Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/122

RITNER            RITTENHOUSE. He was promoted commander, Sept. 8. 1841; served on the Columbia of the Brazil squadron, 1845-47; at the Philadelphia navy yard, 1848-51, and commanded the Raritan of the Pacific squadron in 1853. He was placed on the reserve list, Sept. 13, 1855; promoted captain on the active list, Sept. 14, 1855, and was on leave of absence, 1855-59. He commanded the steam sloop Saranac of the Pacific squadron, 1859-62, was placed on the retired list, Dec. 21, 1861, and was promoted commodore on the retired list, April 4. 1867. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., July 6. 1870.

RITNER, Joseph, governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Berks county. Pa., March 25. 1780; son of John Ritner, who emigrated from Alsace on the Rhine to America. He had few educational advantages; worked on a farm; was married in 1800 to Susan Alter of Cumberland county; settled upon a farm in Washington county, Pa., where he had the use of a library of German books, and rapidly acquired a knowledge of political and social science. He represented in Washington county in the state legislature, 1820-26); serving as speaker, 1824-26; was defeated as the Whig and Anti-Masonic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1828 and 1832, by George Wolf, and elected in 1835 for the term, 1835-39. He was an originator of the public school system of Pennsylvania, and while governor actively supported all the measures of his predecessor for its adoption, and proposed an increase in the state appropriation for common schools to $800,000. the legislature voting $700,000, an increase of $500,000 on that obtained the previous year. He was defeated for re-election by David R. Porter in 1838, but before vacating the office had Superintendent Burrowes prepare two bills: one to consolidate and amend the several acts relative to common schools, and the other to provide for the establishment of teachers' institutes, both of which bills were read to the legislature, but failed to pass. He was appointed director of the mint at Philadelphia, Pa., by President Taylor in 1848, and filled the office until the President's death in 1850. He devoted himself to the cause of education up to the close of his life, serving when eighty years old on a special board to consider the claims of state normal schools. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Republican national convention of 1856,. Ho died in Carlisle, Pa., Oct. 16, 1869.

RITTENHOUSE, David, astronomer, was born near Germantown. Pa., April 8, 1732; son of Matthias and Elizabeth (William) Rittenhouse; grandson of Nicholas, the immigrant, 1690, and Wilhelmina (Dewees) Rittenhouse, and of Evan William of Wales, and (probably) great-grandson of William Rittenhouse, the immigrant, prior to 1674. Nicholas Rittenhouse settled at Germantown, Pa., established the first paper mill in the United States, and removed to Norriton after 1732, where David worked on his father's farm, and there developed unusual mechanical genius, constructing a perfectly modeled water-mill and many ingenious clocks. In 1851 he built a workshop in Norriton, where he made clocks and mathematical instruments, devoting his evenings to study, aided by Thomas Barton, a school teacher in Norriton. In 1763 he was employed by the Penn family to fix the "circle" or boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, the chronometers which he used in this transaction, and in subsequently determining the boundary line between New York and New Jersey, being either of his own manufacture or made under his inspection by his brother, Benjamin Rittenhouse. He married, Feb. 20, 1766, Eleanor, daughter of Bernard Colston, a farmer of Norriton. Their daughter Elizabeth married Jonathan D. Sergeant (q.v.). In 1767 he projected his orrery. This instrument, for which he received £300, became the property of the College of New Jersey, and a duplicate orrery, made on a larger scale, was purchased by the University of Pennsylvania for £400. He was appointed, Jan. 7, 1769, with the Rev. Dr. William Smith (q.v.) and eleven other members of the American Philosophical society, to observe the transit of Venus, June 3, from Norriton, Philadelphia, and the lighthouse at Cape Henlopen. For this purpose Rittenhouse built and furnished an observatory at Norriton, the equal altitude instrument, a transit telescope and a timepiece, being of his own invention. He also observed the transit of Mercury, Nov. 9, 1769, and that of the comet, June 16-17, 1770, and ascertained the latitude and longitude of Norriton and Philadelphia, to which latter city he removed in 1770, where, in addition to his regular occupation, he was engaged in several experiments, among them one on the Gymnotus Electricus, or Electric Eel. His wife died in 1771, and he was married, secondly, in December, 1772, to Hannah Jacobs of Philadelphia. He was appointed a commissioner on the navigation of the Schuykill in 1773, 1781 and 1784, and with Samuel Holland of New York, commissioner to determine the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania in 1774, which commission he resumed in 1786, the boundary line being finally completed by Andrew Ellicott, and accepted, Sept. 29, 1789. In the spring of 1775 a petition to the state legislature was made by the American Philosophical society for aid in erecting an observatory, Mr. Rittenhouse to be appointed "public astronomical observer,"