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.

Whatever Happened to Sardines?

By Marilyn Turk

In January 2018, a strong winter blizzard brought high tides and strong winds to downeast Maine, causing the brining shed of the last herring smokehouse in Lubec, Maine, to blow off its pilings and float away. The 100-year-old building had been one of five buildings on the national historic register at McCurdy’s, the last traditional smoked-herring facility in the United States, when it closed in 1991.

Collapsed brining shed, Lubec, Maine, 2018

For almost a century, the town of Lubec was known as the “sardine capital of the world,” noted for its prominence of raw, pickled and smoked herring production. The last sardine cannery in Maine, Stinson Foods in Prospect Harbor, where sardine cans were still packed by hand, closed in April 2010.

Sardine canning was once as much a part of Maine’s coastal heritage as lobster boats. In 1950, there were 46 sardine plants in Maine. The industry boomed during World War II when it supplied American troops with the easily carried food item. But the sardine industry began its decline in the mid 1950’s as consumers switched their preference to canned tuna.

The sardine industry on the West Coast, made famous by John Steinbeck's 1945 novel, Cannery Row, hit its peak in California in 1936-37.

Today, sardines caught in the Pacific are frozen and shipped to tuna farms around the world to provide food for tuna. However, sardines are still popular for human consumption outside the United States, and canneries can be found in Scotland, Norway, Poland and other Baltic countries, Mexico, South America and Southeast Asia.

Did you ever eat sardines? My father used to love them with onions and  mustard on crackers, but I never developed a taste for them.

Marilyn Turk writes historical fiction set on the coast. The Gilded Curse, a World War II novel, published in 2016, won a Silver Scroll award and its sequel, Shadow of the Curse, will be out in July 2018. Rebel Light was the first book of her Coastal Lights Legacy novels which feature stories with lighthouse settings. The second book in the series, Revealing Light will come out in 2018. In addition, Marilyn’s novella, The Wrong Survivor, will be in a collection called Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides coming out in November 2018. She has also written a book of devotions called Lighthouse Devotions. She is also a regular contributor to the Daily Guideposts devotional book. Find her at http://pathwayheart.com where she blogs about lighthouses and writing.

The First Christmas in North America

St. Croix Island, ME

By Marilyn Turk

The wind howled through the cracks as snow blew in, chilling the group of French settlers huddled together in their primitive buildings. Winter had come early to the tiny island named L’Isle Sainte Croix by its discoverer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts when he landed in June of 1604. Hoping to establish a French settlement in the new world, he and the king’s geographer, Samuel de Champlain, had outfitted two ships with provisions for the 77 men that traveled with them across the ocean.

What they didn’t count on, however, was the poorly irrigated sandy soil on the island which didn’t sustain the crops they planted. As the water surrounding the island froze, the settlers were forced to live on melted snow water and salt meat. During the first year, 35 of the 79 French settlers died of scurvy.

Yet in even such dire conditions, the two Roman Catholic priests and the Protestant minister who accompanied the group conducted a Christmas service that year, committed to keep the French tradition. This Christmas service is believed to be the first Christmas celebrated on United States soil.

The surviving settlers later moved with Champlain to Nova Scotia, leaving the island deserted. In 1859, 250 years later, the first lighthouse was built on St. Croix Island, the mouth of the St. Croix River between the United States and Canada being an ideal place for a lighthouse. For a hundred years, American light keepers tended the light on the deserted island that belonged to Maine, the French settlement long since passed from existence. 

Lighthouse keeper Elson Small and wife Connie
 with White House Christmas tree

Lighthouse keepers like Elson Small and his wife Connie served at the lighthouse and celebrated Christmas where the French had many years before. In December 1941, just after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Smalls supervised the cutting down of an 18-foot tree which was used as the White House Christmas tree, commemorating the place of the nation's first Christmas. 

In 1959, the light station was automated and the keepers were removed. Twenty years later fire destroyed the buildings.

The island is now deserted with little evidence of its former inhabitants.  The American light keepers returned to the American mainland, taking with them the traditions of Christmas which are still enjoyed today.

May you have a very merry and blessed Christmas!

Portland, Maine’s First Capital

From Colonial days, Maine was part of the colony, and later the state, of Massachusetts. But the two locations were separated by land, industries, and by political leanings.

When Maine became a separate state on March 15, 1820, the city of Portland became its capital without opposition. It remained the capital until 1832, when the seat of government was moved to Augusta.

The present state house in Augusta, Maine. Photo by Terry Ross from Corpus Christi, Texas, United States (Maine State House) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The first State House was a modest two-story Federal style building at the corner of Congress and Myrtle Streets in Portland. It served as Maine's State House until 1832 and was eventually destroyed in Portland’s Great Fire of 1866.

Portland is the largest city in Maine, located on the state’s southern coast. In 1832, the city was a stage coaching center, and its commercial fleet was the largest on the eastern seaboard.

Portland has an excellent sheltered harbor, and it became a shipping center for timber and other products. Fishermen also thrived there. Fishing fleets caught tons of cod, mackerel, haddock and herring, much of which was exported.

The Jenny Flood Kreger, one of the last large sailing ships built in Maine, launched in 1919.

In the early nineteenth century, the United States became the world’s second largest maritime nation. Maine businessmen owned one fifth of America’s merchant fleet. Maine experienced a boom in shipbuilding. Many clippers and coastal trading ships were built in the Maine shipyards.

Another sought-after product from Maine, and a renewable one, was ice. Every winter, Maine ships carried ice south. Often these ships would unload in the southeastern U.S. and pick up cotton to convey to British textile mills.

Ice harvest

Timber continued to be the most lucrative product of Maine for many years. It was needed for construction all over the nation and in other countries. The wood for many buildings, vessels, and railroad ties came from Maine forests.

In the book Portland by the Sea, Augustus F. Moulton said, “The growth of Maine at this time was and continued to be rapid. The census of 1830 showed an increase of more than one hundred thousand. The Eastern part, with its timber lands and ship building was especially prominent in the general development. As there were no railroads and few public conveyances, it was thought best after a few years to select some place nearer the geographical center of the state of the legislative sessions and the keeping of public records” (for the capital).

Several cities and towns were considered for the honor of becoming the state capitol, including Brunswick, Hallowell, Waterville, Belfast, Wiscasset and Augusta. 

In 1827, the Legislature selected Augusta as the new capital, and construction of a statehouse there was begun. The first session of the legislature was held there January 4, 1832, and Augusta became the permanent capital.

The city of Portland made repeated attempts over the years to have the capital moved back there, without success.

Portland, Moulton notes, “retained its priority as a port and as the principal business emporium of the state and kept upon its prosperous course with undiminished vigor.”

I'm excited to have a new Maine series launched, with three books now available. To enter the giveaway of the first book in the romantic suspense Maine Justice series, leave a comment with your contact information. If the selected winner has read book 1, The Priority Unit, he or she may choose the second book, Fort Point, or another of my books.

 
Susan Page Davis is the author of more than seventy published novels. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and two Will Rogers Medallions, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. A Maine native, she lived for a while in Oregon and now lives in Kentucky. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com , where you can sign up for her occasional newsletter and read a short story on her romance page.