The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1897-01-09
ARP HELPS A WIDOW.
Search Made for Companion of an
Oregon Indian War Soldier
PHILOSOPHERS Mall Is Heavy - Letter
Comes Asking the Barlow Man to
Assist in Finding Long
Lost Relatives.

Now if there is any old soldier living
who was in the Indian war in Oregon
during the years 1859 and 1860, under
command of Gen. Joe Lane, and knew
Capt. George w. Reynolds, in that serv-
Ice, let him please write to his widow,
at Mars Hill, Madison county, N. G.
The poor woman isentitled to pension
for her husbands service, if she can
prove it. 1t is long shoot and mar
row chance, but maybe some eemrade
will see this. 1t would rejoice my
hesa't to see little of that pension fund
coming down this way,
am not bureau of information, but
receive many letters Of inquiry about
antebellum days and families and
events, and am always pleased to an
ever them and give the information if
1 can. Many of them ere from old
Georgia soldiers who removed west
soon after the war; and they or their
widows have heard that Georgia is pay
ing all her invalid soldiers pensions.
Please let me say to all concerned that
there is no provision for n0n-residents
in our state pension laws. This seems
hard upon those who felt constrained
to emigrate, but it is the law, and that
settles it.
Then there are many letters from
aged men who look back to old Georgia
with longing hearts and wish to trace
up their kindred. 1t is a sure sign of
gray hairs when q man or woman be-
gins to hunt up their distant kindred
or the companions Of their youth. Here
is Mr.. John A. Harris, of Pass Chris
tan, Miss, who wants to know about
his fathers relatives-the Harris fam.
lily, of Appling and Macon-and also
about his mothers bindred-the Bled-
secs, of Athens and Augusta. And here
is Mr.. Redwine, of Redwine, La, who
wants to know of his kin of that name
IN Georgia. Alas, my venerable friends,
Judge Clark is dead and SO is c. c. Jones,
| the only two men who knew all about
| the old families of Georgia. 1t would
perpleX even them to identify my
branch of the Harris family, for their
name is legion, but the Bledsoes and
Redwines could no doubt be traced by
some octogenarians still living. These
are very unusual names and their kin
ship is not so remote.
I was Illuminating about the origin
of names, Anglo-SaXon names, and find
| it to be curious and interesting study.
For instance, it is possible that the
original Bledsoe was wounded in fight
or by accident and bled so much that ii
gave him name. 1t is probable the
Redwine ancestor had a vineyard and
made wine of that color or maybe did
not have vineyard but was much
given to looking upon the wine when it
was red. 1t seems that the common pco-
| pie didn't need but one name until long
after the Christian era. The Romans,
however, began q system to honor and
distinguish distinguished people. They
adopted a pre-nomen-a nomen and a
cognomen as Publicus Cornelius
| Scipio. Publicus was his Christian
name, as we call it, and no doubt the
boys called him Pub. Cornelius, his fam
lily name and Scipio was his most nota-
Bile Characteristic, for he was good to his
blind old father and led him about with
a staff, and scipio means a staff.
have great respect for Scipio Horace
was called Aorateus Flaccus because
he had very large ears, and Flaccus
means fop-eared. 1t was not till the
E1ouopth thot family
were handed down to succeeding gen
erations, and this custom was adopted
because of law requiring births and
marriages and deaths to be registered
in the parish books. As late as the
Eighteenth century many families in
| England had no surnames, and the chill
dren were given nicknames, as Nosy,
Soaker, Sucker, Snaggletooth, Cockeye,
Jumper, Bowlegs, Redtop, etc.
AS people multiplied, new methods
had to be devised to distinguish them.
Prefixes and affixes were resorted to.
The word son was added to distinguish
the father from the children, as John,
johnson, VIII, Wilson, Tom, Tomson.
The word Fitz was prefix to Norman
names and came from fills or film, a son.
Witch in the Russian language has the
same meaning, and SO has Won or van
in German, and Mac in Scotch and Irish,
as Macdonald, the son of Donald. o
is an Irish prefix and means grandson,
rs O'Connor, O'Parr, O'Hallaran, etc.
De or Due is the French prefix for son
and Ap means the same in Welsh. These
afiixes and prefixes will classify great
number Of names, for from Jon came
johnson, Johnston and tombstone. The
Smith family name had peculiar ori-
gin. The old Anglo-SaXons were ever
on the lookout for invasions of the
island, and hence they kept a large
force of men on the hills near the coast
to look out for the invaders and to
smite them when they came. These men
had but a single name, as John or Jack
or VIII, but they were known as john
the Smiter, or Jack the Smiter, or Will
the Smiter, which was soon abridged
to John Smiter and then to John Smith
er, and finally to John Smith. A smith
IL a smiter-a goldsmith smites gold
q blacksmith smites iron. And so all
the soldiers on the highland became
Smiths by name, and were good, patriotic
fighting stock. Uurrah for the Smiths
including John. The Jones family
are of Welsh extraction, aud no doubt
had a similar origin, for The original
name was Jone, and the was added
for q plural.