ORIGIN OF OHIO
PLACE NAMES.
MRS. MARIA EWING MARTIN.
[Paper read before the Fifth Ohio State
Conference, Daughters
of the American Revolution, held at
Toledo, October 29, 1903-
EDITOR.]
The Iroquois War on the Shawanese tribes
along the Ohio
gave white men in 1670 their first
knowledge of that river; La
Salle's expedition down its waters to
the Falls promptly followed;
but eleven years later, when he stood at
the mouth of the Missis-
sippi and took possession for the King
of France of all the coun-
try watered by its branches, the Ohio
was closed to the French
by Iroquois hatred. Before many years by
the same enemies
the Shawanese were driven out, and fled
east and south of the
mountains.
French surveyors and traders followed up
La Salle's explo-
rations, but they made no attempt to
form settlements, and the
Iroquois sold the Ohio country to the
English in utter contempt
of other claims.
In 1750 the Ohio Company, an association
of Virginia
planters and English merchants, prepared
to colonize it and sent
Christopher Gist to explore it and
report on the best lands. The
Miamis refused to allow the company to
settle north of the Ohio,
though they made a friendly alliance
with the English. Jealous
of this friendship, the French sent
Indian allies, who surprised
and burnt the Miami towns, including an
English stockade. A
chain of French forts was then built
from Lake Erie through the
disputed territory to the Illinois. The
result was the French
and Indian war and the final loss of
this region by France. Before
the English could make any systematic
attempts to colonize, they
in their turn were compelled to transfer
their title to the United
States after the Revolutionary War.
The Americans received it with a heavy
mortgage in the
shape of its savage occupants. This they
endeavored to extin-
(272)
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 273
guish; first, by a second purchase of
the Iroquois claims through
conquest, and then by treaties with the
western tribes.
The nation of the Cat, or Eries, had
ceased to exist a century
before. The Lake which forms our
northern boundary, a county
of the Reserve, and several townships,
are all the trace of them
left in Ohio.
The Wyandots, or Hurons, who were nearly
wiped out at the
same time by the same foe, the Iroquois,
were only preserved
from extinction by absorption among
their kindred, the Tobacco
Nation, whose tribes were the ones known
to Ohio as Wyandots.
The United States acknowledged their
claim to central and east-
ern Ohio and compensated them for it.
Fifty years before, their
chiefs had permitted the Shawanese and
Delawares to come out
from the Potomac and from Pennsylvania.
At the time of the
treaty, the Miamis, the strongest and
fiercest of the western tribes,
who had held undisputed possession from
the Scioto westward
had moved back to the Wabash and the
Miami of the Lakes; the
Shawanese were occupying their deserted
towns along the Sciotos
and the Miamis; the Delawares were on
the Muskingum, while
the Wyandots had their principal
villages on the Sandusky.
The ease and frequency with which Indian
towns were des-
troyed and rebuilt, the keenness shown
in the selection of the
sites, and the general tolerance that
existed among the tribes in
their appreciation of a common danger
from the white settle-
ments, led to a succession and
juxtaposition of villages, which
creates a lack of correspondence between
the names of localities
and their occupants. There is hardly an
important town in the
State that was not built on the site of
an Indian village, though
often not bearing the same name even
when of Indian origin.
Thus, there were six well-known
Chillicothe towns of the Shaw-
anese; but our Chillicothe is not on the
site of any, though in a
region peopled with Indian shades. Thus,
also, Christopher
Gist found a Wyandot town at the forks
of the Muskingum, now
Coshocton, from the Delaware word,
Goschachgunk. He found
a Delaware village at the "Standing
Stone" called Hock-hockin.
On a map of the time it is called
"French Margaret's Town,"
from the daughter of that strange,
forceful character, the half-
Vol. XIV.- 18.
274 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
breed interpreter, Madame Montour. The
first white settlers,
Pennsylvania Dutch, found Shawanese
here, and two towns in
full swing, Tarhe town and Tobey town;
but they built a third
and dubbed it New Lancaster. Piqua is on the site of the
Lower Piqua town of the Shawanese, with
a Miami name. The
Pickaway Plains and Pickaway County are
a mis-spelling of the
tribal name.
The oldest names in Ohio are borne by
the water-courses,
and, excepting a few small streams, are
all of Indian giving.
Following the north bank of the
"beautiful river," (Seneca,
Ohio,) we come first to the Mahoning,
" at the Lick," with its
branches, Shenango and the Big Bear.
