The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-17

ton.
/ North Carolina and South Carolina
may be considered under one head.
Allen, in his History of Kentucky
ascribes the origin of the name Carolina
10 the French settlers of Port Royal, who
named if after Charles TX. of France.
This is the popular impression, but there
IS reason to question its accuracy. In
che charter of Carolina granted to the
Lords Proprietors by Charles III. in 1868,
the name Carolina is recognized. More
than thirty wears before, Charles I. had
granted a tract of territory south of the
chesapeake to Sir Robert Heath, NAM
| inc it Carolana after himself. This
grant became forfeited by non-user.
| The name, however, so given to the ter
| ritory was doubtless revived in the new
charter of 1868: 1t would not be a
pleasant reflection that two States of the
Union derived their name from the King
| who commanded the massacre of ST.
| Bartholomew.
The name of Georgia, after King
George H., was by the terms of the char
ter conferred upon the territory granted
to the company organized by Oglethorpe
in 1892.
Maine owes its name to its being sup
| posed to be the main or chief portion of
the New England territory. The origin
of the name is disclosed in an extract
| from the grant of Charles L. to Sir Fer.
nando Gorges, in 1889, confirmatory OF
patent given by the Plymouth Com.
| pany in 1922, which grant the grandson
| of Gorges, through ohm Usher, assigned
to the Massachusetts Bay Colony ''aH
| that Parte, Purparte and Porcon of the
| Mayne Lande of New England afore-
said, beginning att the entrance of Pas
galway Harbor Then follows the de-
scriptionl, all which said Part, Purpart
or Porcon of the Mayne Lande and all
and every the premises hereinbefore
named wee doe for us, our heirs and
! successors create and incorporate into
one Province or Countie. And wee doe
name, ordeyne, and appoint that the
| Porcon Of the Mayne Lande and Prem
| ises aforesaide shall forever hereafter
bee called and named The Province or
| Countie of Mayne."
The Territory of Vermont was so
named from the French words verd
mont, ''Green Mountain the ''d'' being
| dropped in composition. The legal his
| tory of the name is a curious one. At a
| convention of the people held at West
minister, January Is, IVY, it was de-
| clared that the district was State, ''to
| be forever hereafter called, known and
| distinguished by the name of New Con-
| necticut, alias Vermont" The conven.
| ton met by adjournment July 3, 1777,
| and, having inthe meantime ascertained
| that the name of New Connecticut had
been already applied to a district on the
| banks of the Susquehanna, it was de-
| clared that instead of New Connecticut,
| the State should lever be known by the
| name of Vermont Eall, in his Early
| History of Vermont" appendix No. 9.
| claims that the words F'alias Vermont
did not belong in the name as adopted
| in January, and that they must have
| been inconsiderateiy added to the Jour
| nal or an early copy of it, by way of
| explanation after the name Vermont
| had been adopted in lieu of New Con-
nectic11t, and afterward in transcribing,
enormously taken as part of the origi-
| nal Mr. Hall gives various reasons in
support of this claim. In opposition to
Mr.. Halls theory the words are found
in SHADES Estate papers," page 40, in
Williams History of Vermont" and
| in a manuscript copy of the journal of
the convention, the original being lost,
in the possession of James II. Phelps.
Further, all accounts concur that the
| name of Vermont as given to the State
by DIR. Thomas Young, and we find a
letter of his Dated IL, April, 1777, adj
dressed to 1.-The inhabitants of Vermont,
a free and Independent State" which
implies that at that date the State had
already received its name Of Vermont,
although under an alias.
Allen, in his History of Kentucky"
says it was named from its principal
river, which is an Indian name for dark
and bloody ground - Moulton, in his
History of New York" says ken.
IL
Hayygood's History of Tennessee"
General Clark is the authority for the
| assertion that, in the Indian language,
Kentuke signifies river of blood
Ramsey, in his History of Tennessee"
alludes to the name of Kentucky as sig
nifying 1.-The dark and bloody land" In
Johrson's Cyclopedia the name is given
as sigEifying ''the dark and bloody
ground" In opposition to all this it
appears from Johnson's Account of
the Present State of the Indian Tribes of
Ohio" l., page 271-that Kentucky is a
Shawanoese or Shawnoese word, signi-
flying sat the head of a river that the
Kentucky river was in former times Of
ten used by the Shawanoese in their mi
gratiOns north and south, and hence the
whole country took its name. This
theory of the name is quoted approving
" in Gallatin's Synopsis of Indian
Tribes Mr.. Higginson, in his Young
Folks History" says the name first APP
piled to the river means 1.-The Long Riv-
err" 1t lessons the weight of the author
tiles first cited that some of them con-
meet the evil Specification of the word
with land. and some with water. 1t is
also highly improbable that name
clothed with associations of terror should
be adopted rs the civic designation of a
people On the whole. it may be safely
asserted that the weight of the evidence
is in favor of the more peaceful origin
of the name.
Tennessee formed part of the grant
of the Carolinas. Its name is derived
from its principal river, though formerly
the name Tennessee did not apply to
the main river, but to one of the small
southerly branches thereof. There is
authority for saying that the name OF
the river was derived from the village of
Tanassee, the chief village Of the Chero-
kee tribe, and situated on its bank.
Haywood in his Natural and Aborgi-
nal History of Tennessee" attempts to
trace the origin of the name Tanassee as
an Indian river name to the ancient
river Tanais and on this discovery, as
well as on other similar resemblances,
he POUNDS the argument that the ancient
| Cherokees migl ated from the western
part of Asia. Mr. Allen claims that
the name is derived from an Indian
name sitinifying "a curved SPOON and
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