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PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

THE

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF

PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

By

G. H. ARMSTRONG, M.A.

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF
CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE
1930

Printed in Canada

THE HUNTER-ROSE CO., LIMITED

PREFACE

Every place-name is a challenge to one’s natural curiosity, a stimulus to enquiry which merits both commendation and explanation. This instinctive quality of the mind is a vital factor in its education.

A place-name is never a mere arbitrary or meaningless sound. It embodies a chapter in the story of the place to which it is attached. There is many a colourful name, rich in historic associations, on the map of Canada.

The study of place-names is, therefore, a valuable side-light on history. The direct method of seeking information in written records yields often but scanty returns or in some cases none at all. The Indian nations of Canada have left us no recorded evidence on important points, place-names and a few mounds alone afford us most of our knowledge of their life in its manifold forms.

Modern educationists make much use of place-names in arousing interest in local history—the scientific starting-point for the more extensive study of the subject—among their pupils. A thorough study of the origin of the names of places in their own township or county is made under the guidance of the teacher and the findings given to the local newspaper. Errors and omissions are pointed out by correspondents and interesting details brought to light. Thus are history and geography correlated, training of much value in investigation is afforded, and besides, a stimulus is given to patriotism.

The history of the development of place nomenclature in Canada falls into five main periods corresponding roughly with the general history of the country, revealing racial modes of thought and taste:

1. There is the Indian period which gives us so many of our melodious and strikingly appropriate names descriptive of some physical feature or commemorative of some notable event; as, Winnipeg, Niagara, Restigouche. In this connection it must never be forgotten that the Indians, like all primitive peoples, had no proper names, all of a class were described by the same word or phrase. It was the work of the white settlers to detach the Indian term from all but one locality and make it the name of a particular place in order to facilitate their business activities.

2. The period of exploration when Portuguese, Spanish and French navigators contributed expressive terms to our nomenclature; as Fundy, Bras d’or, Chaleur.

3. The French period which discloses the religious nature of the people and their appreciation of their leaders, as, St. Laurent, St. Anne, St. Marie, Louisburg, Frontenac.

4. The British Loyalist period which is marked by the deep attachment of settlers, from Great Britain and Ireland and from the United States immediately after the Revolution of 1783, to the Royal family, by their esteem for the Kingdom’s prominent statesmen, soldiers and sailors, and by their love for the place-names of the home they had left; as, Charlottetown, York, Wellington, Lincoln, London.

5. The modern or national period in which the Canadian born choose their place-names largely from the land of their birth, often in memory of the red man, oftener in commemoration of their captains of industry or statesmen and law-givers, not forgetting on occasion imperial benefactors; as, Saskatchewan, Okanagan, Fernie, Timmins, Haliburton, Kitchener.

On the whole Canada’s nomenclature is varied and attractive. It contains words from five languages and commemorates great movements and the names of many persons notable in our country’s development. The past of a country is embalmed in its place-names and literature. They are its enduring monuments.

In so great a field this volume is necessarily but a representative contribution. While a considerable part of the information has been gathered at first-hand, a still greater part has been derived from recorded sources ordinarily inaccessible, so many that it is quite impossible to give individual credit here to all. The names of many authors and correspondents are given in the text. Every other debt is hereby gratefully acknowledged.

Errata

Page 44, line 32: for “Queen Victoria”, read King George III.; and in the following line for “Her” read His.

Page 101, line 33: read “ευφρασία” [Greek: “euphrasia”].

Page 139, line 15: insert is before “derived”.

Page 163, line 30: read desperately.

Page 189, line 32: for “Thomas Rodman Merritt” read William Hamilton Merritt.

Page 190, line 2: for “Lincoln in the Canadian House of Commons”, read Haldimand and Lincoln in parliament before and after the Union of 1841.

Page 193, line 8: for “Manitoba” read Ontario.

THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

Abitibi: lake in northern Ontario, river flowing into Moose River, and also territory in Quebec.

Abitibi is an Indian word meaning “half-way water”. It is derived from abitah meaning “middle, half-way” and nipi, “water”. The name was originally used by the French to designate an obscure band of Algonquin Indians living hereabout, half-way between the trading posts on Hudson Bay and those on the Ottawa River.

It was named in honour of Sir James Scarlett, Baron Abinger, of Abinger, in Surrey, England. The family was somewhat distinguished for public service. One of the Baron’s sons, Sir James Yorke Scarlett, had command of the heavy cavalry in the Crimean War, 1854-’56. His command made the famous charge at Balaclava, and on the same day covered the return of Lord Cardigan’s light brigade from its heroic charge. Tennyson made each of these bold feats the subject of a glowing, picturesque poem.

Acadia: name given by the early French settlers to the present province of Nova Scotia. The word was used also in a loose way to include New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the eastern part of Quebec and Maine.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Several solutions have been put forward but none is approved by all archæologists.

Some writers derive the name from the Micmac word akade meaning “the place of plenty” or “the inhabited place”. Among these are Sir William Dawson and Sir John Bourinot. They point to the fact that seventeen names in the Maritime Provinces have the termination acade.

Vétromile derives the name from the Micmac word academ or tedlacadem meaning “This is our village.”

Potter thinks the name a French corruption of the Indian word Aquoddiauke which is formed from aquoddie meaning “whiting or cod fish” and auke, “place”, “the home of the cod fish”.

Others derive the name from La Cadie in France. There is still a village called Lacadee, near D’Orthez, lower Pyrenees, France. This may be the correct derivation. Emigrants are partial to the name left behind and set to work with lighter heart to create a namesake on new shores.

The name is preserved in Acadia College, a flourishing Baptist institution, at Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

It was named in 1792 after Henry Addington, Lord Sidmouth, who was speaker of the British House of Commons from 1789 to 1801, and afterwards Prime Minister of the Empire. He was a favourite of King George III. Doubtless the county was named by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe in honour of his friend.

It was named in honour of Amelia Adelaide Louisa Theresa Caroline, eldest daughter of George, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, and wife of King William IV. of England.

The origin of the word is uncertain. Tradition gives Adjala as the name of a daughter of Tecumseh. On the other hand Tecumseh’s biographers state he had no daughter, and only one son, Pugeshashenwa, “crouching panther”.

Admaston: township in Renfrew county, Ontario. It was erected into a separate municipality in 1843.

The township was named in honour of Admaston village in Stafford county, England.

It was named after Prince Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of King George III. His son, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, became Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Empire. Queen Mary, wife of George V., is the great-grand-daughter of Prince Adolphus.

It was named after Sir George Biddell Airy, an eminent British scientist, Astronomer Royal, 1835-’81. He discovered the optical disorder called Astigmatism and furnished a remedy for it.

It was named in honour of General George Thomas Keppel, sixth Earl of Albemarle, who fought with distinction at Waterloo with the 14th regiment. The name was no doubt suggested by his son, Viscount Bury, afterwards seventh Earl of Albemarle, when he was Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Canada, 1854-’56. He negotiated a[4] treaty that opened up the Saugeen reserve for settlement. The first Earldom of Albemarle was conferred by King William III. and takes its name from a town and territory in Normandy.

It takes its name from the Alberni Canal, named in 1791, after Pedro Alberni, Commander of the military force under Lieut. Francisco Eliza sent by the Viceroy of Mexico in 1790 to take possession of this coast.

Alberta: province of Canada. This area was created a district in 1882, enlarged and erected into a province in 1905 by the Federal Government of Canada.

It bestowed the privilege of naming this new district on the Marquis of Lorne, Governor-General of Canada, 1878-’83. He named it Alberta in honour of his wife, H.R.H. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta.

Oh! would thy bards but emulate thy fame,
And rise more worthy, Albion, of thy name!
What Athens was in science, Rome in power,
What Tyre appeared in her meridian hour,
’Tis thine at once, fair Albion! to have been
Earth’s chief dictatress, ocean’s lovely queen.
Byron in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.

Originally Albion (from the Latin albus, white, referring to the white cliffs of the southern shore) included the whole island, Britain, but gradually became restricted to England, and the variant Albyn to the Highlands of Scotland.

It is named after Aldborough in Suffolk, England. Aldborough was the birthplace of Rev. George Crabbe, 1754-1832, a poet of distinction at this time. The Aldborough writer’s themes were social and attracted the attention of Simcoe and his staff, who suggested so many of the place-names of Upper Canada.

Alexandria: historic town in Glengarry county, Ontario, incorporated on January 1st, 1903.

The disbanded regiment of the Glengarry Fencibles, accompanied by their chaplain, Father Alexander MacDonell, settled in this locality in 1803. One of the first buildings erected in what is now the town of Alexandria was the grist-mill built about the year 1821. It was the project of Father MacDonell who was the second priest in the district and who was afterwards the first Bishop of Kingston, the first Roman Catholic Bishop in the Province. The place was known for some years as Priest’s Mills. It was afterwards changed to Alexandria derived from the Reverend Father’s Christian name.

It is said to have been named after Prince Alfred, a son of George III., who died in youth.

The origin of the name is a debated question but it is generally held to be derived from the Indian word Algonquin, spelled Al-gom-me-quin by Champlain in 1632. An official aboriginal map of 1857 shows the whole of this district to have been Algonquin territory. Mr. Hugh Ray of the Legislative Library, Toronto, an Algonquin scholar, derives the word from Ah-ga-mic, meaning “the other side of the water (lake)”, describing its relation to Manitoulin Island.

This word is compounded from parts of two Indian words, Algonquin and Akee or ace, meaning earth or land, “the land of the Algonquins”. It is common in Indian compounds to make a part of a word carry the meaning of the whole.

Algonquin: National Park of Ontario. It is situated in Nipissing district and was set aside for this purpose in 1893 by the Legislature of Ontario. The Park comprises nearly 2,000 square miles of forests, lakes and streams. The forests are alive with deer, moose, beaver and wild fowl of many kinds. The lakes and streams abound in shining fish. Algonquin is paradise for the wildings of the wood.

The Park took its name from the Algonquins who excelled most of the Indian tribes in arts and other attainments. By the Iroquois they were called Adirondacks, that is “bark-eaters”, in derision. In sober Indian they were called Odis qua gume, that is “people at the end of the water”. They are supposed to have been at the head of a northern confederacy and to have descended the Ottawa at the close of the 10th century and to have occupied the left bank of the St. Lawrence. This family of Indians received the generic name Algonquins from the French, formerly thought to have been contracted from Algomequin, meaning “those on the other side”, but now generally believed to be derived from the Micmac Algoo-making, meaning “at the place of spearing fish”.

