Windsor Pipes was first on record in this area in 1781 when he provided surety for a person who was buying goods at an auction. He was probably in this area before that date, but no proof has been found. A cousin of mine, Charles B. Pipes, who lived in Lexington, Kentucky and was very interested in the family history and had correspondence with Mrs. Ellsberry and several of the Pipes descendants from Louisiana, wrote in a letter that he believed that John Pipes Sr. and all four of his sons sailed from Perth Amboy New Jersey in 1772 to Natchez, Mississippi with the Swayze brothers. The records do not indicate that Windsor came to Natchez with the Swayze brothers, but he arrived there shortly afterwards. I believe he was in Kentucky because one of his sons claims Kentucky as his birth place. This son is Abner, his oldest. In the Jersey Settlers book there is a quote from his published obituary that says he was born in Kentucky in 1773 and moved to Natchez with his family in 1780. Another story says that Windsor came here from the "Illinois territory" after leaving Greene County, Pennsylvania in 1772. Travel down the Ohio River was not uncommon in those days and he may well have left Greene County and traveled to Kentucky and then to Natchez. Abner Pipes apparently came here shortly after that time but he was in N. Carolina in 1771, so he probably followed Windsor. If Abner was in Kentucky, we have no proof of it as yet.
Windsor Pipes had fourteen children and Abner had at least seven, so the Pipes name was abundant in this area of the country for many years and there are still many original Pipes descendants living in Louisiana and Mississippi. But the gradual outward expansion and mobilization of the rest of the country took its toll here as well. The grandchildren and great grandchildren moved on to Texas, to California and much of the west, so this area of the country is the fourth and last of the "well springs " of the Pipes name in this country, with John Jr. and his sons populating Pennsylvania and Kentucky, Windsor and Abner populating Louisiana and Mississippi, Hiram Pipes in N. Carolina, that only leaves the fourth brother Philip as the last "well spring" for the name.
