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Origin of the Names Given to the Counties in Pennsylvania 235

ORIGIN OF THE NAMES GIVEN TO THE COUNTIES INPENNSYLVANIA

James McKirdy(Continued from July issue)

SCHUYLKILLThe northern part of Berks County with adjacent

parts of Northampton, lying near the Schuylkill had be-come so well settled by 1811 that a separate county gov-ernment was desired. By Act of March 1, 1811, parts ofBerks and Northampton were erected into a county whichwas named for the river. It was a portion of the landpurchased from the Indians for $500 by the treaty of 1749.

The Dutch were the early explorers of the DelawareRiver. In the course of this exploration they are said tohave passed the mouth of the Schuylkill without perceiv-ing its existence. From this circumstance they namedthe stream Schuyl-kil or "hidden channel". (1)

LEHIGHThe following year, another part of Northampton

County, lyingin the valley of the Lehigh River was erect-ed into a separate county, by Act of March 6, 1812, towhich the name of the river was given. (1)

The name Lehigh is said to be a corruption of theIndian name of the river Le-chau-wiech-ink dr Le-chau-wek-ink or Le-chau-weck-i, a compound of Lechauwiechen"the forks of the road" and -ink, a local suffix, thus sig-nifying "at the forks" or "at the place of the forks". Thiswas shortened by the settlers (mainly German) to Lecha,which, some writers say, was in current use in the earlypart of the nineteenth century. (2)

LEBANONLebanon County was formed by Act of February 16,

1813, from parts of Dauphin and Lancaster.It was named for the Borough of Lebanon, which was

laid out about 1750 by one George Steitz, by whose namethe village was known for many years, especially amongthe German settlers. In the records of the Province thetown is designated as early as 1759 as "Lebanon Town,in Lancaster County and Lebanon Township." (1) Thename was given to it by the pious German settlers, fromMount Lebanon in Palestine, the loftiest and most cele-brated mountain range in Syria, forming the northernboundary of Palestine.

Origin of the Names Given to the Counties in Pennsylvania236

The origin of the name is not entirely clear, and hasbeen variously accounted for. Itis assumed by the bestauthorities that it came from the Hebrew word "laban"which means "to be white". Lebanon is thus emphatically"The White Mountain". Some suppose the name to haveoriginated from the snow by which the ridge is coveredduring a great part of the year. Others derive it from thewhitish color of the limestone rock of which the main body

of the range is said to be composed. The former, how-ever, seems to be the more probable. One authority says :"Itis a singular fact that almost uniformly the names ofthe highest mountains in each country have a like mean-ing. Thus Mont Blanc, Himalaya (in Sanskrit signifies"snowy"), Ben nevis, Snowden, perhaps also the Alps(from alb "white" from Latin albus, and not as commonlyassumed, from alp, "high".) (2)

COLUMBIAThis county was erected from part of Northumber-

land by Act of March 22, 1813.It takes its name, of course, from the name used in

personifying the United States. This name in turn wasformed from the Latinized form of the surname of Chris-topher Columbus. He was an Italian by birth, and hisname originally was Cristoforo Colombo, which the Span-iards changed to Colon, and which was later Latinized toconform to Latin grammatical rules. The name is said tocome from that of St. Columba, the Irish missionary,through Irish monks who were active in Northern Italy.The name, Columba, is the Latin name for a "dove". (1)

UNIONOn the same day, March 22, 1813, another portion of

Northumberland County was set apart as Union County.It takes its name, of course, from the Federal Union. Theword union comes from the Latin "unus" meaning "one".(1)

PIKEOn March 26, 1814, the southern half of Wayne Coun-

ty, lying along the Delaware was erected into a separatecounty which was called Pike County, in honor of the ex-plorer whose name goes down through time as the nameof a mountain in Colorado, Pike's Peak. (1)

Zebulon Montgomery Pike was born in New Jersey in1779. He joined the army at the early age of 15 as an


ensign in his father's regiment ;and became lieutenant in1800. In July 1806 he started on an expedition to explorethe territory acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. He as-cended the Missouri and the Osage Rivers, into the pres-ent State of Kansas, and then proceeded south to the Ark-ansas. He ascended thus to near the present site of PuebloCol., viewed what is now known as Pike's Peak, and wentto the site of the present Leadville. While searching forthe Red River, he reached the Rio Grande on Spanish ter-ritory, and was apprehended but after some delay was es-corted to the boundary and released. He took a promin-ent part in the war of 1812 and served as adjutant andinspector-general in the principal army. In the expeditionagainst York (now Toronto), Canada, in 1813, he landedand stormed one of the redoubts. The retreating garrisonblew up the magazine, and a descending fragment of rockcrushed him so badly that he died ina few hours.

The name Pikef may have come from a number ofsources. Some Pikes may have been named for the wood-pecker (inFrench pic) on the analogy of Goldfinch, Night-ingale, Crow, Raven, etc. ;or the name may be from thename of a fish or from the name of the old pike formerlycarried by infantry before the days of gunpowder. Butit is probable that the name comes from "peak", i. e. peak-ed hill,"at the peak", taking into consideration that Peakis a very common place name in England, especially inhilly parts, itmay be said that the ancestors of most peo-ple bearing this name were named from that place name.If that be true Pike's Peak is quite an anomaly in nomen-clature, Peak's Peak. (2)

Pike or peak, is a very old word, meaning a sharppoint.

