a Speedy Resolution.

"ROBERT GRACE.

PHILADA 22d October 1744

"The Proposals of Robert Grace for the better ordering & carrying on the Works at Warwick Furnace for the next Blast.

"1. That a Manager be appointed, whose Business shall be to provide all the necessary Materials for carrying on the Blasts and keeping the Furnace in Repair. He is to hire & agree with Workmen for such Purposes, & generally to oversee & direct the Works, & take care that all Persons employed therein perform their Duty respectively. And when any Agreement with Workmen or for the furnishing Materials for the Works shall be made by the Manager, he shall forthwith cause such Agreement to be entered by the Company's Clerk in the Company's Books.

"2. That a Clerk be appointed, whose Business shall be to receive & dispose of, to the best Advantage, the Goods & Merchandizes that shall be sent to the Furnace for the Use of the Company. He shall pay the Workmen & all persons employed in & about the Works of the Furnace according to the Agreement made with them by the Manager. He shall once in every three Months render a true Account of the Sales of the said Goods & also furnish true Copies to each of the Owners, of all the Transactions entered in the Company's Books, which shall lye open at all times to the Inspection & Examination of each of the Owners. He shall also keep a just Account of

Manatawny. - 57

the Pigs & all Kinds of Castings made at the Furnace & in what Manner, & for whose Use the same shall from Time to Time be disposed of.

"3. That all the Goods & Merchandizes that shall be disposed of at the Furnace, shall be sold on the Account of the Company in general, & not on the Account of any of the Owners in Particular; it being the Intention of the Owners that none of them shall sell or dispose of any dry Goods at the Furnace without the Consent of all the Company.

"4. Erased.

"5. That an agent be appointed to purchase at Philadelphia with the Produce of the Furnace such Goods as shall be necessary to supply the Workmen employed in & about the Works belonging to the Furnace in such Quantities & of such sorts as the Manager in Writing shall direct.

"6. That at all Times when any Goods shall be sent up by the Agent to the Furnace, he shall send at the Same time a true Account of their Cost, of whom bought, & of the Time allowed for. Payment.

"7. That the Manager & in Default of him the Clerk, shall send down such Quantities of Piggs, Barr Iron or Castings to the agent as shall enable him to discharge at the Time agreed upon the Debts so to be contracted on account of the Furnace in manner aforesd

"8. That the Clerk once in every three months shall make a Calculation of the Disburstments & Expences made for the Furnace, & of what each Party shall have furnished towards such Disburstments & Expenses. And if on such Calculations any of the Owners shall be found to be in Arrear, Then, if after Thirty days notice thereof, he or She doe not make good or Discharge such arrearage, the Manager & in Default of him the Clerk, shall have

Power. & shall also be obliged at the request of any of the Partys, to dispose of the Piggs or Castings of Such owner in arrear, at a ready money price in order to make good the said arrearage. But when any of the Partys be not in Arrear, Then the Manager or Clerk shall at any Time deliver the Piggs & Castings belonging to such Party to his or her order & not otherwise.

"9. That all bad Debts made on the Sale of the Goods or Merchandizes to be sold at the Furnace -be born by the Company each of them in proportion to his or her share in the Furnace.

"10. That the Agent & Clerk shall before they enter on their respective Employments promise & engage under their hands to conform themselves

58 - Manatawny.

agreeable to the Intention of these Articles, & for that Purpose each of them shall be furnished with a copy of the same Articles.

"11. That the Manager shall be allowed by the Company a yearly salary of Pounds & and the Clerk a salary of Pounds.

"12. & Lastly To the Intent that any Differences which may hereafter arrise on the Construction of these Articles, or any part thereof or on any other Matter relating to the Partnership, may be always accommodate in an Amicable manner, It is hereby agreed, that when any such Differences shall happen, the Same shall be submitted, at the Request of any of the Partys, to four Arbitrators, the Determination of whom (Delivered in Writing under their Hands or under the Hands of any three of them) shall be final & conclusive, Their Award being given within Thirty Days after such submission and appointment."

