Name Origins of the Unites States Part II + giveaway

 By Tiffany Amber Stockton

In May, my children and I visited the Pine Mountain Settlement School in southeastern Kentucky. Amazing little place, nestled in the middle of the mountains, miles from any town. You can read last month's post if you missed it.

Today, it's time for the next 10 state name history stories. So, let's go!

STATE NAMES and their ORIGINS

Hawaii comes from the Polynesian word hawaiki, meaning place of the Gods. It was, however, originally named the Sandwich Islands by James Cook in the late 1700s.

Idaho has notorious roots in the Athabaskan word idaahe, meaning enemy. It was originally applied to part of Colorado before being given to the Gem State.

Illinois has a silent "s" at the end, because it's of French origin. "Illinois" means "Land of Illini," giving a nod to the Native American population. "Illini" is the Algonquin word for "man" or "warrior." This land east of the Appalachians and south of the Great Lakes became the center of significant battles.

Indiana, as you might expect, stems from the English word Indian. The Latin suffix tacked on the end roughly means "land of the." During the early years of America, many native tribes were well-established in these areas.

Iowa comes from the Dakota word yuxba, meaning sleepy ones.

Kansas references the Kansa tribe, meaning people of the south wind. Makes sense for tornado alley.

Kentucky is yet another state named for the river running through it, inspired by the Shawnee word for on the meadow.

Louisiana, like Georgia, was named for a regent of the times, specifically, Louis XIV of France.

Maine has uncertain origins. Though it's worth noting that Maine was also the name of a traditional province in France.

Maryland is a tip of the hat from King Charles I to his wife Henrietta Maria. Some husbands give jewelry; King Charles gave naming rights to an entire state.

And that's all for today. If you're like me and LOVE puzzles, download this PDF for some puzzle challenge fun. You might be able to solve it on your own without reading the rest of the blogs in this set, or you can save it and add to it in future months. :)

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* Which one of these states was the most fascinating to you?

* Do you live in any of these 10 states? If so, did you know this was the origin of its name?

* What do you think might be the origin of any of the other 30 states? (You'll learn about them throughout the rest of the year.)

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Leave answers to these questions or any comments you might have on this post in the comment box below. For those of you who have stuck around this far, I'm sending a FREE autographed book to one person every month from the comments left on each of my blog posts. You never know when your comment will be a winner! Subscribe to comments so you'll know if you've won and need to get me your mailing information.

Come back on the 9th of July for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

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BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood, when she was accused of having a very active imagination and cited with talking entirely too much. Today, she has honed those skills to become an award-winning, best-selling author and speaker who is also a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help improve their lives in a variety of ways.

She lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children and four cats in southeastern Kentucky. In the 20 years she's been a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and is represented by Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

A Town Under the River: Bayou Sara, Louisiana

Before the Flood Waters Came
by Martha Rogers

On the banks of the Mississippi just down from the town of St. Francisville, the once thriving port of Bayou Sara, Louisiana now lies at the bottom of the river. Bayou Sara and St. Francisville were the two main villiages of West Feliciana Parish. 

Back in the 1840's and early '50's, my great-great grandfather held a partnership in a shipping company in this town. John Whiteman loved the river and the steamboats that visited the port town daily. His five sons worked with him from the youngest Theodore to the eldest Charles. As a widower, John kept the family of boys together and working until his death in 1859.

This is a map of the area that we found in the archives at the county courthouse when we visited to do family research.

John left his half of the business to his sons, but then the Civil War came along in 1861 and the four oldest boys enlisted as did most of the young men in the area. The port and the shipping business continued in the hands of their partner, and was an important stopping point along the river at that time.

The town of Bayou Sara goes back to the early days of  French colonists in the early 1790's. At one time it was the largest antebellum Mississippi River port between Memphis and New Orleans until Natchez claimed that title. Then Great Britain took over after it defeated France in the Seven Year's War in 1763. Then at the end of the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded what it called West Florida to Spain in 1783, as part of the Treaty of Paris.    

Ponce de Leon re-named the area Nueva Feliciana which means New Happy Land in Spanish. The land had unequaled flora, flowing waters and fertile soil which were the main attractions to the area. The parish itself was diverse in topography as well. In 1810 the area became part of the the U.S. and grew so fast that in 1824, the parish was divided into  two parishes with Bayou Sara on the banks of the river as the main port town that furnished supplies up to Woodville, Mississippi and around the area before the steamboats went on down to New Orleans.

