Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late president of the American Philosophical Society, &c. : $b interspersed with various notices of many distinguished men : with an appendix, containing sundry philosophical and other papers, most of which have not hitherto been publishedBarton, William
History
Memoirs of the life of David Rittenhouse, LLD. F.R.S., late president of the American Philosophical Society, &c. : $b interspersed with various notices of many distinguished men : with an appendix, containing sundry philosophical and other papers, most of which have not hitherto been published
14th of June, 1633, he was further promoted by the same king to the
Earldom of Stirling.
The late Lord Stirling, who was seated at Baskenridge in New-Jersey,
inherited his Baronetage and titles of Nobility, as heir-male to
Henry, the fourth Earl. He married Sarah, daughter of Philip
Livingston, Esq. of New-York, by whom he had issue two daughters; Lady
Mary, married to —— Watts, Esq. of New-York, and Lady Catharine, first
married to William Duer, Esq. of New-York, and after his decease to
William Nelson, Esq. of the same city.
This nobleman appears to have been in some degree skilled in
astronomy, and was reputed a good observer. In the first volume of the
_Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_ there is
contained, besides his lordship’s observations of the transit of
Venus, a letter from him to Dr. Smith, communicating an account of his
having discovered, on the 28th of June, 1770, a comet, which he
observed astronomically on that and the three succeeding nights; being
the same that Mr. Rittenhouse first saw on the 25th of that month; and
respecting which, there are two letters from him to Dr. Smith, in the
same volume.
Immediately before the American revolution, lord Sterling was one of
the king’s council in New-Jersey; and held also, under the crown, the
appointment of surveyor-general for the eastern division of that
province. With the talents of a philosopher, he united those of the
soldier: On the 1st of March, 1776, his lordship was appointed a
brigadier-general in the continental army, and was afterwards promoted
to the rank of major-general. He was esteemed a brave and faithful
officer, and served with reputation; but he died before the close of
the war.
In the same volume of the _Transactions of the American Philosophical
Society_, with lord Stirling’s observations, there are, independent of
those made under the direction of that society, the observations of
the transit of Venus in 1769, made at Cambridge in New-England, by
John Winthrop, Esq. F. R. S. and member of the American Philosophical
Society, Hollisian Professor of Mathematics in Harvard-College—(see p.
124;) likewise, the result of those made by captain Holland and Mr.
St. Germain, at and near Quebec; and by other skilful observers, at
sundry places in Europe and the West-Indies; all reported (p. 120) by
a committee of the American Philosophical Society.
Footnote 121:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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