Tomahawk Pipe
date: label: Accession Date
content: 31 Mar 1950
name: label: Donor Name
content: William K. Young
notes: label: Notes
content: Formerly on exhibit in NHB Hall 9, case 13. Exhibit label identified as having been "used on the Pennsylvania frontier during or shortly after the French and Indian War." From card: "Tomahawk pipe with metal head in three pieces; pipe bowl screws in place, screw plate covering front of stem, and tomahawk with straight front edge curved back. The name "J. HAYES" is stamped on the left side of the tomahawk. Wooden stem has metal binding at mouth end. Donor states specimen given to his grandfather at Belleville, Pa. He believed "J. Hayes" was connected with Lutheran Indian Missions in Penna. or Ohio in the 18th or early 19th century. Nicholas B. Wainwright, Research Librarian, Historical Society of Pennsylvania (letter of April 19, 1950) states: '... there was an Indian trader named John Hayes who was active in the Ohio country between 1748 and 1753. This is probably the same man who was with Post in 1760. The normal spelling of his name appears to be Hays.' Letter of Margaret J. Hort, Librarian, The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia (April 5, 1950): 'The famous Moravian missionary to the Indians, Christian Frederich Post, set out from Bethlehem, May 7, 1760, met John Hays (place not named), journeyed with him to Wyoming where they met Teedyuscung on the 12th.' .... 'in Wallace, P.A.W. _Conrad Weiser_ (p. 567-569) the name is given as John Hayes' ...'John Hays' diary, describing their journey is included in Penna. Archives, Ser. 1 vol. 3, p. 735-741'. Letter from John Witthoft, State Anthropologist, Penna. Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg (Apr. 21, 1950): 'This tomahawk could have belonged to either this John Hayes (i.e. who accompanied Post) or his father John Hayes. The father came from the north of Ireland in 1730, when his son was two years old. The father kept a tavern at Weaversville, which was on the road west of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Fort Allen. This was on the frontier, and the Fort Allen section was notorious for the Indian liquor trade. Except for the son's trips to Passigakunk in 1758, and to the Ohio in 1760, I know little about him, except that most of his activities were in the Susquehanna and Delaware valleys. He died at Meadeville, Pennsylvania in 1796, leaving 15 children and his father, I believe, died in the 1780s. Both men were closely associated with the Indians and were the only J. Hayes I know of that were involved in the Pennsylvania frontier. ... I would feel quite sure that your specimen would pertain to John Hayes, whether father or son, I would not know."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Dec 2014
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Plains Woodlands / Pennsylvania / Ohio, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Indian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 186400
label: USNM Number
content: E387294-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Pipe Tomahawk