Complex sentence: Wistar bought about 2,000 acres of land some eight miles from Salem, New Jersey, and began the construction of his factory in 1739; it became the first commercially successful glass factory to operate in America.
Split into simpler sentences: Wistar bought about 2,000 acres of land some eight miles from Salem, New Jersey. Wistar then went about in 1739 to build a glass factory, which became the first commercially successful glass factory to operate in America.