Title

Powder Horn

Dimensions2 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (6.4 × 26.7 cm)

Object number1948.1.1

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionA powder horn that belonged to Captain Benjamin Church, "Conqueror of King Philip." The powder horn has a curved wooden base. The narrow end of the horn is carved into a hexagon. The powder horn is missing its stopper. Letter from Lawrence B. Cummings: "In 1934 I bought from William Wing of South Sixth Street, New Bedford, the powder horn and canteen of Benjamin Church of Little Compton, conqueror of King Philip in 1676. Wing told me that many years earlier he had bought them from the widow of a descendant of Benjamin Church, whose name, as he remembered it, was Mrs. Thomas. Later Wing gave the chain of relationship in the attached letter. The story, based on Wing's verbal statement to me and his letter, is as follows. Captain (later Colonel) Benjamin Church (1639-1718), original owner of the powder horn and canteen, had a son, Constant Church, who married Patience Cook. After the death of Constant Church she married Antipas Hathaway of Newport. She had several children by Church, and some by Hathaway. Her grandson, another Benjamin Church, became hard up, and some of his children went to live with their Hathaway kin in Newport. As was the custom, they were sometimes called by the name of Hathaway. One in particular, still another Benjamin Church by name, but frequently called Hathaway, had acquired through descent the ownership of the powderhorn and canteen. At first he rather scorned them, and was rebuked therefore. They were handed down through the line of his descendants. The last of these was the first husband of the woman from whom Wing bought the powder horn and canteen, she having inherited them from that first husband. She was, of course, not of the Church blood, and seems to have had no family sentiment about them. As a matter of fact, the historic canteen had served the humble purpose of a blueing-bottle. Her second husband's name was Thomas. It is said that in handing down these relics the recipient was always told that they belonged to his ancestor Benjamin Church, the Indian fighter. When Wing bought [them] he thought he was a descendant of Captain Benjamin Church, but when he found later that his descent was from Benjamin's brother Joseph, he lost interest and sold them to me. Dated Nantucket, Mass. July 31, 1947."

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