Author: George P. Donehoo

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-04

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 9781332111718

Excerpt from The Changing of Historic Place Names: With an Introduction and Glossary of Some Historic Names Changed or Misspelled in Pennsylvania The author wishes to state that this brief monograph is written at the suggestion of Col. Henry W. Shoemaker, who has not only assisted in the writing, but who also has kindly paid the expense of publication. iMie article could be extended very greatly. The author thinks, however, that enough is written to call attention to the evil of changing place names. Introduction It is indeed a privilege, through the agency of tlie Pennsylvania Alpine Club, to assist in the publication of so timely a monograph as that of Dr. Donehoo s, on the subject of changing historic place names. Every month the senseless shifting is going on, newcomers wresting from the historic past the heritage of honored names. It will be difficult a century hence to follow the course of history in Pennsylvania; even now it is hard to identify the places visited by early travelers like Spangenberg, Ettwein and Col. Weiser, as innovators have changed and re-changed even the names of the streams and mountains that they crossed. It will be hard to trace the racial and philological development of the State as the haphazard system of renaming places destroys all historic sequence of nationality and individual tendencies. One bright spot remains. Pennsylvania has discarded fewer of her Indian names than most other States; personal vanity or prejudice was hardly strong enough to obliterate these for even more than "their names are on the waters and you cannot blot them out," the Indian-named mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers and streams persist and bid fair to defy the ruthlessness of the ages. Let the constant watchfulness of every public-spirited Pennsylvanian be directed to "save the ancient landmarks" and keep inviolate the sturdy, distinctive nomenclature and spelling handed down by our forefathers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.