Shenango is a variation
of the Iroquois word Yanangue,
"tobacco," and comes from
Wyandot occupation. Indian Cross Creek,
now Battle Ground
Run, is where Buskirk's battle was
fought in 1793. The Mus-
kingum is Delaware for "elk's
eye," with its forks, the Tusca-
rawas, "open mouth," and the
Walhonding, or " White Wo-
man's Creek," for the first white
woman who dwelt in this wil-
derness. She was Mary Harris, the heroine of the Deerfield,
Mass., massacre in 1704. Ten years old
at the time, she was
carried captive beyond the Ohio, and
subsequently married a
French Mohawk. Whitewoman's town stood
at the mouth of
the Killbuck. Mary was given a rival in
a second white captive,
who was called " the
Newcomer." One morning the chief was
found murdered and " the Newcomer
" was gone. I will give
you Christopher Gist's account of her
end.
"December 26th, 1750.--This day a
woman who had been
a long time a prisoner, and had deserted
and been retaken and
brought into the town on Christmas Eve,
was put to death in
the following manner: They carried her
without the town,
and let her loose, and when she
attempted to run away, the
persons appointed for that purpose
pursued her and struck
her on the ear, on the right side of her
head, which beat her
flat on her face on the ground; they
then struck her several times
through the back with a dart to the
Heart, scalped her and threw
the scalp in the air, and another cut
off her head. There the
dismal spectacle lay till the evening,
and then Barney Curran
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 275
desired leave to bury her, which he and
his men and some of the
Indians did just at dark."
At this time there could not have been
less than twenty
white traders in the town. Apparently
there was not a word
of protest. Only the day before, the
Indians had begged Gist
to remain and instruct them in the
principles of Christianity
and baptize their children. Newcomerstown, in Tuscarawas
County, is a reminder of this poor
woman's story.
Killbuck, after the noted Delaware
chief, and Mohican
are branches of Walhonding. The latter
is called from an
emigration of Connecticut Mohicans.
Their old enemies, the
Mingoes, were not in force in Ohio; but
Mingo Shaft, a coal
mine at Steubenville, and Mingo
Junction, three miles below,
are reminders that they existed here.
Jerome Fork of the
Mohican was the home of a French trader
with a squaw wife
in 1812, and Jeromeville helps to perpetuate his name. Buck-
horn and One Leg, from a one-legged
Indian, are branches
of the Tuscarawas. Licking comes from
the salt licks in its
course; the Indian form, Pataskala, is
now applied to a town.
The importance of such places to wild
animals and man can-
not be overestimated; and among the
smaller streams Salt
Licks and Sugar Creeks are numerous,
with Buck, Bear, Wolf,
Beaver and Duck Creeks in almost as
great number.
In Guernsey County, Leatherwood Creek is
from a bush
with tough, stringy bark used for tying
bundles of furs; Yoker,
from the Yoker brush that grows along
its banks; Little and
Big Skull Forks mark the banks where a
pursuing party found
the remains of a captive mother and
baby; Indian Camp
Creek is from a deserted camp; there is
a town of the same
name.
Next comes the Hock-hocking, "the
neck of a bottle,"
from its shape at the falls. Without its
first syllable, it is
applied to a county. Of its branches,
Sunday and Monday
Creeks were named for the day of their
discovery; and Lost
Run, for the skeleton of a lost hunter
found propped against
a tree with his rusty gun by his side.
Margaret's Creek bears
the name of Mrs. Joseph Snowden, the
first white woman in
Athens County.
276 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Next, the Shade, a narrow, gloomy stream
of darkest mem-
ory, for many an Indian war party bound
for Kentucky filed
down its banks.
Scioto is Wyandot for "deer;"
the two Darby Creeks were
named for an Indian, as well as the
plains watered by them.
Mount Logan, once the home of the great
Shawnee chief, is
on the Paint. Pea-pea is a branch of
Paint Creek. The
first settlers found an old beech tree
by a creek with the
initials "P. P." cut in it,
and named the run, the meadows drained
by it, and subsequently a township in
Pike County from the inci-
dent. Many years afterwards its origin
was learned. Some emi-
grants from Redstone Old Fort came down
the Ohio and, leaving
their families at its mouth, the men
ascended the Scioto to ex-
plore. One Peter Patrick cut his
initials on the tree. Being sur-
prised by Indians, and two of the party
killed, they fled down
the river, and pulled out with their
families for Limestone, Ken-
tucky. If there is any descendant of
Peter Patrick present, I
would like her to explain just why her
ancestor wanted to leave
the Redstone settlement the very year
that my ancestor was lay-
ing out the town of Brownsville in it.
The Big and Little Miami are named for
their first occu-
pants-the Ottawa name for
"mother;" and the Mad River, the
largest branch of the Big Miami, from
its torrent. Tecumseh
Hill is on the Mad. Paddy's Run, on the
Big Miami, is in honor
of an Irishman who was drowned there.
The Maumee, or Omee, and the Auglaize
unite to form the
Great Miami of the Lakes; the first name
is now applied its full
length. Auglaize River and County take
theirs from the valley
at the junction called by the French
traders "Au Glaize," or
"Grand Glaize," an important
trading center. We have adapted
the French, "the Au Glaize,"
as some people are determined to
adapt the name "the La
Grippe." Blanchard's Fork of the Au-
glaize (Indian, "Tailor's
River,") is from a domesticated French-
man who plied the needle; also Mt.