It is supposed to have been named after Princess Alice Maud Mary, second daughter of Queen Victoria. She[7] was, perhaps, the best loved and most popular of the Queen’s daughters. Princess Alice married Louis IV., grand Duke of Hesse, in 1862. Her family were afflicted with the dread disease of diphtheria in 1878, and in the agony of death the Princess mother kissed one of her children. It proved the kiss of death.

It was named after Hon. G. W. Allan, a Senator of Canada. His father, Hon. William Allan, settled in York, Upper Canada, during Governor Simcoe’s regime. In 1857 Senator Allan presented Toronto with five acres of land which now is known as the Horticultural (Allan) Gardens.

The place was named Barrie Station on the completion of the Huron, Ontario and Simcoe Railway (now C.N.R.), to this point in 1854. When a spur was constructed to Barrie the name was changed to Allandale in honour of Hon. G. W. Allan who owned land in this vicinity and was a friend of those who promoted and constructed the Railway. See Allan.

It is named after Field-Marshal Lord Allenby of Megiddo and Felixtowe, captor of Jerusalem in the Great War, 1914-’18. For the title of Megiddo, see Judges (Bible), v. 19, and for Felixtowe, see Suffolk, England.

It was founded by William Fletcher in 1850, who was the first settler to locate where the town now stands. He named it after his birthplace, Alliston, a village in Yorkshire, England, according to some authorities. The gazetteers do not list an English Alliston.

The place was originally (1821), known as Shipman’s Falls. Later a post office was opened up under the name of Ramsayville. Still later rival village sites were surveyed in adjoining territory. On the suggestion of Lieutenant-Colonel Gemmill, a citizen of great personal popularity and a large property owner, all were united under the name of Almonte in honour of the Mexican General of that name. This was between 1850 and 1860.

General Juan Almonte was a natural son of the famous priest Morelos, one of the many patriotic churchmen who fought and gave their lives for the liberation of Mexico from the Spanish yoke. He was executed in 1815 after trial before the Holy Inquisition. Almonte’s mother was Indian.

Alnwick: (pronounced Annick), township in Northumberland county, Ontario, formed in 1798.

It is called after Alnwick, the county town of Northumberland, England. The castle of Alnwick is celebrated in British history. It is the residence of the Duke of Northumberland. The town of Alnwick takes its name from the river Alne which flows near by and old English “wick” meaning “a dwelling-place or village”.

This locality was settled by families from the Niagara district about 1880. Several years later—about 1848—a public meeting was called to select a name for the place. Williamstown was chosen at first after a member of the McClellan family of the district. On further consideration a Mr. Meek suggested Alton. He had been reading of Alton in Illinois, a place resembling the Canadian situation in many respects.

The city of Alton, Illinois, is on a high limestone bluff, somewhat hilly, 200 feet above the waters of the Mississippi River. In all probability the name Alton was derived from the Latin altus, a, um, meaning “high” and English “town”.

It was named after Henrietta Amabel Yorke, daughter of Rev. Philip Yorke, of Ely, and sister of Anna Maria Yorke, wife of Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General of Canada, 1855-’61.

It is called after a genus of plants having several species. The flower is small and inclines to a purple colour. The term amaranth is derived from a Greek word meaning “unfading”. The flower retains its colour so long that it is applied in poetry to an imaginary flower that never fades.

It was named after Princess Amelia, youngest child of George III. It is said that her early death in 1810 at twenty-seven years of age, affected the King’s reason.

America: Canada of to-day and Newfoundland were known generally as British America from 1763 to 1867, and are still frequently so designated.

The word America is derived from the Christian name of Amerigo Vespucci (latinized form Americus Vespucius) who sailed westward on an expedition of explor[10]ation, according to his own account, in 1497 and on June 6th of that year reached the coast of what is now known as Dutch Guiana in South America. During the next four years Amerigo made two more voyages, reaching the coast of Brazil. On his return he published an account of what he had seen, the first printed description of the mainland of the Western Hemisphere.

A German professor of Geography, named Waldseemuller, teaching in St. Die College,[1] read Amerigo Vespucci’s account and in 1507 he printed a little book in Latin entitled An Introduction to Geography. In this work occurred this sentence, “And the fourth part of the world having been discovered by Amerigo or Americus, we may call it Amerige or America”. This pamphlet on geography made its way into the schools of Western Europe and the schoolmaster’s newly-coined word was permanently stamped on the Western Hemisphere.

Whether Amerigo Vespucci is entitled to the honour or not, no man has such a monument as he, for his name is written across the map of two continents. If he saw the coast of the main land on June 6th, 1497, he discovered America eighteen days before John Cabot, who reached it on June 24th of that year, and more than a year before Columbus saw the mainland, third voyage, August 1, 1498. Many historians, however, dispute Amerigo’s claim, believing he did not make his first voyage until 1499, and that John Cabot was the true discoverer of the continent of America.

Amherst: city in Nova Scotia; island, eastern end of Lake Ontario; and burg or town in Essex county, Ontario.

They were named after Field-Marshal Sir Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces at the capture of Louisburg in 1758. He took part with[11] Wolfe in the taking of Canada from the French, and compelled Montreal to surrender in 1760. He was the first Governor-General of Canada. Amherst was also Governor of Virginia. In 1768 he opposed the Stamp Act for which he was dismissed.

Amundsen: gulf, south of Banks Island, Franklin district, named after Roald Amundsen who sailed his ship, the Gzoa, through the North-west Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1903-’06. Amundsen and his four Norwegian countrymen discovered the South Pole, Dec. 15, 1911.

On his non-stop flight from Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, to Teller, near Nome, Alaska, May 11-12, 1926, Amundsen crossed the North Pole. The flight was taken in the air-ship Norge, an Italian-built dirigible. On board were Amundsen (Norwegian), Ellsworth (American), Nobile (Italian), Commander, Larsen (Norwegian), navigator, and a crew of thirteen. They dropped three flags on the Pole, Norwegian, American and Italian, representing all nationalities on the air-ship. The cargo of the Norge weighed twelve tons. Point Barrow on the coast of Alaska, some 2,500 miles from Kings Bay, was sighted in forty-six hours after the start.

Captain Roald Amundsen with René Guilband, a French airman, and four others in a seaplane joined in the search for General Umberto Nobile and party of the Polar dirigible Italia wrecked on its return to Spitzbergen from the North Pole in June, 1928. While General Umberto Nobile and some members of his expedition were rescued by the Swedish pilot Lieut. E. Lundborg, no trace of Amundsen or any of his companions has been discovered.

It was named after the district called Ancaster in Lincolnshire, England. Many Roman remains have been found in this neighbourhood, bearing evidence that it was one of their strong military camps. This word is probably derived from the Latin particle an signifying important and castra a camp.

It is an English family name, members of which were conspicuous at that time both in church and state. It is uncertain, however, after what particular member it was named.

It was named in honour of Henry William Paget, Earl of Uxbridge and Marquis of Anglesea. During the French Revolution he served in Flanders under Prince Frederick, Duke of York, and in the Peninsula under Sir John Moore. At Waterloo he was second in command to the Duke of Wellington, commanding the allied cavalry. In this battle he lost one of his legs. His title was taken from the Isle and County of Anglesea in North Wales. The Saxons gave the island this name, Anglesey, that is “Englishmen’s Island”.

It is named after Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin. In 1867 he was elected to the House of Commons for Gloucester, N.B., and in 1874 was chosen Speaker. After the defeat of the Mackenzie Government in 1878, Mr. Anglin became an official of the Ontario Government.

When Port Royal was taken from the French in 1710 by the British led by Commander Francis Nicholson, he[13] renamed the place Annapolis in honour of Queen Anne. The word is formed from English Anne and Greek polis “a city”.

Port Royal was founded by De Monts in 1605. Romantic memories cluster about the little town, more thrilling than any in Canada with the exception perhaps of Quebec. A fort and village were here three years before a white man had built on the site of Quebec. The first conversion of natives to Christianity occurred at Port Royal. Here the first vessel built in North America was launched, the first wheat and root crops grown, and the first flour mill constructed.

It is named after a distinguished English family. One member, George Anson, was Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in India where he died of cholera in 1857. He served at Waterloo with the Scots Fusilier Guards.

It is named after a town in Fifeshire, Scotland. The name is sometimes contracted to Anster. In British history there have been several distinguished statesmen and soldiers by the name of Anstruther. Lieut.-Col. A. W. Anstruther, who commanded the Royal Artillery at Halifax, N.S., in 1890, was descended from a Fife family that traced its lineage back to the Norman Conquest.

Most authorities derive the word from Montagnais Indian, Natiscotec, by clerical transposition. The meaning of the Indian term is “where bears are hunted”. Some think the word has a Spanish origin, anti, “before or beyond”, and costa, “coast”.

It is a Micmac Indian word, meaning, according to most authorities, “broken branches”. It is said that beech trees used to grow in exuberance here and bears used to frequent the spot to procure beech-nuts from the branches which they broke down.

Some give the meaning, “River of fish”, descriptive of the abundance of fish in the creek emptying into Antigonish harbour.

It took its name from Appin in Scotland. As parish, mountainous district, village, or valley the name occurs in Argyleshire, Fifeshire and Perthshire.

Appin signifies “abbey lands”, that is an estate annexed to the Church. The word is derived from the Gaelic abaid meaning “abbey”.

Arichat: island, town on the island and village on the mainland, Richmond county, Nova Scotia.

The town of Arichat is a seaport, having a fine harbour, and the centre of business for the county. On some maps the island is marked Isle Madame, in honour of Sainte Marie.

The word is Micmac Indian, a corruption of Nerichat meaning “the camping ground”. Another Indian name for the island was Liksake, meaning “worn rocks”. Arichat is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop.

Named in 1892 after Hector Armstrong of London, England, who negotiated the bonds for the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway.

It is named after Col. (afterwards General) Benedict Arnold of the United States Army. It was down this[15] river that he marched against Quebec city in October, 1775, after ascending the Kennebec River from the Atlantic Ocean and crossing the intervening height of land.

The place was named after a priory on the Arn River in Northern Scotland. It was probably called Arnpriory at first and abbreviated later to its present form.

Aroostook: village and important tributary of the St. John River, New Brunswick.

Dr. W. F. Ganong states it may be a corruption of Woolastook, the Maliseet name for the St. John, which means “good river” (for navigation).

M. Maurault translates this word “a river whose bed or channel is composed of tinsel, handsome river.”

It is named after the island of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, from which presumably early settlers emigrated.

It was so named to commemorate the battles of Arras, France, in the Great War, in both of which the Canadian forces participated: first battle, April, 1917; second battle, August, 1918.

It is a Greek word meaning “worm-wood” derived from Artemis, the Greek Diana, to whom worm-wood was dedicated. Diana translated literally means “the divine female”. Doubtless gallantry suggested the appellation.

