Arthur Donaldson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Donaldson (born  November 24, 1734 in Philadelphia , Province of Pennsylvania , † 1797 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) was an American shipbuilder and inventor.

family

William Donaldson, Arthur's father, was born in Glasgow , Scotland , around 1690 († 1797 in Darby , Pennsylvania). 1725 he married in County Down , Northern Ireland , the Irish Margaret Townsend (* 1704 County Down, Northern Ireland). They emigrated to Philadelphia around 1727, where Arthur Donaldson was born in 1734. According to other sources, he was born in Belfast in 1726 before emigrating to America . On December 15, 1763 he married Elizabeth Kaighn (* 1736 Haddonfield , New Jersey ), they had a son Isaac.

Life

Arthur Donaldson developed a machine with which one could dredge the harbor. He called her hippopotamus . She was driven by a horse and served by three men. On January 20, 1774, he presented the first model of this machine. For this invention he received 100 pounds and the exclusive rights to use the Delaware River . In 1785 Levi Hollingsworth wrote to George Washington , telling him about this invention. George Washington came up with the idea of ​​installing the machine on a ship and using it to recover the fertile sludge from the bottom of the Potomac River and spread it on the fields

In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War , Arthur Donaldson was commissioned to manufacture Chevaux de frise , which were sunk as barriers in the Delaware River at Fort Mifflin to block the passage of British ships. He should also build a floating battery . After the war he and Levi Hollingsworth had to remove the barriers from the river and they received a sum of 11,000 pounds.

In February 1786 John Fitch presented his plans for a steamship to him and discussed it with him. A short time later, John Fitch learned that Arthur Donaldson was seeking the sole rights to operate a steamboat in Pennsylvania. Fitch struggled to obtain these rights himself and finally received them in January 1787.

literature

  • John Kaighin and some of his descendants , p. 103 ( online ; PDF; 7.7 MB)
  • Index of the Rolls of Honor (Ancestor's Index) in the Lineage Books of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution , Lightning Source UK Ltd 2012. ISBN 1236061616
  • Francis Bazley Lee, Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey , Volume 5 ( online )
  • Marla R. Miller, Betsy Ross and the Making of America , 2010, p. 104 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arthur Donaldson at familypursuit.com ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.familypursuit.com
  2. ↑ Rev. Michael Reed Minnich: A memoir of the first treasurer of the United States , Philadelphia 1905, p. 25 ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.1 MB)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.warrenwelch.us
  3. ↑ Writings of Washington, Vol. 28: To LEVI HOLLINGSWORTH ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / etext.virginia.edu
  4. ↑ Writings of Washington, Vol. 28: To ARTHUR DONALDSON  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / etext.virginia.edu  
  5. ↑ The papers of George Washington ( Memento of the original dated June 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gwpapers.virginia.edu
  6. ^ Josiah Granville Leach: Some account of the Tree family and its connections in England and America
  7. ↑ James Thomas Flexner: Steamboats Come True , New York 1992, ISBN 0-8232-1376-5 , pp. 93-95
personal data
SURNAME Donaldson, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American shipbuilder and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH 1797
Place of death Philadelphia , Pennsylvania