Blanchard and several Blanch-
ard townships; while Tone-tog-a-nee
(Tontogany) Creek and a
town in Wood County are from an Indian
chief; and Abanaka,
in Van Wert County, has the name of an
early French tribe of
Indians.
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 277
It is in this region that the French
have left the most traces.
Presque Isle, a hill on the Maumee, and
Roche de Bout, or Stand-
ing Stone, are noted in Wayne's battle.
Turkey Foot rock
where a brave Indian of that name made a
last memorable stand,
still shows the triangular marks
scratched in his memory. Kel-
ley's Island was once "Cunningham's
Island," from a French (!)
trader. Loramie's store was a noted
landmark and appeared in
all the treaties after 1769. It was
fifteen miles up Loramie's
Creek, a branch of the Big Miami. The
stream, the post-office
at its mouth and the Reservoir in Shelby
County, still bear his
name. Peter Navarre, a French trader and
a gentleman, died
some thirty years ago in Toledo. A town
in Stark County is
named for him.
Moving east along the Lake we come to
the venerable San-
dusky, "at the cold water."
The name is now applied to a river
and bay and the county containing them.
Sandusky on the Bay
in Erie County, is built on the site of
an Ottawa town called
"Ogontz's Place." Its
distinguished chief is now remembered
by a street in Sandusky, several civic
associations, and the village
of Ogontz. Upper and Lower Sandusky are
at Indian towns
of the same name on the Sandusky River;
the latter about 1849,
in a burst of enthusiasm for our great
explorer, changed its name
to "Fremont." The Tymochtee,
"around the plains," and the
Scioto surround Wyandot County. Next, Huron, from the
French for "Wyandot," with its
town and county; Cold Creek
(Erie County) from its source in a deep,
unfailing limestone
spring, called by some scholar "the
Castalian fount," hence the
town of Castalia close by it. Vermillion
River is from the red
paint the Indians obtained here, with
Vermillion at its mouth. It
has retained its obsolete spelling. The
Black River is from its
deep romantic gorge crowned with
hemlock; while at its mouth
the "Black River Settlement,"
next "Charleston," is now "Lo-
rain," from the county.
We next reach the Cuyahoga or
"Crooked River," whose
source is farther north than its mouth.
The county and the
village of Cuyahoga Falls are named from
the river. The
name of Chagrin River is older than the
various explanations
of its origin. Chagrin, at its mouth, is
now "Willoughby."
278 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
with Chagrin Falls farther up. The Grand
River was called
Sheauga, or "Raccoon," by the
Indians, hence, Geauga County;
Conneaut, "many fish," and
lastly, Ashtabula, "fish," River, Town
and County.
The savages generally had stood by the
English during the
Revolution, and were no mean foes to be
reckoned with along
the border, and in all military
movements towards the west. The
galling aggressions on the settlements
south of the Ohio, by the
Shawanese, led to successive expeditions
from Pennsylvania and
Kentucky which repeatedly destroyed
their towns on the Miamis
and the Mad River and in the Scioto
Valley. Such terrible ven-
geance was exacted that the region
earned the name of "the
Miami Slaughter House." The most
noted leaders of these ex-
peditions, Generals Clark and Logan, are
honored by counties
near the scenes of their exploits.
Two of the Pennsylvania expeditions were
less justifiable.
One under Col. Williamson, attacked the
Moravian missions on
the Tuscarawas and murdered in cold
blood 94 unarmed Chris-
tian Indians, non-combatants, and half
of them women and chil-
dren. The same summer a second
expedition under Cols. Craw-
ford and Williamson, crossed the Ohio
with the same end in view.
Finding the villages deserted, they
attempted to follow the refu-
gees to their new homes on the Sandusky,
but were surprised by
overwhelming numbers, and after a fierce
battle retreated. The
Indians pursued, killing all stragglers.
Col. Crawford was taken
prisoner by a Delaware chief, carried
back to a Delaware town
on the Tymochtee, and there burned with
the most horrible tor-
tures that fiendish ingenuity could
devise. Col. Crawford's high
character and his terrible fate have
relieved his memory
from the obloquy that a successful
expedition would have brought
upon it. The place where he was taken
prisoner is within the
former limits of the county that bears
his name.
As the facts became known with regard to
the first expedi-
tion, public sentiment demanded
compensation to the Moravians
and their converts. Congress gave them a
large tract of land
on the Tuscarawas, and their villages
were rebuilt. There are
still some Moravians at the little town
of Gnadenhutten, "tents of
grace," but the other towns and the
Indians are gone.
