Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-16

Law sueesstsd to Prevent the Giving
or Changing Of Names--h'stor'ea'
Societies Must Approve - Or.
Donshoo and Col. Shoe.
maker on the Job
By GEORGE NOx MCCAIN

l. ~ Is chairman OF The Committee OF his.
torical Activity of the Pennsylvania Fedora.
tion Of Historical Societies. ..
As such he has a mission.
1t Is, so far as humanity possible, to pre-.
vent the extinction Of Indian names in this
| State.
Colonel Shoemaker distinguishes one
bright spot in the march OF iconoclastic
progress across, and up and down, the
Commonwealth
It is that Pennsylvania has discarded
fewer Of her Indian names than most other
States.
Yet every month or SO this shifting Is
Newcomers, ignorant of our State his.
tory, aliens as It were, urged by. personal
vanity or other cause. are constantly chang
ing not only the names of famous localities
but even the names Of hanlets, streams,
mountains and historical sites.
nR. GEORGE p. DONEHOO, State Ii.
- brarian, one Of the highest authorities
In this State on Indian nomenclature, has
also taken an active interest in this sub.
ject with Colonel Shoemaker.
In collaboration with DR.. Donehoo,
Colonel Shoemaker has prepared a glossary
of 1872 historic names changed, modernized
Or misspelled.
'"rhe Mosaic law" says DR.. Donehoo.
said, Cursed be he that removeth his
neighbors landmark; and all the people
"The Jewish commonwealth did not have
a historical society during its early develop
ment, or Moses might have added to these
wise regulations. Cursed be he that chang.
eth one of the historic names of towns and
villages; and all the people shall say,
Amen
| 0NTANY of the most beautiful. sounding
AVA names, and names Of historic value,
have disappeared entirely from the map OF
the State DR.. Donehoo points out.
"A place is not only a landmark. but It
is a historic landmark. often of more real
value than the landmark Of an individual
occupant of the soil.
Sometimes the whole history Of n region
can be dug up by the careful student of the
names which are given to tie towns, viii
lagos and the streets and mountains in that
region.
Very few of the earlier place names In
Pennsylvania were given in a haphazard
way.
'They all meant something, and in most
cases something of real historic value"
The, Statd Librarian instanced certain
examples.
Names that were stolen and given to
other sites or places.
"CHAMOKIN is an illustration. of this"
~ he said
THE name is one Of the very oldest on
the Susquehanna River, and It was used
during the entire period of settlement, as
well as during the period Of Indian occu-
pancy. when the Vice Regent of the Iroquois
Confederacy made it the Indian capital Of
Pennsylvania.
"All of the earlier travellers and all Of
the othcial documents relating to Indian
affairs use this name for the present Sun
bury,
1.-THE name Shamokin has been given to a
town which Is in no way connected with
the historic town from which the name was
taken.
I'm order to avoid confusion" as the
historian points out, "a historical writer
now has to always refer to the old, historic
Sunbury.'"
The greatest crime in this respect was
committed by some classical schooltcacher
to Athens.
Or. Donchoo refers to it as the massacre
OF indian place names by the classic school.
teachers from New England
, 1t was one of the sad results of the
Connecticut settlement of Pennsylvania and
Western New York. N"
Indian names were slaughtered without
pity.
" A NAME means something" asserted
"A DR.. Donehoo
1T stands for the person or place
10 the 1sraelites the name of the Deity
was so sacred and awful that It was NOT
pronounced at all.
I'VE Americans are losing our spirit Of
reverence for al most everything.
feeling of loss. '"'
Sometimes these changes are due TO tbe
errors OF clerks or map MAKERS
DR.. Donehoo then pointed out few
instances where such errors had crept in:
Carter camp, In Potter County, has
been substituted for Cartee Camp-the name
OF historic family of which General Cartee
was member. "'''o
"one can easily see how this change was
Another illustration is found in tho name
queen Kun, which should be Quinn's Run
named FOR famous early settler on the
west branch Of the Susquehanna."
DECENT maps of Pennsylvania are liter.
~ ally filled with such clerical errors, DR..
Donehoo says.
Finally. they have the authority of the
government to back them up in the geologi.
cal survey maps, and naming of postoffires
where these mistakes are perpetuated
One of the worst cases referred N bv rr
Donehoo is that of the large town Of Cora.
opolis below Pittsburgh.
From frontier days 1t bore the historic
name of Vance Fort.
The name went back TO thc romort,o
period when the earlier settlers on the
south bank Of the Ohio had to fly TO Vancs's
Fort for protection from the Indians.
Some fellow who had town lots to sell
gave to the place the name of his doupbter
and added the 'opols" to make it look
imposing. A
The change of the historic name Of ycnon.
| so to Franklin is another instance
Here is the way DR.. Donehoo handles
| another case:
| IS A MOTHER change which Colonel Sboo.
"A maker tells Inc of is the suggested
change of Shousctown to Glcnwllard The
| Shouse family was one of the early nioncor
families on the upper Ohio in the days when
! the male members of the family GefendoH
| the frontiers of civilization.
There are 'Glens' Of every possible stvlo
and degree of fashion in the State but
there is only one Shousetown or Shouse
| Ferry.
| Somehow. whenever a certain TYNE 10
people move into a locality It seems abont
the first thing which these modern pioneers
| Al. R,I>a