In the US, we often refer colloquially to the graphite inside as "lead." Was lead ever used in a writing utensil in, say, the early Colonial period (say, the 1600s-1700s)? If so, when did it fall out of favor for the non-toxic graphite mixture we use today?
As far as I know, pencils never contained lead. In the sixteenth century, when pencils were invented, graphite was called 'black lead' or 'plumbago' because it resembles lead sulphide.
In 1778 Carl Wilhelm Scheele proved that graphite and lead sulphide were totally different chemicals and in 1789 Abraham Gottlob Werner coined the name 'graphite'. By this time however, people had been calling the stuff inside pencils 'lead' for centuries, so the name stuck.