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 279
By the first treaty with the Ohio
Indians at the close of the
Revolution the boundary line ran from
the mouth of the Cuya-
hoga south to Fort Laurens on the
Tuscarawas, west to Loramie's
store near the Big Miami, along the
Portage to the Maumee and
down it to its mouth. The country south
and east of this line com-
prised two-thirds of the present State,
and was erected into Wash-
ington County. The original designation
of the entire region
was the "territory northwest of the
Ohio;" but when it was di-
vided into two territorial governments
the first settled portion
(Ohio) received the name of honor which
the State was proud
to keep.
The next step was to clear off the
claims of the old colo-
nies. New York surrendered hers;
Virginia also, except a reser-
vation between the Scioto and the Little
Miami for bounties for
her Continental troops, in case the
State lands in Kentucky should
not hold out. Connecticut reserved the
property in 3,500,000
acres, but surrendered the jurisdiction.
Then was passed the ordinance of 1787,
that greatest of
charters of liberty, and immediately
thereafter the New England
Ohio Company purchased 1,500,000 acres of land on the Ohio
River from the Muskingum west, and the
black canvas-topped
wagon started for the Ohio country.
April 7th, 1788, the emi-
grants landed at the mouth of the
Muskingum River, pinned a
code of laws for the colony to a tree,
and named the settlement
Marietta, after Marie Antoinette, one of
the last acts of rever-
ence vouchsafed that unhappy queen.
Another large tract lying to the west
was contracted for at
the same time and given to the Scioto
Land Company, who un-
dertook to sell surplus shares in France
in advance of payment.
It was the beginning of the reign of
terror; many of the middle
and upper classes were glad to emigrate
to a romantic wilderness,
a nobler Bois du Boulogne-there were no
savages marked on
the advertisement maps. About 200
carvers and gilders, wig-
makers, jewellers and gentlemen, with a
very few farmers, landed
at the mouth of the Scioto. Between
incompetence and fraud the
company failed, and the settlers lost
both money and lands, be-
coming reduced to absolute penury. Some
years later from a
sense of national pride, Congress gave
them a portion of their
280 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
tract; but they gradually scattered or
perished and have left few
descendants in that region. Gallipolis,
the first settlement, with
Gallia County, are all the names left.
But before Gallipolis, the second group
of settlements was
made at Columbia, Cincinnati and North
Bend, at the most
northerly bend of the river. Judge
Symmes, of New Jersey, laid
out the last as "Symmes City,"
but nobody paid attention to that,
and Cleves in Hamilton County, is his
only namesake. Cincin-
nati was originally
"Losantiville," a truly American hodge-podge
of Greek, Latin and French for "the
city opposite the mouth" of
the Licking River in Kentucky. The next
year, to please Gover-
nor St. Clair, who was a member of the
order of the Cincinnati,
the name was changed. The patriotic
enthusiasm of the early
christeners has been somewhat curbed by
the general post office
which has limited the number of towns of
the same name. Still
there is Washington Court House,
Washington, Washingtonville,
and -burg, New, Mount and Fort
Washington, and finally Mt.
Vernon. In a lesser degree the other
Revolutionary favorites
have been honored. Fortunately the
national authorities cannot
interfere with our townships, and half
of them in each of the
southern counties are the same. Patriot,
Liberty Center, Union,
town and county, with its variations by
compass and in com-
pounds; several Columbias, and Columbus
laid out the day war
was declared against Great Britain in
1812, all attest the same
spirit. Of the counties formed before
1833, thirty-three were
named for Revolutionary heroes, almost
all generals, many of
whom had direct relations with Ohio;
while the war of 1812 is
represented by nine more, all but
Jackson winning their laurels
within our borders. Meigs, Lucas and
Morrow were early gov-
ernors; Vinton was a distinguished Ohio
statesman, and Noble
honored its first settler regardless of
the lack of a national repu-
tation.
The Virginia reservation comprised the
greater part of thir-
teen modern counties. The first settlers
naturally were from
Kentucky and Virginia, Col. Nathaniel
Massie, with a party of
Kentuckians, making the first permanent
settlement at Manches-
ter on the river twelve miles above
Maysville. The region is
under great obligations to Massie for
his enterprise, energy and
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 281
daring in surveys and settlements; but
its appreciation on the
map is only shown by Massie's Creek, and
Massie township, in
Warren County. Such names as
Williamsburg, Point Pleasant,
Bainbridge, Frankfort, Lynchburg and
Jamestown, all speak of
their origin; while scattered through
the State are Richmond,
Alexandria, Loudonville, Moorefield, and
several Court Houses
that have a pleasant "Faginny"
twang. There is a touch of ro-
mance in the naming of Bowling Green
shown by a grizzled old
mail-carrier who had carried mails
between Kentucky and Tenn-
essee in 1802; thirty-seven years later he
was on the line between
Findlay and Bellefontaine. A little
settlement further on drew up
a petition for a post office, but could
think of no appropriate
name. The postman, happening to ride up,
learned of the diffi-
culty and, seizing a glass of cider, he
waved it from north to south
-"Here's to Bowling Green!" A
green clearing in the forest
made by an army encampment in 1812,
made the Kentucky name
all the more fitting.
