Life

William Rittenhouse (1644 – 1708) was born in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 with the name Wilhelm Rittenhausen. His name as "Willm Rittenhuysen" was on a petition for naturalization of residents of German Town, Pennsylvania dated 7th May 1691.

He is most known for being the first established person to make paper in North America.

He died in Pennsylvania in 1708. His legacy continued to his descendant David Rittenhouse

David Rittenhouse

David Rittenhouse was a renowned American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman and public official...

, who had the Rittenhouse name immortalized in Rittenhouse Square

Rittenhouse Square

Rittenhouse Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park cuts off 19th Street at Walnut Street and also at a half block above Manning Street. Its boundaries are...

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

.

Livelyhood

William was a papermaking

Papermaking

Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...

 apprentice in Germany where he worked at a mill in the city of Mülheim

Mülheim

Mülheim an der Ruhr, also called "City on the River", is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen...

. Later he learned the Dutch ways of papermaking while living with his brother in Holland before emigrating to the Pennsylvania Colony in 1688. Two years later he founded the first paper mill

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

 to be established in the colonies. This Rittenhouse Mill became the family business for the next century.

Ministry

Around 1690 the Germantown, Pennsylvania

Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...

Mennonite congregation elected William Rittenhouse as its first preacher.

External links

• William Rittenhouse in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online