In 1862, gunboat crews tried to burn the town to the ground. They did destroy much of it, but no lives were lost, and the town rebuilt. 

Despite this tragedy, an unusual event involving the Union and the Confederates took place a year later. I posted about this event of the Civil War a year or so ago. It took place in Bayou Sara and St. Francisville in 1863. It is called the "Day the Civil War Stopped." On that day, Union Navy officer John E. Hart, who commanded an attack on the town of St. Francisville from his ship docked at Bayou Sara, became ill and died aboard his ship. Hart happened to be a Mason, and when Confederate officer W.W. Leake, also a Mason, learned this, he ordered the battle to stop for a Masonic funeral for Hart. In a twist of irony, he was buried in the cemetery at Grace Episcopal Church, the same church and town as had been under attack by his orders. This is a picture of John Hart.

The town thrived as a port, but after the war, my great-grandfather Manfred and his brothers sold their interest in the shipping company to their partner and moved away from Bayou Sara. Manfred came to Texas where he practiced medicine until his death in the 1890's.

The town survived the war through the efforts of Jewish emigrants who fled religious persecution in Germany. They settled there and made important contributions to commerce in the lean years following the war. 

The town also survived hurricanes and the flood of 1912. Although businesses and homes were flooded, the waters receded and the town recovered.


 Then, in the spring of 1927, the town finally met its match. The Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers were swollen from months of rainfall that still saw no end. In late April the waters swelled to the point that by May, the two rivers burst through their levees sending mud and water into businesses, homes, and farmland on the banks and on across Louisiana where thousands had to flee the rising waters. Thousands were left homeless, and were never able to return.

This book commemorates the Great Flood

This event, known simply as the Great Flood of 1927 would change the shape of Louisiana forever. Along the banks of West Feliciana Parish, the waters completely covered the town of Bayou Sara and never receded. That port now lies at the bottom of the Mississippi River. You can drive down from St. Francisville to the river and catch a ferry to take you across the broad expanse of water to the other side. Other small towns tried to rebuild, but some never reached the same life they once had.

This marker stands to let others know about the history of the town and port of Bayou Sara.

As we crossed the Mississippi River from the landing to the other side, I thought of my ancestors and the business and home they had now being under all that water. It's a strange feeling to know that a once thriving town is under the water where you are boarding a ferry.

My novel, Love Stays True is set in that area and tells the story of my great-grandfather Manfred and his sweetheart, my great-grandmother Sally Dyer.

In April 1865, the day following the surrender at Appomattox, Manfred McDaniel Whiteman and his brother, Edward, are released in an exchange of prisoners. They are given a few provisions, and they begin a long journey to their home in Bayou Sara, Louisiana.

At home Sallie Dyer is waiting word of her beloved Manfred. Though just a young girl when Manfred left, Sallie has grown into a caring young woman who is determined to wait for her love--despite her father’s worries that she is wasting her life on someone who may never come home and suggests a local young man now home from the war.

On their journey Manfred and his brother encounter storms and thieves and are even thrown in jail. Will he make the journey home before someone else claims Sallie’s hand?  https://amzn.to/2CtsizH

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and multi-published author from Realms Fiction of Charisma Media and Winged Publications. She was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009. She is a member of ACFW and writes the weekly Verse of the Week for the ACFW Loop. ACFW awarded her the Volunteer of the Year in 2014. Her first electronic series from Winged Publications, Love in the Bayou City of Texas, debuted in the spring of 2015.  Martha is a frequent speaker for writing workshops and the Texas Christian Writers Conference. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex. Their favorite pastime is spending time with their twelve grandchildren and five, soon to be six great-grandchildren. 

Louisiana and France's Forced Colonization Experiment

By Jocelyn Green

Decades before Marie Antoinette entered the scene, France was already in a desperate position. In 1714, the nation lost a thirteen-year war which had drained the royal coffers and disillusioned most of its military. Soldiers returning home had a hard time finding work. The weather hadn’t been cooperating with the farmers, driving rural people in to the cities to find other ways of earning a living. The streets of Paris teemed with poor.

The monarchy didn’t like it. Vagabonds and the unemployed were arrested and thrown into prisons to keep them off the street. Prostitutes, too, cycled in and out of jail, and back in, and back out again. The capital city was rife was poverty, crime, and vice.