PERRYThe next county to be formed was Perry County. The

people of Cumberland County just north of the mountainfrom Carlisle found it inconvenient to cross the mountainor go around by way of Harrisburg to transact business atthe county seat. On March 22, 1820 this portion of Cum-berland County was cut off as a separate county and giventhe name of Perry, in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry, whosebrilliant naval victory on Lake Erie was so heartening to


us during the War of 1812. (1)While Perry's victory was a National rather than a

State affair, yet ithas always been regarded as a part ofPennsylvania's achievements in that war.

Perry was born in Rhode Island in 1785, and died onhis birthday August 23, 1819. He entered the navy as amidshipman. In 1813 he was called to command the pro-jected fleet on Lake Erie to confront the British fleetthere. Perry's fleet was largely built and fitted out inErie, but several vessels were fitted out in what is nowErie County, New York. At this time the northern front-ier of Pennsylvania was littlemore than a wilderness, andall the supplies and artisans necessary in the constructionof the fleet were brought overland from the seaboard,while the timber for the larger vessels was cut "fresh fromthe forests adjacent to the little town of Erie."

Perry succeeding in getting his vessels ready to leavethe harbor early in August, though he still needed seamen,Leaving Erie, the fleet went towards the head of the lake,where various maneuvers took place for some days. Hewent to Put-in-Bay on September 6, and on the 9th deter-mined to attack the enemy.

In accordance with his plans the fleet started out tomeet the British on the morning of September 10th, 1813.At the main yard of his ship was the square battle flag, ablue flag bearing in white letters "Don't give up the ship",the famous phrase which the dying Lawrence is said tohave uttered. The victory was decisive. When the battlewas over, and Perry saw that he had won, he wrote inpencil on the back of an old letter, resting the paper on hiscap, the following dispatch to Gen. Harrison: "We havemet the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs,one schooner and one sloop."

At the time of his victory he was only master com-mander, but was immediately promoted, and received thethanks of Congress and a medal. He afterwards com-manded a ship inDecatur's squadron in the Mediterranean,and, in 1819, was sent against the pirates in the WestIndies. He died on the Island of Trinidad.

The name Perry, is said by some to come from thename of the beverage, perry, fermented pear juice, (Latin


pirum, a pear). This gave rise to the famous cartoon pub-lished after the victory showing the Queen of Englandholding out to the disgusted king a frothing bottle ofperry. But itis more probable that the name comes fromthe name of a pear-tree, or the name of a place. A Walteratte pyrie lived in Oxfordshire in 1273 ; and the namePeary or Perry is such a common English name that itmust surely come from a place name. (2) Some writersclaim Pierre the French name for our Peter, as the originof Perry, which they say was popularized in England asPerry. If so, the name goes back to petra, a rick or stonein Latin and Greek. (3) Everyone will recall the famouspun in the New Testament "Thou are Peter (Petrus) andon this rock (petra) Iwillbuild my church, etc, etc.,"

JUNIATAThe county adjoining Perry to the northward was the

next county to be formed. By Act of March 2, 1831, aportion of MifflinCounty was separated to form a newcounty which took its name from the Juniata River. (1)

Some conflicting explanations are offered as to themeaning of this word. Some, whose knowledge of Indiantongues is obviously limited, state that itmeans "beyondthe great bend" a solution that willnot bear close analysis.Beyond the great bend from what? The Indians didn'tname places after that fashion.

The Handbook on American Indians, published as abulletin by the United States Government, comes closerto the real meaning of the word. It says that the namecomes from Tyu nan-yate or "projecting rock" in theSeneca and other Iroquoian tongues, a name said to referto the famous "Standing Stone" discussed above underHuntingdon County. (2)

But Jordan in his History of the Juniata Valley hasthe best reasoned explanation hitherto presented. He says"Contemporary with the Susquehannas and dwelling Westof them was a tribe of Indians known in early historiesby various names. Prior to the 18th century WesternPennsylvania was a region unknown to the white man. Notrader nor adventurer had yet extended his journeys thatfar from the coast, and all that can be learned of this earlytribe is based on tradition. On Smith's map of 1608 they


are referred to as "Attaocks". Eight years later Hend-ricksen made a map on which this tribe appears as the"Iottecas". The Plantagenet Pamphlet of 1648 calls themthe "ihon a Does" ;and on Visscher's map of 1655 they aregiven the name of "Onajutta-Haga". All these terms werefinally crystallized into "Juniata" by which name the riverrunning through the country they once inhabited is stillknown. The Juniatas were of Iroquois stock, and the tribalname is derived from that language. Professor A. L.Guss, who devoted considerable time to the study of Ind-ian legends and traditions, says "The name Juniata, likeOneida is derived from Onenhia (onenya or onia) a stone,and kaniote, to be upright or elevated, being a contractionand corruption of the compound." Due to the fact thatthe names Juniata and Oneida were derived from the samesource, some writers have suggested that the latter tribeonce inhabited the Juniata Valley; or at least the tribelivingalong the Juniata River in early days, was a part ofthe Oneidas. There is no evidence to show that the Oneidasever were a resident tribe in the Juniata Valley;and it isprobably only a coincidence that the two cognate tribesadopted names similar in sound and meaning." (3)

MONROE

The inhabitants were increasing in number along theDelaware and in 1836 by Act passed April 1st parts ofNorthampton and Pike were separated to form a newcounty to which the name of Monroe was given inhonor ofJames Monroe, President of the United States.