Arthabaska: county in Quebec, and also a canton in this county and the county of Megantic, erected in 1802.

The word is Iroquois Indian meaning “a place obstructed by reeds and grass”. The term was applied in the first instance to the water-ways of the district.

It was named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, the saviour of civilization at Waterloo.

There is also a mount by the name of Arthur in New Westminster district, B.C. It was named after our hero by Capt. Richards, Admiralty Surveyor, in 1860.

It is said to have taken its name from Ashby de la Zouche, a town in Leicestershire, England. In it is an old castle in which Mary, Queen of Scots was once confined. There are fifteen villages in England having the name of Ashby. The ancient family of the Zouches acquired this manor in Henry III.’s reign.

It was called after the village of Ashfield in Suffolk, England, the home of the somewhat distinguished family of the name of Thurlow.

It is the Greek name of a plant of the lily family, resembling the daffodil. The beauty and profusion of these plants hereabout, no doubt, suggested the name to the surveyor.

It was named after a well known local Indian of the period, a great drunkard in his youth, but was converted to Christianity and baptized Jean Baptiste Assiginack. He rendered military service to the British in 1812, later he acted as interpreter and assistant to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He was so voluble of tongue, but intelligent withal, that he was known in the island as Black Bird. He died in 1866, aged ninety-eight.

It takes its name from the Assiniboine Indians who originally dwelt in this region. The word means “stone-roasters”, from their custom of heating stones for cooking.

It is a Cree Indian word, meaning “where there are reeds”. Reeds grow in great profusion in the muddy deltas of the river and the rich soil shallows of the lake.

The original name was Farmersville. It is an educational centre, having had a flourishing High School for many years. The residents of the village desiring a more ambitious name in keeping with their chief interest, had its appellation changed a few years ago to Athens, after the capital city of Greece.

Athens has also the distinction of having held the first fair or exhibition in the province of Ontario in 1830 under[18] the direction of the South Leeds Agricultural Association. It has been held every year since within the limits of South Leeds, for many years now at Delta. The management is planning for a centenary celebration this year, (1930).

Atherley: thriving village, situated on Lake Simcoe, three miles from Orillia, in the County of Ontario, Province of Ontario.

This village was named after the township of Azerley (Atherley) in the municipality of Ripon, Yorkshire, England. The name was derived from Atzer, a man’s name, and ley (lea) meaning “a meadow”, that is, Atzer’s meadow.

It took its name from Athol in Perthshire, Scotland, of which John Murray was fourth Duke. This Duke of Athol was grand master of the Masons in England, and gave a charter to Provincial Secretary Jarvis of Upper Canada.

It takes its name from Princess Augusta Sophia, second daughter of King George III. She is said to have been very shy, never married, a skilled musician. When the Irish poet Tom Moore, visited the Royal family, Augusta played for him on the piano some new airs she had composed to his songs.

Aurora: charming town in York county, Ontario. Its first settlers arrived in 1804. It was incorporated as a village in 1863 and as a town in 1888.

Aurora is a Latin word meaning “the golden hour”, “the dawning of the morning”. In mythology Aurora is the goddess of the morning, represented as riding in a rose-coloured chariot, scattering roses from her hand and preceded by the morning star. This name was given to the town in allusion, no doubt, to the colourful beauty of the site on a summer morning.

It was named after Lord Ava, son of Lord Dufferin, who was killed in the South African War, 1899-1902.

The title Ava was taken from the city of Ava, Burma, India, of which Lord Dufferin was for several years the Viceroy.

Aylesworth: mount, 9,340 feet high, close to the international boundary British Columbia and Alaska.

It is named after the Hon. Sir Allen Aylesworth, member of Alaska Boundary tribunal appointed in 1903.

They are named after Matthew, fifth Lord Aylmer, Governor-General of Canada, 1831-’35. There is also a town in Elgin county, Ontario, named in his honour.

It is named after Ayr in Ayrshire, Scotland. The word is derived from old Norse eyri meaning “a tongue of land, gravelly bank”. The beach of the town of Ayr is covered with sand and gravel. It is a favourite resort for bathing.

Baby (pronounced Baw bee): Point, residential district on the Humber River, in the western suburbs of Toronto.

It took its name from the Hon. Jacques (James) Baby. His family was of French descent, one of the most ancient and honourable in New France. His father had removed from Lower Canada to Detroit (in Upper Canada till 1796) before the Conquest of Quebec in 1759. After Canada passed into the hands of Great Britain, the family was distinguished for adherence to the British Crown. James Baby was Colonel of the 1st Kent Regiment in the War of 1812.

On the recommendation of Lieut.-Governor Simcoe, Mr. James Baby was appointed in 1792, by the Home Government, a member of both the first Legislative Council and the first Executive Council of Upper Canada. In the same year he was elected member of the first parliament of Upper Canada, representing two constituencies, York and Lincoln. For his notable services Simcoe granted Baby a park lot in the town of York and a rural lot on the Humber. Baby Point is part of his land grant of 200 acres in York county.

Back: river in the North-west Territories, emptying into an arm of the Arctic Ocean. It is known also as the Great Fish River.

It took the name of Back from its discoverer, Sir George Back. He served with Sir John Franklin in Arctic explorations. In 1833 Back was commander of an expedition in search of Sir John Ross. While prosecuting his quest he discovered this river.

The Micmac Indian name was Bedek, which the French wrote Bedeque. Dr. Rand states the word means[21] “a portion of food put aside”. Others state it means “a place with an island near-by”. While an island is adjacent to the settlement, Rand’s explanation is in all probability the correct one.

It is named after Sir Charles Bagot of Bagot’s Bromley, Staffordshire, England. He won distinction as British Ambassador at Paris, Washington, St. Petersburg, The Hague and Vienna. He was appointed Governor-General of Canada in 1842. He treated all parties with equal justice. During his administration the leaders of the Reform party first held office as ministers of the Crown, under the new system of responsible government, their party having then a majority in the legislature. He resigned in 1843 owing to ill health and was about to return to England when he died at Kingston, much regretted.

Bagot is also the name of a county in Quebec, and a canton in Chicoutimi county, Quebec, erected in 1848, in honour of Sir Charles.

The name was given to the bay by the early French settlers. The words mean in English “green bay”. The name is descriptive of the salt-water grasses which in summer make the bay look like a great meadow.

It took its name from the town of Bala on the Dee near Bala Lake, Wales. The name is derived from Welsh bala meaning “a shooting-out”, “the outlet” of a lake.

Baldwin: mount 10,400 feet high in the Canadian Rockies, Cariboo range, British Columbia. This peak is visible to the south from the C.N.R. through the Yellow Head Pass.

The mount was named in honour of Mr. Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain, on the occasion of his visit to Canada in 1927, the provincial government of British Columbia making the suggestion to the Dominion government. He was the first British Prime Minister to visit Canada while in office. Mr. Baldwin was received everywhere with the greatest acclaim.

It was named after Hon. Thomas Ballantyne, M.P.P. for South Perth. He was Speaker of the Ontario Legislature for four years.

Ballycanoe: community or district in Yonge township, Leeds county, Ontario, settled 1820-’22 by immigrants from the vicinity of the village of Ballycanoe, Wexford county, Ireland.

The origin of part of this name is uncertain. Bally is a term found in many Irish place-names and means “town, community”. In his History of the County of Wexford published in 1911, Herbert Hone states “The name [Ballycanew] probably signifies ‘Conway’s town’ but no original Irish authority has been or probably ever will be discovered to prove whether this conjecture is correct.”

After considerable investigation the writer is of the opinion that the name is a corruption of Bally-an-noe,[23] meaning “the new town”. In Irish an is the form of the definite article “the” and noe often occurs for “new”.

Banff: town in Alberta, situated at the headquarters of the Rocky Mountains Park (2,751 square miles), controlled by the Dominion Government.

It took its name from Banffshire, Scotland, the birthplace of Lord Mount Stephen, a former president of the C.P.R.

Barrie: township and town in Simcoe county, Ontario, and also a village, Barriefield, near Kingston, Ontario.

They were named after Commodore Robert Barrie who was stationed at Kingston during the War of 1812-’14, and for some years after. In 1828 he proceeded by way of Lake Simcoe on a tour of inspection of the naval depots of the Great Lakes.

It takes its name from Barton in Lincolnshire, England. The early form of the word is Barntown. Remains of an early British fortress are still to be seen here.

It takes its name from an ancient family who resided in Devonshire, England. They trace their descent from Robert Bastard whose name and extensive lands are recorded in Doomsday Book. John Pollexfen Bastard, M.P. for Devonshire, voted against the Canada Bill (Constitutional Act of 1791.)

Bassano: town on the Canadian Pacific Railway, about eighty miles from Calgary, in Alberta.

It was named after the Marquis de Bassano, Canadian Pacific Railway shareholder.

At Bassano is the great Horseshoe Bend dam where the level of the Bow River has been raised forty feet. This dam is the second largest in the world, being exceeded in size only by the one at Assuan or Aswan which holds back the waters of the Nile. Horseshoe Bend dam has been the means by which the semi-arid lands of Southern Alberta have been irrigated into thousands of fertile farms.

It is named after Bath, a city in Somersetshire in England, founded by the Romans in the 1st century B.C., and still noted for its mineral springs and baths.

Bath is also the name of a glacier and brook, tributary to Bow River, Alberta. On July 20, 1881, Major Rogers of the C.P.R. engineering staff took an accidental “bath” by being thrown from his horse into the creek. This incident was the immediate occasion of their name.

It is named after Henry, Earl of Bathurst, son of Baron Apsley, a British statesman, who was the Colonial Secretary of the time.

They are so named from many a battle having taken place on their banks between the Cree and Blackfeet Indians.

Battlefields: park belonging to the city of Quebec. It comprises 230 acres, the whole of the strip bordering on the St. Lawrence from the Citadel to Wolfe’s Cove. The[25] Park lies immediately west of the historic Plains of Abraham and does not include any of it. The battle of September 13th, 1759, was fought on a farm of thirty-two acres formerly owned by Abraham Martin, the royal pilot of the 17th century. A large part of the suburbs of Quebec city is now built upon the original Plains of Abraham.

In 1901 the Dominion Government purchased the renowned site of Battlefields Park from the Ursuline Ladies of Quebec, whose property it had been for many years, for eighty thousand dollars, and transferred it to the City of Quebec, on the Corporation undertaking its development and maintenance. On account of its commanding situation and ever-memorable associations this Park is destined to become a great Imperial shrine.

