Complex sentence: In 1771, the owners of the ironworks near Ringwood, New Jersey, tapped Erskine to replace Peter Hasenclever as iromaster after Hasenclever's profligate spending nearly bankrupted the operation.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1771, the owners of an ironworks near Ringwood, New Jersey, hired Erskine to replace Peter Hasenclever as ironmaster. The latter's profligate spending nearly bankrupted the operation.