The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-07-19
THE ROLL CONSTITUTES A NATIONAL
SAINTS CALENDAR.


minister Abbey Where Our Illus
trious Dead Have Their Monuments.
There are 9,743 counties in tho United
States and the titles by which these nu-
merous divisions are known present ma
terial enough to form the basis of a pro-
found study in the derivation of gcograph-
ical names
Had there been given in the beginning
70 the American people tho task of agree
lng upon nearly 5000 such names inven-
ton and choice would doubtless have been
paralyzed by its magnitude. Tho way
this problem has solved itself during the
past century certainly throws somo side
lights on national characteristics, and If
the list of names evolved is on tho whole
not a very melodious ono or rs good one
rs might have been expected considering
the material there was to choose from it Is
yet better than the beginnings mado so or
30 years ago would lead ono to expect
For at that time, when tho first great
waves of population rolled westward and
a largo part of the counties in the midwest
we're laid off and named there seemed to
I be regular poverty of thought on tho
part OF those who bestowed geographical
designations Iedediah Morse, n quaint
old geographer of about the year 1910,
thus complains of this when speaking of
the state of Ohio in particular: "Whilc we
are ON the subject of towns we cannot for
bear alluding to practice of very perplcx-
ing effects which prevails more or less in all
our new states but particularly in Ohio,
| .,ll 10 hA nf nn M "A frsn npt
many towns in the same state after some
distinguished character or after older set
Elements In the single state of Ohio
there are towns by the name of Salem,
0 by the name of Greene 8 Joffcrsons, 0
Madisons, 10 Wayncs and 13 Unions be-
sides Il multitude of less frequent ropcti-
tions Indeed we confidently assert that
the names of majority of the towns in
Ohio are repeated from two to dozen
times
The Same was true of the several newly
formed western states in naming their
counties. One after another slavishly re-
peated the county names of its nearest
| neighbor, and the result is that the county
rolls of such nearly related states rs Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois are singularly alike.
| There are the same Washingtons, Jeffer-
sons, Franklins Marions and so on down
tho list, and the rest of the newer states
have followed their lead until nearly all
the great men of American history have
each given Dames TO from dozen or so to
rs many as 30 counties,
During colonial times greater part of
the county names adopted were those of
British shircs and localities and of mem.
bers of the English royal family. Thus
all of the original 10 states have their
Cumbcrlands, Montgomcrys, Somcrsets
and the like and the whole nomenclature
of Massachusetts,, Connecticut and some
other states is composed of English geo.
graphical names Virginia and Maryland
in the south adopted more extensively than
the northern colonies the custom of NAM
ing counties after princes and rulers for
whom the Puritans over had but little
love Thus Virginia has not only King
and Queen county, but King George, King
William, Prince Edward, Prince George,
Prince William and Princess Anne be-
sides. In Maryland counties there are
found thus remembered Prince George
and Queen Anne.
The Declaration of Independence, how
ever, at once put stop to tho adoption Of
English names for new counties. The
names of American patriots blossomct
forth everywhere as the favorites to whom
this distinction was given. Even tho
beautiful native Indian names, which as
early as this period had often been bostOw'.
ed were now less frequently given. 1t is
only few of the original l3 states and Of
their earliest successors that made much
use of this source of supply. The more
recent western states, although having
abundance of such material, have drawn
from it very little Less than 400 of the
counties bear names of this kind but they
are among the most beautiful in the list,
and it is much to be regretted that they
were not more extensively used. Certain
ly the Cayuga Chautauqua, Chenango,
Onondaga, Oswego and Saratoga of New
York, the Lackawanna, Susquehanna,
Tioga and Wyoming of Pennsylvania OF
the Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Scioto and Tus.
carawas of Ohio are more euphonious and
pleasing to the car, as well as more dis
tinctive and thus more servceable, than
the monotonous repetition Of Washingtons,
.Ieffersons and Lafayettes
Speaking of these Indian names, it is
noticeable that they are generally rough
and cultural in the northern parts of tho
country and more liquid in the south.
Thus contrast such county names from
Maine as Androscoggin and Sagadahoc
with the Alachua and Suwanee of Florida
or Michliwackinac and Gogcbic from
Michigan and Snohomish and Klickitat
from Washington with the soft and sbilant
Tuscaloosa and Tallapoosa of Alabama.
| In the central states the names are rpnpr-
ally of type equally removed from these
extremes Of ruggedness and softness.
But the red mans names form but an
inconspicuous part in the roll of counties,
more than half Of which commemorate
Americans of national, state or even local
reputation In fact this roll constitutes
n sort of national saints calendar, the
Walhalla of departed American heroes, the
Westminster abbey where the nations IL
lustrious dead have their monuments
Lord Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar is
reported to have said something to the ef-
feet that "herc goes for a peerage or a
tomb in Westminster abbey" Unfortu.
nately fate awarded the battle to the great
admiral in his hour of triumph, or rather
a tomb in St Paul's which was still less
But Perry, at the battle of Lake Erie,
might still better have said Here goes at
any event for a name spread over ten great
American counties" " for that is what his
countrymen have awarded him, a monu-
ment certainly more lasting and imposing
than little bit of hideous marble, with q
full quota of cpitaphic mendacities In
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