It was named after Viscount Bayham, M.P. for Bath, England. He voted for the Canada Act, commonly called the Constitutional Act of 1791. The ruins of Begeham, or Bayham, Abbey in Kent, built 1200 A.D., became a possession of his family and the origin of his title name.

It took its name from Jacob Beam, an early settler, who owned the land where the village is located and laid it out in town lots. He died about the year 1865.

It was named after Beauce in France, a little district celebrated for its fertility.

Beauharnois: county, town and canal connecting Lake St. Francis with Lake St. Louis in the province of Quebec.

They take their name from M. Charles le Marquis de Beauharnois, who was appointed Governor-General of Canada or Viceroy of New France in 1726 and retained[26] the position for twenty-one years during which he displayed much enterprise and ability.

The flow of water and the drop in the canal at Beauharnois is said to possess immense electric power possibilities. Installation of machinery to produce 500,000 horse power is in progress with a contemplated enlargement to secure 2,000,000 horse power.

Beckwith is an English surname borne by a long line of illustrious soldiers. This township was probably named after Major-General George Beckwith. He was appointed to the chief command in Ireland in 1816, which he held till 1820, when he died unmarried.

It is named after Bedfordshire in England, so designated in Alfred the Great’s reign, from Bedan Forda, “a fortification on the Ford”. In Bedford jail John Bunyan penned his immortal dream, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

It is so named because of a large apiary there. The place was formerly known as Clarksville, after Robert Clark, one of the first settlers, though the post office of Tecumseth, after the township, was for some years in the village, having been removed from some miles away. The change of the name to Beeton was effected in 1878 by D. A. Jones who conducted an apiary there.

It took its name from James Bell Ewart, a bank agent in Dundas, but owner of a large tract of land in this district.

The name is said to have originated with Champlain, suggested by the excellence of the chase in the district, from French belle and chasse, “good hunting ground”.

Belleville: city in Hastings county, Ontario. In early documents it is spelled Bellville.

It is said to have been named after a Colonel, a pioneer of the district. Dr. Scadding states that Lieut.-Governor Gore named it after his wife, Arabella, familiarly Belle.

It is named after the Atsina Indians whose tribal sign was incorrectly translated “Belly people” or “big bellies”.

The word is Norman French in origin and means literally “beautiful mountain”. Lord Roger Belmont or Beaumont accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. Here he acquired considerable influence in state matters and Henry I. created him first Earl of Leicester. In Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” Belmont is the home of Portia. The name is found in Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland, and France.

It is named in honour of Lord William Charles Bentinck, Governor-General of India, 1828-’34.

It was named in memory of General Beresford, an officer in the army of Wellington.

It was named in honour of F. H. Berlinguet, a former president of the Geographic Society of Quebec.

It was named after Captain Alexander Berthier of the Regiment de Carignan, given an immense grant of land here by Frontenac in 1674.

Berthier-en-Bas: village in Montmagny county, Quebec. The French phrase en-haut means “upper” and en-bas, “lower”, added merely to distinguish these early possessions of Captain Alexander Berthier of the historic Carignan French regiment.

Berthier-en-Haut: chief town of Berthier county, Quebec. It is also known by the names of Berthier and Berthierville. It is on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, forty-five miles north-east of Montreal.

The seigniory of Berthier passed by purchase in 1765 to Colonel the Hon. James Cuthbert who served with distinction at the capture of both Louisburg and Quebec. He was selected by General Murray to carry to London the news of the fall of Quebec and the death of Wolfe. Col. Cuthbert was a Scottish Presbyterian and in 1786 erected on his estate the first protestant church in Canada. This ancient stone building has been given by his descendants who still reside on the manor, to the Historic Monuments Committee of Quebec and will be preserved for all time.

It was named in honour of Sir Peregrine Bertie, a British statesman of the period. The Bertie family came into England with the Saxon invasion in the fifth century from Bertiland in Prussia. One of the Saxon kings gave them Bertiestad, now Bersted, near Maidstone, in Kent County.

It was so designated in honour of James Bethune, M.P.P. for Stormont county, 1872-’79. His family were United Empire Loyalists that had resided in eastern Ontario since 1787.

It takes its name from Beverley in Yorkshire, England. The name may be a corruption of beaver and ley (lea), beavers having frequented in great numbers the Hull River near-by.

Beverley is also the name of two lakes (upper and lower) in Leeds county, Ontario. They were named in honour of Chief-Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson. As a young officer he was with Brock at Detroit and Queenston Heights. Robinson was a man of fine character, fearless loyalty, and a member of the historical and tyrannical “Family Compact”.

It was named in honour of Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart, Lord Bexley, a distinguished British statesman of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Admiral Vansittart, a cousin, received large tracts of land in[30] Upper Canada from the British Government for naval services. He came to Canada in 1834 and had a place in Bexley township near Balsam Lake. Lord Bexley’s title was taken from Bexley in Kent County, England.

It takes its name from Robert Biddulph, one of the directors of the Canada Land Company at its formation. Members of the Biddulph family have been eminent in both the parliament and the army of Great Britain.

It was named after Hon. Marshall Spring Bidwell. He was elected to Parliament in 1821, representing Addington county. Mr. Bidwell was chosen Speaker of the House in the stormy days preceding the Rebellion of 1837. Accused by Lieut.-Governor Sir Bond Head of connection with the rebellion, he left Canada for the United States and never returned. He was a lawyer by profession and rose to eminence in New York. It must be added that Mr. Bidwell denied having sympathy with the rebels and time seems to have cleared him of the charge.

It takes its name from Mr. James Lyon Biggar who was M.P.P. for East Northumberland from 1861 to 1867 and M.P. for the same constituency from 1874 to 1878. His family emigrated to Canada from the town of Biggar, Lanark, Scotland.

It takes its name from Elkanah Billings, F.R.G.S., born near Ottawa in 1820. He practised law until he was[31] appointed palæontologist on the geological survey of Canada. Mr. Billings made a large collection of fossils from the rocks in the Ottawa district and in 1856 founded the Canadian Naturalist.

It was named after General Sir William Birdwood who commanded the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in the Great War, 1914-’18.

Birkenhead: tributary of the Lillooet River, above Lillooet Lake, British Columbia.

It was named by Hudson’s Bay Company officials in memory of the British transport steamer Birkenhead wrecked on the rocks near the Cape of Good Hope in 1852. All the women and children were saved, but four hundred soldiers and sailors, after displaying all the British traditions of the sea, went down with the ship.

Birtle: county and town in Manitoba, about 200 miles north-west of Winnipeg. The town was founded in 1880.

The word Birtle is a contraction of Birdtail, the name of a river running through the town. In former days this stream was much frequented by wild birds and the Indians gathered along its shores feathers suitable for making their head dresses, hence the name.

Bishop is also the name of a mount, 9,300 feet high, in the Rockies, Alberta and British Columbia.

It was named after Col. W. A. Bishop, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., distinguished Canadian airman of the Great War.

Its origin is uncertain. It has been suggested that it was named after the Hon. Timothy Blair Pardee who was Commissioner of Crown Lands, 1873-’88. Others think it was named in honour of Hon. Adam Johnson Fergusson Blair who was Receiver-General and Provincial Secretary before Confederation, 1867.

It takes its name from the second title of the Dukes of Marlborough—Marquis of Blandford. Since 1702 this title has been borne by the eldest son of the Duke. The title was taken from the town of Blandford in Dorsetshire. The name occurs in Doomsday Book.

The fortunes of the Marlborough family were founded by John Churchill. History awards him great military talents but unscrupulous character. Queen Anne conferred on him a dukedom and great wealth for his victories over the French.

It was named in honour of Richard Blanshard, a director of the Canada Land Company. This Company of British capitalists, formed in 1825 by John Galt, bought at a nominal sum two and a half million acres of wild land in Upper Canada from the Family Compact government. The Company did much good work in the way of settlement but in some districts, especially in Huron[33] county, impeded colonization by holding lands for speculation.

It takes its name from Blenheim in Oxford County, England, the estate bestowed on John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, for his victory over the French and Bavarians at Blenheim in 1704. Half a million sterling was voted by parliament to erect a castle for the family on these grounds.

It took its name from Blithefield House, the home of the Bagot family in Staffordshire, England. Sir Charles Bagot was the popular governor of Canada when this township was erected.

Blomidon: majestic promontory extending into Minas Basin, 670 feet high, which forms the abrupt eastern termination of the north mountain chain, Kings County, Nova Scotia.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some authors state it is Portuguese. The Indian name for this wondrous Cape was Plekteok, meaning “a hand spike”, descriptive of its shape. Navigators of former days were fond of speaking of it by the name of Blow-me-down.

The first settlers, families by the name of McConnell and McBean, arrived in 1851. One Wm. Drummond came in 1853 and had the land surveyed into village lots. The[34] place was called Drummondville until 1876. By special act of the county council in that year it was incorporated as a village and took the name of Blyth after an English estate of that name which owned considerable land in and around the village.

The word was applied at first only to the double gateway connecting Sturgeon Lake to Pigeon Lake. It is Mississauga Indian, meaning “rocky portal”.

The name was given in honour of Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, 1836-’38. It was suggested by Joel Flesher Robinson, first Postmaster of the place and an ardent admirer of the Governor.

Sir Francis took up the reins of administration in Upper Canada when political discord was at its height. He was an opponent of responsible government and so lost the sympathy of a large section of the people of the Province. His hands may have been tied by the Home Colonial office. However, the Governor was not equal to the occasion and his administration was a failure.

It was named in honour of James Bonfield, M.P.P. for South Renfrew. Mr. Bonfield was a lumber merchant and was elected to the Legislature in 1875.

They were discovered by Captain Sir James Ross during his expedition of 1829-’33, and named by him after Sir Felix Booth who was chiefly instrumental in fitting out the expedition. Boothia is of great interest on account of its connection with Sir John Franklin’s expedition in which all hands perished after discovering the[35] North-west Passage. It is of scientific importance, too, because the north magnetic pole was first distinctly localized here by Ross, on the western side of the Island, in 70° 5′ N; 96° 47′ W.

Borden: island in Franklin district, and also of a glacier, coast district, B.C.

They are named in honour of Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. Borden is, too, the name of a point and town, lot 27, Prince Edward Island, named after Sir Robert in 1916.

It was so designated in honour of Charles Bosanquet, M.P., Great Britain, and first Governor of the Canada Land Company, organized in 1825. One tract of the Company’s grant of two and a half million acres was in Lambton county.

It was named after Dr. George Henry Boulter, M.P.P. for North Hastings, 1867-’75.

The Indians secured timber of excellent quality for “bow” making in this district, hence the name.

It was named after Charles Bowman who at one time owned most of the land on which the town is built. Bowmanville was incorporated as a town in 1858.

