Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Spouses
Marriage1665, Germany
Marr Memo(Calvin Kephart)
Parent-Proof notes for 8G GF William Rittenhouse
According to Daniel Cassel, William was the son of George Rittershausen born about 1620 and his wife Maria Hagerhoff. They lived in Broich at Mulheim on the Ruhr. Cassel also gave a full pedigree for William tracing back to a noble Rittershausen family and earlier from the royal house of Hapsburg. But that whole pedigree was debunked by Calvin Kephart in 1938. He agrees with the birth year Cassel gave and the name of William’s mother but adds there is little evidence that his father was named George. And Kephart makes the strong case that William had none of the noble and royal pedigree that Cassel attributed to him.
Relocated notes for 8G GF William Rittenhouse
He had moved to Amsterdam by 1678, when his brother requested of the court of Broich to have certified for his brother William, residing in Amsterdam, his year of birth and 1644 was so certified. Shortly thereafter he moved to Arnhem, Holland to enter the paper-making business with his brother.
IMMIGRANT. By 1688, he had emigrated to America and became a resident of Germantown.
IMMIGRANT. By 1688, he had emigrated to America and became a resident of Germantown.
Discrepant Facts notes for 8G GF William Rittenhouse
My goal when I set out to learn about my family history was to research every branch of my family tree back until I got to the immigrant ancestor of the line and then only if it was obvious and apparent (and believable!) to identify any European ancestors. With the Rittenhouse family, it seemed I had hit an apparent gold mine when I found the work of Daniel Cassel who traced the family’s heritage to European Royalty.
I must say I was a little skeptical even when I first read it. Cassel hedged even when it came to identifying William’s parents and yet purported to have traced the pedigree of William Rittenhouse back five or six generations in Europe. And some things Cassel said seemed contradicted by Wikipedia in current biographies of some of the Royalty Cassel was talking about.
Cassel’s Version of Things. As stated above, William was said by Cassel to have been the son of George Rittenhausen, who was born about 1620, and who is said to have been the first member of the family who left the Catholic faith desiring to worship according to his conscience. [Cassel says this began the families’ involvement as Mennonites.]
George’s father was also named George (or Georgius) and he was born in 1595. He was a professor at the University of Altdorf in Westphalia. He was known as Sir Rittershausen, an inherited title. The title passed from Georgius to his eldest (surviving) son George and then to his oldest son William. William, of course, was our immigrant ancestor and what was previously the title Rittenhouse to only be inherited by the eldest son became the surname Rittenhouse, which of course, applied to all of a man’s children.
So how did Georgius come to inherit the Rittershausen title? Cassel was a little vague on that. Georgius was the son of Conradi who was born 25 Sep 1560, who also was a professor at the University of Altdorf -- but he was not Sir Rittershausen. According to Cassel, Georgius inherited the title from his uncle Matthias, supposed brother of Conradi. Matthias in fact was the earliest person to have the title, as he “was knighted in 1591 with a coat-of-arms to the House of Knights (’Housius Riders’ or Mounted Horsemen) by his second cousin Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria”. Housius Riders of course became Rittershausen.
And now we have come square into the middle of European royal families and European nobility. Wikipedia has an article on Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor and it gives Matthias’ biography and his ancestral history. Here is a brief summary:
“Matthias was born in the Austrian capital of Vienna to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain. He married Archduchess Anna of Austria, daughter of his uncle Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, and succeeded him in 1595.
In 1593, he was appointed governor of Austria by his brother, Emperor Rudolf II. In 1605, Matthias was recognized as head of the House of Habsburg and future Holy Roman Emperor and later succeeded Rudolf II and held that title until he yielded it to Ferdinand II.”
Sounds like the European History I had to take in high school and never did like. Anyway, my suspicions were aroused a little since the Wikipedia article says nothing about the House of Riders title or any brother named Conradi nor nephew Georgius. But perhaps it was not of great consequence in the life of Matthias.
Wikipedia also has an article on Maximilian II, father of Matthias (and presumed father of Conradi). Maximilian II was King of Bohemia and King of Germany and later also King of Hungary and Croatia and finally Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 until his death in 1576. It is said that he was related to every other King of Germany -- thus if any of this is true, so am I!
But again there was a problem. I would suspect that modern historians have found probably everything there is to be found about Maximilian II and completely and thoroughly documented every important aspect of his life. The names of his 13 children are given and there is no mention of Conradi.