James Monroe was born in 1759 and died July 4, 1831.(1) He was a cadet in Gen. Mercer's regiment, participat-ed in several engagements and was made a captain for hisbravery.

He studied law under Jefferson; was U. S. Senatorfrom Virginia; Minister to France in 1794-1796, but re-called because of his objections to Jay's Treaty ;Governorof Virginia 1799-1802; again Minister to France; in 1803Minister to England; Secretary of State under Madison,and in 1814 and 1815 performed duties of Secretary ofWar. He was elected President in 1816. After his firstterm, so faithfully had he adhered to the promises of his

Origin of the Names Given to the Counties inPennsylvania241

inaugural address that he was not only nominated but re-ejected by an almost unanimous vote in the electoral col-lege, only one vote being cast against him for sentimentalreasons.

In his message to Congress on December 2, 1823, heused this language "We owe it, therefore, to candor, andto the amicable relations existing between the UnitedStates and those (European) powers, to declare that weshould consider any attempt on their part to extend theirsystem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous toour peace and safety." This has since become known asthe "Monroe Doctrine". (2)

The name Monroe, spelled also Munroe, Monro, Munro,is a Gaelic place name. It is said to have originated inIreland, the first man to bear it being Occon Ro whoseson, Donald, born in Ireland, went to Scotland in the be-ginning of the 11th century to assist Malcolm the Second.Malcolm itis said, gave hiiti the barony of Fowlis (Tig-hearna Folais). His descendants added to the originalname the syllable Mon. Such is the tradition. Apartfrom tradition the name is a place name, meaning "redbog" from moine, "morass or bog" and ruadh "red". (3)

It might be added, as being of interest, that it is gen-erally believed that the first actual settlement in Pennsyl-vania was at Shawnee, in what is now Monroe County, bypeople from Holland. (4)

CLARIONThe next county was formed by separating those

parts of Venango and Armstrong that lay nearest to theClarion River. It was erected by Act of March 11, 1839.The name of the county is, of course, the name of theriver. (1)

The first official mention, it is said, of "Clarion River"is inan Act of Assembly passed in the session of 1819,authorizing the Governor to appoint three commissionersto survey a road from Milesburg to the Clarion River. In1817, an act was passed authorizing the survey of a StateRoad from Bedford through Indiana Town to Franklin.Viewers were appointed for this purpose, one of them Dan-iel Standard, a lawyer and surveyor, of Indiana; anotherwas David Lawson, his assistant, who was very familiar


with the country. They camped, it is said, on the banksof the river, and, while lying in their tent, were struck bythe clear sound of the distant ripples. The river was thenfringed by a wall of close and massive timber, which re-flected the murmur of the waters, givinga silvery tone tothe echo. Standard remarked that the water sounded likea distant clarion. "Why not call it the Clarion River?"said Lawson. The suggestion was not immediately actedon, as the return filed in the clerk's office of ArmstrongCounty indicated it as "Stump Creek". Yet the name of"Clarion" gained favor and was introduced by one of theframers of the Olean road act. The Olean Road was laidout in 1819. The change of name was very gradual, forthe old inhabitants, as is usual and quite human, clung tothe former titles. It was not until about 1840, that "StumpCreek" and "Toby Creek" disappeared altogether. Thisriver has had many names, "Tobeco", a name given it bythe Indians, "Riviere au Fiel", a name given by the earlyFrench; (2) then "Toby Creek" and "Stump Creek" andfinally "Clarion River".

A clarion is a clear-sounding horn. It comes throughthe French from Latin. M. E. clarioun, claryoun; OldFrench clairon, claron ;Late Latin clarionem, an accusativefrom clario; from clarus, clear. Its root is a very old onein the Indo-European languages. (2)

CLINTONIn the same year, on June 21, 1839, another county

was erected, from parts of Lycoming and Centre, to whichthe name of Clinton was given. No one seems to Knowwith any certainty for whom the county was named. Fromthe way the county actually secured separate government,the name was not carefully considered beforehand buthastily taken at the last minute before the legislativemeasure was made law.

Those who originally proposed the new county de-sired to name it Eagle County, for Bald Eagle MountainBald Eagle Creek and other places, all named for the not-orious Indian Chief Bald Eagle. According to his ownaccount, one Jerry Church, was a prime mover for the newcounty. (1) The project met with great opposition. Itis said numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to get


a bill through the General Assembly erecting the county.Finally, if we may credit Church's tale, the name Eaglewas suddenly dropped and the name Clinton substitutedwith the intention of misleading the opposition. If thatwas the plan, it succeeded for the bill v/ent through, andClinton County joined the sister counties.