Brabant: harbour and island at the entrance to Mackenzie River, Mackenzie district.

It took its name from A. G. Brabant, fur commissioner, Hudson’s Bay Company. Mr. Brabant had charge of this district for several years.

Bracebridge: town in Muskoka district, Ontario, incorporated in 1887. Its early name was North Mills.

When the post office was opened its present name was given to the place by the Postmaster-General’s office at Ottawa. There is a town of Bracebridge near Lincoln, England, from which the name may have been taken. However, a post office was opened at McCabe’s Landing under the name of Gravenhurst about the same time Bracebridge office was opened and it is surmised that the names of both these Muskoka towns were taken from Washington Irving’s tale, “Bracebridge Hall.” See Gravenhurst.

It took its name from Bradford, Yorkshire, England. One of the pioneers of this district was Joel Flesher Robinson who had come from the vicinity of the English city and he suggested the name. It was officially recognized by the Post Office Department in 1850.

In Doomsday Book the name of the English city is written Bradeford, that is “broad ford”, presumably on the Aire River near by.

Brampton is a market town in Cumberland, England. It is picturesquely situated and rich in historical associations. Early settlers, doubtless, suggested the name of their old home. Henry Hawkins, Brampton, 1817-1909, was a distinguished member of the legal profession of Great Britain. His name is identified with many famous trials of the period.

The name Brandon House was given to a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post on the Assiniboine River, seventeen miles from the present city, in 1794. The Douglas family, of which the Duke of Brandon, Suffolk[37] county, England, was a member, held one-third of the stock of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The county of Brant and the city of Brantford, Ontario, are named after Joseph Brant (Thayendanaga), the Mohawk chief, 1742-1807, leader of the Six Nation Indians. They were accustomed to cross the Grand River in the vicinity of the site of the present city, hence Brant’s ford, now written, Brantford. Brant was an ally of the English in the revolutionary war of 1775-’83. For his services he was granted for his people a territory on the Grand River, six miles in width from its source to its mouth. He was a Christian and greatly respected by all. Brant translated the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mohawk language.

Mohawk is an Algonquin word and means “cannibal”. It was applied to this Iroquois tribe by their enemies. The name by which the Mohawks called themselves was Caniengas, i.e., “People-at-the-Flint”. Vide The Iroquois Book of Rites by H. Hale.

Brantford and environs are of much historic interest. They are associated with a great Indian migration; the storied Mohawk church; Pauline Johnson, Indian poetess; Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, and several distinguished statesmen.

The origin of the term is uncertain. Some writers derive it from the French bras d’or, or d’eau, “the arm of gold”, or water, descriptive of the configuration of the shore or of the mines of the precious metal which the early explorers supposed it to contain. Other authorities give Le Lac de Labrador, meaning “the lake of the labourer”. This name is found on early maps and it is the more likely origin. It is said that the early Spanish and[38] Portuguese navigators carried off the natives of these shores to labour in their home lands.

It was named after Brighton village in the same county, settled at an earlier date. The village was named after the famous watering place in Sussex, England, because of its long beach extending into Lake Ontario. The word Brighton is an abbreviation of Brighthelmstone, derived from Brighthelm, the name of a Saxon Bishop who resided there and the Anglo-Saxon suffix stan meaning “most noble” or “highest”.

British Columbia: province of Canada, so named in honour of Christopher Columbus, commonly called the discoverer of the New World, 1492.

By 1805 the region between the 49th and 60th parallels of latitude, and the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on the west, was called New Caledonia. A few years before Confederation (1867), Vancouver Island was annexed to the mainland by act of the Imperial Parliament, and the united colonies became the province of British Columbia on the suggestion of Queen Victoria to whom an appeal for a name had been made. New Caledonia was discarded because it was borne by a colony or island in the south Pacific belonging to France.

Caledonia was the Roman name for Scotland. It is still so used in poetry. It is a Latin word applied to a blue or greenish blue mineral, sulphate of lead and copper, found in Scotland.

Brock and Brockville: The township of Brock, Ontario county, Ontario, erected in 1817, and the large town of Brockville, Leeds county, Ontario, are named in honour[39] of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock who fell in defence of Canada at Queenston, October 13, 1812.

For his brilliant capture of Detroit on August 16th of the same year King George III. knighted Brock, but he was in his grave before the news reached Canada. The King took a novel way of informing the Hero of Upper Canada of the honour conferred on him. He sent him a very large and beautifully executed gold medal, made to suspend from the neck. On the obverse is “Detroit” exquisitely engraved; on the reverse, the figure of Britannia, and round the rim “Major-General Sir Isaac Brock”. In the summer of 1913, when the writer saw this medal it was in the possession of the Misses Tupper of Guernsey, great-nieces of Sir Isaac.

Isaac Brock was the eighth son of John Brock, Esq., who had a family of ten sons and four daughters. He was born on October 6th, 1769, in the parish of St. Peter Port, Guernsey—the year which gave birth to Wellington and Napoleon. The old home of the family is still standing, a large, well-constructed brick house, but one hundred years after the battle of Queenston not one descendant of the surname Brock was living.

The boy Brock chose the military profession for his career and became an ensign in the King’s Regiment in his sixteenth year. Promotion followed promotion until he became a Major-General on the 4th of June, 1811. Canada holds him in the highest esteem not only as an able and meritorious officer but as a man of the finest moral fibre.

In acknowledgment of the inestimable services of Sir Isaac the Imperial Parliament granted the family 12,000 acres of land, largely in Oxford county, Ontario, and a pension of £200 a year for life to each of his surviving brothers.

Several monuments have been erected in Canada in Sir Isaac Brock’s memory, the most impressive of which stands on Queenston Heights near the spot where he fell. Besides the memorial in Westminster Abbey, very recently the citizens of Guernsey built a special chapel to his memory in the Thirteenth Century Church of St. Peter Port.

The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is probably named after Brome, Suffolk county, England. Three distinguished Englishmen of that name lived in the 17th century.

It took its name from Bagot’s Bromley, the chief residence of the Bagot family, situated in Stafford county, England. Sir Charles Bagot, a member of this family, was Governor of Canada, 1842-’43.

It was named in honour of the Hon. E. H. Bronson, M.P.P. for Ottawa, 1886-1898. He was a member of the Cabinet, without portfolio, from 1890 to 1898.

Bronte: pleasant and thriving village situated on Lake Ontario, Halton county, Ontario. The district was settled by U.E. Loyalists.

The village was named in honour of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson who fell in the hour of victory at Trafalgar, 1805. The title Duke of Bronte was conferred on him by Ferdinand IV. of the former Neapolitan Kingdom for services rendered during state troubles when Nelson’s command was stationed in the Mediterranean. The title[41] was taken from the picturesque town of Bronte in Sicily.

It may have been named after Sir James Brooke, the aggressive Rajah of Sarawak at this period. On the other hand Warwick township in this county was constituted in the same year and it is probable it was so named after one of Warwick’s titles, Baron Brooke.

It was named in honour of Henry, Lord Brougham, 1778-1868. He achieved distinction in law, statesmanship, education and literature. The village of Brougham and Brougham Hall are in Westmoreland county, England.

It was named in honour of the Hon. George Brown, 1818-’80. He was the founder of the Toronto Globe newspaper, leader of the Reform Party in Upper Canada, and member of the Canadian Assembly for sixteen years. Mr. Brown ardently supported with pen and voice the great movement in Canada in favour of representation by population, responsible government and the confederation of the British North American provinces into the Dominion of Canada. He was called to the Senate in 1873. A statue was erected by subscription to his memory in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

Bruce: county, Ontario, organized in 1849, and township in this county named in 1850.

Both were named in honour of James Bruce, eighth Earl of Elgin and twelfth Earl of Kincardine. He was Governor of Canada from 1846 to 1855. During his[42] régime responsible government was firmly established. The “Clergy Reserves” were secularized, Seigniorial Tenure in Lower Canada was abolished, and a Reciprocity Treaty between Canada and the United States was arranged, which provided for the free exchange of the products of the sea, the soil, the forest and the mine for ten years from 1854. In all these matters history accords Lord Elgin great tact and wisdom.

The Bruce family is of Norman origin. After the battle of Hastings, 1066, William the Norman Conqueror sent his knight aide-de-camp, Robert le Brus, to reduce northern England to submission. He did his destructive mission so well that he was lavishly rewarded with titles and estates.

They are named after Champlain’s famous interpreter and explorer, Etienne Brulé. So far as history records, he was the first white man to have gazed on the waters of three of the Great Lakes, Huron, Ontario, and Superior. In 1634 he was clubbed and eaten by the treacherous Hurons near Penetanguishene, Ontario. His name is preserved, too, in Brulé Cape, Montmorency county, Quebec. There is also a point near the mouth of the Humber River, Ontario, named after Brulé. It is supposed to be the spot on which he and his Indian guides camped on their way south in 1615 to arrange an alliance for Champlain with the tribes of the Susquehanna against the Iroquois.

It was named in honour of James Thomas Brundenell, seventh Earl of Cardigan, 1797-1868. Although he was[43] a member of the House of Commons for many years before succeeding his father in the Lords, his chief occupation was soldiering. By 1830 he was Colonel of the 15th Hussars. When the Crimean War, 1854-’56, broke out he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. He led the Six Hundred in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, October 25, 1854, which Tennyson immortalized in verse.

It was named in honour of I. K. Brunel, a civil engineer of note. He was engineer-in-chief of the Great Western Railway in England. Mr. Brunel constructed the first steamship that regularly traversed the Atlantic Ocean.

Bruton: The township of Bruton, organized in 1862, is in Haliburton district, Ontario.

It took its name from the town of Bruton, Somerset county, England. In the churchyard of this English town is the grave of Robinson Crusoe (Alexander Selkirk), and near by the town stands a tower in memory of Alfred the Great. The memorial marks the site of Alfred’s first great battle with the Danish invaders.

Some authors attribute the honour of the origin of its name to the Hon. Isaac Buchanan who was member of Parliament for Toronto, 1841-’44, and for Hamilton, 1858-’64. Other authorities state it was named after George Buchanan of Arnprior. He led some of the Clan Buchanan to Canada and was a prominent man in the Arnprior district.

It was named in honour of General Sir Redvers Buller who died in 1908. He was conspicuous in the Boer War in South Africa, 1899-1902.

It took its name from Burford, a town in Oxfordshire, England. This is another instance of the fondness of the first settlers for the name of their old home.

It was named in honour of Rev. Thomas Burgess, a personal friend of Premier Addington, by whom he was appointed Bishop of Salisbury, England. The Bishop was a voluminous writer on many subjects including theology and slavery.

