Nicholas Rittenhouse

1666 - 1734  (67 years)

• Name	Nicholas Rittenhouse
  Birth	15 Jun 1666  [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate death	Abt 1730  [3]
  Death	Between 24 May 1734 and 4 Jun 1734	Roxborough Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania   [1, 2]
  Siblings	1 sibling
  + 1. Elizabeth Rittenhouse   d. Aft 19 Feb 1708 ▻ Heivert Papen ,  m. Abt 1690 + 2. Nicholas Rittenhouse ,   b. 15 Jun 1666   d. Between 24 May 1734 and 4 Jun 1734, Roxborough Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  (Age 67 years) ▻ Wilhelmina Pietre de Wees ,  m. 29 May 1689
  Person ID	I34929	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of JMF
  Last Modified	11 May 2021

  
  

  Father	Willem Rittenhouse,   b. 1644, near Mülheim, Broich, Rhineland, Germany d. 1708, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Age 64 years)
  Family ID	F20532	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Wilhelmina Pietre de Wees,   b. 13 Mar 1673, Lieuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands d. Aft 6 Mar 1737 (Age > 64 years)
  Marriage	29 May 1689	New York, New York   [2]
  Children	+ 1. Mary Rittenhouse
  Family ID	F20531	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	11 May 2021

  
  

• Notes

  Also called Klaus, Claus; also called Rittenhausen, Ruttinghuysen, Rittinghausen. That Nicholas Rittenhouse and Claus Rittenhouse were the same individual is established by a deed of his father that refers to "his son, Nicholas, by the name of Claus Rittenhouse". "Claus" was a common shortening of "Nicholas." Nicholas Rittenhouse (1666-1734) = Wilhelmina Dewees (d. 1737) Matthias Rittenhouse (1702-1779) = Elizabeth Williams (1705-1792) David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) -- American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, inventor, and first director of the United States Mint. Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia is named for him. Benjamin Franklin bequeathed him a telescope in his will. 1st cousin 6 times removed to JMF. From A Genea-Biographical History of the Rittenhouse Family (citation details below): It is presumed that he was married in New York before he came to Germantown. He succeeded his father, Willem, in the business of paper making, and was the sole owner of the mill after his father. He was the grandfather of our philosopher, David. He was also a member of the Mennonite Church at Germantown, and after the death of his father, Willem, he was elected a minister in his father's place in said church, ordained presumably by Jacob Godshall, who came over in 1702, in which capacity he served faith fully till his death in 1734. In 1727 he signed the proceedings of the first Mennonite Conference in America. An old historian has the following:-- "The Rittenhouses settled on the eastern bank of the Wissahickon, adjoining the southwest side of Germantown, where they erected on a small stream which empties into the Wissahickon, about a mile above the Schuylkill, the first paper mill in British America. The name of the chief proprietor of this mill was Wilhelm Rittenhouse, then spelled Ruttinghuysen or Rittinghausen. He had two sons, Claus (or more properly, according to the German, Klaus), or Nicholas, who succeeded him at this paper mill, and Garret, or Gerhard, who lived in Germantown on Cresheim Creek, and there had a grist or flour mill. The Rittenhouses from that day to the present have continuously occupied mill seats on the Wissahickon Creek. The American astronomer, David Rittenhouse, LL.D., was born in Roxborough, near the site of the first paper mill."

  
  

• Sources

  [S5696] A Genea-Biographical History of the Rittenhouse Family and All its Branches in America by Daniel K. Cassel. Volume 1. Philadelphia: The Rittenhouse Memorial Association, 1893. [S5697] The Dewees Family: Genealogical Data, Biographical Facts, and Historical Information by Mrs. Philip E. LaMunyan. Ed. Ellwood Roberts. Norristown, Pennsylvania: William H. Roberts, 1905. [S5695] Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S. Late President of the American Philosophical Society, &c. by William Barton. Philadelphia: Edward Parker, 1813.