Early in the Revolution, Samuel Potts and Thomas Rutter entered into an agreement with the Council of Safety to cast cannon and shot for the government. I copy from an old account found among the family papers the amount manufactured there during six (9) months. The reader may be surprised to find the peaceful item of clock-weights entered with the shot, but it must be remembered that an order had been issued and persons appointed to take from every house in Philadelphia all the lead which could be found excepting clock-weights, as the iron substitutes, says the record, were not yet ready. A large number of cannon were also cast at this furnace, and the powder on the following account was furnished by government to prove them. Several cannon which did not stand the test are still to be seen half sunk in the banks of French Creek, where they have remained for nearly a century, as the cost of raising them from the marshy ground would be more than the worth of the iron.

(1) This agreement was made March 30, 1776.

Manatawny. - 59

The Council of Safety in Ace' With Rutter & Potts.

Dr.

During the early years of the Revolution, Warwick was in constant operation for government, as the following from Colonial 9

Records proves:

"Five days after the battle of Brandywine (1777) the two armies were to engage, but were prevented by a tremendous rain-storm which lasted a day

60 - Mantawny.

and night The American army retired to Warwick Furnace, where they found their ammunition was all ruined by the rain here they procured a fresh supply."

In the act of Assembly (1) passed by Massachusetts in 1727 regulating the prices of merchantable articles, the rate of bar-iron is put down at 48/. Cast-iron pots and kettles, 48/ a hundred.

In 1777 another act passed 'by the same State places "good refined iron at. 50/per cwt., and Bloomery iron at 30/ per cwt at the place of manufactory." I have been at some trouble to look out from the original papers the prices of iron at the Potts furnaces and forges at about the same date.

For castings, which seem to have been divided into two kinds, namely, forge castings and country castings, the last Including all articles of domestic use:

In 1774 anvil and forge plate castings . . . . .14/ per hundred weight.

In 1774 a. Dutch oven . . . . . . . . .. . . . .15/.

In 1774 two large Moravian stoves . . . . . . . 69 apiece.

In 1779 a ton of pots . . . . . . . . . . . . . L 700.

In 1779 5 tons of stoves at . . . . . . . . . . L400 per ton.

In 1785 Franklin stoves sold at retail. . . . . 5 1 10s. apiece.

In 1785 ten-plate stoves . . . . . . . . . . . L10 a piece

In 1785 large six-plate stoves. . . . . . . . . L7 a piece

In 1785 small six-plate stoves. . . . . . . . . L5 10s. A piece

(1)Felt's Massachusetts Currency.

(2) Pennsylvania currency, a pound being equal to 2.66.

Manatawny. - 61

The following, copied from the accounts of David Potts, Jr., who then owned and carried on Pine Forge, will give an idea of the business of one of these forges just before the Revolution, and the amount of pig-iron used in it He bought of Warwick Furnace:

s.

In 1774, June 27, 50 1/4 tons pig-iron at L7 5s . . . . . . . . . L351 . 15s

In 1774, Nov. 8, 100 tons pig-iron at L7 5s . . . . . . . . . . . L725

In 1774, Dec. 13, 50 tons pig-iron at L7 5s . . . . . . . . . . . L362 . 10s

In 1775, Feb. 7, 15 tons pig-iron at L7 5s. . . . . . . . . . . . L108 . 15s

In 1775, Dec. 1, 79 tons pig-iron at L7 5s. . . . . . . . . . . . L567 . 15s

In 1776, July 9, 120 tons pig-iron at L7 5s . . . . . . . . . . . L840

In January, 1781, the said David Potts paid for 100 cords of wood at the rate Of 4/9 per cord in specie and engaged several hundred cords more at the same price. The rate then of Continental currency is stated as 75 to 1.

From the fact that David purchased this iron from Warwick, twelve miles distant from his own forge, and paid 15/ per ton for "haulling" it I infer that Colebrookdale Furnace, only four miles above Pine Forge, was at that time given up. His father, Thomas, who had succeeded his grandfather, Thomas Potts, in the ownership of this old furnace, had died in 1762, and it is probable that soon after that date it was discontinued.

The old mines at Colebrookdale which Rutter opened in 1717, and the Potts family worked so successfully for a series of years, are rich in veins of magnetic iron and copper. Towards the close of the last century, on account of the difficulty and expense of raising the ore, they were abandoned; but within the last five years the improvements in mining, with the aid of steam and coal, have caused them to be again worked to the great advantage of the owners. Two years ago a branch railroad was built from Pottstown, which takes the coal up and brings the ore down to the

62 - Manatawny.

