The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-08-14

'"P'h ~
has but lately received his just
sentence Of Imprisonment for life
in an American Jail. And surely
among great names may be inclu-
ded the late Mr.. Knox, of Boston,
whose first name was Aldiboronti-
phoskiphorbia. But this lady
always signed herself "a. Knox"
In the Yale College catalogue, of
thirty years ago, we were amused
with a students name of Spear, to
whom a poetical father lad given
the Christian name Of William
Shake. And Dickens tells US that
his well-known epithet of Boz
originated in playful application
to lis younger brother of the name
of: Moses, from the Moses of "The
Vicar eff Wakefield" First, twas
Moses, then Doses, and finally and
forever Boz.
AS we turn from the name Of the
individual to that Of tho locality, we
find the same general rule that early
circumstances always emboby them
selves in the designation. The name
of the town will generally unlock to
us its early history. We might be
sure, even if the New England histo-
rian did not inform us of the fact,
that our Massachusetts Boston was
settled by those who once lived in st.
Botolph's town, in England; that the
earliest citizens Of bcwitched Salem
were those Puritanic forcfathers Of
ours who came hither saying "Let us
have peace )" that our oldest scat Of
learning received its name from Cam
bridge in England; and that that
place in it's turn lifts it's scholarly
towers where a bridge spans the Cam.
But as this country expands and
grows older, we find great pauclty
Of original names; first settlers arc
not usually persons of much mental
culture.
The number of immortality-secking
real-cstate owners, who would pro-
ject Themselves on to posterity by
weighing down whole communities
with their baptismal ugliness, is un-
fortunately very great Over sixteen
hundred post-ofice villages in tho
United States wilfully terminate their
LANES with vile, from Abbevillc, Of
which there are five, as we'll as one
Abbcyville, through Grubville in
Missouri, to GilIvile in Alabama, and
Zionsville in Indiana. And, in. the
year of grace 1869, Strong Pepper,
Esq, dccrccd that the village around
his residence should bear the name OF
Pcppcrville.
Five towns rejoice in tho name Of
Napoleon. Our Catholic proclivitics
are shown by the fact that one hun
drcd seyenty-four villages commence
their names with the title Of Saint;
three hundred and thirty-scycn begin
with Mount. We have spoken of
thai early home of our Puritan faith
crs, in Massachusetts, the town Of
Salem thirty-one other towns or vii
lagos bear the same peaceful designa-
ton, including three Salem Centres, a
Salem Chapel, Salem Church, and
Salem K Roads. Since the Mexican
War, twelve Bucna Vistas have
sprung into existence; since tho re-
bellio1, one Grcenback, in Arkansas.
There arc two Grcclcys to ten enter
priscs. One bnndrcd and ninety-two
towns vcrdautly begin with Grccn, OF
which twenty-five arc GrccnvlIics;
thirteen, Grcenfclds; eight, Green
lands; a Grecnup, and q Greentrce.
North Carolina has its Lone Lady !;
Now Jersey, its Long-a-coming; and
Illinois, its Endor, without witch.
Adam is represented among his
American postcrity by twcnty-nine
towns; while the more popular John
Smith has sixty-thrce villages that
honor his name in some shape. Tho
paternity of the nomenclature of the
towns and villages Of the United
States is a fruitful and suggestive
study; but, unfortunately, endless.
Anglo.Saxon compounds can gener-
ally be traced to an ambitious desire
to immortalzc tho founder. Dodd
acquires property, and, as popula-
ton clusters upon it, calls it Dodds-
worth. His next ncighbor, Mr. Grim,
has place close by, and, not to be
outdone, calls it Grimsby. Men OF
wealth naturally desire to write them
selves Of that ilz. h1r. Carroll, the
principal settler Of the District of
Columbia, before it became Federal
territory, called it Carrollsburg. Mr..
Morgan is man Of culturc, and en-
bodies himself in Morganzio. N. L.
Willis goes out Of himself and calls
his place Idlewild. John Quincy
Adams writes au official letter to
Charles Carroll, Of Carrollton, and
dates it from Donhorgan Manor.
We commenced this article with
tho statement that names arc the
keys of family history; they arc no
less the keys that unlock to us the
history of towns and States. Let Us
conclude tho article with the applica:
ton of this rule TO the great States
earliest founded on the American
Continent. Massachusetts and Eir-
ginia wcro tho rival settlements of
those who laid down the two policies
that have always fought and warrcd
upon our American soil. Massachu-