In the year 1746, Ben Franklin was publishing his famous Gazette. An entry was made on February 25 of that year as an advertisement. The entry was by a Captain William Plumstead of the ship "Westmoreland" ( I assume the ship was docked in Philadelphia, but it could have been elsewhere) He offered a reward for jailing of the following mariners who ran away from the ship Westmoreland, John Dod Bonell, Commander.
Richard Edwards, George Todder, John Pipe, ( it was spelled that way) Samuel Field, John Jackson, William Gessop and James Carroll.
I attempted to find more information on the ship and the owner and found that the Westmoreland was built in Philadelphia in 1743, weighed in at 200 tons and at least one of the owners were from London. William Plumstead was a wealthy man who dealt in the slave trade and was at one time Mayor of Philadelphia.
There is speculation about this entry. This may or may not be our John Pipes Sr. It could also have been a sailor from some other part of the world. We do not know at this point. We do have several mentions made in local history books concerning Windsor Pipes that imply ( family legend) that Windsor was born in Philadelphia. He was born in 1740, so all we need to do now is find some records to prove it.
Joseph Pipes is the oldest son of John Pipes Jr.. Joseph states in his pension application that he was born on March 17th, 1763 in Rockaway, Morris County , New Jersey. Joseph named one of his daughters Jemima and because of the marriage of John Pipes Jr. to Jemima Harriman in 1762, we assume that Jemima was Joseph's mother. Much mystery surrounds Joseph, for while we know a good deal about his life and his children, we know little about how and why he came to this area. We do know that Windsor Pipes, his uncle, was here before 1771 and then sold his land. Is that why Joseph came to this area? We also know now that his grandmother's family (The Hathaways) moved here from New Jersey in the early 1770s. He may have considered them to be his family.
There is an interesting "story " in two of the local history books. These stories are re-told in Dorothy Hennen's book, in the chapter on Joseph Pipes and again in a local newspaper account written by Mrs. Hennen and published in 1976 in celebration of the Bi-Centennial. We have to note that each version and re-telling of the story is a little different and it is impossible to separate fact from myth. It seems that Clyde Pipes, an attorney and a great, great grandson of Joseph told the story that Joseph was captured by the indians when he was a small boy. He and three other captive boys were made to run the gauntlet with Joseph being the only young person spared his life. He lived with the indians for several years and finally escaped, to be later employed by some traders at Wheeling as an interpreter for 12 years. The second version of the story says he was captured when a small boy and lived with the indians until he was grown and then returned to the area. This episode with the indians occurred in the Ohio Valley below Wheeling. This is an amazing story if true, because first, he was also captured and held prisoner for several years by the Shawnee indians when he was a member of the infamous Colonel Crawford regiment in 1782, and second, it makes one wonder how he happened to be in this area when he was a small boy? To illustrate the confusion, Mrs. Hennen, in her newspaper article in 1776 says that this happened when he was a "lad" of 19 in 1782 when he was captured in the Crawford Expedition.
We know that Joseph was born in 1763, that his mother died sometime before 1776, and that his uncle Windsor was in this area for a short time before 1771. Several possibilities arise: first, he may have come here with his father and his family and we have no record of it, or, second, he may have come here with his uncle as a small child whose mother had passed away. He may also have been a member of his grandmother's family, the Hathaways, who moved here in the 1770s. We believe that John Pipes Jr. and Jemima Harriman had two sons starting with Joseph in 1763, then came John. Jemima must have been alive until at least 1768, when Joseph would have been 5 years old and she was named in her father's will. It does not take much imagination to conjure up stories about Jemima being captured and/or killed by the indians while in this area and then Joseph being captured and John Jr. then returning to New Jersey to start anew. We know that John Jr. was in the revolution from 1776 to 1780 and that he married Mary Morris in Morristown in 1777.
There does not appear to be any other persons named Pipes in this area until Joseph returns here and then his brother John comes here in 1794 from North Carolina. Many persons named Pipes have sprung from this corner of Pennsylvania, all of them seem to trace their roots back to Joseph, who had 14 children or his brother John, who had 6 children.
This John Pipes is connected to the N. Carolina family and the Hiram Pipes Story. We are assuming that he was a son of John Pipes Jr. and a brother to Joseph Pipes. For a better understanding of our thinking on this, please read the Hiram Pipes Story by John Hawkins.
John married Eleanor Slater and raised several children in SW Pennsylvania. Many of them stayed in this part of the country and many of them migrated to Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio.