The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-07-18
BIG BOOK is OUT.
New Topeka City Directory Pub
lished Today.
Population Is Over Forty Eight
Thousand Six Hundred.
SHOWS BIG INCREASE.
Over Four Thousand Six Hum
dred Since Last Issue.
Smiths as Usual Lead All the
Rest.


the Topeka City Directory came from
the bindery this afternoon and the de-
livery will begin tomorrow morning. 1t
is a strictly modern directory, presented
in concise and convenient styIe and
embraces all the features of the largest
directories. The new book was complied
by force of experienced directory men
and is complete in all its departments.
The distribution of the books will
mark the Inauguration of the first
metropolitan city directory of Topeka
The publication, which will be annual
henceforth, was issued by the Polk
Raoges directory company, local in
stitution with all the advantages and
facilities of a national organization 1t
is composed of Sam Radges, the veteran
directory publisher; r. L. Polk & Co.
the largest directory house in America,
and Crane & Co., the we'll known book
printers and binders.
The compilation was in charge of
David r. Summers young man of
wide experience in this field During
several years of continuous service. Mr..
Summers has compiled city directories,
gazeteers, aliases, etc, in st. Paul and
Minneapolis Mimi, Richmond, Norfolk
and Newport News, Va, Lincoln, Neb,
Kansas City, st. Joseph, Joplin, Car
thage. springfield and sedalia, Mo,
Leavenworth, Kan, and many others.
The men engaged in making the Topeka
census this year were all experienced
directory men.
Total Population Is 1852.
The population of Topeka, according
to an estimate based upon the number
of names in the directory is 4S672 or
1872 more than Summers estimate when
a part of the matter was in type This
is a gain of 4,674 since the last issue of
the book. The book has fifty-six more
pages OF alphabetically arranged names
than the last edition and has a new type
dress throughout While some of the
quaint and original fea tures of former
books have been eliminated, all of the
regular directory features have been re-
tanned and it is the most complete book
ever issued in ToDeka. An additional
feature is conveniently arranged di-
rectory of the residents of the county
outside the city.
Smiths Lead, as Usual.
Smith, of course. is the largest name
in the book. There are LOIS souls in
Topeka rejoicing in the honest old name.
thirteen unIucky men bear the given
name, of John. The Smith list is exclus-
i've of the sSchmfdts. the Schmits and
Smyths OF whom there are large. num-
Der. There are 284 Browns in the book,
not counting the RrauI1s and Browns.
The Johnsons are a close third, with 243
names, but there are only 10 John john
sons. The JOneses, strange to say, are
not a large family. There are only 1877 in
in the book and still more remarkable to
relate, only five of them bear the honest
given name of John.
The letter So is the most frequent
ly found as final initial, appearing in
asses instances. Second is M, found in
2,5S3 times and B is third with 2,457
to it's credit. X is not found in the
book. The Mes outnumber the O's
tenfoId is not a frequent letter, but
two young ladies here rejoice in the
names of leila zook and Zella zellers.
Location has a great deal to do with
the nature of a directory said the
compiler. I'm ST. Paul and Mime
apolis, for instance. the usually short
letters of o and P are very lengthy on
account of the Olsons and Petersons in
the large Scandinavian population
there"
Local color is much in evidence as
is indicated by the names mes, within within
Redd, etc. OF freak names there are
many, A few that caught an examin-
er's eye are Hugg, Liptrap, Goforth,
Buteefish, Hogshead. Drinkwater,
Birdwhistle and Umpleby. A peculiar
feature regarding cognomens of To-
pekans is that none of them are either
very long or very short. The longest
name, Strickenfinger. contains only
fourteen letters, while three letters
comprises the shortest. The first
name in the book is Abbott, which is
as the Aages or Aarons head
the list in most cities. Edward S.
Zwick, a telegraph operator, signs IN
NJ to the big list of names.
Variations in spelling constitute
another fruitful source of comment.
There are Cohens. Coins and Kohns,
all doubtless derived from the same
original patronymic. Then there are
Gains, Kains and Kanes. and Kelleys
and Kellys. There are Kenneys. Ken
nys and kidneys. and Millers, Muellers
and Miehlers. OF similar variation are
the Paynes, Pains and Payns. There
are Reads, Reeds and Rieds. and
Sniders and Snyders. The
Rice family also spells the name Refs
and Reiss When the good old name
of Smith is reached. still more startling
are found. The word is
rendered variously Smith, Schmidt,
Smyth Smythe, Schmid, Schmith,
Schmit and Sn1itt.