Its former appellation of Yea had been, no doubt, a humorous suggestion. It owes its present name in all probability to William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth’s peerless statesman. In the County of Kinross, Scotland, are the ruins of Burleigh Castle.

Burlington: bay, beach, heights, and town in Wentworth and Halton counties, Ontario.

In all probability they were named after Bridlington, corrupted into Burlington, a town twenty-three miles north of Hull, Yorkshire, England, which has a fine beach and is a favourite watering-place for the north country people.

Chief Joseph Brant on one of his visits to England to confer with King George III. over some grievance of his people, the Six Nation Indians, was presented to His[45] Majesty at Windsor by the Duke of Wellington. On his return Brant called the 3,000 acres in the form of a square granted to him by the Government in the vicinity of Burlington by the name of Wellington Square. This was the original home of the village which was later changed to Burlington.

It was named after Robert Easton Burns, son of the Rev. John Burns, one of the early Presbyterian ministers in Upper Canada. Young Robert chose the legal profession and was appointed to the Bench in 1850.

Burpee: township in Parry Sound district, organized in 1876, and Burpee township in Manitoulin Island, organized in 1875, both in Ontario.

They were named in honour of Hon. Isaac Burpee, Minister of Customs in the Alexander Mackenzie Government, 1874-’78. The explanation of this duplication is that the mainland, Parry Sound, was organized by the Crown Lands Department of Ontario, and Manitoulin was in charge of the Indian Department of the Dominion Government.

The Burpee family was of Huguenot descent. They came from France to England in 1570, and to Massachusetts in 1642 with the Puritans, and to New Brunswick in 1763. Mr. Isaac Burpee represented St. John, N.B., in Parliament.

Burritt’s Rapids: picturesque village situated on the Rideau Canal, Grenville county, Ontario. It possesses good water power.

The place was called after Daniel Burritt, U.E.L., who with his five sons settled here in 1784.

The Burritts were an old military family and many war stories have been told about them. In the family[46] possession is a cannon ball which, during the War of 1812-’14, left Ogdensburg on an unfriendly visit and entered the British officers’ mess at Prescott, where it made short work of the breakfast table. Colonel Daniel Burritt, son of the founder of the family in Ontario, ordered the ball back through a British cannon with his compliments. The ball struck the court house at Ogdensburg on its return trip and was preserved as a souvenir.

After the war, when the two towns on either side of the St. Lawrence were friendly again, the cannon ball was given to one of Col. Burritt’s family, Dr. W. H. Burritt, a grandson of Daniel Burritt, who practised medicine for many years at Smith’s Falls and later at Peterborough, where he died in 1886.

It was named after Hon. Sir George William Burton. He came from England to Canada at the age of eighteen years and at once took up the study of law. He practised law in Hamilton, Ontario, for many years. He was made Chief-Justice in 1897 and knighted also the same year.

It was named in honour of Isaac Butt, Q.C., M.P., Ireland. Mr. Butt was an eminent member of the Irish legal profession, and an author of note. He wrote a history of the Kingdom of Italy in two volumes.

It was named after General Sir J. H. G. Byng, one of the Commanders of the Canadian Army Corps in the Great War, 1914-’18. He was Governor-General of Canada, 1921-’26.

Cabot: canton or political division of the county of Matane, Quebec, erected in 1865.

It was named in memory of John Cabot, the celebrated navigator, who discovered the mainland of the New World, Labrador, Newfoundland, Cape Breton, in 1497. The next year he and his son, Sebastian, visited these shores again and followed the coast line southwards to Cape Cod. They were the first, perhaps, that knew a new continent had been discovered.

The Cabots were a Venetian family who had moved to England and settled in Bristol. The father, John Cabot, was naturalized in 1476. Having obtained from Henry VII. letters-patent directing him to conquer, occupy and possess for England all new lands he might find, he sailed westward from Bristol in the spring of 1497. Four hundred years later, 1897, the Royal Society of Canada erected a commemorative tablet in honour of John Cabot in the public hall, Halifax, N.S. Newfoundland has also erected a memorial Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, The Narrows, harbour of St. John’s.

[2]
What matters it if on the stormy shore
Of wild Newfoundland or stern Labrador
His foot first fell, or on Cape Breton’s strand?
The dauntless sailor somewhere hit the land!
And where is he who gave a realm to these
Large heirs of Freedom, rulers of the seas?
What recompense was his? What high acclaim?
An unknown grave, a half-forgotten name!
But, no! The hour is ripe; its tumult stills
Whilst Canada her sacred task fulfils,
At last the triumph sounds, the laurels twine,
And incense burns at Cabot’s matchless shrine!
—Charles Mair.

Cacouna: a favourite summer resort, south bank of St. Lawrence River, Temiscouata county, Quebec.

It is derived from two Algonquin Indian words which mean “the abode of the porcupine”, rather a misnomer for the watering-place of to-day.

It is named after Caistor in Lincoln county, England. The stronghold of Caistor was built by Hengist, the Saxon. The original name was Thongcaistor. The territory contained as much land as could be encircled by an ox’s hide cut into small thongs. The word is derived from Anglo-Saxon thwang, “a thong or small string of leather”, and probably, castel, “a camp”.

Caledon: township, Peel county, Ontario, erected in 1819, and Caledonia township, Prescott county, Ontario, erected in 1810, called after the name given by the Romans to the northern part of Scotland. Caledonia is now the poetical name for all Scotland. The origin of the term Caledonia is uncertain. It is probably derived from the Latin verb celo, celare, to conceal. The Caledonians were those who concealed themselves in woody shelters.

It took its name from a town in the island of Mull, Scotland. The name was suggested by Colonel James Farquharson MacLeod, R.N.W.M. Police, in 1876, after his old home town. The word Calgary is Gaelic. Its origin is uncertain. The word is generally stated to mean “clear running water”.

It is an Indian word meaning pipestone, a good quality of stone for Indian pipes was found there. There are also a peak and creek of the same name in Jasper Park, Alberta.

At the foot of Calumet island a mouldering wooden cross marks the lonely grave of the heroic French voyageur, Cadieux. His “Lament”, written as he lay dying in the grave made by himself, is a touching French-Canadian song. See Edgar’s Canada and its Capital.

It is named after Cambrai in French Flanders, captured by Canadian troops in 1918.

It was named in honour of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, son of King George III. The title is taken from the town of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. This town is celebrated for its ancient University.

In James I.’s reign a rich hackney man by the name of Hobson presented his town of Cambridge with a fountain of water, still flowing. His habit of letting out his horses in rotation gave rise to the expression, “Hobson’s choice,” this or none.

It was named in honour of Charles Pratt, Earl Camden, 1714-’94, of Devonshire, England. He won distinction in his profession of law and became Attorney-General under Lord Chatham. In Parliament Camden strongly opposed the taxation of the English colonies in America.

Camden East is also the name of a picturesque village in this township. Here the distinguished litterateur, Sir Gilbert Parker, was born. One of his poems commemorates the old home—

Most authorities state it was named after Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron, a distinguished member of the Canadian Bar. He was a member of the Ontario Legislature for many years, and Provincial Secretary and Commissioner of Crown Lands in the John Sandfield Macdonald Government. In 1878 he was appointed to the Bench. Mr. Cameron was knighted in 1887, and died the same year.

The honour is generally attributed to Sir Alexander Campbell, 1821-’92. He was born in Yorkshire, England, came to Canada at an early age, and studied law with Sir John A. Macdonald at Kingston, Ontario. Mr. Campbell achieved distinction in both the Ontario Legislature and the Dominion Parliament. He was knighted on May 24, 1879, and appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario in 1887, which office he held until his death.

It was named in 1770 by Captain William Owen to whom a large part of the island had been granted. The name is said to have been given partly as a pun on the name of the Governor Lord William Campbell, and partly as descriptive of the island (Latin campus, a camping-ground, and bellus, beautiful).

Canada. The derivation generally accepted of our country’s name is the Iroquois word Kanata or Kanada, meaning “a cabin, a lodge”. The name made its first recorded appearance in Cartier’s account of his second voyage in 1535. The native Gaspé guides that he took on board before entering the unknown river informed[51] him that the country thereabout was divided into three sections; namely, the Saguenay territory extending from the Isle of Anticosti to the Isle Aux Coudres; next Canada extending from Coudres to Hochelaga, and the last territory, beyond Hochelaga, they reported richest and best of all. The name Canada was used by Cartier’s Indian guides to describe the territory where there were clusters of cabins, the section in which the natives had constructed somewhat permanent homes.

If the Iroquois word be accepted as the correct derivation, therein lies a mystery. The earliest records of Canada state the Algonquins occupied all the country from the Atlantic seaboard to Lake Ontario. The Algonquin word for a settlement is Odanah. Is our spelling of Canada a corruption of this word? On the other hand Cartier used other Iroquois words in his account of the voyage. It may be that the Iroquois occupied the Lower St. Lawrence in common with the Algonquins at a still earlier period and left traces of their language behind.

R. P. Arnaud, Indian scholar, states the word Canada is derived from a Montagnais idiom signifying étranger (French), that is “foreign parts”, “unknown country”. The Montagnais dwelt in the Saguenay district.

In his geography published in 1760 Thomas Jefferys has given the meaning, can “the country” and ada, “mouth”, “the mouth of the country”, in allusion to the great river called ‘Canada’ by some early writers, now the St. Lawrence.

Some trace the words Canada and canyon or cañon to the same Spanish origin, caña, “a reed”, of which cañada is a derivative and cañon an augmentative, meaning “the beautiful glen or vale”, the beaupré of the French, descriptive of much of the St. Lawrence valley.

There is a tradition that the name originated with Spanish explorers who failed to find gold mines here and described the country by the Spanish phrase, Aca nada, aca meaning “here”, and nada, “nothing”.

Katharine Livingstone Macpherson of Montreal has embalmed this traditional origin in a poem, the first stanza of which is:

Long ago a band of seamen
Left behind the coast of Spain,
Drove their craft through gale and spindrift,
Sailed the storm-swept, trackless main;
Sternly sought an Eldorado
Where the northern cliffs uprear,
Fondly hailing Hope’s bright vision
Gold the only guerdon dear. . .
Reckless flung a tropic halyard,
“Aca Nada!” nothing here.

Canard: village and brook in King’s county, N.S.; a village and river in Essex county, Ontario.

It takes its name from the Canby family who were granted land in this district by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe.

The name was suggested by Sir Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario, in remembrance of the old home of the Mowat family at Canisbay in Caithness, Scotland.

The first settlers located here in 1820. Among them was the McCaskill family and the place was known by the[53] name of McCaskill’s Mills until 1834 when it received its present name.

