Pipe tomahawk, Joseph Jourdain, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1800-1835

This pipe tomahawk is marked with an inlaid copper cresent moon, the signature mark of blacksmith Joseph Jourdain. Jourdain came to Green Bay, Wisconsin from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada in 1798. As the first blacksmith in this frontier trading post, then known as La Baie, Jourdain provided metal tools and household utensils for the settlement. He also provided trade goods for exchange with Menominee fur trappers, first under the employ of French Canadian fur trader Jacob Franks and later for the Green Bay Indian Agency after the United States government began to regulate the western fur trade.

This object is the property of the Neville Public Museum of Brown County. The image is part of the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database, a digital archive of Wisconsin objects. For more information, see content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,2188