Reading Railroad; and Colebrookdale, now called Boyertown, is again a scene of busy industry.

The original patent of William Penn to Thomas Rutter, of three hundred acres in Manatawny, issued in 1714-15, is still in the possession of his great-great-great-grandson.

From this document it appears that Thomas Rutter's purchases of land in that region, began several years earlier than the date given by Dickinson of the first iron made there; before this grant Rutter had received a deed of the land from the Surveyor-General, and the patent was issued to confirm the same. This tract was on the borders of " Manahatawny Creek," and no doubt it is the three hundred acres whereon Poole and Pine Forge were built; for more than half a century that was the amount of land comprised in the Pine Forge estate. I copy the patent verbatim, as it will be interesting to the descendants of the pioneer iron-master, and show the present generation on what terms the grants in Penn's Province were held:

"WILLIAM PENN True and absolute Proprietor and Governour in chief of the Province of Pensilvania and Territories thereunto belonging To all unto whom these presents shall come send Greeting WHEREAS there is a certain Tract of Land situate on Manahatawny Creek in ye County of Pbilada Beginning at a Spanish Oak by the sd Creek in a line of ye Land laid out to Andrew Wiedman therein by ye same and other Land North twenty

degrees East Three Hundred & twenty perches to a comer White Oak

mean South seventy degrees East by a line of Marked Trees One Hundred seventy four perches to a corner post then South Twenty degrees West by a line of Trees two hundred and thirteen perches to an Ash Tree by the sd creek then up ye same on ye several courses thereof to ye place of beginning containing Three Hundred acres being part of One thousand acres granted to David Powel at my departure from ye sd Province ye last day of ye Eight month in the year one thousand seven hundred and one and ordered to be laid out together with ffive hundred acres more in one Warrant

Manatawny. - 63

for Eight hundred acres by a Warrant from my present Commissioners of Property bearing date ye twenty eight day of the sixth month last and ye sd Three Hundred acres being surveyed and Returned into the Surveyor Genrl Office was by the sd David Powel by deed dated ye ffourteenth day of January last past Granted and conveyed to Thomas Rutter of ye sd county and his heirs-who Requesting a confirmation thereof Know Ye that as well in consideration of a competent sum of Money to Me paid and satisfyed the sd David Powel in ye business of Resurveys and of his aforesd Grant as of ye sd Quit-rents hereinafter reserved I HAVE GIVEN Granted Released and confirmed, and by these presents for me my heirs and successors Doe Give Grant Release and confirm unto ye sd Thomas Rutter and his heirs all those ye sd Three hundred acres of Land as the same is now sett forth Bounded and Limited as aforesaid with all Mines Minerals Quarries Meadows Marshes Savannahs Swamps Cripples Woods Underwoods Timber and Trees Wayes Waters Watercourses Liberties Proffits Commodities A dvaiitages Herediterments and Appurtenances whatsoever to ye Sd Three hundred acres of Land belonging or in any wise appertaining and lying within ye Bounds and Limits aforesaid (three full and clear ffifth parts of all Royal Mines free from all deductions and Reprisals for digging & Refining the same only Excepted and hereby reserved) And also free leave Right and Liberty to and for the said Thomas Rutter his heirs assigns to Hawk Hunt ffish and ffowle in and upon ye hereby granted Lands & premises or upon any part thereof To HAVE AND To HOLD, the sd Three hundred acres of Land and premises hereby Granted (except before excepted) with their appurtenances to ye sd Thomas Rutter his heirs assigns To ye only use and behoof of ye sd Thomas Rutter his heirs and assigns forever TO BE HOLDEN of me my heirs and successors Proprietarys of Pensilvania as of our Manor or Reputed Manor of Springetsbury in ye county of Philada in free and comman Soccage by ffealty only in lieu of all other services Yielding and Paying therefore Yearly to Me my Heirs and Successors at Philadelphia or upon the first day of March in every Year from ye first survey thereof One English Silver Shilling for Every hundred acres or value thereof in coin current To such person or persons as shall from time to time be appointed to receive the same. IN WITNESS Whereof I have by vertue of my commission to my Proprietary Deputies hereinafter named bearing date ninth day of Novem

64 - Manatawny.

