USA towns named after people

I think I'm caught up on adding of the profiles or index items except for the batch that Ben Angle mentions.
--Randy

Fonda, New York - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fonda, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fonda, New York
— Village —

Fonda, New York
Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 42°57′16″N 74°22′32″WCoordinates: 42°57′16″N 74°22′32″W
Country United States
State New York
County Montgomery

Fonda is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 810 at the 2000 census. Fonda is the county seat of Montgomery County[1]. The village is named after Douw Fonda, a settler scalped during an Indian raid in 1780. ( Ancestorof Henry Fonda, the actor in "Grapes of Wrath".)

The Village of Fonda is in the Town of Mohawk and is west of Amsterdam.

History

The village is situated at the former Mohawk village of "Caughnawaga." The village Fonda is named after the Fonda family when they settled in New Netherland in the seventeenth century. In Henry Fonda's autobiography, the history is given as follows:

"Early records show the family ensconced in northern Italy in the sixteenth century where they fought on the side of the Reformation, fled to Holland, intermarried with Dutch burghers' daughters, picked up the first names of the Low Countries, but retained the Italianate "Fonda". Before Pieter Stuyvesant surrendered Nieuw Amsterdam to the English the Fondas, instead of settling in Manhattan, canoed up the Hudson River to the Indian village of Caughnawaga. Within a few generations, the Mohawks and the Iroquoiswere butchered or fled and the town became known to mapmakers as Fonda, New York".[2]
The European settler village was founded in 1751 at the site of Caughnawaga. TheCaughnawaga Indian Village Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[3]
Fonda thrived by the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the arrival of the railroad in 1835. The village was incorporated in 1850.

Lee County, Florida named after the Lee family- Mauk, Georgia named after my gg-uncle John Mauk- Taliafero County, Georgia, named after my ggg-grandfather Capt. John Taliafero - Ellaville, Georgia - all named after my relatives - then in Americus, Georgia - Henrietta Street named after my gg-grandmother Henrietta Bosworth - Bosworth Street named after my gg-grandfather Littleton Brooks Bosworth.

If anyone is collaborating on Brig. General Zebulon Pike, Jr., USA, he is the namesake of Pikes Peak, Colorado.

I've added Brig. General Zebulon Pike, Jr., USA to the project and am about to add him to our index.

Thanks,

Randy

Thanks, Randy! You're the best. :)

Pike is supposedly an ancestor of my step-father :)

I've added:

Cody, Wyoming named after William "Buffalo Bill " Cody

Taft, California named after William H. Taft, 27th President of the USA

Post deleted by Donald S. Nothem on May 31, 2011 at 5:32 PM

Canby Minnesota, Canby Oregon and Canby Calif, all named after Maj. General Edward Canby (USA)Minnesota, Canby Oregon and Canby Calif, all named after @Maj

Donald S. Nothem

I've added the 3 Canby locations. Thanks for suggesting him.

Added a few namesakes of towns in Rhode Island:

- Stephen Hopkins, Governor (Hopkinton)
- Charles II of England (Charlestown)
- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the USA (Lincoln)

If anyone collaborates on Vice Admiral Sir Peter Warren, he's the namesake of Warren, Rhode Island.

Vice Admiral Sir Peter Warren

Done.

Whittier,CA was named for John Greenleaf Whittier

Done:

Whittier, California -- John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) Influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho are across the Snake River from one another and named for Merriwether Lewis and William Clark. They stayed there with the Nez Perce for a time.

Here's a few more from Arizona to add:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holbrook,_Arizona
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow,_Arizona
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingman,_AZ#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome,_Arizona#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisbee,_Arizona#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedona,_Arizona

Post deleted by Randy Stebbing on Jul 6, 2011 at 8:07 PM

Bicknell and Blanding Utah

Once known as Thurber and Grayson, the towns changed their names in 1914 after Rhode Islander Thomas Bicknell donated 500-volume libraries to each. Blanding was the maiden name of Bicknell's wife.

A few more places in Utah named after people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kearns,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalante,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payson,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibley,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axtell,_Utah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price,_Utah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowerston,_Ohio

The village of Bowerston was settled in the early 19th century by Barnhard Bower and his brother John

Fay Baldwin and I were discussing Stowe, Vermont and I see that it is likely named after Stow, Massachusetts but I haven't seen reference to the origin of this town's name. Does anyone know?

The book:
A couple of google searches indicate that Stowe, VT and Stowe, Maine were both named after Stow, MA.

The book "Bi-centennial celebration of the town of Stow, Mass., May 16, 1883" indicates that the original source of the name of Stow MA is unknown but here is the text:

"...Subsequent accessions from Boston. Watertown and Concord led to a petition for incorporation "as a town with some suitable and comly name." And on May 16th. 1683, freed for three years from usual rates of taxation, there was here instituted "a town by the name of Stow" The reason of the name is and must continue to be a matter of conjecture. It has been suggested that it may have been so called in honor of citizens of that name liviug in Marlboro and Concord. Others assume it was so called for one of the six English parishes named Stow. The fault of these theories is, that there is no record of the emigration of any prominent person or of any number of people from any of the Engli»h towns of that name; and the Stows of Marlboro and Concord had. prior to the erection of this town, left this vicinity to settle in Connecticut

John Stow, who came over with Winthrop and settled in 1634 at Roxbury, was a leading man of his time. He was the first Grammar School teacher of Koxbuiy, a deputy of that town and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.

When the petition for act of incorporation was presented to the Chamber of Deputies, the venerable Simon Bradstreet was governor. He came in,the same ship with Stow, and must have been acquainted with one who was rated as a large land holder in Roxbury and whose wife was noted for her piety, Eliot saying of her when she died, "she left a good savor behind her." Bradstreet being Governor when the act making Stow was passed, it is possible he may have recalled his fellow passenger, John Stow, and honored his memory by naming for him the new town...."

My great grandmother was a Stow(e) and is related to the family of Harriett Beecher Stowe. I have a project with the Stowes and Beechers, and assume that there might be a connection between my ancestor John Stow and Stow, MA.

Thanks, I don't know if I have John Stow in the Roxbury project yet! My other ancestors were early settlers of Roxbury.

Do we have any place for lakes?

Lake Morey, VT was named for Samuel Morey, inventor.
Capt. Samuel Morey

There are also lots of other sees, lakes, islands, gulfs, straits, rivers etc geographical objects named under discoverers, geographers, expedition leaders etc.

Private User Lakes would go under "Geographic Features" which currently contains only a few items:

Mount Lolo, British Colombia -- Jean Baptiste Lolo (1798-1865) An employee and interpreter with the Hudson's Bay Company in pre-Confederation British Columbia, Canada.
Pikes Peak (Mountain peak in Colorado, USA) -- Zebulon Pike (1779-1813) American soldier and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. His Pike expedition mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase.
Lunar Crater Byrd -- Richard Byrd (1888-1957). Byrd is an irregular lunar crater that is located near the north pole of the Moon.

I added Samuel Morey to the project. I tried adding him to the index, but had trouble doing it, so he still needs added to the "Geographic Features" section.
Thanks, Randy!

Christopher Hyatt
I also added Christopher Clark Hyatt. He needs added to the towns index. Hyattsville, MD was named for him (not to be confused with Jesse Hyatt, founder of Hyattstown, MD, also in the project.)

Anson,TX in Jones County was named after Anson Jones the first President of the Republic of Texas.