Mr. Barton was a native of Ireland, descended from an English family; of which, either two or three brothers settled in that kingdom, during the disastrous times in the interregnum of Charles I. Having obtained very considerable grants of land in Ireland, this family possessed ample estates in their then adopted country. Hence, flattering prospects of an establishment there, in respect to fortune, were held out to their descendants. Through one of those untoward circumstances, however, by means of which the most unexpected revolutions in the affairs of families and individuals have been sometimes produced, the expectations of an independent patrimony which our Mr. Barton’s father had entertained, were speedily dissipated. Nevertheless, this gentleman, who was the eldest son of his family, was instructed in the rudiments of a classical education in the vicinity of his family residence in the county of Monaghan, under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Folds, a respectable English clergyman; and at a suitable age, he was sent to the university of Dublin, where he finished his academical education. Entirely destitute of fortune, but possessing a strong intellect, stored with useful and ornamental learning as well as an ardent and enterprizing spirit, this young adventurer arrived in Philadelphia soon after he had completed his scholastic studies.
The writer’s principal design, in presenting to the public view these slight sketches of the early history of the late Rev. Mr. Barton, shall be now explained.
When Mr. Rittenhouse’s father established his residence at Norriton, and during the minority of the son, there were no schools in the vicinity at which any thing more was taught, than reading and writing in the English language and the simplest rules of arithmetic. Young Mr. Rittenhouse’s school-education, in his early youth, was therefore necessarily bounded by these scanty limits of accessible instruction: He was, in truth, taught nothing beyond these very circumscribed bounds of literary knowledge, prior to the nineteenth year of his age; though it is certain, that some years before that period of his life, he began to be known—at least in his own neighbourhood—as a mathematician and astronomer, in consequence of his cultivation of the transcendent genius with which heaven had endued him.
Under such circumstances as these, the familiar intercourse between David Rittenhouse and his young friend Barton, which commenced when the age of the former did not exceed nineteen years, could not fail to prove highly advantageous to the mental improvement of both. The one possessed a sublime native genius; which, however, was yet but very imperfectly cultivated, for want of the indispensable means of extending the bounds of natural knowledge: the other had enjoyed the use of those means, in an eminent degree, and thus justly acquired the reputation of a man of learning. A reciprocation of these different advantages, as may be well supposed, greatly promoted the intellectual improvement of both.
It will be readily conceived, that Mr. Barton’s knowledge of books must have rendered even his conversation instructive to Mr. Rittenhouse, at so early a period of his life. But the former so greatly admired the natural powers of his young friend’s mind, that he took a delight in obtaining for him access to such philosophical works, and other useful books, as he was then enabled to procure for his use; besides directing, as far as he was capable, the course of his studies.
After Mr. Barton’s removal to Philadelphia and while he resided in that city, his means of furnishing his friend with books, suitable for his instruction, were greatly enlarged; an advantage of which he most assiduously availed himself: and it is supposed to have been about this time, that a small circulating library was established in Norriton, at the instance of Mr. Barton, zealously seconded by the co-operation and influence of Mr. Rittenhouse.
Finally, when Mr. Barton returned from England, in the year 1755—at which time Mr. Rittenhouse was yet but twenty-three years of age, he brought with him a valuable addition to his friend’s[friend’s] little library; consisting, in part, of books which he himself had commissioned Mr. Barton to purchase for him.[[74]]
No doubt can be entertained, that Mr. Rittenhouse derived the great and extraordinary faculties of his mind from nature; and it is equally evident, that for some years after he arrived to manhood, he possessed very slender means of improving his natural talents: Nay further, it is well known to those who were long personally acquainted[acquainted] with him, that after his removal to Philadelphia, when he was eight-and-thirty years of age, a period of life at which the place of his residence, and the condition of his pecuniary affairs, united in placing within his reach much that is dear to science,—even then, his long continued professional employment and the various public stations he filled, in addition to frequent ill health, deprived him of a large share of those advantages. The vast stock of knowledge which, under such untoward circumstances, he actually acquired, is therefore an additional proof of his native strength of intellect.
But, wonderful as a kind of intuitive knowledge he possessed really was, his mental powers would probably have remained hidden from the world, they would have been very imperfectly cultivated, at best, had not an incident apparently trivial, and which occurred when our Astronomer was a young boy, furnished what was, in all probability, the very first incitement to an active employment of his philosophical as well as mechanical genius.
Mr. Rittenhouse’s mother having been already noticed somewhat particularly, the reason for this being done shall be here stated: it is connected with the incident just now referred to. This valuable woman had two brothers, David and Lewis Williams (or William), both of whom died in their minority. David, the elder of these, pursued the trade of a carpenter, or joiner. Though, like his nephew and namesake, he was almost wholly an uneducated youth, he also, like him, early discovered an unusual genius and strength of mind. After the death of this young man, on opening a chest containing the implements of his trade which was deposited at Mr. M. Rittenhouse’s, (in whose family it is presumed he dwelt,) a few elementary books, treating of arithmetic and geometry, were found in it: With these, there were also various calculations and other papers, in manuscript; all, the productions of David Williams himself, and such as indicated not only an uncommon genius, but an active spirit of philosophical research. To this humble yet valuable coffer of his deceased uncle, Mr. Rittenhouse had free access, while yet a very young boy. He often spoke of this acquisition as a treasure; inasmuch[inasmuch] as the instruments of his uncle’s calling afforded him some means of exercising the bent of his genius towards mechanism, while the books and manuscripts early led his mind to those congenial pursuits in mathematical and astronomical science, which Were ever after the favourite objects of his studies.[[75]]