Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
On receiving yours of the 13th went immediately for Mr. Patricks Furnace in Orange County. Found by the Trial he made that the Mettle tho exceeding Grey was no ways suited for casting Gunns, as what he tried burst in the proving tho more than commonly fortified. Am just this Minute returned & enclose his Letter.
The Price of Pig Iron for some time past in Newyork is as follows
| York Money | |
| Andover—sold by Mr. Stewart1 | £9.10 per Ton |
| Stirling—sold by Mr. Hawkhurst2 | £11 per Ton |
| Ancram—Mr. Livingstone’s3 | £10 per Ton |
| Hibernia—Messrs. Murray’s & Co.4 | £9 per Ton |
| Mount Hope—Mr. Faish5 | £9 per Ton |
| Ringwood Charlotteburgh & Longpond, Mr. Erskine6 | £9 per ton |
And as none of course will convey to Poughkeepsie & deliver it there under Nine Pounds, Mr. Patrick will expect that Price, & the Quantity of one Hundred Tons will be conveyed there from time to time as Oppertunity serves. With Sincere sorrow for the Dissapointment in the Article of Gunn making at Orange Furnace I beg leave to subscribe myself Hond. Sir Your ready & very Hble. Servt.,
The Andover Ironworks in Sussex County, New Jersey, were opened about 1760 to take advantage of the nearby mine, “the ore is esteemed of the best quality of any in America.” Archibald Stewart (also spelled Stuart) was associated with the Union Iron Works in 1766 when he was one of the administrators on the estate of John Hacket of the Andover Ironworks and by 1770 was apparently in charge of the Andover works (Forges and Furnaces in the Province of Pennsylvania, 44; Pennsylvania Gazette, Nov. 6, 1766, Oct. 4, 1770, Feb. 8, 1775).
The Sterling Iron Works were operated by W. Hawxhurst (Rita Susswein Gottesman, The Arts and Crafts in New York, 1726–1776. Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. 69 [New York, 1938], 217).
Robert Livingston, Jr., operated a forge at Ancram in the Manor of Livingston from at least 1744. In 1760 he built a new forge there and advertised for “Three good Refiners to make bar-iron” (New-York Weekly Journal, Apr. 2, 1744; New-York Mercury, Oct. 27, 1760).
Hibernia Furnace was erected in 1763 or 1764 near Rockaway, N.Y. In 1776, Robert and John Murray, prominent New York merchants, were the agents (Charles S. Boyer, Early Forges & Furnaces in New Jersey [Philadelphia, 1931], 94; Thomas M. Doerflinger, “Hibernia Furnace During the Revolution,” New Jersey History 90[1972]:97–114).
John Jacob Faesch (1729–1799), a Swiss native and ironmaster, erected the Mt. Hope Furnace, three miles north of Dover, N.J., in 1772 [
DAB
; Boyer, Early Forges & Furnaces in New Jersey, 136].
Robert Erskine (1735–1780) was a Scots geographer and hydraulic engineer sent in 1771 to represent a group of British capitalists, investors in the American Iron Company, which owned the Ringwood, Charlotteburgh, and Longpond ironworks in New Jersey, of which Erskine became manager and agent. During the Revolution Erskine took up the patriot cause and was commissioned as geographer and surveyor-general of the Continental Army (
DAB
; Albert H. Heusser, George Washington’s Map Maker: A Biography of Robert Erskine [New Brunswick, N.J., 1966]).
Resolved, That a committee, to consist of a member from each colony, be appointed to enquire into the cause of the miscarriages in Canada:1
The members chosen, Mr. Whipple,2 Mr. Paine, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Clinton,3 Mr. Wilson, Mr. Paca, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Middleton, and Mr. Hall.4
Journals of the Continental Congress, 5:474
The committee brought in a report on July 19, but it was tabled and the committee allowed to meet again. The committee reported back again on July 30. The report blamed the “miscarriages” in Canada primarily upon the shortage of continental troops in Canada and also the shortage of hard money with 235which to supply the troops, and that “a still greater, and more fatal, source of misfortune has been, the prevalence of the small pox in that army; a great proportion whereof has thereby been usually kept unfit for duty.” Congress concurred with the report (Journals of the Continental Congress, 5:592, 617–618).
William Whipple (1730–1785), a merchant from Portsmouth, N.H., was a representative in 1775 to New Hampshire’s Fourth Provincial Congress, which commissioned him as colonel of the First Regiment of militia. Elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, Whipple served on the marine, commerce, cannon, and secret committees as well as the Board of War. He supported and signed the Declaration of Independence. In June 1777 he was promoted to major general and, among other duties, commanded the troops that accompanied General Burgoyne’s captured army to Winter Hill near Boston. Whipple served in Congress again from November 1778 to September 1779 (
ANB
).
George Clinton (1739–1812) practiced law in Ulster County, N.Y., from 1759. He was a member of the New York delegation to the Continental Congress from May 15, 1776, to July 8, 1776, when he took up the rank of brigadier general of militia. Clinton served as governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and again from 1801 to 1804. In the latter year he was elected vice president of the United States, a position he held until his death (
DAB
).
William Floyd, Caesar Rodney, and Abraham Clark were added to the committee on July 6. On July 9 Congress voted that five of the committee would constitute a quorum in order to proceed with business (Journals of the Continental Congress, 5:524, 530).