The Government did its best to protect
its infant colonies.
Forts Harmar, Finney and Washington were
built along the Ohio
River. The savages, paid and armed by
the British, committed
constant outrages on the settlements.
Col. Hardin, sent on a
nission of peace to them, was murdered
where the town of Har-
din now stands. Harmar and St. Clair led
two unsuccessful
expeditions against the Indians of the
Maumee, the latter suffer-
ing a most disastrous defeat. The third
was in charge of General
Wayne, who routed the enemy in the
Battle of Fallen Timbers,
August 20, 1794, and laid waste a
populous country for fifty miles
around. Previous to and during Wayne's
march a line of forts
was built from Fort Washington, at Cincinnati, north-Fort
Hamilton at the crossing of the Big
Miami, Forts St. Clair, Jef-
ferson and Greenville, Fort Recovery on
the scene of St. Clair's
defeat, as recovered from the Indians;
Fort St. Mary's, in Mer-
cer County, and Fort Defiance, at the
junction of the Auglaize
and Maumee. The towns of Hamilton,
Greenville, Fort Recov-
ery, St. Mary's and Defiance still show
the line of march. Wayne
named Shane's Crossing on the upper
Wabash from a half-breed
trader, and destroyed the trading house
and stores of the infa-
mous British agent, McKee, who has left
his memory in Mc-
282 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Kee's Creek, and the Ottawa River,
sometimes called "the Hog,"
because, in seeking to save his
property, he drove his hogs down
the steep banks of the stream.
Wayne made a firm peace with but little
accession of terri-
tory. Shortly after, Ebenezer Zane's
trace was cut from oppo-
site Wheeling to opposite Limestone,
Kentucky, which opened
up immigration to the central counties.
Zanesville was laid out
on one of his reservations. The Western
Reserve of Connecti-
cut was erected into the County of
Trumbull, than which there
is no better name in American history.
It comprised twelve
counties in the northeastern part of the
State. With the ex-
ception of the Firelands, at the western
end, which were not
yet purchased from the Indians, the
lands were sold in a lump
to a Connecticut syndicate and resold in
large tracts, frequently
by whole townships; naturally many of
these townships bear the
names of their original owners. The
first permanent settlement
was made in 1796, at the mouth of the
Cuyahoga, and named for
General Moses Cleaveland, the leader of
the surveying party. It
is said to have had an "a" in
its name until 1832, when the first
issue of the "Cleveland
Advertiser," owing to a lack of proportion
between the type and the page, was
obliged to leave the "a" out of
its title, and it soon went out of
general use.
The names of the towns in the Reserve
show a decided
remembrance of the settlers' early
homes; as West Andover,
Deerfield, New London. North Amherst,
Danbury, Saybrook
and Farmington; while other
characteristic New England
names show Yankee colonies all over the
State. In many in-
stances a township organization was
completed and a minister
chosen before the emigrants left home.
The first act of the
Granville colony was to hear a sermon.
Such communities were
more law-abiding than those that grew up
hap-hazard, and their
distinctly religious character has left
its mark on the whole State.
Other Eastern States are remembered by
Rome and Utica,
from New York; New Philadelphia,
Germantown, and Somerset,
from Pennsylvania; Newark from New
Jersey; Dover, Delaware;
Wilmington, North Carolina; and
Baltimore and Fredericktown,
Maryland.
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 283
Next in importance is the German
immigration, direct and
indirect. The Hollanders and Germans
known as "Pennsylvania
Dutch," were early settlers, and
such towns as Antwerp and New
Holland probably came through them.
German, Berlin, Berne and
Bremen Townships are without number;
while, of the cities,
Leipsic, Dresden, Strasburg and many
Berlins are the most im-
portant. A German emigration in 1832, from
Cincinnati to
Auglaize County gave a New Bremen, a
Berlin and a Minster
within six miles. There was a large
emigration to Ottawa County
in 1849. In one township in Erie County
are Berlin, Berlin-
ville and Ceylon. Switzerland township
in Monroe County,
takes its name from Father Tisher's
large settlement of Swiss
from Berne in 1819.
Though Scotch-Irish descendants are all
through Ohio,
there are but few national names: Antrim
township, in Wyan-
dot County, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and
Caledonia, are all.
Guernsey County gets its name from about
twenty families from
that little island in 1806. The Welsh,
probably, are of too recent
immigration to affect our nomenclature;
Welsh Hills, a town
quarter in Granville; Radnor township,
in Delaware County, and
Venedocia, the Latin for "North
Wales," being about all.