Some writers say that the county was named for Gen.Henry Clinton, (2) but that is absurd, as he was veryprominent on the British side during the War for Inde-pendence. It may have been named for any one of a num-ber of Clintons who have been more or less prominent inthe history of our country, the most likely being Gen.James Clinton, or De Witt Clinton of Erie Canal fame, butthat is only surmise.

The name, Clinton, is an old English place name. Itis said to come from Glinton, a parish in Northamptoncounty, and this, in turn, from Glimpton, an estate inCounty Oxford, styled, and often written, Clinton in theearly records. (3)

WYOMING

The region containing the famed Valley of Wyomingwas made a separate county in April 4, 1832, from a por-tion of Luzerne County. This valley noted in song andstory for many generations, is a part of the great Susque-hanna Valley, and gave its name to the county. (1)

When the petition for its organization was presentedto the General Assembly, it is said, the petitioners askedthat the proposed county be called Putnam County inhonor of the celebrated Israel Putnam, and the name ofone of the townships of the future county. Through theinfluence of a member from Luzerne County the nameWyoming was substituted. Without detracting in theleast from the fame of Putnam, it may be said that thechange was a most laudable one, for in sound and histor-ical connotation the present name leaves little to be de-sired in historic and actual beauty.

The name is an Indian place name. It has been var-iously rendered but the concensus of the best opinion isthat it means "extensive plain" or extensive flats". (2)It is said that this name was applied by the Delawares tothe beautiful valley long before the arrival of the whites.


Cook has an interesting note inhis editions of Gen. Sulli-van's Journal : "Wyoming" he says "is the Delaware namegiven to a valley on the Susquehanna River, of three to

four miles in width by about sixteen in length, extending

from the mountain range above the Lackawanna, wherethe river winds its way through a gorge a thousand feetdeep southwardly to where the river again finds its waythrough a range equally lofty and precipitous. This is theSchahentoa, or Schahen-dowane, of the Iroquois, signify-ing "great plains", as does also the Delaware name ofWyoming. From its earliest known history, this valley

was a favorite place of Indian residence, and was probablythe seat of an Iroquois tribe called Schahentoar-ronons byBrebeuf in 1635, whom he describes as allies of the Hur-ons, and speaking their language." (3)

The American Indian Handbook, criticizing in a wayHeckewelder, the famous missionary, says "As Scahen-towanen in "Schahen-towanen-hronon" signifies

"it is a

very great plain" and was the Huron and Iroquois name ofthe Wyoming plain of flats, itseems probable that Hecke-welder's suggested derivation of the name Wyoming from aDelaware or cognate term ismerely a translation of the Iro-quois term. Heckewelder says that m'cheuomi or m'cheu-wami "signifieth extensive level flats," and because of thelarge falls in the river, it is called, he says "m'cheuwami-sipu" by the Delawares and "Quahonta" by the Six Na-tions, which is the nominal stem in the Iroquoian term inquestion. The locative of the Delaware term would bem'cheuoming or m'cheuwaming, meaning "at the greatflats or plain" which the English have changed intoWyoming". (4)

CARBONParts of Northampton and Monroe were taken away

by Act of March 13, 1843 to form a new county, to whichthe name of Carbon County was given. This of course isthe scientific name for coal, coming from the Latin carbo,meaning "coal" but another kind of coal

—charred wood or

charcoal. (1) It is said that the name was given to thecounty for the reason that anthracite coal was first dis-covered on Sharp Mountain, in what is now Carbon Coun-ty. (2)


ELKThis county was formed by Act of April 18, 1843 from

parts of Jefferson, McKean and Clearfield. It was giventhe name from the noble animal that used to be numerousin the woods of Pennsylvania.

The term elk is an old name in English. In early Eng-

lish it was eolh, and is related to old German elch, oldNorse, elgr, and is from or cognate with the Latin namefor the animals found by Caesar in the wilds of WesternEurope, alces, (1) a name familiar to all those who, ateleven o'clock, remember the absent.

BLAIR

On February 26, 1846, an Act was passed forming anew county from parts of Huntingdon and Bedford. Tothis new county the name of Blair was given in honor ofJohn Blair, (or John Blair, Jr.) a leading politician inthose days in Huntingdon County. (1) He representedthe western end of Huntingdon County in the GeneralAssembly and seems to have been a citizen of great per-sonality, influence and enterprise. He lived in or nearHollidaysburg. To show the further extent of his stand-ing among his fellow men there may be cited the fact thatthe first canal boat that arrived in Hollidaysburg wasnamed "John Blair" in his honor. (2)

The name is the same as our English surname Fieldor Fields. It is from the Gaelic blair or blar which iscommon in Scottish names, and means a field or plain. (3)It may be of interest to know that this word is akin toBlarney, the name of the celebrated place in South Ire-land. This Irish name comes from blarna, "little field". (4)

SULLIVANSullivan County was erected by Act of March 15, 1847

from a portion of Lycoming County, and was named forGen. John Sullivan, who led the great punitive expeditionagainst the Six Nations in 1779, under express commandfrom Washington, whose confidence he enjoyed to a highdegree. (1) After the war he was chief magistrate ofNew Hampshire and later, by appointment of Washington,was Judge of the United States District Court of NewHampshire.

