The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-30

lOIS, IL - SlS1Aly SSSh Che"o ooA PANSoAA
, tors were quick to perceive and appl.
any peculiar trait, sign or requirement
The people of South Carolina are in
debted for some of their most euphoni
Gus names of streams and places, not tt
the symbolic representations of craft
and trades, but to the superb expires
sion, as read even by savages in be-
fora and fauna of the inherent quail
ties Of her soil and climate. Anglo
American progress has almost com
pletely e8aced all traces Of the aborigi
nal art and life Of the red man; but a.
long as her rivers murmur sympho'
MUS requiem to the.ashes Of the quietly
sleeping and almost prehistoric past, SC
long will they also continue to proclaim
in accents as soft as the murmur o,
their waters, and as enduring as their
granite falls the poor Indians's appre'
citation of Natures unstinted bounty.
While the buffalo and stately stag,
the skulking black bear and prowling
wolf, the screaming panther and
timid beaver made the virgin forests oi
South Carolina hideous with their
screams, as we'll as a happy hunting
ground for the red man, that which
particularly attracted his attention was
the bountiful prevalence of the cum
ming little grey fox, hence he christened
the old Palmetto State, Chicola-or the
place of foxes. AS be climbed the high
hills, and ra1nbled through the beauti'
full valleys Of the Keowee, and feasted
upon The wild berries indigenous to that
section of the land of foxes, he named
the clear waters that sparkled like a
molten stream of pure silver around
the hills and through the wales, "The
river of mulberries." AS he sought his
game on the undulatory prarries of the
Catawba, and marked its muddy waters,
he called it Eswa Tavora-muddy river.
Or as he climbed the hills adjacent to
the Enoree and from their sublime
heights beheld the vine-covered valleys
of that tortuous stream he called it,
as the name implies "The river of
muskadines," or as he wandered
through the cane-brakes of what is
now Abbeville County, and came to
refresh himself under the shade of the
tall oaks that grew in the alluvial bot
toms of the Coronaca, he named the
stream Quoo-rdn-he-qau-"the place of
very big white oaks" or as he planted
his corn within the rich bottom lands
of the Salada and harvested large
yield he christened the stream "corn-
river"; or as he followed the Santee in
its meandering course through the
swamps he called it 'sThe snakes trail" !"
And when ne would forever chronicle
the bloody battle fought between the
Catawbas-a wandering and warlike
Canadian tribe that dared to invade
Chicola-and the Cherokees on the
banks of Broad River, he named that
stream Es-waw-pud-de-nah-or line
river, ever after the decisive battle the
line between the two tribes-a name
that should have been left inviolaoie by
the white men, if for no other reason
because of its inherent deauty.
But pardon me for this depression.
The place of habitation frequently
afforded names by which the people
were distinguished. Ford and tom are
frequently met with as elements Of
which English surnames are COM
pounded-as Norton (Northtown), SUIT
ton (Soutttown), Weston (Westown),
Sston and Easton (Eastown). Dray-
ton, literally Wagon town. Beresford,
explains it's derivation when we re-
member that the spelling of the first
syllable is precisely the way that the
Anglo-Saxons spelled bear, the wild
animal. These two last names are in
dissolubly connected with the history
of education in South Carolina. Gov
ernor Drayton may be justly regarded
as the founder of the South Carolina
College, and Richard Beresford left at
his death in 1722 the sum of six thous-
and and Eve hundred pounds for the
maintenance and education of the poor
children in the Parish of St. Thomas
and st. Denis near Charleston. jour
nalism in South Carolina was first in
troduced by man whose forefathe1s
received their surname by living in
close proximity to some bog or swamp,
the popularity Of which was its white
mud, or soil. Thomas Whitmarsh
issued "The South Carolina Gazette"
on Saturday, January the sth, 173l.
His successors, though not swamp
bred, have done much for the State
and for humanity, in dissipating the
moral miasmas of the swamp-State.
Long live every true knight Of the quill.
Croft in the Saxon tongue meant a
wood. 1t is also frequently used also
as an element in other surnames.
Therefore those names compounded OF
that term give US, at least, the place Of
the habitation of their ancestors. The
old English name Ravenscroft was
first given to some man who lived near
forest noted as a haunt of that mis-
: sfSSsssns ~ and noisy bird. Ban meant
q proelamsif it is of sanskrit origin,
and is closely a>ssd to 0one destruction;
hence we have evea from other tongues
bandit, abandon, &C., Atherefore meant
a proclamation of outlawry. A wood
infested with outlaws would very
naturally be spoken Of as Bancroft and
George or Henry who lived near that