From the Scriptures we have numerous
Goshens, Gileads and
Canaans (usually by way of New England)
Rehoboth, Sardis,
several Bethels and Zoar, a Tuscarawas
County settlement in
1817, of two hundred poor German
sectarians, whose desperate
struggle for existence finally forced
them to adopt the Com-
munistic plan with ultimate success.
Quaker City and several
Salems mark our numerous Friends; and
Lebanon, the Shakers.
Batesville is for an old Methodist
preacher, the only town named
for that grand group of men, one of the
best types of muscular
Christians that the world has ever seen.
The first Bethel in the
State was by Obed Denham in 1797, who
freed his slaves when he
founded the town. Other Kentuckians and
Virginians in divers
settlements did the same, and many more
came to escape the air
of slavery. It is indeed "holy
ground" where men, after a hard
won fight for their own liberty, will
begin life over again to make
the lives of others worth having.
284 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Ancient history is still further
represented in our towns by
several Palmyras and Carthages, Sparta,
Iberia, Delphos and Scio
-which smacks of Wyandot-and our
learning has provided us
with Xenia, "gifts;" Kalida,
"beautiful;" Neapolis, "new city;"
and Eldorado, which has not kept its
promise.
The Capitals of the modern world and of
the old Italian
republics are all sponsors for the
future glories of our towns;
while Poland township, Pulaski, Moscow,
Marengo and Napoleon
warn us of the fleeting nature of
earthly grandeur; the knightly
Sir Philip Sidney has a namesake; and
Caesarville is on Caesar's
Creek, but whether black or white
Caesar, I am sure I cannot tell.
Our first college town, Athens, had a
proper ambition to
which Oxford makes a good second; Kenyon
College and Gam-
bier, the town where it is situated,
were named for generous
English nobleman who made the college
foundation possible; while
Oberlin is in honor of the noble
Alsatian pastor whose deeds of
philanthropy were ably seconded by the
founders of this college.
It may not be familiar to all of you
that, in 1814, a company
of infantry was recruited at Athens
College, and formed a part
of General Meigs' large command which
reached the scene of war
only in time to disband. When the
recruits were gathered in the
college chapel for a farewell service,
the old president prayed
fervently for the souls of the British
and Indians whom these
young men were about to kill. My
grandfather, who was one of
them, used to say that the boys never
felt positive whether or
not the old gentleman was poking fun at
them.
The names concerning the oldest human
events in the State
are those applied to the remains of the
mound builders. Fort
Ancient, in Warren County, Fort Hill, in
Highland are famous
fortifications; Serpent
Mound in Adams
County, and
Alligator Mound, in Licking, religious
edifices, the finest in the
west.
There was formerly a large circular earthwork in
Pickaway County with fortified gates on
which the town of Cir-
cleville was built with the court house
in the center; but time
wore away the mound, and a vandal
council levelled it, rebuilding
the center on a square; so the name is
now but a reminiscence.
Our primeval forests are kept in
rememberance by such
names as Oak Hill, Oak Harbor and
Oakwood, Locust Grove,
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 285
Cherry Valley, Hazelwood, Maplewood and
Elmwood, Sycamore,
Laurelville, Sylvania, Rushsylvania and
Forest; while the Buck-
eye characterizes the people and the
State. Three Locusts is from
a group on the village green, but
Magnolia must be more what was
hoped than what existed. Cranberry
township, in Crawford
County, comes from a cranberry marsh
once 2,000 acres in extent,
and well known to Indians, trappers,
wild animals and snakes.
Our mineral wealth is attested in the
east and south by such
names as Irondale, Galena, Ironton,
Minersville, Coalport, Coal-
ton, Carbon Hill and Mineral City;
Syracuse and Salineville are
named for their salt; Jobs is not
connected with dishonest specu-
lation, as the name might indicate, but
with an energetic miner
named Job, who has become a very capable
operator. We are not
without a poetic fancy in the mining
region, and Glen Roy and
Dell Roy indicate this, as well as the
respect shown to a mining
inspector; so does Coal Gate, which the
maps are beginning to
misspell, as if associated with soap.
Rockbridge, in Hocking County, is near a
natural bridge
100 feet long and ten to twenty feet
wide; Lithopolis (Fairfield
County) is from a good grade of freestone;
Hanging Rock, in
Jackson County, which lends its name to
an ore region 1,000
square miles in extent in three States,
is a sandstone cliff 400
feet high whose top projects like the
eaves of a house; Put-in-
Bay, on Lake Erie, has an original and
expressive name; Gib-
ralter Island, at the entrance, is a
rock eight acres in extent
which rises forty-five feet above the
Lake to support its am-
bitious name; Rattlesnake Island, from a
succession of rocky
humps, claims precedence among the once
snake-infested
islands; Carryall township, in Paulding
County, is from the re-
semblance of a rock in the river to the
old-fashioned carriage;
Buckhorn Cottage is from the shape of a
hill; Clifton, in Greene
County, is from a wild and picturesque
gorge of the Little Miami;
Plain City is on the rich Darby plains;
Pigeon Roost Ridges are
no longer true to their name; while many
valuable springs give
various appropriate names to towns in
their vicinity.