The name Sullivan is a very old Irish surname com-


ing down from early Irish history to the late prominentcitizen of Boston. The Sullivans were for many centuriesa numerous and powerful sect settled in the southerly partof Ireland. In common with other Milesian families theytraced their origin to a very early period. Down to acomparatively recent era the O'Sullivans possessed extens-ive territories in Munster, and along the shores of BantryBay up around the Lakes of Killarney. There were reallytwo branches, one, O'Sullivan Beara near Bantry Bay andanother, O'Sullivan Mo'r in Kerry.

The founder of the family is said to have been oneFingin (we assume the modern Finnigan) son of AodhDubh, King of Munster. From him is said to have descend-ed the O'Suile bhain family, which name has been ang-licized into O'Sullivan and Sullivan. (2)

The name is said to be from suile bhain (bhan) ,mean-ing "white eye". The word "suile", genitive "sul", is saidto come ultimately from Latin sol, "the sun".

Whether this points to an ancestor with a cataract inone eye or whether the name is a place name is not defin-itelyknown. Joyce, in his work on Irish place names says"Two miles west of Thurles, the road crosses SoolvaneBridge, which spans a little river of that name. In thesouth of Ireland the arch of a bridge is called the "eye";and this name is very plain Suil-bhan, "white eye" or"white arch". Soolvane Bridge gave its name to the river,"which seems largely surmise on the part of Mr. Joyce, asrivers are usually named generations before a bridge isthrown across them. (3)

Another curious attempt at an explanation is thatsuilvhein means "eye like hill" or "prospect hill",which islikewise a hasty, unbased surmise.

The sole point on which most writers seem to agree isthat the name was from two Irish words meaning "whiteeye".

FORESTThis county was erected by Act of April 11, 1848,

from parts of Jefferson and Venango. Part of Venangowas added to it some years later. It was given the nameof Forest County to commemorate the great forest thatcovered not only the county but the whole state and from


which the state took its name which may be roughlytranslated "Penn's Woods". (1)

The word forest (Old French, foret) comes from med-ieval Latin forestis (sc. silva) unenclosed land, from Latinforis, outside. It was applied in Old French and MiddleEnglish as opposed to enclosed land or park. (2)

FULTONThis county, the last to be erected along the southern

border, was taken from Bedford by Act of April 19, 1850,and given the name of Fulton in honor of Robert Fulton,(1) whose genius, with Robert Livingston's aid, gave usour first practical steamboat. Fulton was born in Lancast-er County. He early developed considerable ability as anartist, and in fact gained some success as a painter ofminiatures. His ability was such that Benjamin West tookhim as a pupil. Fulton turned his attention to engineer-ing matters and made himself familiar with the steam en-gine, then just improved by Watt. While abroad he be-came acquainted with an American, Robert R. Livingston,who already for some years had experimented with steamengines as applied to boats. Livingston had been grantedby New York State the exclusive privilege of navigatingby steam the waters of that state. With the aid of Liv-ingston Fulton perfected his design for a steamboat fornavigating the Hudson River. Fulton was finally includedin the provisions of the Act, and in September, 1807, the"Clermont," the first steamboat to navigate the Hudsonmade a successful voyage from New York to Albany.

The county is said to have received its name throughthe whim of Senator Packer, of Lycoming County, whowas unfriendly to the proposition, though not absolutelyhostile. In the petition asking for the new county thename "Liberty" was proposed. The success of the meas-ure in the House was largely due to the efforts of Hon.Samuel Robinson from Bedford County. In the Senate,the fate of the measure depended on Senator Packer. Acitizen, residing within the limits of the proposed county,a personal friend of Packer and of another Senator whoopposed the bill,urged these legislators to forego their ob-jections to the bill. One Senator yielded, but Packer wasnot so easily won over. Finally he agreed to support the


bill on condition that he be permitted to name the newcounty. They yielded to this puerile whim;and when thebill came before the Senate, it is said, Packer moved toamend by striking out the word "Liberty" wherever itappeared in the measure and substituting therefor thename "Fulton". (1)

The name F'ulton is an old English place name. Ithas been often assumed to come from Fullerton or Fullar-ton, which are also English place names, but it is not cer-tainly known. Fulton was the name of a border village inRoxboroughshire. One conjecture that it comes fromAnglo-Saxon ful, foul and tun, an enclosure, is too absurdto waste much time over. People did not name placesafter such a fashion.

LAWRENCEThis county was formed from parts of Beaver and

Mercer by Act of March 20, 1849. It is said to have beennamed for Perry's flag-ship at the Battle of Lake Erie (de-scribed above under Perry). (1) Whether this is so, orwhether the county was named for Captaian Lawrence,(2) is not known, but it amounts to the same in the endfor the same Lawrence is meant ultimately.

Captain James Lawrence, born in New Jersey in 1781,entered the navy as midshipman; became lieutenant in1802. In the "Enterprise" he took a distinguished part inthe destruction of the "Philadelphia" in the harbor ofTripoli. In February 1813, he commanded the "Hornet"when it defeated the "Peacock". In March 1813, he wascommissioned Captain and took command of the frigate"Chesapeake". On June 1, 1813, the Chesapeake foughtthe British frigate "Shannon". Lawrence was mortallywounded, and, as they carried him below, is said to haveuttered the famous command "Don't give up the ship".

