Peter Marme was an educated Frenchman and came to America during the Revolution as a private secretary to Colonel John Holker, the French Naval Officer at Philadelphia. Tradition says he came across the Mountains with all the pomp and glory of a nobleman with silver shoes on his horse's feet. He lived in Westmoreland County not far from the furnace and married a daughter of one of the early settlers. At this point we would like to correct an error given in one of the County Histories and often quoted as fact. The statement made that "Marmie the sporting Frenchman, committed suicide by jumping into the burning furnace, after driving in his dogs of the chase before him." This is entirely romance. Peter Marme lived to be quite an old man and died a natural death about 1823. We have stood by his grave in the little country cemetery in Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pa. A similar story is related of one of the proprietors of another old furnace in Fayette County, Pa.
While the furnace was in operation it was the center of life and trade for miles around. Many persons were employed to dig the ore and convey it to the iron-works, to operate the furnace and the forge, to make charcoal market the finished metal. Excellent farms were traded for the almost untillable land in the vicinity of the iron-works. Much of the iron was made into what was known as hollow-ware, pots, kettles, etc. Which was in great domand by the settlers west of the mountains.
Sugar and salt were then just as necessary in every kitchen as they are today. And many large kettles were made for evaporating the sap of the maple trees and water from the salt wells. Many of these were shipped to Pittsburgh and the near by early settlements along the Ohio River. In fact, it was stated that for many years Pittsburgh and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys were almost entirely supplied by iron from the early furnaces of Westmoreland and Fayette counties, even sending it to the sugar plantations of Louisana. In the Centennial number of the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, issued July 29, 1886, We find some interesting data concerning the old furnace and the early iron industry west of the mountains. In fact the paper referred to above is a valuable contribution to the early history of Southwestern Pa. Could a person go over the files of the Gazette from 1790 to 1800 he undoubtedly would find many references of interest concerning the Alliance Furnace, and kindred subjects.
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