Summit and Portage Counties remind us of
the water-shed
in the center of our State, and the old
eight-mile portage between
the Cuyahoga and the Tuscarawas;
Ridgeway, on that same wa-
286 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ter-shed, is where the time-honored
house stands whose roof
sheds its rain into Lake Erie and the
Gulf of Mexico. Crestline
was thought to be the highest point in
the State when founded;
Akron is the Greek for
"elevation," while Flint Ridge provided
the Indians from far and near with their
arrow-heads. Lock-
port, Lockington and Lockland are towns
on canals, the last hav-
ing four locks.
A very few town founders have been
gallant enough to re-
member their daughters and wives: Aurora
was named, in
1800, for the daughter of a surveyor;
Athalia, Marysville, Clar-
ington (from Clarinda) and Anna are all
named for daughters
of the founders. Amanda township, Allen
County, perpetuates
Fort Amanda and the wife of Col. Poague.
There are many
more Amandas, but I don't know their
true knights.
We have our literary favorites, though
not many; Waverly
was named by an engineer, on the Ohio
canal, who was addicted
to Scott; Massillon, by Mrs. James
Duncan for her favorite
French author; we have Homer and Roscoe,
and Murdoch, for
the distinguished actor and reader who
lived there twenty-five
years, whom many of us will always
remember with pleasure.
Many of our names are unique : Bucyrus
was called for
Busiris in Ancient Egypt with the
spelling altered; Ivorydale,
for the soap made there; Leetonia, for a
member of its mining
company named Lee; Elyria, town and
township, for their
owner, Heman Ely; through his efforts
the county was admitted
in 1821-2
and called "Lorain" from his
pleasant recollection
of time spent in the Rhine province;
Amity, Tranquillity, Har-
mony township, Urbana (from
"urbanity"), from the tempers
and expectations of the settlers;
Felicity is, perhaps, somewhat
indebted to an early settler, William
Fee; College Hill is named
from two colleges; College Corner, with
similar educational ad-
vantages, has one Indiana and two Ohio
counties cornering in it.
The town of Medina was originally called
Mecca, but both town
and county were later named for the
rival Arabian town; Utopia,
founded about 1847 by a Fouierite, was
for a good while run on
Utopian principles. Celina was named for
Salina, N. Y., from a
resemblance in the situation, but with
the spelling changed.
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 287
Silas Wells, of Miami County, always
wore a gingham coat,
and went by the name of
"Gingham." His eccentricity is kept in
remembrance by the town of Ginghamsburg.
At Junction City
three railroads cross; at Gore, a little
corner of Hocking County
is neatly inserted into Perry;
Stringtown may have suggested the
title of a recent novel. Our most
successful manufacture has
been Columbiana County-a compound of
Columbus and Anna.
A waggish legislator, when the name was
under consideration,
suggested that "Maria" be
added, to read "Columbi-Anna-Maria."
By a treaty at Fort Industry, now
Toledo, July, 1805, the
Indian title to the Firelands was
extinguished, and Connecticut
gave them to such of her citizens as had
been burnt out by the
British during the Revolution. They were
erected into Huron
and Erie Counties, and Norwalk was
appropriately named for
the town that had suffered the most. The
Indians were quiet
until about 1810, when, fomented by
Tecumseh and his brother,
the Prophet, aggressions began again.
Harrison's victory at
Tippecanoe destroyed the power of the
Prophet, but Tecumseh
joined the British in the war of 1812,
and showed himself a better
man than his associates. The latter part
of that war is marked
by some brilliant victories. several
within our borders: the stub-
born defense of Fort Meigs; Croghan's
gallantry at Fort Steph-
enson, this fight commemorated by
Croghansville and Balls-
ville, which, with the Fort, have long
been swallowed up by Fre-
mont; and Perry's victory off Ottawa
County, which is marked
by a southern county and the town of
Perrysburg, just below
Fort Meigs.
The war deprived the Indians of the
remainder of their
lands in Ohio. In 1818, the northwest
portion of the State was
purchased, certain reservations being
given to them. These were
subsequently ceded to the United States,
the latest by the Wyan-
dots in 1842, and the last of the Ohio
Indians were moved beyond
the Mississippi.*
* Among the Delaware Indians who were
moved to Kansas in 1829
was Chief Johnny Cake. At the beginning
of the Civil War he was more
than once a caller at my father's house
in Leavenworth. On one occa-
sion the baby shook hands with him and
said, "How do you do, Mr.