Lawrence is a variant of Laurence, which comes froman old Latin word laurus, a laurel. The word means"crowned with laurel". It is approximately equivalent tolaureate, laureatus. In ancient days a poet was crownedwith a laurel wreath in appreciation of his merit.

MONTOURThis small county was taken from Columbia by Act of

May 3, 1850. Itis said to have taken its name from Mon-

Origin of the Names Given to the Counties inPennsylvania 249

tour's Ridge. Others say the name came from the oneafter whom Montour 's Ridge received its name. (1) Atany rate the county was named directly or indirectly forone of the most striking personages that ever walked thestage of Pennsylvania's history.

—Madame Montour.

Who this woman was, or whence she came is not cer-tainly known. Conrad Weiser saw her in 1737 while onhis way to Onandago and lodged at her dwelling. (2) Hestates that she told him she was a French woman by birth,of a good family but then, in mode of life,a complete Ind-ian.

By 1744 she had embroidered her story a bit. WithamMarshe in his Journal of the treaty with the Six Nations,visited her while in Lancaster. (3) She spoke Frenchwell, so he says. She told him she had been born in Can-ada, and that her father was a French nobleman, who wasGovernor, and that she had been carried away by the Ind-ians when she was 10 years old; that she grew up as anIndian and had married a "famous war captain" amongthe Indians. There doesn't seem to have been any gover-nor in Canada of that name, and furthermore, the wholestory of her birth seems to have been the product of herlater years when she was courted and flattered as a poweramong the Indians with whom she lived. The followingaccount, from another source, seems far nearer the truth."She was a white woman by birth and an Indian by adopt-ion and choice. What her maiden name was is not known.She had the name of Montour from her Indian husband,one Roland Montour. As the name is clearly French, Ro-land an Indian must have been given a French name bythe French settlers in Canada; and even his Indian name,if he ever had one, is as completely lost as is Madame's.Her superior intelligence, it seems, manifested itself evento the brains of the savages, before she had long beenwith them, and become one of them; and they yielded toher superior powers. That she never turned renegade toher own race, is the one fact that has preserved her namein grateful memory, and is the sole cause of her name nowbeing known to mankind at all. It is not known how longRoland lived after their marriage. Itseems they had fourchildren, one a daughter who married an Indian and, at


one time lived near Shamokin. There were three sons."Madame Montour was always friendly to the whites, andoften had it in her power to aid them, especially in themeetings of the whites and Indians in making treaties.The esteem in which she was held, in her day, may be in-ferred from the oral message sent to her by Governor Gor-don, by his deputies. It ran "Give kindest regards toMadame Montour, and to her estimable husband and speakto them to the same purpose." Count Zinzendorf spokein terms of great praise of her in his account of the Ind-ian troubles in Wyoming. She took an active part in thetreaty of Lancaster in 1744. This was a very importantagreement with the Six Nations and it is proper to con-cede more to Madam Montour in bringing the Indians toagree to itthan to anyone else. She left two sons, one ofwhom lived to be a much respected man in his day, look-ing much more like a sun-tanned French officer of thearmy than an Indian. Itis not known when Madame diednor where she was buried. (4)

Queen Esther, the fiend of Wyoming, was her grand-daughter. The name, Montour, is a French place name ofunknown meaning. In France, it is also spelled Montours.It may be from "Mont" and "ours" or from "mont" and"or",but, that is only speculation. (5)

SNYDER

On March 2, 1855, a portion of Union County wastaken to form a separate county which was called SnyderCounty in honor of Simon Snyder, at one time a Governorof this state and a resident of the county. (1)

Simon Snyder, was the son of a German immigrantfrom Oppenheim. He was born in Lancaster in 1759,learned the trade of tanner and currier ; was a member ofthe General Assembly; ran for governor in 1805, but wasdefeated; was elected in 1808. He was governor from 1808to 1817.

The name is a Dutch word for tailor. The word wasalso used for tailor in English years ago, but is now ob-solete. His father must have changed the name on com-ing to this country, or the son did, for in Germany itisspelled Schneider. In Dutch it is spelled Snijder whichcomes from snijden, to cut

—a snijder is "a cutter". (2)

Origin of the Names Given to the Counties in Pemisylvania 251

Our word tailor, (French tailleur) comes from a late Latintaliare, "to cut". In Italian it is tagliare.

CAMERON

Cameron County was formed by Act of March 29, 1860from parts of Clinton, Elk, McKean and Potter counties.It was named for Simon Cameron, a man famous in poli-tics in Pennsylvania. (1)

Simon Cameron was born inLancaster County in 1799.He was a natural leader of men with a predilection for"practical politics". He was elected to the United StatesSenate in 1845, and again in 1857. He resigned in 1861 toenter Lincoln's cabinet as Secretary of War. He resign-ed January 11, 1862 to become minister to Russia. He wasagain elected to the United States Senate in 1866 and in1873. He practically dictated the policy of the Republicanparty in Pennsylvania for many years

—as "boss". He

died in 1889.The name Cameron is one of the best known Scottish

names. It is generally taken as coming from Cam mean-ing "crooked, bent, distorted" and sron, "nose" i.e. cruik-sron or crooked nose. The word is often written cams-hron; in fact the Gaelic word for a Cameronian is Cam-shronach. (2)

LACKAWANNA

The youngest of our counties is Lackawanna County.It was erected from a portion of Luzerne by Act of April13, 1878.

