far from Germantown, hath removed farther up the country, and of his own strength has set up making iron. Such it proves to be, as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best Swedes' iron doth not exceed it; and we have heard of others that are going on with the iron works."

Manufactured iron was about that time sent to England from Pennsylvania as a specimen of colonial skill and enterprise, exciting so much jealousy there that a bill was introduced in Parliament two years later to prevent the erection of 'rolling and slitting-mills in the colonies. It did not become a law, however, till 1750, when it passed, only giving us permission to export pig metal to England free of duty.

The high honor, therefore, of being the first to manufacture iron from the ore in Pennsylvania, and probably in America, belongs to the Rutter family in their early head, Thomas Rut-ter. He purchased a large tract of land lying now in Montgomery and Berks counties, parts of which have since been. known as Colebrookdale, Amity, Douglassville, and Boyertown. There, associated with Samuel Savage and Thomas Potts, the infant iron business was founded. Samuel Savage had married Anna, granddaughter of old Thomas Rutter, but died in 1719, leaving four sons, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, and John, and two daughters, Ruth and Rebecca. These latter, granddaughters of Thomas Rutter, Sr., were intermarried with John Potts and Samuel Nutt, Jr., two names also famous in the early history of the iron trade of Pennsylvania.

About 1728 a white man named John Winter, on the border, murdered an Indian and two squaws, which was retaliated by the savages near Colebrookdale, and much alarm, inquiry, and disputation ensued for some time between settlers, Governor, and the Indians. After holding a council with the latter in Philadelphia, the white man was hanged for the crime. Pending the settlement the famous Delaware chief, Sassoonan, in his talk, spoke kindly of Thomas Rutter, and said he would root and cut up every bush, and make the way wide to Philadelphia for his friend. The matter was finally healed by giving presents to the Indians, and they retired satisfied.

Thomas Rutter, the founder of the family, died in 1729 or 1730, leaving his lands, mines, forges and furnaces to his two

sons, Thomas and John, and to his sons-in-law, Thomas and Samuel Savage, who had married his two granddaughters, Anna and Rebecca. The paternal ancestry of the Rutters then descended to the third generation in the original christian name of Thomas, all of them more or less concerned in the iron business. Thomas Rutter, of the third generation, was married to Martha Potts, and had the following children: John, born in 1760, and died in 1794. Mary Catharine, born in 1762, and married John C. Stocker in 1782, who died in 1792, leaving a number of children; she died in 1813. The third child was David, born in 1766, who ran Pine Forge, and died in 1817. The fourth was Ruth Anna, born in 1768, and intermarried with Jacob Lindley; she embraced Quaker views, and was a noted preacher among them. The fifth was Clement, born in 1770, and died in 1771. John Rutter, above mentioned, owned and ran Pine Forge, as did also his son David, of the fifth generation.

David Rutter, of the fifth generation, married Mary A. Potts. They had born to them the following children: Margaretta, intermarried with Dr. Samuel Hiester, of Chester county. She died in 1820, leaving one son and one daughter, John R. and Mary A., the latter intermarried with Devault Weber, of Norristown. David Rutter's second child was Ruth Anna, married to Samuel Potts. The third, Thomas, married Catharine Boyer, and afterwards Catharine Ovenshine. The next child was John P., who married Emily Potts, and also ran Pine Forge; he died in 1870, and his widow in 1867. The next child was Clement S., born in 1800, married Letitia Brown, and afterwards Sarah McCollom. David was the next; he studied medicine, married Isabella Crawford, located in Chicago, and died in 1866. The next child was Mary Catharine, born in 1802, intermarried with Joseph Potts, and died in 1858. Martha was the next child, born in 1804, married Major W. Brook, and died in 1878. The next, Lindley C., born in 1807, was ordained a Presbyterian minister, first married Miss Montgomery, afterwards Matilda P. Anderson, and then Louisa M. Potts. The next child was Charles, born in 1810, who married

Mary A. Ives. The youngest child was Samuel, born in 1813, and who married Jane K. Baxter.

