The sun., 1918-09-13
GERMAN PLACE NAMES IN
NEW YORK STATE.
what Shall BE Done with Themi The
Communities Themselves Must De-
eide, Says the Secretary OF the
New York State Geographic Board.

m
Communities themselves must Do-
eide. SAYS the Secretary OF the
w. yorI state Geographic Board.
rur s,s-sir.
10 THE Hp'iVn -. .xnr.ss-
Many c'uhens ol -,o" ,n.,. oony,ct,on
ing tnrousn 'he ,,,.,, ~ a..
tnat the state ous"l W ~. ssn,,r,ent
German piaoe nao'' ,,,,,,o ,not a
mas peen 80 oi'e" .,onos,-
rev comments on '"o
ton may 20 .'hhes' v,r,
FOR S.a'e as 'aiso ',, %
anu WIN In p ,,,r,.,ro that
thousahas II 10 r".n. ,.r,
those OF oerHa' 49, oxcs.d
propaoiy !" .o.a' my .,.,ory
forty. Inc o'a'o ms % s sin.r.nt
that tnese names na -. g.. o,,,,,-
historical Vaiues, anu any =,
mate them might "eh ."n' -
the fact tnat WIN so",o
pioneer history 10 reeoruu ~.
mans who settled IN inc 'anes
Hudson with the heip OF 1ueen ~
and spread to the west up INC N
and TO the east INTO 'no mn. VI
laer and Columbia counties hao no'n"e
except the same Teutonc sua," "n."
was soon to enter the oiooo vi .no
kings or England. Inc iorn VI .ns
ancient names 10 unquestionaoiy iresny
offensive to us. but it they arc y" 70
routed out with them must 20 h's'''''"'
associations two centuries oio'
There are other German names whcn
date back a half or three-quarters OF
century, and there Is a series Oh haiheo
which may be called new IN the sense
that they are SO recent as 10 Do Gu
titled to no claim from history OF asso-
citation.
In dealing with this kind or nomeh-
clature one must first be sure that inc
German name In question IS not OF
Dutch origin. This being determined
other inquiries lend themselves. There
Is a town OF German In Chenango county
which Is a century old and was named
after General obadiah German. whose
name was originally spelled Germand
thus there Is no German about It
There Is a town IN Osweso county
spelled Schroeppel which has been on
the map for almost hundred years.
but its origin Is hidden In It's common
pronunciation or 'Scruple. NaSsau'
with us. Is Of Dutch and English as
sociations. notwithstanding It's present
place on the map or Europe.
These German place names as
whole may be conveniently divided,
first. into the Land ONCE names, OF
which may cite Dresden, Hamburg
Potsdam, Vienna and Hanover Ihese
are names OF Just sueh historicai stahu-
Ing In the nomenclature OF places III
western and northern New hork rs
Utica, syracuse, Geneva ana 'tnaca
When these lands were patented anu
first surveyed township and settlement
names were applied by the agents IN
the most haphazard way, with the heip
Of an atlas and classical dictionary :
therefore In this respect Potsdam Is In
the same category IN our nomenclature
as Syracuse and Is absolutely without
historical German ASSOCIATION.
A second division would be the old
German names LETT oy the HUDSON ana
Mohawk valley settlers; among which
are New Paltz, Germantown New HAM
burg, Palatine. Herkimer. DANUBE bien-
helm. Mannheim. Minden. oppenheim'
Austerlitz and the various Berilns' nVe
In number.
Later German settlement Is repre-
| scented by a few names which have
come into use within the last one nun
dred years, although they are all at
least half century old: Norman
Mentz. New Bremen, Nsumpurg or
Prussian settlement and Getzville flnai-
ly there are the more recent German
names. such as kreischerville Bohemia,
Bergholtz. Leibhardt. Hoffmeister. Wur-
| temburg and Fleischmanns Dolgeviiie
belongs in this list. but this Is a name
which has lost It's German sound. al
though the place was established and
| remained for number OF years as an
exclusively German settlement. Apart
from all these. perhaps. rises the name
of General Won Steuben. whose services
to the American patriots In the Revo-
counties.