The name Lackawanna or Lackawannock is said tocome from the Delaware language and reached its presentform through many corruptions. The original meaning ofthe word is approximately "the place where two streamsof water meet"; (1) this was applied to the confluence ofthe Susquehanna and the Lackawanna. From this theriver took its name, as did the valley through which itruns, and ultimately the county.

The Handbook goes farther in saying that the presentform of the word represents the Delaware lechauwannesignifying "the stream forks" from "lechau" and "hanne."(2). If this be so, and it seems highly probable, we thushave the names of two counties, seemingly very dissimi-lar, coming from the same Indian root-words, Lehigh andLackawanna.


REFERENCESSCHUYLKILL: x7 9771 Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 111.

Taylor, Names and Their Histories, p. 252.

Servas de Bruin, Nieu Engelsch Woordenboelk.LEHIGH:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 871.

Handbook of American Indians, I, 763.2. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 872.

LEBANON:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 867.2. McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, s.

v. Lebanon.Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible.Smith, Dictionary of the Bible.

COLUMBIA:1. Taylor, Names and Their Histories, p. 96.

UNION:1. Weekly, Etymological Dictionary, s. v. Union.1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 1052.2. Weekly, Surnames, p. 161.

Bardsley, Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, p. 602,s. v. Pick.

PERRY:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 1006.2. Bardsley, English Surnames (5th Ed.) p. 5983. Weekly, Surnames p. 312.

JUNIATA:1. Egle Pennsylvania, p. 806.2. Handbook of American Indians, I, 6373. Jordan, History of Juniata Valley, p. 19.

MONROE:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 438.2. Morgan, Life of James Monroe.3. Taylor, Names and Their Histories, p. 197.

Joyce Irish Names of Places, I, 570.Dwelly, Gallic Dictionary.

4. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 947.Oilman, Life of James Monroe.

CLARION:1. Davis, History of Clarion County, p. 106.2. See Father Bonnecamp's Map of his voyage down the Alleg-

heny. A very clear, distinct copy may be found at page 274of W. M. Darlington's Christopher Gist (1893).

CLINTON:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 570.2. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 85.3. Bardsley, Dictionary of Evglish and Welsh Surnames, p. 187.

WYOMING:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 1163.2. Pearce, History of Luzerne County, p. 159, says that the

name comes from Maughwanwame "large plains".3. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 331.Cook, Journal of the Military Expedition of Mai. Gen JohnSullivan, p. 121; 122.

253Origin of the Names Given to the Counties in Pennsylvania

4. Handbook of American Indians, II, 657.Beauchamp, Aboriginal Place of New York, p. 29.

CARBON:1. Weekly, Etymological Dictionary, p. 251.2.Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 487.

ELK:1. Weekly, Etymological Dictionary.

Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 683.BLAIR:

1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 397.Ewing and Slep, History of Altoona and Blair County, p. 15;

208.3. Dwelly, Gaelic Dictionary, s. v. blar.4. Joyce, Irish Names of Places, II,27.

SULLIVAN:1. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 293.2. O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees, I, 269.3. Joyce, Irish Names of Places, II, 440.

FOREST:1. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 128.2. Weekly, Etymological Dictionary.

FULTON:1. Egle, History of Pennsylvania, p. 760.

LAWRENCE:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 854.2. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 183.

MONTOUR:1. Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 213.2. Walton, Conrad Weiser, and the Indian Policy of Coloniaal

Pennsylvania, pp. 35, 53, 181.3. Witham Marshe, Journal of the Treaty at Lanacaster, in

17UU with the Six Nations, p. 18.In the Appendix there is a brief account of Madam Montourand her descendants.

4. Handbook of American Indians, Montour.Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour]Counties, p. 4; 273.Darlington, "The Montours," in his Christopher Gist's Jour-nal (1893) p. 152.

5. It is possible that the name came from Mont de Theodore orMont Theodore, through the forms Thiours, Thiour, Thourand Tour, see Kremer's Beitrage zur Erforschung der franz-osischen Familiennamen (Bonn, 1910) p. 62. Larousse givesMontours as the name of a small commune in the arrondis-sement of d'llle et Vilaine.

SNYDER:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 1072.

Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 286.2. Servaas de Bruin, Nieuw Engelsch Woordenboek.

CAMERON:1. Egle, Pennsylvania, p. 479.

Gannett, Origin of Certain Place Names, p. 65.2. McCleod and Dewar, Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, s. v

camshron.Dudgeon, Origin of Surnames, p. 24.


LACKAWANNA:1 History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties,

p. 378.Pearce, History of Luzerne County, p. 160.

2. Handbook of American Indians, I, 751.Brinton and Anthony, Lennape

—English Dictionary, s. v.,lechanhanne.Trumbull, "The Composition of Indian Geographical Names"in Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (1870)II, 12.Reichel, Names which the Lcnni Lennape Gave to Rivers,Streams and Localities, p. 26.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Among the many works consulted in the preparation of theforegoing sketch, the following contained valuable and pertinentmaterial :1. Robert Proud. The History of Pennsylvania m North America.