The offspring of the foregoing children of David and Mary A. Potts Rutter are partially enumerated below, as follows: Samuel and Ruth Anna Rutter Potts had one daughter, intermarried with Dr. Eagleton, of Philadelphia. John P. Rutter, the eldest son, had six children born to him, William, Henry P., John, Clement, Sarah, and Emily, the former daughter being the wife of John Taylor, of Philadelphia. Clement had four children; two deceased. The next child, Dr. David, who intermarried with Isabella Crawford, and located in Chicago, left a number of children in influential positions in life. Joseph and Mary Catharine Rutter Potts had one son and one daughter, Clement and Mary A. Major W. Brooke and Martha his wife left one son, Brigadier General John R. Brook, elsewhere commemorated, and two daughters, Caroline and Catharine. The next child, Rev. Lindley C. Rutter, and his wives, have had several children, one of the daughters being the wife of Lyman Beecher, of Pottstown. Charles and Mary A. Ives Rutter have six children: William, intermarried with Sarah May Hobart; Elizabeth W., the wife of William M. Hobart, son of General John H. Hobart; Samuel H., intermarried with Miss Hopkins, and who is now (1879) paymaster on the Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley railroads; the three younger children are Mariell, John O., and Mary. The father, Charles Rutter, has been for many years holding a very important position in the employ of the Reading railroad at Pottstown.

[NOTE.-For most of the foregoing facts we are indebted to "The Potts' Memorial."]

ALAN W. CORSON.

Let the mind be great and glorious, and all other things are despicable in comparison.-Seneca.

Without doubt the best known and most justly celebrated scholar and scientist of Montgomery county is Alan W. Corson,* of Whitemarsh township, now in his ninetieth year. We have others whose general scholastic attainments extend over a wider range of studies and more classical, but in mathematics, botany, entomology, and some other natural sciences, he has long been distinguished among the educated men of our county Before giving a sketch of his very eminent career as a teacher, surveyor, farmer, and naturalist, we turn aside to notice the origin and peculiarities of the family so well and favorably known in our locality. The founder of the sept (as the Irish term it) in our county was Joseph Corson, a merchant and farmer, who in 1786 came from Bucks county and located near Plymouth Meeting. The family trace their descent from the Huguenots, who fled from France in 1675 on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which drove nearly all Protestants from that kingdom. The historical fact is that two French ships sailed with families for Charleston, South Carolina, one of them landing its exiles at the place of destination, and the other being either cast away on the shore of Staten Island, or making a harbor in distress and discharging its passengers there. On this vessel, as history or tradition informs us, came the Corsons, Kreusons, Lefferts, Larzaleres, Du Bois, and other French families, who about 1726 pressed their way westward and settled in Northampton township, Bucks county, where, to the present day, their descendants are quite numerous. There is documentary proof that Benjamin Corson, of Staten Island, on the 19th of May, 1726, bought two hundred and fifty acres of land half a mile below the present Addisville, Bucks county, for £350. This was the original home of the family in Bucks county, and remained in its hands till 1823. This Benjamin Corson was the great-grandfather of Joseph Corson, who moved

"This sketch is written and published without consultation with the subject, or his assent being obtained. It is a tribute justly due a venerable and distinguished man, whose modesty and religious scruples could hardly be overcome for the purpose.

into our county, as before stated, in 1786. The latter married Hannah, daughter of Joseph Dickinson, whose ancestor, Walter Dickinson, of the Church of England, received a patent for four hundred and twenty acres of land on the Patapsco river, in Maryland, in 1658.

From this ancestor descended William Dickinson, who became a Friend, moved to Pennsylvania, and settled at Plymouth Meeting shortly after Penn founded his colony in 1683. He was the great-grandfather of Hannah Dickinson, intermarried with Joseph Corson, and the mother of the large family of children described below. The mother of Joseph Corson was a Dungan, a lineal descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, a Baptist preacher, who came from Rhode Island, and settled at Cold Spring, near Bristol, Bucks county, in 1684. This minister was the founder of the first Baptist church in Pennsylvania. He had left England to escape the persecutions against his sect, but finding New England no better came to Pennsylvania to share the religious liberty of the Quakers. In the grave-yard of this church lie buried the remains of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Revolutionary fame.

The zeal of the Corson family for liberty of conscience, therefore, is derived from Huguenot, Baptist, and Quaker sources, certainly forming a strong pedigree in that direction.

We return to the descendants of Joseph and Hannah Corson.* The eldest, who is now approaching a centenarian, is Alan W., the subject of this notice. He was born in Whitemarsh township on the 21st of February, 1788. When a small boy he assisted his father on the farm, and afterwards, when he kept a store at Hickorytown, he was store-boy. This afforded him opportunities to observe men and things, and some leisure moments for reading, which he improved. Up to the age of twelve years he had the benefit of day schooling, as other boys. But he possessed such decided mathematical capacity that he was able to master those studies nearly unaided by teachers, relying upon printed assistance alone. By the time he was

*While perusing an old file of newspapers, printed between 1803 and 1812, we observe the name often spelled "Coursen." Whether it is a corruption by those who wrote or printed by the pronunciation, or a slight change of orthography adopted by the family, we do not know. In old records discovered at Staten Island, however, the name was spelled "Corsen," though the family in that locality now use the same orthography prevailing here.