Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/288

262 the supreme court of New Brunswick, 17 Aug., 1855. He held this place on the bench till 6 Dec., ixii.1. when he became chief justice of New Bruns- wick. He was appointed a puisne judge of the supreme court of the Dominion, 8 Oct.. 1875, and chief justice of Canada. 11 Jan.. 1879. He repre- sented the city and county of St. John in thr New Brunswick assembly from 1846 till 1851, when he retired, and served again from 1854 till his eleva- tion to the bench. He was knighted by the queen, 1 Nov.. 1881. Sir William was deputy governor of Canada during the absence of Lord Lome in Eng- land, from 6 July, 1881, till January, 1882, and again from 6 Sept. till December, 1882. On 5 March, 1884, he was appointed deputy of the gov- ernor-general, Lord Lansdowne.

RITCHIE, Robert, naval officer, b. in Phila- delphia. Pa., 21 Jan., 1798 : d. there, 6 July, 1870. He entered the navy as midshipman. 1 Feb., 1814, and cruised in the sloop " Peacock," in the Medi- terranean squadron, in 1814 '18, and in the "l!uer- riere," on the same station in 1819-'20. In 1821-'2 he was attached to the Philadelphia navy-yard. He served in Com. Porter's "mosquito fleet" for the suppression of piracy in the West Indies in l^i:;-'4, in 1827 was in the "Grampus" on the West India station, and was commissioned lieuten- ant. 13 Jan., 1825. In 1830 he was on surveying duty. He cruised in the frigate "Java," on the Mediterranean station, in 1830-'!, and commanded the schooner ' Grampus " in a cruise in the West Indies in 1833-'o. He was commissioned com- mander, 8 Sept.. 1841, assigned to the frigate "Co- lumbia," on the Brazil station, in 1845, and attached to the Philadelphia navy-yard in 1848-'51. On 13 Sept., 1855, he was placed on the reserved list, but he was restored to the active list and commissioned captain, 14 Sept., 1855. He was on leave until August, 1859, when he took command of the steamer " Saranac," in the Pacific squadron, until March, 1862. He was retired 21 Dec., 1861, and after his return from the last cruise in the Pacific resided at Philadelphia. He was promoted to com- modore on the retired list, 4 April, 1867.

RITCHIE, Thomas, journalist, b. in Essex coun- ty. Va., 5 Nov., 1778; d. in Richmond, Va., 12 July, l*-"p|. His father, a native of Scotland, died when the son was six years old. The latter received an academic education and studied medicine, but abandoned it to become a teacher in Fredericks- burg, Va., where he remained till he removed to Richmond in 1804. He became editor in that city of the " Examiner " the same year, whose name he changed to the " Enquirer," and he continued to edit and publish it for forty years, exercising an influence that was not surpassed by any other jour- nal in the Union. At the request of President Polk he resigned the " Enquirer " to his two sons in 1845, and, removing to Washington, assumed the editorial control of the " Union," the organ of the adminstration, but retired in 1849. Mr. Ritchie was a Democrat of the extreme state-rights faction, and believed that nothing so became an editor as to be at war with all his rival contemporaries. He was a well-known figure in social and diplomatic circles, in which he was welcome for his simple and generous though irascible nature and his Virginian peculiarities of speech and dress.

RITNER, Joseph, governor of Pennsylvania, b. in Berks county, Pa., 25 March. 1780: "d. in Car- lisle, Pa., 16 Oct., 1869. His father came to this country from Alsace. The son attended school during" only six months, but while working on a farm he had access to a good library of German books, by which he profited so much as to supply lankly the deficiencies of his early education. In 1820 he was elected to the legislature, and he sen ed there till 1827. He was the unsuccessful candidate of the anti-Masons for governor of Pennsylvania in 1829, but was elected to that office in 1835, and served four years. He was nominated again for governor 1 iy the anti-Masons in 1838. but was defeated. Gov. Ritner was one of the originators of the school system of Pennsylvania, and was an earnest oppo- nent of slavery and intemperance. In 1849 he was for a short time director of the mint at Philadelphia, and he was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the National Republican convention that nominated John C. Fremont for president,

RITTENHOUSE, William, paper-maker, b. in the principality of Broich, Holland, in 1644 ; d. in Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1708. He was a Mennonite preacher, and with his sons, Claus and Gerhard, and his daughter, Elizabeth, came to this country from Amsterdam, Holland, and settled at Germantown, Pa., in 1687-'8. His an- cestors for many generations had been paper-makers in Arnheim, and he built in 1690 the first paper- mill in this country, on Paper-mill run, a branch of Wissahickon creek, in Roxborough township. The mill was owned by a company, among whom were, besides himself. Robert Turner. Thomas Tresse, Samuel Carpenter, and William Bradford, the first printer in the British colonies south of New England. In 1700-'! this mill was carried away by a freshet, but, with the aid of William Penn, was rebuilt of stone in 1702. Rittenhouse became the sole owner of the paper-mill in 1704, and before his death gave it to his son, Claus or Nicholas (1666-1734). The business increased, and soon an additional mill of stone was added. From paper that was made at this place William Brad- ford was supplied, and Gabriel Thomas writes: "All sorts of very good paper are made in the German Town." The business was carried on by direct descendants of William at the same place until well into the 19th century. William con- tinued his preaching in this country, being the first Mennonite minister in Pennsylvania, and he and his son were granted naturalization paper* l>y Thomas Lloyd, the deputy governor, on 7 May, 1691. Among Claus's children was MATTHIAS (1703- 1779), who became a farmer and settled in Norri- ton township, Montgomery co., Pa., and the lat- ter's eldest son was David, astronomer, b. in Knx- borough. Pa., 8 April, 1732; d. in Philadelphia, 26 June, 1796. He was early trained to work on a farm, but an uncle, dying when the boy was about twelve years old. left him a chest of tools, together with a few books that contained the elements of arith- metic and geome- try, ' and some mathematical cal- culations. These seem to have de- termined the I lent of his life, for he covered the handle of his plough, and even the fence around the fields, with mathematical calculations. He was not without considerable mechanical ability. as he had made a complete water-mill in