Meanwhile, the French colony of Louisiana was practically dormant. After being claimed for France in 1699, the War of Spanish Succession soon tied up all of France’s resources, leaving the military outposts in Louisiana so bereft they would have starved to death had friendly native Americans not fed them and allowed them to winter in their villages. Now, the French king decided it was time for Louisiana to refill the French treasury, the way Mexico’s riches were making Spain wealthy.

At the time, the territory of Louisiana stretched from Rockies to the Appalachians, from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. Populating it proved to be a monumental task they never really mastered.

When not enough French volunteered to settle the land—despite promises of gold, silver, fertile land and abundant game—France forced immigration.

“We believe that We can do nothing better for the good of our State than to condemn [convicts] to the punishment of being transported to our colonies . . . to serve as laborers.”

~Royal Policy of France, January 8, 1719¹

Prisoners sentenced to the galleys were commuted to Louisiana instead. To relieve overcrowded prisons, they also sent military deserters, prostitutes, vagabonds who had been plucked from the streets after curfew. Because the men needed women to reproduce new settlers, shiploads of orphans and female convicts were sent over.

In September of 1719, 184 female convicts were told to choose grooms from the same number of male convicts. They were forced to marry in a mass wedding ceremony, shackled two-by-two, and put onto the ship that would take them to Louisiana.

The forced colonization scheme grew so out-of-hand that Mississippi bandoliers even began pulling people from the streets if they could not prove their employment. Riots broke out between the people and those charged with arresting them, resulting in injury and loss of life.

After three years of the forced immigration (1719-1722), the crown finally decreed it unlawful. By then, however, Jean-Baptiste Bienville, governor of Louisiana, had his hands full managing the settlers France had sent.

“It is most disagreeable for an officer in charge of a colony to have nothing more for its defense than a bunch of deserters, contraband salt dealers, and rogues who are always ready not only to desert you but also to turn against you.”

~Sieur Jean-Baptist Le Moyne de Bienville, 1719²

It was under these conditions and with these challenges that Bienville founded New Orleans. To learn more about this colorful chapter in American (and French) history, I’ll direct you to the two books which proved so helpful to me in my own research: Building the Devil’s Empire: French Colonial New Orleans by Shannon Lee Dawdy, and Indians, Settlers & Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy by Daniel H. Usner.

Sources:

1. The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series in Louisiana History, Volume 1: The French Experience in Louisiana, edited by Glenn R. Conrad. (Lafayette, LA: Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana), 115.

2. Ibid., 132.

The Mark of the King (Bethany House Publishers, Jan. 3, 2017)

Wrongfully imprisoned for the death of her client, midwife Julianne Chevalier is exiled to Louisiana, where she hopes to be reunited with her brother, serving there as a soldier. Before the journey, she’s forced to wed a fellow convict. When they arrive in New Orleans, searching for her brother proves dangerous. What is behind the mystery, and does military officer Marc-Paul Girard know more than he is letting on?

When tragedy strikes, Julianne must find her way in this rugged land, despite never being able to escape the king's mark on her shoulder that brands her a criminal beyond redemption.

About Jocelyn:

Jocelyn Green inspires faith and courage as the award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, including Wedded to War, a Christy Award finalist in 2013; Widow of Gettysburg; Yankee in Atlanta; and The 5 Love Languages Military Edition, which she coauthored with bestselling author Dr. Gary Chapman. Jocelyn graduated from Taylor University with a BA in English and lives with her husband and two children in Iowa. Sign up for her newsletter at www.jocelyngreen.com/subscribe, and receive a free gift: The Christian Historical Fiction Travel Guide.

Small Town...Big History

St. Francisville, Louisiana

by Martha Rogers

As part of a genealogy trip, my husband and I visited this little town in Louisiana to research my great-great grandparents. This quaint town is set on a loessal ridge created by the dust storms of the Glacier Period. These ridges that form vertical cliffs sometimes ninety feet high extend from Baton Rouge into Tennessee, and the ridges are actually the foothills of the Appalachians.

Thirty-five or so miles north of Baton Rouge, it is the oldest town in the Florida Parishes, and it has been called the town two miles long and two yards wide. Early Spanish Cauchins in need of a highland burial ground received a land grant from their king and built a wooden monastery sometime between 1773 and 1785. The settlement which straggled up around the cemetery and monastery took its name from the order's gentle patron. St. Francis.