1797.2. Thomas Clarkson. Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of

WilliamPenn. 1813.3. John Stoughton. William Penn. 1882.4. George Hodges. William Penn. 1901.5. M. L. Weems. The Life of William Penn. 1822.6. J. R. Young. Memorial History of the City of Philadelphia :,

1895.7. T. F. Gordon. The History of Pennsylvania. 1829.8. A. C. Myers. Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New

Jersey and Delaware. 1912.9. E. P.Oberholtzer. Philadelphia, A History of the City and its

People.10. W. H. Egle. An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania. 1877.11. McClintock and Strong. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological

and Ecclesiastical Literature. 1894.12. William Smith. Dictionary of the Bible. 1894.13. H. Gannett. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the Unit-ed States. 1902.14. C. W. Bardsley. A Dictionary of English and Welsh Sur-

names. 1901.15. I. Taylor. Names and Their Histories. 1896.16. W. M. Beauchamp. Aboriginal Place Names of New York.17. J. Hastings. A Dictionary of the Bible. 1898.18. J. W. Jordan. A History of the Juniata Valley and its People.

1913.19. Liddell and Scott. Greek-English Lixicon.20. Westcott and Hart. The New Testament in the Original Greek.189o.21. Futhey and Cope. History of Chester County.22. J. H. Newton. History of Venango County. 1879.Z3. J. S. Walton. Conrad Weiser and The Indian Policy of Col-onial Pennsylvania. 1900.24. A. J. Davis. History of Clarion County. 1887.

Origin of the Names Given to the Comities inPennsylvania255

W. H.H. Davis. History of Bucks County. 1905.

H. M. Jenkins. Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal. 1903.Encyclopedia Brittannica.

25'1627

Nouvelle Biographie Generale. 1859.J. E. B. Gover. The Place Names of Middlesex. 1922*P. Larousse. Grand Dictionnaire Universal.

28,

2930

Lewis and Short. Latin Dictionary. 1880.31W. W. Skeat. An Etymological Dictionary of the English

Language. 1910. .U. J. Jones. History of the Early Settlements of the Jumata\Valley. 1856.I. D. Rupp. Early History of Western Pennsylvania,. 1846.S. Day (comp). Historical Collection of Pennsylvania.F. Edmunds. Traces of History in the Names of Places. 1869.F. Cook. Journals of the Military Expedition of Maj.-Gen.

John Sullivan against the Six Nations of Indians. 1887.

32

33

34.35.36.37.

History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valley t

Embraced in the Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Unionand Snyder. 1886.

38.

J. H. Battle (ed). History of Columbia and Montour Coun-ties. 1887.

39.

40. Diary of David Zeisberger, a Moravian Missionary. 1885.Witham Marshe. Journal of the Treaty held with the SixIndians, etc. (in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.First Series, Vol.7. 1846).

Servaas de Bruin. Nieuw Engelsch Woordenboek.

41.

42.43. Macleod and Dewar. A Dictionary of the Gaelic Language. 1893.

1893.44. J. B. Johnston. Place Names of Scotland. 1903.45. J. H. Ewing and H. Slep. History of Altoona and Blair Coun-

ty. 1880.46. S. G. Boyd. Indian Local Names with Their Interpretation.

1885.47. W. C. Reichel. Names which the Lenni Lennape or Delaware

gave to Rivers, Streams and Localities. 1872.48. M. C. Jones. "Memorandum of the Names and Significations

which the "Lenni Lenape" otherwise called "the Delawares^have given to Rivers, etc." (in Proc. Hist. Soc. Pa. Vol 1. No.10, March 1847 —

Heckewelder's List).49. Stewart Pearce. Annals of Luzerne County. 1866.50. History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties. 1880.

F. W. Hodge (ed). Handbook of American Indians North ofMexico. 1911 (Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnology,Smithsonian Institute.)

51.

52. M. A. Lower. Dictionary of the Family Names of the UnitedKingdom.

53. Archives of Pennsylvania.54. G. Morgan. The Life of James Monroe. 1921.55. P. W. Joyce. The Origin and History of Irish Names of

Places. 1898.56. P. Dudgeon. A Short Introduction to the Origin of Surnames.

1898.57. T. J. Ingham. History of Sullivan County. 1899.

T. C. Armory. Life of James Sullivan. i859.58.59. C. S. Sims. Origin and .Signification of Scottish Surnames

1862.


J. H. Merrill. Memoranda relating to the MifflinFamily. 1890.Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and MontourCounties. 1915.

60.61.

62. H. Barber. British Family Names. 1903.J. O'Hart. Irish Pedigrees. 1892.H. Sweet. Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. 1897.H. Bradley. A Middle-English Dictionary. 1891.

63.64.6566 E. Weekley. Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. 1921

E. Ekwall. The Place name of Lancashire. 1922.R. E. Matheson. Special Report on Surnames in Ireland. 1894J. T. Morse, Jr. Thomas Jefferson. 1898

67686970 Harpers* Cyclopedia of United States History, 1902.

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