I just couldn’t see how Conradi could be the brother of Matthias. I could find no source other than Cassel that said that Matthias ever had the title Sir Rittershausen. I began to suspect this whole story was largely made up. The problem is that many persons researching their genealogy and who believe they descend from William Rittenhouse, the immigrant, have bought into Cassel’s version of things without a single doubting word. The story appears in many forms in many different places on the Internet.
But I would not have, on my own, simply proclaimed Cassel’s work bogus, he was too highly esteemed in his day and he did purport to have sources for many things he said. Then I found an article published by Calvin Kephart titled “Rittenhouse Genealogy Debunked”. As I have debunked a lot of more recent genealogies myself, I found Kephart’s work quite interesting.
Kephart says Cassel’s biggest and most important mistake was in believing that the name Rittenhouse derived from the European Rittershausen -- a family which did presumably have an illustrious history. But in fact, the name derived from the European Rettinghausen -- the g” sound in the name became silent once in America, The “Ret” part came to be pronounced more like “Rit” and the “hausen” part Americanized to “house” -- thus Rettinghausen became Rittenhouse. He believes the family was important in Germany but not in the inflated way Cassel related things.
Indeed, I can cite two instances where the name was spelled with the “g” on American documents -- in Heivert Papen’s will and the 1st Mennonite Conference in America in 1727.
I must say I was a little skeptical even when I first read it. Cassel hedged even when it came to identifying William’s parents and yet purported to have traced the pedigree of William Rittenhouse back five or six generations in Europe. And some things Cassel said seemed contradicted by Wikipedia in current biographies of some of the Royalty Cassel was talking about.
Cassel’s Version of Things. As stated above, William was said by Cassel to have been the son of George Rittenhausen, who was born about 1620, and who is said to have been the first member of the family who left the Catholic faith desiring to worship according to his conscience. [Cassel says this began the families’ involvement as Mennonites.]
George’s father was also named George (or Georgius) and he was born in 1595. He was a professor at the University of Altdorf in Westphalia. He was known as Sir Rittershausen, an inherited title. The title passed from Georgius to his eldest (surviving) son George and then to his oldest son William. William, of course, was our immigrant ancestor and what was previously the title Rittenhouse to only be inherited by the eldest son became the surname Rittenhouse, which of course, applied to all of a man’s children.
So how did Georgius come to inherit the Rittershausen title? Cassel was a little vague on that. Georgius was the son of Conradi who was born 25 Sep 1560, who also was a professor at the University of Altdorf -- but he was not Sir Rittershausen. According to Cassel, Georgius inherited the title from his uncle Matthias, supposed brother of Conradi. Matthias in fact was the earliest person to have the title, as he “was knighted in 1591 with a coat-of-arms to the House of Knights (’Housius Riders’ or Mounted Horsemen) by his second cousin Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria”. Housius Riders of course became Rittershausen.
And now we have come square into the middle of European royal families and European nobility. Wikipedia has an article on Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor and it gives Matthias’ biography and his ancestral history. Here is a brief summary:
“Matthias was born in the Austrian capital of Vienna to Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain. He married Archduchess Anna of Austria, daughter of his uncle Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, and succeeded him in 1595.
In 1593, he was appointed governor of Austria by his brother, Emperor Rudolf II. In 1605, Matthias was recognized as head of the House of Habsburg and future Holy Roman Emperor and later succeeded Rudolf II and held that title until he yielded it to Ferdinand II.”
Sounds like the European History I had to take in high school and never did like. Anyway, my suspicions were aroused a little since the Wikipedia article says nothing about the House of Riders title or any brother named Conradi nor nephew Georgius. But perhaps it was not of great consequence in the life of Matthias.
Wikipedia also has an article on Maximilian II, father of Matthias (and presumed father of Conradi). Maximilian II was King of Bohemia and King of Germany and later also King of Hungary and Croatia and finally Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 until his death in 1576. It is said that he was related to every other King of Germany -- thus if any of this is true, so am I!
But again there was a problem. I would suspect that modern historians have found probably everything there is to be found about Maximilian II and completely and thoroughly documented every important aspect of his life. The names of his 13 children are given and there is no mention of Conradi.
I just couldn’t see how Conradi could be the brother of Matthias. I could find no source other than Cassel that said that Matthias ever had the title Sir Rittershausen. I began to suspect this whole story was largely made up. The problem is that many persons researching their genealogy and who believe they descend from William Rittenhouse, the immigrant, have bought into Cassel’s version of things without a single doubting word. The story appears in many forms in many different places on the Internet.
But I would not have, on my own, simply proclaimed Cassel’s work bogus, he was too highly esteemed in his day and he did purport to have sources for many things he said. Then I found an article published by Calvin Kephart titled “Rittenhouse Genealogy Debunked”. As I have debunked a lot of more recent genealogies myself, I found Kephart’s work quite interesting.
