MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE; ANTERIOR TO HIS SETTLEMENT IN PHILADELPHIA. ======================================== The paternal ancestors of DAVID RITTENHOUSE were early and long seated at Arnheim, a fortified city on the Rhine, and capital of the district of Velewe or Veluive, sometimes called the Velau, in the Batavian province of Guelderland;[55] where, it is said, they conducted manufactories of paper,[56] during the course of some generations. The orthography of the name was formerly Rittinghuysen, as the writer of these memoirs was informed by an European member of this family.[57] But it is net improbable, that, in more strict conformity to the idiom of its Saxo-Germanic original, the name was spelt Ritterhuysen[58]—or, perhaps, Ritterhausen; which signifies, in our language, _Knights’ Houses_: a conjecture that seems to be somewhat corroborated by the chivalrous emblems alluding to this name, belonging to the family, and which have been already noticed. ----- Footnote 55: The duchy of Guelderland formerly belonged to the Spanish monarchy; but by the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, part of it was ceded to Austria, part to Prussia, and guaranteed to them by the treaty of Baden, in 1714: that part which became subject to Prussia was, in exchange for the principality of Orange, ceded to France. By the barrier-treaty, in 1715, the states general of the United Provinces likewise obtained a part of it. But the Upper and Lower Guelderland have no connexion with each other: Lower Guelderland is (or was, until very lately) one of the Seven United Provinces: it is the largest of them all, and the first in rank. Arnheim, which is the capital of the whole province, is a large, populous, and handsome town: it was formerly the residence of the dukes of Guelderland, and the states of the province held their meetings there. Footnote 56: The writer of these memoirs having been in Holland in the summer of the year 1778, adverted, while in Amsterdam, to the circumstance of the Rittenhouses, of Pennsylvania, having come into America from some part of the United Provinces; and his curiosity being excited, by his consanguineous connexion with that family, to obtain some information concerning them, the following was the result of his enquiries. He found a Mr. _Adrian Rittinghuysen_, (for so he himself wrote his name,) residing in that city. This venerable man, who was then eighty-five years of age, appeared to be at least independent in his condition; and had, probably, retired from business, the part of the city in which he resided (the Egelantier’s Gracht, or Canal,) not exhibiting the appearance of a street of trade.