The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-08

rant, that it will not be considered in
| this article.
The enquiry is often made, (Which is
the correct spelling?"
! The replies vary, as intimated above,
according to the taste of the particular
writer, but if information is sought
as to the legal name of the town, as now
established by statute, there can be but
one reply-it is New Bern. This will be
| seen in the Act of Assembly, quoted be-
low. which is given entire, and this
spelling would seem to conform to that
originally used:
| PRIVATE LAWS OF 1897.
CHAPTER 122.
AN ACT To AMEND THE CHARTER
OF THE CITY OF NEW BERN.
/ The General Assembly of North Carolina
| do enact:
That the corporation heretofore exist
| ing as the city of Newbern shall here
after be known and designated as the
| city of New Bern, and all laws in con-
| fict with the above are hereby repealed.
| Ratified the 9Th day of March, A. d.
1897.
In this connection / have been asked
! to give some account of the origin and
| history of the name of the town. which,
| it is thought, may be Of interest and tend
somewhat to settle the controversy as to
| it's spelling.
New Bern was founded in 1910 by
Christopher, Baron De Graffenried, who,
with Louis Michel, bought out colony
| of Bernese Swiss, and Germans of the
Palatinate, and was named by him New
Bern in honor of his native Canton and
City, Bern In Switzerland. Bern was
| then, and still is, the German Swiss spell.
ing of the word, and it would seem ma
tural to follow that spelling in the name
of our city. In the 1st volume of our
Colonial Records De Graffenried's &C.
count of the settlement of New Bern,
written about 1713. is printed in full. A
foot note OF the translator on page 923
says Ode GTaffenried's orthography for
Newbern (sic), most of the time, is the
German form New Bern" Naturally he
| would follow the form tc which he was
accustomed. He knew no other.
There was, and is, no final Sc" in the
name, which, in the German text, is
Bern. Rerne is the name Anglicized and
as such is the only authority for that
| spelling though the form is preferred and
used by many. The German form would
appear to he more proper, rs denoting
the origin Of the word and its history.
Bern is the word in the old Snabian dia-
| lect of German, for bear. The city Of
that name was founded in 1871 ~ Duke
Berchtold of Zaringhen and the name
was given by him, it is said, to commem-
Al,
srot where the cathedral of Bern now
stands. The bear is the principal charge
in the Bernese Coat of Arms, and in the
city of Bern are several bear pits in
which bears are kept on exhibition, and
provided for, at the public expense. 4
handsome flag was presented a few years
ago to New Bern by its mother city.
Upon it is a climbing bear and the colors
of the flag, black and red, have been
adopted as the colors also of New Bern.
In 1928 the town of Newbern was in
corporated by the General Assembly,
and the spelling last~quoted was appar :
emily then adopted as the legal name. 1t
occurs twice in the Act of ncorpora ton.
and, as if to accentuate the orthosrapny,
it appears in italics. The Act is given
herewith in FULL from the collection OF
Private Acts of North Carolina publish
ed by F. X. Martin at Newbern in 1894.
| TX. GEORGE l. The 23rd of November,
1923, o. S.
Chap. XIII. An act for the better set
Ting the town of Newbern, in the
precinct of Craven
/. Whereas, A certain plot of ground,
being part of a tract of land, lying in
the fork of Neuse river, late belonging
to the Honorable Colonel Thomas Pol
| lock, deceased, but now the property of
Mr.. Cullen Pollock, was formerly laid
out into a township by the name Of New
| bern. with proper allotments for a
church court house and market place; as
, by plot or draught, upon record in
the Clerks office of Craven Precinct
Court, will more plainly appear: There
| fore, for the advancement of the said
| town,
! II. Be it enacted by His Exceloncy
the Palatine, and the rest of the true and
absolute Lords Proprietors of the Pro-
vince of Carolina by and with the ad-
| vice and consent of the rest of the mem
bers of the General Assembly. now met
at Edenton, for the North East part of
| Sdlu 1TONlucSs ana II Is hereby pJGcltC,
| by the authority of the same, that the
| said land, as it is already laid out by
| the said draught. together with as much
of the land lying contiguous and most con-
venient to the said town, to compleat a
| township, as shall make the whole two
hundred and fifty acres, reserving to the
owners thereof the property OF such lots
| as are sold already by William Han
cock, attorney of the said Col. Thomas
Pollock, is hereby and henceforward in
vested in Mr.. Cullen Pollock Mr.. Viii
| liam Hancock, Jun. and Richard Graves
or any of them, for the use aforesaid
declared confirmed and Incorporated
| into q township, by the name of New
bern; with all privileges which ever
have belonged to the said town, or shall
| hereafter be expressed forever"
| 1t will not avail to say that there may
have been misprint, for the same
spelling of the name is used in g. dozer
| other places in the same volume. ant