Pottsgrove Forge

Rebuilt 1752

Philadelphia County, now Montgomery

This ancient forge takes its name from the Potts family, whose annals might almost be said to cover the history of the iron industry in eastern Pennsylvania. The name is connected with the first furnace erected by the earliest settlers under William Penn, and in continuous line they followed the manufacture of iron, until the annual output of their industries was reckoned in the millions.

The German colonists, under their leader Pastorius, must be credited with the enterprise which first opened up the rich iron deposits of eastern Pennsylvania. Letters of William Penn, written to James Logan early in 1700, refer often to the iron mines in the Schuylkill region, and express a great desire to have them opened, but it was not until 1716 or 1717 that Thomas Rutter, a man of much ability, who had succeeded Pastorius as chief magistrate, left the German settlement and went to the banks of the Manatawny, a stream which joins the Schuylkill about thirty-five miles above Philadelphia. In the Germantown colony was a family by the name of Potts recently come from Wales.

Their little son, Thomas, though born across the ocean, was brought up among these Germans who had transplanted a bit of the fatherland to this country. Their language was to him like his native tongue, and his marriage at the age of nineteen to Martha Keurlis (Kerlin), a member of one of the twelve families who came with Pastorius to America, allied him still closer to their interests. He was educated as a Quaker and from the record of his marriage it would appear that both he and his bride were members of meeting. We know that his uncle, Thomas Potts, senior, was an active Friend, and that Peter Keurlis was nominally one, and that the young people conformed to Friends' custom. They passed, as it is called, two meetings, and at a monthly meeting at Abington, third month, 1699, were formally joined "in the unity of Friends."

After he married, young Thomas held several posts of honor in the settlement. The German tongue was universally used, and yet the presence of English Quakers made it important to have officials who could speak both languages. He was influential with both parties, and lived happily in or near Germantown, until the death of his wife, which took place about 1716. It was probably while his family was broken up by this affliction that he was induced by Thomas Rutter to emigrate to the Manatawny. Here he purchased lands—married a second time (Magdelen Robeson) about 1718,—and, after the death of Rutter, became the principal owner and manager of the iron works on the Manatawny.

History gives us only the merest glimpses of the existence of this early forge; the "Potts Memorial" says: "A large tract of land was owned by the family, and it is believed that here they had early a forge or furnace, some remains of which a local antiquary said he had seen near the river." Andrew Robeson, whose sister was the second wife of Thomas Potts, wills to his son in 1719, "that Foundement and the house where John Owen lives "—the word foundement being an obsolete word for foundry. It was rebuilt in 1752 by John Potts the great proprietor (son of Thomas Potts, Junior). Confirmation of this is to be found in the following entry in the old Day Book of the Potts Iron Works.¹

"March 1759—Credit Henry Read hauling one day with his team at the new Forge—10s."

And that it was in use contemporaneously with the larger enterprises of the Valley, Warwick and Pine forges, is shown by this record,

"April 3rd 1758.

Credit Martin Glass for sundry work
861/2 days at Pottsgrove
26 1/2 [days at] Warwick
1171/2 [days at] the Valley
Making four Racks
Making a garden at Pine"

Another entry—Jan. 1758

"Smith Shop Dr. to Bar Iron       L   S   d"
made and drawn at Pottsgrove    1   1   2

"Jan. 1758

"Sundry accounts Dr. to Michael Paul
Mt Joy Forge for hauling 18 tons Pigg Iron
Pottsgrove Forge for hauling 2 tons Pigg Iron—"

The old forge did not fade from memory, even when its usefulness was passed—for it gave its name to the district at the confluence of the Schuylkill and the Manatawny, and the town laid out there by John Potts in 1752 was called Pottsgrove.² This town was laid out after the manner of Germantown in one long street a hundred feet wide, called after the English custom, High Street. The lots were sixty feet in front, extending back three hundred feet. At the end nearest the river was the mansion of the founder, looking down upon the town. The houses erected by himself and his sons were large stone buildings, intended to serve many generations. John Potts' son Thomas, at his father's request, occupied the mansion, and was living there in 1774. No doubt during the years of the Revolution Washington was often his guest, and it was here perhaps that the great Commander formed the plan to winter his army at Valley Forge on the property of Thomas's brothers and cousins who seem to have willingly relinquished their houses to accommodate the general and his officers.³

A granite tablet has been recently erected by the Montgomery County Historical Society (1913) to commemorate the Continental Army's stay at Camp Pottsgrove in 1777. The tablet erected reads thus:

"Camp Pottsgrove. General Washington's Continental Army occupied this and adjoining farms September 18 to 26, 1777. The outposts were at Washington Hill, Pottstown, Jackson Hill, near Sanatoga; Swamp-door, east of Fagleysville. Washington's headquarters with Colonel Frederick Antes and Samuel Bertolet, Frederick, Pa. Erected by the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pa."

Mary E. Mumford

¹ Now in possession of Ex-Governor Pennypacker.
² Afterwards changed to Pottstown.
³ 'Mrs. James' Memorial.

Source: Committee on Historical Research, Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Forges and Furnaces in the Province of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1914, pp. 143-146.

Submitter's Note: in the original book, footnote numbering restarted at 1 on each page where a footnote occurred. They are renumbered here in sequential order.

Submitted by: Nancy.