Manuscript Group 452, Martha Furnace Employee Journal (typescript copy), 1808-1815

Archives

Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs

Manuscript Group 452, Martha Furnace Employee

Journal (typescript copy), 1808-1815, 0.15 linear feet / 1 volume

Call Number: MG 452


Summary:

A typescript copy of a journal recording daily events at Martha Furnace, an iron foundry located in Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey.  The original manuscript has been edited by Henry Harold Bisbee and Rebecca Colesar as Martha, 1808-1815: The Complete Martha Furnace Diary and Journal…(Burlington, NJ, 1976).

Administrative History:

Martha Furnace, situated in Washington Township, Burlington County, New Jersey on the Oswego Branch of the Wading
River, produced pig iron.  The furnace opened in 1793 and was owned by Isaac Potts, who named it after his wife. Only seven years after Potts had completed the furnace he sold it to John Paul, Charles Shoemaker, Morris Robeson, and George Ashbridge. The furnace ceased operations in 1844.

Sources:

Bisbee, Henry H. and Colesar, Rebecca Bisbee.  Martha: The Complete Furnace Diary and Journal: 1808-1815 (Burlington, N.J.: Henry H. Bisbee, 1976).

Boyes, Charles S.  Early Furnaces in New Jersey (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1931).

Provenance Note:

The source of this collection is unknown.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of a typescript copy of a journal written by an unknown Martha Furnace employee from 1808-1815.
The notations indicate what life was like working for a furnace works and what its employees did both at and away from work.

Related Collections:

See other iron works’ records.

Processed by James Lewis, January 2001 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Submit a request to copy part of this collection

back

Print Friendly, PDF & Email