204 



Notice of Peter Hasenclever. 



his works. They testified to the perfection of his iron 

 works, to the superior quality of his iron, and to the many 

 improvements in the methods of manufacture which he had 

 introduced, some of which were afterwards adopted in 

 England. And one particular which they mention, to 

 quote their own words, is the following, which is strange 

 if true : " He is the first person that we know who has so 

 greatly improved the use of the great natural ponds of 

 this country, as by damming them to secure reservoirs of 

 water for the use of iron works in the dry season, without 

 which the best streams are liable to fail in the great 

 droughts we are subject to." 



At this time James Rivington, the New York bookseller 

 and publisher, writes to Sir William Johnson (Sept. 16, 

 1769) : " Poor Peter Hasenclever, who in the last five years 

 has buried the better part of a hundred thousand pounds 

 in this country, is now among the unfortunates, being de- 

 clared a bankrupt. His fate is regretted, for he was hon- 

 est and well beloved." Thomas, in his History of Print- 

 ing in America, relates that pamphlets opposed to the 

 stamp act were frequently published in 1765 in New Jer- 

 sey with the imprint " Printed at Peter Hasenclever's iron 

 works;" "a wealthy German well known as the owner of 

 extensive iron works in New Jersey." It was a ruse of 

 the authors to conceal the knowledge of the place where 

 the printing had been done. 



As late as 1773 he memorialized the lord chancellor 

 for relief by the court, stating that he was so poor that his 

 w 7 ife and daughter were then being supported by the cha- 

 rity of his relatives in Germany. 



The landed property of which he was possessed in his 

 own name, or in behalf of the American company, was the 

 50,000 acres connected with his mines in New Jersey and 

 in Orange county, New York, 18,000 acres in Herkimer 

 county, called the Hasenclever patent, 6,755 acres bought 

 additionally for his agricultural operations close by Ger- 



