Peter King wrote:

> Some of the brand names are clearly those of furnaces
> in Virginia or Maryland, including Baltimore, Bush
> River, Philadelphia, Patuxent, Principio, Potomac, and
> Cornwall, or at least I presume so. Where was
> Cornwall? I am sure it cannot mean the English county.
>
> Tubal occurs intermittently 1742 to 1757 and I presume
> it is the trademark of Governor Spottiswoode of
> Virginia who had a number of furnaces considered
> himself the Tubal-Cain of Virginia.
>
> R. Snowden 17 tons from Lyde (of Bristol) in 1738 was
> I presume the name of an ironmaster
>
> However can any one identify the following:
>
> WBNSJ occurs 1731 to 1744
>
> TPNI (or TPNJ) occurs 1741 and 1748
>
> TP/NB or TP, NB and also NB (alone) occur 1735 to 1742
>
> TP occurs 1750-2
>
> BC occurs 1748
>
> FC occurs 1736 to 1746
>
> Between 1728 and 1757 the five forges belonging to
> Edward Knight & Co consumed almost 7000 tons of
> American pig iron. The largest single source was Donne
> & Co., later Lionel Lyde & Co. and then Bristol Co.,
> who supplied 3655 tons between 1728 and 1757, with a
> maximum of 533 tons in the year1737/8. I presume this
> was made by the Bristol ironworks in King George
> County, on which there is a published article.
>
> In 1785 Moser & Crawshaw (probably London iron
> merchants) supplied 4 tons of Baltimore &c and 17 tons
> of Speedwell &c.
>
> The letter book of Thomas Plumsted of London
> (Cambridge Univ. Lib., Add. Ms. 2798) mentions
> Patuxent, Union, Baltimore and Bush River, which he
> was selling to various ironmasters
>

I have JPEGs of the Tubal, Fredericksville, Occoquan, and "BC" pigs if you are
interested.

Tubal furnace, Spotsylvania County, Virginia was owned and operated by Alexander
Spotswood and his heirs from about 1716 to 1759.  I have not been able to locate
a good date for its closing.  There is an unfootnoted reference in the furnace
making ""very considerable" profits in 1759 (Cappon 1945:14).  There is also a
1758 pig marked "TUBAL 1758 WORKS" at the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Area Museum
and Culture Center.  Tubal was the only blast furnace that Spotswood was
involved in.  It is sometimes incorrectly called the Germanna furnace.
Spotswood is also frequently said to have been involved with Fredericksville and
Catherine.  He built a double air furnace at Massaponax in 1732.  There is
considerable speculation on why, given the low demand for cast iron objects, he
needed a double air furnace.  Cannons perhaps?

"BC" might be either Bristol (Virginia) Iron Works or Baltimore (Maryland)
Company.  Both were in operation during the first half of the 18C.   The
Valentine Museum (Richmond, VA) has three "BC" pigs that were recovered at
Providence Forge (VA).  Bristol went into blast in 1722/3.  End dates may have
been 1742 based on the pigs.  Your 1748 pig may give a new date.

"FC" may be Fredericksville.  One of two furnaces managed/operated by Charles
Chiswell in Virginia.  Fredericksville was established 1728/29 and closed
sometime before 1761.  The latest pig I have found is 1736.  Gov. Gooch was a
partner.

Cornwall Furnace is in Cornwall, Pennsylvania.  It was blown in in 1742 and
blown out for the last time in 1883.  The entire complex is preserved as a State
Park.

Peter Hasenclever established a number of ironworks in New Jersey including
Ringwood, Long Pond, Charlotteburg , and Cortland and Cedar Pond in New York.
Charlotteburg was a forge though, it operated from 1764-80.

JH Brothers IV




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