her in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & Eleven caused my Great Seal to be hereunto affixed By and with the consent and approbation of Henry Goldney and others ye Trustees for raising a certain Sum of money out of ye said Province witnessed by their Power to my sd Deputies bearing date ytenth day of ye sd November. Witness Richard Hill Isaac Norris and. James Logan my sd Deputies at Philadelphia ye twelfth day of twelfth month ffebruary in ye year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fourteen fifteen and ye first year of ye Reign of King George over Great Britain &c

RICHARD HILL ISAAC NORRIS JAMES LOGAN.,

Pine Forge, which is still standing, is, no doubt, the oldest ironworks in Pennsylvania. It is situated on the main branch of the Manatawny, five miles above Pottstown, and more than four miles below Colebrookdale Furnace. to have been one of the forges established by

It is believed Thomas Rutter, Sen., and it is interesting to his descendants and to those of Thomas Potts to note the different members of the family into whose hands it passed and by whom it has been carried on until a recent period.

Thomas Rutter's will, executed in 1728, does not specify the names of his "forges and furnaces in Mahanatawnie," but we infer that one of them was called Pine Forge, because in connection with the line above quoted be mentions "My 200 acres of land leased to ye company," which appears by the following clause in the will of Thomas Potts, Sen., written in 1747, to be part of that property.

To "my son John one third of Pine fforge, with the one third of the hundred acres of land on which the same stands, and the one third of two hundred acres of land adjoining, commonly called

Company's land, at two hundred and twenty five pounds."

It is probable that Thomas Rutter and his son-in-law Samuel

Manatawny. - 65

Savage built and occupied, at their first coining to Manatawny, the stone house at Pine Forge, part of which is still standing. That Thomas Potts, Sen., lived there and carried on the works, as well as his son John, by whom it was greatly enlarged, there can be no question.

By the following clause in the will of John Potts, executed in

1767, it will be seen how he had increased the size of the estate:

"Item: whereas I stand seized in fee simple of a forge in the county of Berks, by the name of Pine Forge, with the following tract of land thereunto belonging viz. 300 acres which I purchased from Mary Rees,(1) 150 acres which which I bought from Seeny Savage, (2) 200 acres which I bought from John Jones, 150 which I bought from Marcus Hulings Jr., 125 acres which I bought from Thomas Coombe, 225 acres which I bought from the Trustees of the Loan Office, and 100 acres whereon the said house now stands, containing in the whole 1280 acres of land."

By the following advertisement, this large estate appears to have been divided after the death of John Potts, and offered for sale separately:

From the Pennsylvania Gazette, March 2d, 1769.

"To be sold on Friday, 10th March, 1769, at Thomas Dewees's in Pottsgrove, Philadelphia County, the following plantations situated in Amity and Douglas townships, Berks County, being part of the estate of John Potts, late of Pottsgrove, deceased, viz.: Four valuable plantations containing about 200 a acres each, with plenty of good meadow on each plantation, good part cleared, the upland extraordinary good, and the whole well timbered ; also one other plantation containing about 350 acres, 25 of meadow, and about 80 upland cleared; there is on this place a forge for making iron called Pine Forge, a saw-mill, etc.; also a good stone dwelling-house, workmen's houses,

(1) Daughter of Thomas Rutter, Sen., and so called in her father's win.

(2) This was Zanes Savage, a son of George, and probably a grandson of the John mentioned in Samuel Savage's will as his brother.

66 - Manatawny.

barn, stable, etc. the unimproved land well timbered; also one other tract, containing 150 acres, -with about 10 acres meadow cleared, the remainder extremely good land and well timbered. The purchaser paying part of the money down, may have a considerable time for payment of the remainder by

"SAMUEL POTTS,

"Executor."

At this time the forge, with the three hundred and fifty acres of land above mentioned, was purchased for two thousand pounds by David Potts, Jr. (the son and grandson of Thomas Potts, Jr., and Sen.), who in 1768 had married his uncle John's daughter Anna, and the newly wedded pair appear to have settled there and improved the estate until their death; when, leaving only two young daughters, the property was again offered for sale. The following is copied from the original handbill, which is handsomely printed in English and German:

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TO BE SOLD

By PUBLIC SALE

On the firft day of OCTOBER next, on the Premifes,