Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-04-08
Cities and Their GOdfatllers.

Most cities were founded by accident
There was no deliberate plan. A hut
or two grew into village, a village into
town and n town into city. Lon
don, for instance, had no godfather.
The first barbarian who landed from his
canoe and fixed his habitation under
the hill now crowned by the cathedral
of st. Paul, little knew he was founder
of city to which Rome at the height of
its glory was insignificant in its proper
tions, its numbers and its wealth. A
place sometimes derived its name from
the physical features which distin-
guished it. Oxford, Cambridge, Mil
ford, Newport, Redhill, Blackwater,
Yarmouth, are instances in point. At
times some natural advantage it pos
sessed was the occasion of its name.
Thus the Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza
named the capital of the State he found
ed in South America Buenos Ayres, to
celebrate the excellent climate and
Valparaiso was so called as an intima-
tion that its position is such as to be the
very valley of paradise.
The cities founded by the godfathers
after whom they were named are the
most famous in existence. No man
seems to have been above the ambition
of perpetuating himself in that way.
Alexander the Great gave his name to
the Egyptian city which he founded,
and which the Ptolemies made one of
the most magnificent of the ancient
world. In Candahar, too, we recognize
the Asiatic name Qskander) OF the
great conqueror who founded itl
Cologne (Colonia Agrippina, which
has come to be regarded as the symbol
of German unity, owes its name to the
mother of Nero, who was born there
Saragossa, capital of the old kingdom
of Aragon, is only corruption of
Casarea Augusta, so called after Au-
gustus, who rebuilt the Carthagenian
town formerly on its site, and named
the new city after himself. This re-
founding an old town and giving it o
new name was common in antiquity.
When Adrian restored what the ancient
writer's called Uscudama, he imposed
upon it his own name, and thencefor-
ward it was known as Adrian.
ople, just as when Philip III.
OF Macedon, formed new city
on the site of Eumolpias, it was
converted into Philippopolis. In the
same way Constantine, when transfer
ring the seat of empire to Byzantium,
renamed the city on the Bosphorus
Constantinople. The representative of
the modern Byzantine Empire has his
seat in city also called atterits founder
st, Petersburg. When adventurers
from this country named the chief town
in Nova Scotia, they were virtually adj
dressing predatory dedication to the
Earl of Halifax, first Commissioner of
trade and plantations. Charleston was
so named in honor of Charles H., the
reigning monarch. Baltimore received
its name in 1868 after Lord Baltimore.
1t was only just that when, in 1898, the
foundation stone was laid of the Fed
eral Capital of the United States. the
forthcoming city should be named after
the father of his country-Washington.
In the same way the capital of Victoria
was named after the prime minister OF
the time, Melbourne; that of South
Australia, Adelaide, after the Queen
Dowager; that of New South Wales
after the then Secretary for the Colo.
nies, Sydney; and that of New Zealand
after Lord ckland.-London Globe.