The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-06
PLENTY or GEORGE wAsnlNcroMs.

Their Names Are In the Directories OF
All of Our Large Cities.
A man who recently met In Washing
ton a George Washington seemed to
think that he must nave been related
to the great general
You will find hat II Is a common
homo TO have that name down here
the other said, land a number of them
you will find are colored. You see. In
slavery days. they usually were desig-
mated by the name of the family or
plantation to which they belonged. and
thus many colored George washingtons
are also found scattered throughout the
country"
Becoming interested. the young man
looked up some OF the washingtons of
n large cities. The capital seemed to
be the home OF George W~ashingtons.
as there are no less than IL living there
to-day. Curiously. not one OF these Is
recorded as being colored. although this
cannot be altogether correct. especially
as the lumber includes 81 laborers.
Four are drivers. there is a painter. a
barber. a tanitor, five walters. a coach
man. a bricklayer, a porter. a con-
fectioner and one clerk-not even a
professional man, much less a 'presi-
dent"
Baltimore came next in the list of
cities. there being 30 named after the
father OF his country; then ne found 20
in New Orleans, Is in ST. Louis. Is in
Richmond. Is in Philadelphia, Is in Sa-
vannah, 13 in Charleston. s. c.. 10 in
Louisville. 10 in Kansas City, nine in
Chicago n In Pittsburg. But. TRANCE
to say, New York city records only
four. and within an hours investiga-
tion fully 800 George Washingtons were
recorded in some 80 odd cities. This
number would probably be doubled IL
all the cities OF the country had been
included: and with the addition of
those living outside of the city limits.
IL is safe to say that there are nearly a
thousand George Washlngtons in the
United States to-day.
The occupations Of those recorded
show that with few exceptions they
are among the manual workers. There
were drivers. Janitors. BARRIERS. conduc-
tors. cooks. lumbermen. carpenters,
blacksmiths. icemen, shoemakers. por-
tiers, la~undrymen. restaurateurs. river
men. coachmen, b~rickmakers. a clothes
cleaner. a leather decorator. a mill
wright. a ~lampmaker. a clockmaker, a
bookkeeper and one real estate dealer
among them. Scarcely any OF those re-
corded had a middle initial.
One Of New York's colored George
washingtons keeps a barber shop. He
Is getting old. has lost his sight. but
he entertains his customers while his
men do the work. When asked about
his name. he said: '"1 know a good
many George washingtons and some
of them tell queer stories about trac-
ing their family name, but ] tell the
straight story about mine. My great
grandfather was in w~ashington's
army. He adopted the name. and there
have been three George washingtons in
our family since. Yes. there are a good
many more men of that name than are
recorded in the cities. Why. I know of
half a dozen right o here; one of
them died recently"
II occurred TO the investigator that
there were probably a like number OF
Abraham Lincolns springing up
throughout the country. n especially
among the colored people. but this was
not the case. there being none in most
OF the cities. and not more than two or
three in any one.