 Below the bluffs of St. Francisville a different sort of town grew. Bayou Sara took its name and impetus from the creek which provided flatboaters a safe anchorage. With the steamboat, Bayou Sara became one of the largest cotton ports on the river. Its rowdy richness fell with civil war, fire, flood, and the boll weevil taking their toll. Hardly a trace remains today. This is the town where my great-great grandfather owned a shipping company. It now lies at the bottom of the Mississippi River after a flood destroyed the town in the early 20th century.

Here is a map of the area along the Mississippi River where the shipping company flourished prior to 1861. We believe it occupied the building with the 269 number on it and included a warehouse where he stored cotton until it was shipped up the river, but no one could tell us for certain.

St. Francisville has survived the forces that destroyed the little town just below them. It reflects the growth and character of the surrounding countryside. A stroll through its historic center awakens a sense of place and an awareness of history with two centuries of architecture and life styles. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,712 people, 693 households, and 456 families residing in the town.

 

Grace Episcopal Church, established in March, 1827, is one of the oldest 
Protestant churches in Louisiana. The other one in the area is the Methodist Church with a bell tower dating from 1803. 

During the Civil War, Union Navy ships bombarded the coast and cannon shots up the hill damaged Grace Church. Despite the bombardment and damage, it was the site of the Masonic burial ceremony of Union Navy officer, John E. Hart, who had died aboard his ship while taking part in the Union blockade of the Mississippi River.  In June 1863, the war stood still as Confederate Officer W.W. Leake, the Senior Warden for the oldest Masonic Lodge in the state, arranged for the burial plot and rites at Grace Church. Every June a three-day commemoration called "The Day the War Stopped" is held. (For more information about this event, see my post of May 11, 2013.)

Beautiful old plantations are open to visitors for tours, and they give a true

glimpse into what life was like in the mid 19^th Century. The homes where my great-grandparents and their families lived are no longer there, but houses similar to theirs are still in existence where the town retains the flavor of days gone by. This home is named "The Myrtles" and is a Louisiana style with the wrought iron decor setting off the porches of the house.



Below is a picture of one of the dozens
of trees on the the land that give the plantation its name. Those are my cousins sitting under the tree during our visit there in 2005.

Rosedown is a more traditional southern plantation style home. It has the balconies that are seen so often in Louisiana homes. The picture of a child's bed gives a glimpse into the lifestyle of the mid-nineteenth century. 

Down the road a piece, toward Baton Rouge, is the site of a Civil War battle at Port Hudson. Walking through the quiet trees, I closed my eyes and could almost hear the sounds of battle raging around me. It was a moving experience, especially after I found my great-grandfather's brother listed as one of the officers taken as a prisoner of war.

My cousins and I re-visited the town in June, 2005, the month our great-grandparents were married at Grace Church. There we celebrated the 150^th anniversary of that marriage and theirs is the love story portrayed in my novel, Love Stays True.

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009 and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.  A former English and Home Economics teacher, Martha loves to cook and experimenting with recipes and loves scrapbooking when she has time. She has written three series, Winds Across the Prairie and Seasons of the Heart and The Homeward Journey. Book three in that series, Love Never Fails, released in November, 2014.

Papa Noel and the Christmas Eve Bonfires: Celebrating Christmas on the Louisiana Bayou

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

In many respects, Christmas on the Louisiana bayou is like Christmas anywhere else. Families gather, carols are sung, and children are put to bed with the anticipation of gifts and celebration on Christmas morning. However, there are a few things that make a Cajun holiday special.

Papa Noel instead of Santa Claus
The jolly man most of us recognize as Santa Claus is not who the Acadians of South Louisiana look to as the deliverer of gifts on Christmas Eve. Papa Noel, the Cajun version of Saint Nick, makes his rounds in a pirogue--a shallow Louisiana boat--pulled by eight alligators. In some versions of the story, Papa Noel--or Pere Noel as the Cajuns say--is dressed in muskrat hides instead of his traditional red garb as he pilots his boat. Always his sack of toys holds special gifts for good boys and girls, and sometimes he offers up lumps of coal for those who were not so nice.

Bonfires on the levees on Christmas Eve
How does Papa Noel find his way to the homes of those children who live in the deepest recesses of the bayou? Long ago, the natives of this part of the country began building bonfires on the levees, teepee-shaped log structures that, when lit, could guide the way for anyone seeking to deposit gifts under Christmas trees. Although legend has it that these bonfires may have been used to light the parishioners' way to Christmas Eve services, the idea of a nautical landing strip for the fabled Papa Noel brings a smile to children's faces.

