HISTORICAL GLEANINGS
BY
ELIZABrTH MOORE

"HOW EACH STATE ME BY ITS NAME"

"FLORIDA : It was on & y Sunday in 1512 that Ponce de Leon
while in search for the 'Fountain of Youth!, landed on its eastern

coast, The Profusion of flowers that greeted his eyes reminded

 

him that with his people the day was Pascua Florida or 'Feabst
of Flowers', and suggested the graceful name the country bears.
The shape of Florida warran’s the title of "The Peninsular State!
'Fly up the Creeks! is said to have been characteristic of the
inhabitants, and they are still so called.

"GEORGIA : So named in honor of George II, under whose
patronage it was colonized, It is 'the Empire State of the South
and abounds with ‘buzzards! andtgoober grabbers".

tT LLIQNIS : From the Algonquin word Illiniwek meaning 'we

are men', in the senee of belonging to a superior race, and the

 

change to Illinois is due to the Prench explorers thet it might
conform more nesrly to their own language, it hes two sobriquets:
‘The Prairie State! which explains itself, sand the ‘Sucker State*
but in name only. Says the Providence Journal of an old date,

"The western prairies are in many places full ofholes made

e

Q
bythe crawfish which defends to the Water beneath. In early

when travelers wended their way over the immense plains, they wer
prudently provided themselves with a long hollow reed, and when
thirsty thrust it into these natural artesians and thus supplied
their longings. The crawfish well generally contains pure water,
and the mammer in wiiich the traveler drew forth the refreshing
element gave him the mame of the 'tsucker,!

“INDIANA : This hame was first app to a tract of land lying
on the Ohio River above the Kanawha, granted by the Fort Stanwix
treaty of 1768, to Captain William Trent, end o her traders for
goods destroyed by the ndians, and when the Northwest territory
was divided in 1800, it was given to that portion of the territor}

not covered by the limits of Ohio.

 
'The Hoosier State' and 'Hoosiers' are the fancy names and
are said to have originated from the general rough response given
in early days to a knock at the doors Who's yere ?' But Webbter
says that the werd is a ‘corruption! of 'husherf formerly a common
term for a bully throughout the West,

"IOWA: The Iowa River, after which the State is called is
@ sluggish strea, which accounts for the name it received from the
Indians, the proper meaning of the word being 'Sleepy' or 'Drowsy'
'The Hawkeye State! and 'Hawkeyes' are terms used in recognition
of an Indian Chief, who in early times held Sway among the Iowas,

"KANSAS: As has already been explained this is an Indian word
"Smoking Waters! The sobriquet 'The Garden State! igself exe
planatory'. How the inhabitants became to be ealled “Tayhawker gy
is thus interestingly accounted for by the Chicago Tribune in 1861,
it first became general in the fall of 1857, when the troubles of
Southeastern Kansas having commenced the Free State people
established a squatter court, before which they tried the men
who were accused of formenting disturbances. Their method of
punishment cave rise to the name of '‘'Jayhawking'. Men were fined
for the offensesof which Judge Lyneh found them guilty. On refusal
to meet the fine, they were visited by armed parties, who perhaps
frightened bhem by firing or took what they considered necessary
to pay the claim. If offenses were asain committed the pro-slavery «
ites were ordered to leave, that failing,the order was enforced.

I, was emphatically a ‘worrying', the Missourians say
tiere is a variety of hawk which does not at once sweep on its oo ®
but like a cat, torments it awhile. This its known as the 'jayhawk'

The similarity of proceedings caused the name to be applied to the
J

of"Sotgern Kansas" QIT soon became general in its

"KENTUCKY: Th’s word does not mean as is commonly aupposed S

the ‘dark and bloddy ground! though it was so termed by the Indians
in their own tongue, in consequence, of the many sanguinary conflicts

occurring among them on Kentucky soil.

 
in all probability a derivation from'Kan Hukee'

tbone earth ' and is in consonance wit!

a

great quantities of animal bones of extinct species are found

in various locatities of thecommonwealth,.the ‘cant! names are ‘the

corn cracker state! and tcorn crackers! "

( Quotes from an old ser&p book owned by Mrs.