# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-rittenhouse
# Generated: 2026-08-13T04:19:24.856Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-rittenhouse"
name: "William Rittenhouse"
slug: "william-rittenhouse"
description: "William Rittenhouse was an American papermaker and businessman. He served as an apprentice papermaker in the Netherlands and, after moving to the Pennsylvania Colony, established the first paper mill in the North American colonies, helping to meet the growing demand for paper among the Early American publishers and printers. Rittenhouse married Geertruid Pieters of Eerbeck, Holland, in 1665, before emigrating to the Americas. Rittenhouse was also the first Mennonite bishop in America. Along with his two sons, and their descendants, the Rittenhouse family maintained a papermaking business in Pennsylvania for well over one hundred years. The site of the original mill is now preserved as the Historic RittenhouseTown district of Philadelphia."
tagline: "American papermaking businessman, 1644–1708"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Rittenhouse_manor.jpg/330px-Rittenhouse_manor.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Netherlands"
  isoCode: "NL"
birthDate: "1644"
deathDate: "1708-02-18"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           44.41
  momentum:             5.150812064965196
  historical:           4.623508
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     30
  profileCompleteness:  50
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  5
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3"
    title: "وليام ريتنهاوس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Rettinghaus"
    title: "Wilhelm Rettinghaus"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rittenhouse"
    title: "William Rittenhouse"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rittenhouse"
    title: "William Rittenhouse"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pdc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Ritenhaus"
    title: "Wilhelm Ritenhaus"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q142339"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump