The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-02
NEW YORK COUNTY NAMES.
Three Groups. aTonarchlcnI. Patriotic and In.
dian. Found In This state.

dian. Found In This state.
There are sixty counties in New York State.
There have been sixty for more than fifty years,
notwithstanding the States enormous gain in
population. and under tho limitations pre-
scribed by the amended State Constitution there
are likely to bc no more than sixty for many
years TO come.
In the naming Of New York counties no uni
form plan was followed, but by what is prob.
ably more n coincidence than n design the sixty
counties may he geographically divided into
groups, each with u different set of names.
There is the southern or metropolitan group of
counties. original knickerbockcr settlements,
which have monarchical names; there are the
eastern and Pennsylvania border counties, hav-
ing patriotic American names, and there is
tho western and central group of counties.
having Indian names. South of the Pough-
keopsic bridge, on both sides of tho Hudson, arc
what may be called the Knickcrbocker coun-
ties, though they bear no trace, in county names
at least, of their Dutch colonization. From n
point beginning at Lake Champlain and pro-
cceding due southwest to Horncllsville. near the
Pennsylvania border, arc The so.called Yankee
counties, settled by New EnElanders and their
descendants, and having generally patriotic
names. and the western and central group hay
ing Indian names.
Kings county, of course. is n survival OF mo.
III nomenclature VI u TGpuDIlt anu 81 Is
Queens. Dukes and Duchess would supplement-
the two naturally, did it not happen that when
ChusCtts Islands were a part OF the province of
New York, and hence Dukes county is in Mas.
sachusctts and Duchess spelled Dutchcss, in
New YORK. ltlchmond county is called after tho
Duke OF richmond. Orange after the Prince of
Orange, New York after the Duke OF York, and
Ulster after the Earl of Ulster, one of tho see.
ondaiy royal titles of England. Westchester il
an English name go SUFFOLK x, Is named after
the number OF those GulntinS hu yinp mnnn rpi-
ical or English names.
Beginning on the Vermont border. in the Sec
gomery, Greene, Fulton. Broomc. Tompkins,
70 he added Jefferson. Monroc. Madis on
Yates. Wayne, aud Hcrkimer. Absent from the
having 50 many counties as New iork-are tho
names OF JACKSON, Adams, Hancock. and jay.
though John Jay vas u conspicuous New Yorker
ana JacEsons memory has always been held in
high esteem in New York. One New YORK coun-
~ y ana M one only, hGs a PATRIOTS designation
hudson Is the chief town and of which Martin
Nan Buren, and Samuel J. Tilden were natives.
son Was New Yorios discoyScrer. New jersey agHi Is
more appreciative of Hndsons fame. II has a
Hudson c~onnty-Jerscy City. chief town.
Indian ntmes of he interior and western and
southern tier counties OF New York are cuphon-
ious and appropriate: Oneida, Ononhaga. Mag
Ontario, Allcgany, Erie, Cayugn, Ti0ga, Catta-
raugus, and Otscgo. These Indian names have
Z b,uisllhclINc marx OF New York, mt tho
usage has not extended so far as TO include tho
chief towns of these counties. utlca. syria.
cnsc, Rome, Carthage, Medina, and Marathon
are classical names; Lyons and Dunkirk are
French, Auburn and jamestown ara English,
Clyde, is Scotch. and Buffalo, Painted Post.
liOrschcads. Horncllsvillc, suspension Bridge.
Penn Yam. aud Clean arc unconventional in mo
extreme.
Tho general rulo in names in New York state
~ subject. OF course. TO some exceptions, arising
from The subdivision OF counties. Schenectady
aud SchOhRIie preserve old Dutch names. Or
leans has "A French name. Dcluwar is English
ana Sullivall-isnt Greene county bears tho
name OF II patriotic General, hut It's two chief
Towns are DulCh and classical rcspec.lvcly-
tntskll and Athens. Important ms Is the Ad-
irondack region to Ncw York. there is no Ad-
iIGhdtti cnunlE aud IL solneH hat unusual
lhingl there is but ono of the sixty counties
having the name ot 4 saint-.Sl. Lawrence coun-
I ~, y designation of Frcnch.Canadian origin, no
doubl. The absence Of Dutch county names il
not Casi!S explained in New YORK. where tho
Dulch topk 50 active y part in the aGminIStru-
l,,9n OF public affairs. b~uttherc is an. Amsterdam
iHipHigonlcry county,. and there will always ho
1T is feryuntly hoped by many - Coney Island,
even II New Utrecht ms been absorbed and
Gushing thrcai ened. The Dutch gave New
YORK something hctto- than names.