Christmas eve bonfires are not a new idea. Many Europeans, including those of German and French descent, have traditions that include these fiery towers. That Louisiana is a melting pot of these cultures--and more--makes it likely that settlers from these areas brought this aspect of the celebration with them.

The Mississippi River town of Lutcher, Louisiana holds a Christmas bonfire celebration every Christmas eve. At 7pm sharp on December 24, over one hundred 30-foot tall bonfires are lit along the river to guide Papa Noel into the town. In the rare event of rain, the lighting of the bonfires is moved to New Years Eve. In St. James parish, the Festival of the Bonfires offers another opportunity to see this Louisiana tradition in action. All down the river road, plantations such as Oak Alley and Madewood hold similar celebrations.

Wherever you go in South Louisiana, you will find a Cajun Christmas is very much like yours and mine. And very different at the same time!

Joyeaux Noel, Y'all!

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KATHLEEN Y'BARBO is the bestselling author of over 50 books with more than one million copies of her books in print in the United States and abroad. A Romantic Times magazine Top Pick, Reviewer's Choice nominee, and Career Achievement nominee, Kathleen has been a finalist in American Christian Fiction Writer's Carol Awards and Romance Writers of America's RITA competition.

She and her hero in combat boots husband make their home north of the Red River. To find out more about Kathleen's books or to connect with her on Facebook or Twitter, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.comwww.kathleenybarbo.com.

Barataria and the Louisiana Bayou

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

"Never approach, harass, or feed alligators. Remember they are wild animals and can move very quickly." This warning begins the Important Facts section of the National Historic Park and Preserve website for Louisiana's Barataria Preserve. Two hundred years ago, the same could be said for another group of residents of this southernmost stretch of Louisiana marshland and waterways, Jean Lafitte and his band of cohorts.

Were they pirates, these men who made their homes in the narrow channels and marshes where the Mississippi River emptied into the Gulf of Mexico? History says yes, although Lafitte often argued he and the others known as the Baratarians were merely sailing men with Letters of Marque from the Venezuelan government entitling them to call themselves privateers.

This license to hunt vessels from certain countries at odds with Venezuela meant nothing in the bayou, and yet it did provide at least some measure of excuse for these men to ply the brown waters of the Gulf. In league with such men as the Bowie brothers, one of whom--James--would die a hero at the Alamo, the Baratarians found success in providing citizens of New Orleans and points north with goods that otherwise might not be available. Where these goods originated, and whether their import was legal, were questions that were neither asked nor answered.

Any questions on how these Baratarians managed their exploits is easily answered with one view of the land where they carried on their activities. Where exactly is this place that hid pirates and Englishmen alike during the days leading up to the Battle of new Orleans in 1814?

Follow the Mississippi River past Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and the muddy water widens and rolls southward. Just before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, it wraps around land that disappears with the tide only to reappear again when the water drains away. Before the advent of helicopters and speedboats, the only access many of the dwellers of the outer reaches of Barataria had was through ships sailing into the deeper channels and, failing that, the flat-bottomed boats called pirogues that could ply the narrowest and shallowest of streams. Even today, two hundred years after the Baratarians fled, or managed to hide deeper in the marshes as some legends go, there are places in these southernmost parishes that rarely see an outside visitor.


The Barataria Preserve offers a glimpse into these untouched places where alligators outnumber residents and pirates once roamed. Or were they merely businessmen in the employ of a foreign government? That depends on who you ask. What is true, however, is that a trip to the Barataria Region of Louisiana will leave the visitor with a greater appreciation of what life must have been like for these hardy settles two hundred years ago. If you believe the rumors, you may even stumble across some of Jean Lafitte's bounty. After all, stories abound of treasure left behind by the Baratarians in their haste to flee. Stories including my new novel Millie's Treasure, that is.

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a Carol Award and RITA nominee of forty-nine novels with over one million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad and nominations including a Career Achievement Award, Reader’s Choice Awards, Romantic Times Book of the Year, and several Romantic Times Top Picks. A proud military wife and tenth-generation Texan, she now cheers on her beloved Aggies from north of the Red River. Find out more at www.kathleenybarbo.com.