Cannington was named in honour of the Honourable George Canning, statesman and orator, born in London, England, in 1770 and died there in 1827. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and entered parliament in 1794. Mr. Canning was twice secretary of foreign affairs and also served as prime minister. When he came into power opposition to Napoleon seemed almost hopeless. By the vigour and breadth of his mind he gave new colour to the war and soon turned the tide against the French despot.

Canning was intensely British and a devoted adherent of Pitt. When he died he was buried near Pitt’s tomb in Westminster Abbey.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It is said that a Frenchman by the name of Canonto was a prominent resident at the time of the township’s organization.

The origin of the name is disputed. Haliburton derives the word from Spanish ganso, “a goose”; Band says the word is Indian, meaning “opposite lofty hills”. Some writers trace it to the French campseau, “a common resort for ships in these waters”.

Capreol: township and enterprising town in Sudbury district, Ontario. The town was incorporated in 1918. It is the centre of a rich mineral area. Transportation facilities are well provided by the Canadian National Railway.

The town site was laid out in 1913 by C. T. Young, of Toronto. Its name was suggested by Sir William MacKenzie and Sir Donald Mann, builders of the[54] Canadian Northern Railway, now incorporated in the Canadian National system, in honour of Frederick Chase Capreol, Civil Engineer. He projected the Canadian Northern Railway and the Huron and Ontario Ship Canal. Mr. Capreol was a man of much public spirit.

It is said to take its name from Caer Caradoc, or Mount of Caractacus, in Shropshire, England. On the top of this hill are still to be seen the remains of an old British camp. History tells us that in A.D. 53 the British King Caractacus was defeated here by the Roman legions.

Carden is a distinguished surname in British naval history. It is probably named in honour of Captain Carden who was complimented for his services during the battle of Corunna in 1809.

It was named after the town of Cardiff in Glamorganshire, Wales. The town was once surrounded by a wall, the remains of which may still be seen. In the Castle of Cardiff King Henry I. imprisoned his brother Robert, Duke of Normandy, from 1106 till his death in 1132.

It was named after Charles Ora Card, first president of the Mormon Church in Canada. The Mormons have built a beautiful temple here on the same architectural lines as the one in Salt Lake City.

It was named in honour of Edward Viscount Cardwell, a distinguished parliamentarian of England. He was Secretary of the Colonies 1864-’66. In 1868 he became Secretary of State for War.

Cargill: village in Bruce county, Ontario, nine miles from Walkerton, on the C.N.R.

The first settlers brought the name with them from their old home in the parish and village of Cargill, Perthshire, Scotland. The parish contains burial mounds and other Caledonian remains. There are traces, too, of Roman camps, military roads and aqueducts.

An early form of the word is Carghill. The word is probably derived from Gaelic càrr gill (genitive of geall), meaning “rock of the pledge”.

The word is another form of Caribou, so common in Canada as a place-name. It is of French origin and was given to a species of Arctic reindeer, hence the place frequented by the caribou.

Carillon: village situated on the Ottawa River, Argenteuil county, Quebec, and Falls near by on the same river where it marks the interprovincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec. It is estimated that the Carillon Falls is capable of producing 1,000,000 of water horse-power.

The Carillon Falls or Rapids is the Long Sault of historical memory. In 1660 in this vicinity Daulac (Dollard) and his company of sixteen young Frenchmen wrote the most thrilling page in all Canadian history and saved the French settlements on the St. Lawrence from utter ruin. The site of their fight with the Iroquois is disputed. Opposite Carillon is Point Fortune and some claim the Algonquin fort, the scene of the conflict, was on a knoll[56] about a mile above this village. Others maintain it was in Carillon and in the heart of this village a monument has been erected in commemoration of the heroic band by the St. Jean Baptiste Society.

The village took its name from an officer of the famous Regiment de Carignan named Carrion who obtained a grant of land on the Lake of Two Mountains from the French government in 1670. Apparently by an error in transcription Carrion became Carillon.

Carillon, a French word (pronounced car-i-yon) means “musical bells”. A carillon is not, however, just a set of chimes. It is a set of bells accurately tuned in regular half-tone intervals, forming a complete chromatic scale, with a compass of three or four octaves and upward, the bells fixed immovably and rung by clappers controlled from a keyboard, the whole being suitably arranged for artistic purposes in a bell tower. The Carillon of fifty-three bells installed in the Victory Memorial Tower, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, and rung for the first time on July 1st, 1927, is the largest of its kind in the world. There are several carillons in Canada, two in Toronto, one in Guelph, one in Simcoe.

It was on the foregoing date that Col. Charles A. Lindberg, the lone eagle of the Atlantic, flew the “Spirit of St. Louis”, accompanied by an escort of twelve planes, from Detroit to Ottawa to carry a message of good-will from the United States to Canada celebrating her Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.

It was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, 1724-1808. He was with General Wolfe in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. In 1774 Carleton saved Canada for the British Empire by defeating Montgomery and Arnold at Quebec. He was Governor-General[57] of Canada from 1786 till 1796. Carleton county, N.B., was also named in Sir Guy’s honour.

It took its name from the Hon. Sir John Carling, of London, Ontario. For many years Mr. Carling was a member of the Ontario Legislature and the Dominion House of Commons. He was Minister of Agriculture for Canada, 1885-’92.

It was named after Carlow, a town and a county in South Ireland, now known as the Irish Free State. It was formerly the scene of frequent strife between the Irish and the English.

Carman: town in Manitoba, served by both the C.P.R. and C.N.R., about fifty-five miles south-west of Winnipeg. It is the centre of a good wheat-growing district.

The place was named in honour of the Rev. Albert Carman, M.A., D.D., LL.D., 1833-1917, sometime Chancellor of Albert College, Belleville, Ontario; Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, 1874-’83; General Superintendent of The Methodist Church in Canada from 1883 till the eve of his death.

Dr. Carman was a forceful, eloquent speaker and a great preacher. He was of U.E. Loyalist descent and possessed in a high degree the fine characteristics of these pioneer patriots of Canada.

The first inhabitant of the town-site of Carman was W. G. Livingston who homesteaded in 1876. He was dispossessed, however, by W. A. Farmer who set up a prior claim. About 1882 the question arose about a permanent name for the infant town. Two names were proposed,[58] Carman and Hazeldeen. A vote of the residents was taken and Carman was the choice of the majority.

It was named in honour of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, 1831-’90. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies at this period, and introduced and carried through the Imperial Parliament the B.N.A. Act of 1867. The title of the family was taken from the county of Carnarvon in Wales.

It was named after Carrick in Ayrshire, Scotland. Once when Robert Bruce was in seclusion in Arran he mistook an accidental fire on the Carrick coast for an appointed signal and crossed over the sea to attempt to regain the freedom of Scotland.

It was named in honour of Hon. Richard Cartwright who settled at Kingston about 1790. He was a member of the Executive Council of Upper Canada. Mr. Cartwright died in 1815. In both his public and private life he was held in high esteem. Sir Richard Cartwright, at one time Minister of Trade and Commerce for Canada, was his grandson. The village of Cartwright in Manitoba, founded in 1882, was named after him. Sir Richard owned the town site at that time.

It was named after the town of Cashel, Tipperary county, Free State, Ireland. Just outside this city is a famous rock covered with the ruins of churches and[59] castles. The word Cashel is derived from Carsiol, meaning “the habitation in the rock”.

The word is Indian in origin, a corruption of kasha or kaska, meaning “a creek”. The district contains many streams of water.

James White, F.R.S.C., in Place Names—Northern Canada, states Kaska is the name applied collectively to two Indian tribes living eastward of the Stikine River.

Castelneau: mount, 9,800 feet, and also a glacier in British Columbia. They are named in honour of a French general in the Great War, 1914-’18.

Cataraqui: river flowing into the St. Lawrence River at Kingston, Frontenac county, Ontario.

Cataraqui is Iroquois, meaning “where river and lake meet”, applied originally only to the mouth of the tributary. Here in July, 1673, Frontenac and his 400 French officers and soldiers, in glittering arms, met the Iroquois chiefs in friendly council and secured their consent to the construction of a storehouse and fort at this strategic point.

It took its name from the county of Cavan, Free State, Ireland, from where most of its early settlers came. The word Cavan is said to be derived from the geographic term “cave”.

It was named after an Englishman, Henry Cavendish, 1731-1810. Dr. Cavendish was a scholar of high attainments and excellence of character. He measured the[60] density of the earth, and discovered the composition of water.

It is of Indian origin, gwa ugwck, meaning “where they take the boats out”, the portage or carrying-place. The Cayuga Indians were granted lands adjacent to the Grand River by Governor Haldimand. Cayuga is also the name of a township in Haldimand county, erected in 1835.

It is a French word meaning “heat”. The bay was named “la baye de Chaleur” by Cartier who visited it in July, 1534. He and his sailors found the heat here oppressive, hence the name. Many map-makers have printed this name, Bay of Chaleurs.

Chambly: county in Quebec, and two picturesque and pleasant villages (Chambly Basin and Chambly Canton) about one mile apart and fifteen or sixteen miles from Montreal.

They are named after Captain Jacques de Chambly, an officer in the famous Carignan Regiment, who constructed a fort here (Chambly Canton) in 1665, the remains of which form one of Canada’s historic piles. In 1672 Intendant Bagot conferred a seigniory in this district on Captain Chambly which he named after himself. The surname Chambly is evidently derived from the French phrase champ de blé, “the field of grain”.

Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635) was already an eminent French navigator when he was commissioned in 1603 by Henry IV. of France to make settlements in[61] North America. He founded Quebec in 1608 and devoted the rest of his life to the welfare of New France or Canada. Not only did he strive to plant a permanent colony here for his king and country but he longed to spread the Gospel of Jesus among the aborigines. To this end he secured the coming of the first missionaries, the Recollets, to the Indians in Canada. The story of his life is one of the purest in all history. Champlain was a man. His name is still an inspiration perpetuated in the Champlain Society of Canada.

Charleston: picturesque village and lake in Leeds county, Ontario, widely known as a charming summer resort. On visiting these waters Keats’ lines in his poem Endymion, opening with “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” are at once recalled.

At the close of the War of Independence waged between England and her Thirteen Colonies of America, 1775-’83, many U.E. Loyalists sought a new home in Canada. Several families settled in the neighbourhood of this beautiful lake and doubtless christened it Charleston, after the old home town of Charlestown [incorporated with Boston in 1874], Massachusetts, or in memory of Sir Henry Clinton’s brilliant capture of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780, so heartening at the time to their cause.

Charlestown was founded in 1629 and named in honour of King Charles I. Charleston was founded in 1670 and named in honour of King Charles II.

