John Jay Homestead State Historic Site

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Washington stick pin. When John and Sarah Jay sailed to Spain on a diplomatic mission in 1779 seeking Spanish support for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War, General George Washington gave them a lock of his hair as a token of his friendship. When Jay went to England to negotiate the Jay Treaty in 1794, Sarah gave the lock of hair to their son Peter Augustus Jay, who accompanied his father on the trip. She asked him to have a London jeweler set the hair in a stickpin. The stickpin remained in the Jay family until the 1960s, when a descendant donated it to John Jay Homestead State Historic Site.

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Washington stick pin. When John and Sarah Jay sailed to Spain on a diplomatic mission in 1779 seeking Spanish support for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War, General George Washington gave them a lock of his hair as a token of his friendship. When Jay went to England to negotiate the Jay Treaty in 1794, Sarah gave the lock of hair to their son Peter Augustus Jay, who accompanied his father on the trip. She asked him to have a London jeweler set the hair in a stickpin. The stickpin remained in the Jay family until the 1960s, when a descendant donated it to John Jay Homestead State Historic Site.