Jersey, Hagan

According to family history, brothers John and Hugh Hagen came to the U.S. from Ireland around 1750, while still quite young, with Hugh settling in Philadelphia and John migrating westward to Lancaster County. Both brothers fell into iron work, with Hugh becoming apprenticed to an edge tool  maker in Philadelphia, and John noted as manufacturing tools with the local iron of Martic Forge.    In the first decade of the 1800s, John saw the birth of sons Joshua, Davis, and Elijah, with the first two taking up edge tool making as well. Davis continued the family heritage by teaching five of his sons the art in turn, these named Henry Bascom, John, Albert, Davis Junior, and William.    The “Hagen Pattern” of axes seems to have begun with Davis in the 1830s or 1840s, and was noted as a heavy, wide style of lugged axe. Images of “Hagen” marked axes tend to look similar to a wide bodied jersey, with a heavy poll that continues below the rear junction of the lug and the body, leaving the appearance of a “drooped poll”. Per local lore and media, these axes were the most popular axe style in the Lancaster area during the mid to late 1800s.   According to local newspapers, this popularity led to low sales of other axes for one of the most popular local wholesale hardware houses, “Conrad & Walton”. At the time, that business utilized William Mann Jr. & Company for a provider of their axes, leading Coates Walton, one of the owners, to reach out to William Mann (Jr) requesting a pattern similar to the local favorite. Mann reached out to Hagen, requesting a few examples of the pattern, and then began manufacturing his own, similar, pattern, that was marketed as the “Hagan” pattern. Though William died in 1855, the business continued on under his son James H. Mann, who eventually became one of the first leaders of the American Axe and Tool Company. This connection led to the inclusion of the “Hagan” pattern in the catalogs of the A.A. & T. Co.