Kephart says Cassel’s biggest and most important mistake was in believing that the name Rittenhouse derived from the European Rittershausen -- a family which did presumably have an illustrious history. But in fact, the name derived from the European Rettinghausen -- the g” sound in the name became silent once in America, The “Ret” part came to be pronounced more like “Rit” and the “hausen” part Americanized to “house” -- thus Rettinghausen became Rittenhouse. He believes the family was important in Germany but not in the inflated way Cassel related things.
Indeed, I can cite two instances where the name was spelled with the “g” on American documents -- in Heivert Papen’s will and the 1st Mennonite Conference in America in 1727.
My Comments notes for 8G GF William Rittenhouse
So what can be believed about the life of William Rittenhouse? Actually, the general facts relating to his life once in America are not in dispute. The earliest Rittenhouses were very important people in Colonial Pennsylvania. The family was involved in “the art of papermaking” back in Germany and later in Holland.
William Rittenhouse, our immigrant ancestor of this name, is widely acknowledged as having been America’s first papermaker and his name is generally prominently mentioned in connection with the history of papermaking in America. An article in Pennsylvania Magazine in the 1800’s said: “Another arrival of importance was that of William Rittenhouse, a Mennonite minister who, with his two sons Gerhard and Klaas (Nicolaus) and a daughter who later married Heivert Papen, came from Broich (in Rhineland) to Arnheim in Holland. His forefathers had long carried on the business of manufacturing paper at Arnheim, and in 1690 he built the first paper mill in America, on a branch of the Wissahickon creek. There he made the paper used by William Bradford, the earliest printer in the Middle Colonies.”
There is some discussion in the Cassel book about whether Rittenhouse paper was used in the German Bible printed by Christopher Saur in 1743. And so Daniel Cassel relates that he wrote to Abram H Cassel, the Antiquary at Harleysville, Pennsylvania, a near descendant of Saur, for information on that subject. Abram wrote back that he did not think the paper was Rittenhouse paper.
What fascinates me about this story is that I was already familiar with the names Christopher Saur and Abraham H Cassel (he was actually Abraham Harley Cassel) when I first encountered them in connection with my Rittenhouse research. My niece Katie MacLennan is married to Jim Harley and I had done some work for Jim on his ancestry. The town of Harleysville was named for his family and while neither Christopher Saur nor Abram H Cassel were direct ancestors of Jim’s, they were both part of the extended family of the Harley’s of Harleysville.
William is also often said to have been the first Mennonite minister in America. Then, in 1701, he was ordained as the first Bishop of the Mennonite Church in Germantown, which was the first Mennonite Church in America.
William Rittenhouse, our immigrant ancestor of this name, is widely acknowledged as having been America’s first papermaker and his name is generally prominently mentioned in connection with the history of papermaking in America. An article in Pennsylvania Magazine in the 1800’s said: “Another arrival of importance was that of William Rittenhouse, a Mennonite minister who, with his two sons Gerhard and Klaas (Nicolaus) and a daughter who later married Heivert Papen, came from Broich (in Rhineland) to Arnheim in Holland. His forefathers had long carried on the business of manufacturing paper at Arnheim, and in 1690 he built the first paper mill in America, on a branch of the Wissahickon creek. There he made the paper used by William Bradford, the earliest printer in the Middle Colonies.”
There is some discussion in the Cassel book about whether Rittenhouse paper was used in the German Bible printed by Christopher Saur in 1743. And so Daniel Cassel relates that he wrote to Abram H Cassel, the Antiquary at Harleysville, Pennsylvania, a near descendant of Saur, for information on that subject. Abram wrote back that he did not think the paper was Rittenhouse paper.
What fascinates me about this story is that I was already familiar with the names Christopher Saur and Abraham H Cassel (he was actually Abraham Harley Cassel) when I first encountered them in connection with my Rittenhouse research. My niece Katie MacLennan is married to Jim Harley and I had done some work for Jim on his ancestry. The town of Harleysville was named for his family and while neither Christopher Saur nor Abram H Cassel were direct ancestors of Jim’s, they were both part of the extended family of the Harley’s of Harleysville.
William is also often said to have been the first Mennonite minister in America. Then, in 1701, he was ordained as the first Bishop of the Mennonite Church in Germantown, which was the first Mennonite Church in America.
Children Names notes for 8G GF William Rittenhouse
All three of William’s children, sons Nicholas and Gerhard and daughter Elizabeth (our ancestor) were born prior to the emigration of the family to America.