The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-01-26
For The Cecil
THE PRINCIPLE COMPANY.


/ The Principle Company was an associa
ton of British iron masters, merchants
and capitalists, established in the early part
of the last century, and engaged in manu-
featuring pig and bar iron in the colonies
of Mary land and Virginia. They were the
first persons to erect iron works in Mary
land, about the year 1715 and had Il long
/ and, on the whole, a prosperous existence fol
more than sixty years. or until 1871. Those
who were most prominently connected with
this Company were Sir Nicholas Hackett
Carew, Bart. of Beddington, Surrey; Thos
Russell, of Birmingham, and his sons, Thos.
and William Russell; Stephen Onion (ol
Oniaml; John England: Joshua, Samuel
and Osgood Gee; William Chetwynd, Esq
ali of England; and Augustine and Law.
renee Washington, of Virginia, father and
brother of George Washington.
I We presume no apology will be needed
for presenting to the people of Cecil county
brief resume of the part this Company
took in the early settlement and develop
ment not only of their own county, but
also of the State of Maryland. 1t was au
important and far-reacbing influence which
they exerted, for it extended and is felt
even to the present time. And the connec-
ton of the Washington family is. not the
least interesting fact in this Company
history. A man SO illustrious as George
Washington reflects a portion of the inter-
est centering in himself upon his family
and surroundings. and any new facts relat-
ing to them seem worthy of notice for the
same reason.
The provinces of Maryland and Virginia
jointly were, prior to the Revolution, fore
most of the colonies in the production of
iron. Later developments have given to
Pennsylvania her present rank of largest
producer and manufacturer, but at the
period of which we speak she was far be-
hind her Southern neghbors. Not only
were they then the largest producers, but
they had also been the first exporters. In
Ills these provinces sent to England the
first shipment of pig iron ever exported
from this country-a small lot of three and
e-half tons-as recorded in the official
returns of the British custom house. Mary
land and Virginia are always coupled to-
gether in these custom house returns, proba-
bly, from the fact that large quantities OF
Maryland iron were carried to York river
and other ports in Virginia, in small YES
sells, and there reloaded into ships for trans
portation across the ocean, hence would
arise difficulty in distinguishing the pro-
duct of each colony, since iron manufac-
tured in Maryland would be manifested as
coming from Virginia. 1t is not known,
therefore, from which one of the two pro-
vinces came the initial venture of three aud
half tons, but from this Insignificant be-
ginning the manufacture and export of
both pig and bar iron for FORCES were usual
adiuncts of the furnaces increased under
the fostering policy of the Lord Proprie-
tor until in 1751 these two provinces ex-
ported 1850 tons of pig iron to England
against 1919 tons from Pennsylvania, SO
tons from New York, 8 tons from New
England, and II tons from Carolina. In
1861 the Governor and Council of Mary
land reported to the Commissioners of the
Board of Trade and Plantations in Eng
ten FORCES in that State, which made $500
tons of pig and 800 tons of bar iron yearly.
The total annual production Of England
herself, at this period, was only 1900 tons
Of pig.
To Capt. John Smith, among his many
other achievements, belongs the honor of
the discovery of iron in Maryland. In his
voyage up the Chesapeake bay in 1906, he
entered the Patapsco river, which he named
Bolus, because of the red clay found there
" resembling bole armoniack and terra
sigillata.' This clay was covering for
extensive mines of iron ore, afterwards
opened and worked by the Principle Com
pany and by Mr.. John Moale, at Moales
Point, where Baltimore was originally in
tended to be built, but the town was not
located there, owing to the hostility of Mr..
Moale, who refused to sell his land, and
had greater interest in his ores than in a
prospective city.
A whole century elapsed before Captain
Smiths discovery was turned to account.
The year 1715 has been given (Hamilton's
report, 1S40) as the epoch of furnaces in
Maryland, and there is no reason to believe
that any were in existence prior to that
time. AS to who were the pioneers in the
business, Governor Spottswood, of Vir
GINA, claimed for himself that honor, hav-
ing assured Col Byrd ('' Progress to the
Mines" 1882 that he was "not only the
first in this country (Nirginia(, but the first
in North America, who had erected regu-
lar furnace" This furnace ofSpottswood' 5
is also mentioned by Hugh Jones in his
present Condition of Virginia." pub
lished about 1924. Conceding Gov Spotts-
wood priority in Virginia, his claim of hav-
ing been the first person to erect furnace
in America must be modified, for there was
furnace in Maryland of equally early
origin. The preamble to the act of the
Maryland General Assembly for the en-
enlargement of iron manufacturers, passed
in 1919, recites that "there are very great
conveniences of carrying on iron works
within this province, which have not hith-
erto been embraced for want of proper en-
couragement to some first undertakers," i'm
plying that iron works had been in opera
ton previously, though languishing at that
time. Some recently acquired information,
never before published, seems to establish
the fact that these first undertakers in erect
ing iron works in Maryland were party of
English merchants and capitalists, the sub
jects of our sketch. That they were the
first, there is presumptive evidence in the
name they chose for their furnace, Prin-
cipio, which name they afterwards assumed
when they incorporated themselves as the
Principle Company. Although the exact
date of their beginning is uncertain, and
cannot be indisputably fixed, owing to the
meagerness or absence of the earliest rec