Patty-cake?" at which the Indian's
gravity was overcome and he laughed
heartily.
288 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Eighteen new counties were now formed,
mostly from this
territory, and were opened up for
settlement. Of these coun-
ties, Seneca, Wyandot, and Ottawa
("a trader") were
named for the tribes having reservations
therein. The Shaw-
anese were given theirs in Auglaize
County. (The town of
Shawnee is near their old haunts in the
Hocking Valley.) The
region was largely black swamp covered
with a heavy forest
growth except for the clearings about
the Indian villages.
Cutting down the forests and draining
the swamps has given
some of the richest land in the State;
it required very hard work
from the settler, but without annoyance
from the Indians.
Rising parallel with the Lake along
almost the entire north-
ern border are ancient lake beaches
which have afforded the best
natural roads in the State, and which
have been used in succes-
sion by buffaloes and Indians, and for
the wagons of white men,
at a time when the region was elsewhere
impassable. These
ridges are called in Lorain County
North, Center and Butternut
Ridges, five, seven and nine miles from
the Lake, the Central
ridge running almost the length of the
Lake. Sand, Oak and
Sugar Ridge are local names. Near the
town of Ridgeville, in
Lorain County, there are four ridges; in
other places they are
broken up into knolls or disappear
entirely.
These counties have the latest and the
friendliest associa-
tion with the Indians, and many
interesting local traditions.
Wauseon, "far off," and
Ottokee, are towns in Fulton County
named for two great chiefs, by a man who
loved them as
brothers. There are several Roundhead
townships. Zanes-
field was owned by Isaac Zane, a
Virginia captive, raised and
married among the Wyandots; Wapakoneta, in Auglaize
County, succeeded a Shawanese village of
the same name, built
by refugees from the Piqua towns.
Lewistown, an Indian vil-
lage, named for Capt. John Lewis, a
Shawanee, was the center
of the Seneca reservation. The Lewistown
reservoir is his me-
morial to-day.
The last war known to Ohio soil, until
the Morgan raid,
which left no names behind it, was the
Ohio and Michigan
Boundary War in 1835. It was settled by
a decision of Con-
gress in favor of Ohio. Toledo was the
center of activities and
Origin of Ohio Place Names. 289
the victory named the county for
Governor Lucas. It is largely
due to the oratory of Samuel Vinton, in
the House, and Thomas
Ewing, in the Senate, that we can have
to-day a State D. A. R.
Conference in Toledo.
The time limit of this paper has
compelled a bare recital of
the naming of our early towns while
omitting a description of
their settlement. The dangers and
privations of the pioneers in
this State are well known to us, but the
horrors are somewhat
worn off by time. We have a feeling that
if they did not ex-
actly enjoy their hardships, at least
they were constituted differ-
ently from ourselves. One who was
scalped as a child, but lived
to marry and settle on our frontier,
would naturally be somewhat
inured to suffering and immune from
nervous prostration. But
there were as tender and beautiful women
who crossed the river
in those early days as among the ones
who are enjoying the civ-
ilization that their heroism won. They
followed their husbands
as Rachel followed Jacob-and what
brought them? Poverty,
restlessness, the call of the wild,
which at times dim and far off
we still can hear, a desire for a
democracy purer and stronger
than the old colonies could produce
brought them here. We do
well to honor our forefathers of the
Revolution, but Ohio
Daughters are twice happy, for it is a
mighty poor pioneer that
doesn't make a glorious ancestor.
Our knowledge of the French in the Ohio
Country is spec-
tacular and evanescent. The associations
of the British produce
neither admiration for their courage,
nor respect for their hu-
manity. But we had a foe, during forty
years of the occupation
of Ohio, whose savage virtues at times
shone brighter than our
civilization. It is our boast that every
foot of soil was honorably
purchased from the Indians; but they
sold with the bayonet at
their throats, or to get them rum which
white men had made a
necessity to them. The Shawnee chief's
message to Governor
Gordon when leaving the Potomac, was:
"The Delaware In-
dians some time ago bid us depart for
they was Dry and wanted
to drink ye land away, whereupon we told
them since some of you
are gone to Ohio we will go there also;
we hope you will not drink
that away, too." Yet afterwards in
Ohio the other tribes bitterly
blamed the Shawanese, who were as guests
in the land, for being
Vol. XIV-- 19
290 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. the first to sell. White men easily become savages, but the Indian has not been civilized. Their tribes-have all been honored in our nomenclature; some of the greatest chiefs have not; but there are many, like Tecumseh and Little Turtle, whose valour and high character would ennoble even a ridiculous name. Their deeds, too, are our heritage. But for us their tribes will pass away and leave not even the mounds of the earlier races. Let us hold fast what we have of their memories in this State, and, especially, let us not dissever "Old places and old names;" but "Guard the old landmarks truly, On the old altars duly Keep bright the ancient flames." |
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