It was named in honour of the celebrated Jesuit Father Charlevoix who resided in Canada for some years. He wrote an estimable history of New France.

Charlottetown: the capital of Prince Edward Island. It is the only city in the island.

It was named in honour of Queen Charlotte, the consort of King George III. She was the daughter of Charles Louis, Duke of Mechlinburg. Queen Charlotte died in 1818, leaving nine sons and six daughters. The Micmac Indian name is Booksak, meaning “narrow passage between cliffs”.

In 1673 Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil received the grant of a seigniory in New France from the French Government. He named it Chateauguay after a commune of this name in France. On October 26th, 1813, the Canadian militia 1,000 strong, under Col. de Salaberry, defeated an American army, 7,000 strong, under General Hampton, on the bank of the Chateauguay River.

Chatham: city, county town of Kent county, Ontario, founded by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in 1795. In that year he set apart 600 acres there for a town plot.

There is also a town by the name of Chatham on the Miramichi River, New Brunswick.

Chats: lake, island, falls, river Ottawa. The falls possess great potential hydro-electric power. The governments of Ontario and Quebec are considering their joint development.

The name is French for “cats”. The neighbouring forest was formerly the home of great numbers of wild cats (lynx), rats and raccoons.

The word is French, meaning “pot or big kettle, full of boiling water”, descriptive of the appearance of tumbling, foaming water, according to some authorities.

“The name, (Chaudière) which is to be found over the whole country, (Canada) is derived not from any supposed resemblance[63] to the boiling of a kettle, but from the shape into which the perpetual eddy of the torrent moulds the stones. In the Chaudière Falls on the Ottawa, for instance, there is a countless number of these water-worn cauldrons.”

Sir George Simpson in A Journey Round the World.

The word is a corruption of Micmac Sedabooktook, meaning “a bay running far back”.

Cheltenham: village in Peel county, Ontario. It was founded in 1819 by Charles Haines, millwright, native of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, who built a flour-mill here on the River Credit.

Its English namesake is situated on the River Chelt, an affluent of the Severn, and is famed for its mineral springs and educational advantages. The name is derived from Chelt and old English hamme, “an enclosure” meaning “an enclosure on the River Chelt”. Chelt is derived from the Roman celtae, people who hide in the forest.

It was named after Mr. John Chidley of the town of Chidley, Devon county, England, by his friend the navigator Davis, in 1587. Chidley was also a navigator and commanded an expedition in search of the South Pole. Chidley in England is now spelled Chudleigh.

It is a Micmac Indian word meaning “foot cloth”, referring evidently to the outline of the bay.

The first white settlers arrived in 1862 and adopted the Indian name of the district. The word is derived from chill-a-whaak, meaning “the valley of many waters”, descriptive of the many small mountain streams. This information was received from Wilfred H. Kipp, Postmaster of[64] the city, whose father and uncle were among the first white settlers.

The name is a corruption of the Indian term Shing-wark-ous-e-ka, meaning “where young pines grow”. There was a noted Christian Chippewa chief named Shinguacose, “The Small Pine”, who assisted the British in the taking of Fort Michillimackinac in 1812. He was the son of a Scotch officer by a Chippewa squaw.

Chipewyan: lakes, river, and Hudson’s Bay Company post and settlement in Alberta.

They are named after a Cree Indian tribe. The word means “pointed skins”, hence applied to the people who wear them.

Chippewa and Objibway seem to be different spellings of the same Indian words compounded, adji, “voice”, and bwa, “gathering up”, that is “a windy fellow”. The Objibways and the Mississaugas are both called by different writers Chippeways. These tribes occupied the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron, but frequented southern Ontario also. Their totem was the loon and bear.

Chippewa was formerly the Canadian terminus of an important ferry service and the southerly end of the Queenston-Chippewa portage. Recently an engineering feat has been performed on Chippewa creek (Welland River), which heretofore flowed into the Niagara River, by which it has been turned around and made to flow for four and a half miles into the new hydro-electric power canal.

On the 5th of July, 1814, an engagement took place at Chippewa between the Americans, 4,000 strong, and a Canadian force of 2,000. The Canadians were forced to retreat, but on the 26th of July, having been reinforced by 800 men, the Canadians defeated the Americans in the ever-memorable battle of Lundy’s Lane.

Chippewa is also the name of Fort William’s beautiful Park of three hundred acres. It comprises part of an ancient Chippewa Indian reserve and is almost virgin forest.

It was named in honour of Kenneth Chisholm, M.P.P. for Peel county. He was born in Toronto township, Peel county, in 1830, and was first elected to the Legislature in 1873. His ancestors were from Inverness, Scotland.

It took its name from Robert Christie, Inspector of Asylums for the Province. His father, Rev. Robert Christie, was a missionary to Canada from the old Secession Church, Scotland.

Churchill: river in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, emptying into Hudson Bay; a lake at the head of the river, and a trading post at the mouth of the river. The port of Churchill possesses a fine natural harbour and has become the northern terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway.

The river, lake and post were named in honour of John Churchill (1650-1722), first Duke of Marlborough, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1685-’91.

English because the English traders ascended it to trade with the Indians; Beaver, from the numerous beaver on it at one time; Missinipi, the Indian name meaning “great water”.

It took its name from Patrick Clancy who was an effective member of the Legislature from 1883 to 1894. At a later date Mr. Clancy represented Bothwell Riding in the House of Commons.

The origin of the name is unknown. All enquiries among old residents and elsewhere have proved futile. It may have been named in honour of a local lady to whom the surveyor was indebted for kindnesses. Tennyson’s Clara has been suggested. Atmospheric conditions may have appealed to the surveying party—aura clara—clear air.

It took its name from Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, afterward King William IV. This king reigned from 1830 to 1837. He was a son of George III. He joined the navy in his youth and most of his life was spent on the sea. He was a great favourite with his people. The sailor King “walked in London streets with his umbrella under his arm and frankly shook hands with old acquaintances.”

It was named in honour of George William Frederick Villiers, fourth Earl of Clarendon, 1800-’70. He was a distinguished parliamentarian, having been three times Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

The title of the family was derived from Clarendon Park near Salisbury. Here Henry II., in 1164, called together the Peers and Prelates of the Realm in council. They enacted the “Constitution of Clarendon”, which made the clergy subject to the civil courts. The opposition of Thomas à Becket led to his murder in Canterbury Cathedral.

It was named after Major-General Alured Clarke, Lieut.-Governor of Lower Canada at this period. The name was, doubtless, suggested by his friend Simcoe who was then Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada. Clarke achieved distinction both as an administrator and a soldier. He held the rank of field-marshal in the army when he died in 1832.

The name was derived from Glimpton in Oxford, England. This manor was conferred by William the Conqueror on one of his followers. Several members of the Clinton family rose to high rank in the army. This township was probably named after Sir Henry Clinton. He was commander, for several years, of the British forces in the war of independence with the United States of America. History awarded him both high praise and bitter criticism for his part therein.

Clinton is also the name of a town in Huron county, Ontario. Tradition says the name was suggested by Mr. William Rattenbury, one of the earliest settlers, who came about 1880 from the estate of the Earl of Clinton in Devonshire, England, in honour of this nobleman.

It is derived from two Abenakis Indian words, koa, pine, and tegw, a river, that is “the pine river”. When it received its name the banks were studded with stately pine trees. Coaticook is also the name of a town on the banks of the river in Stanstead county.

It took its name from the metal, cobalt, found in abundance in this locality in conjunction with other valuable metals.

The word is a corruption of the Indian term kakapikang, meaning “high fall”, according to Dr. G. M. Grant. Others translate it by “swift water”, which obtained there before the mill-dam was erected for industrial purposes. There is a fall, too, on the stream.

Cobourg: town beautifully situated on “old Ontario’s strand” in Northumberland county, Ontario. Its village name was Amherst in honour of General Jeffrey Amherst, Commander-in-Chief at the taking of Louisburg in 1758.

The name of Amherst gave way to Cobourg on the announcement that Queen Victoria was to marry the Prince of Coburg-Gotha. The spelling of the town’s name has been enlarged since then to Cobourg.

For many years Cobourg was a University town. Upper Canada Academy was founded here in 1832. In 1841 it was erected into the University of Victoria College by an Act of Incorporation obtained from the Legislature of United Canada. In 1892 Victoria federated with the Provincial University and removed to Toronto.

The word is of French origin. It means “plenty, abundance of life’s necessities”.

Cochrane: town in Temiskaming district, Ontario, incorporated in 1909. It is the northern terminus of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, the point where this railway connects with Canadian National Railways. The T. and N.O. was completed to Cochrane in November, 1908, at which time the town-site was laid out and the first sale of lots took place.

The town is named after the late Hon. Francis Cochrane who was at that time (1908) Minister of Lands, Forests and Mines in the Ontario Government. On the defeat of the Laurier Administration in 1911 Mr. Cochrane accepted office in the Borden Cabinet as Minister of Railways and Canals. He was a man of character, industry and ability.

It was named in honour of Lieut.-Col. Francis Cockburn, Quartermaster-General to the British Forces here at this period. He rendered valuable military services to Canada. Col. Cockburn accompanied Governor-General Dalhousie in 1821 upon a tour of inspection by water from Montreal through the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes to Sault Ste. Marie, thence by French River, Lake[70] Nipissing and the Ottawa River to Montreal. He made a full and informing report on these water-ways and submitted a plan for their defence.

It took its name from Sir John Colborne, Lord Seaton, 1778-1863. He achieved distinction both as a soldier and an administrator. He was Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada. Sir John Colborne took a deep interest in education. He was the founder of Upper Canada College in Toronto. There is a village of Colborne, also named in his honour, in Northumberland county, Ontario. His name is commemorated, too, in Port Colborne, Welland county, Ontario.

It took its name from the city of Colchester, in Essex county, England. It was a famous fighting ground for Romans and Britons, for Saxons and Danes, for Cavaliers and Roundheads. The word Colchester is clearly of Roman origin, derived from Colne, the name of the river on which the city is situated, and castra, a camp. This name is also embalmed in Colchester county, Nova Scotia.

In 1830 the Government established a Post Office here for the convenience of the military department engaged on the trail from Barrie to Gloucester Bay. At first the name was Colewater in honour of Sir John Colborne, Governor-General of Canada, 1829-’36. The present name, taken from the river which flows through the village known to the Indians as Gis-si-nan-se-bing, meaning “cold river or water”, soon displaced the former in the minds of the settlers.

Coleraine: post village in Peel county, Ontario, and also post village in Megantic county, Quebec. Both are named after Coleraine, county of Londonderry, North Ireland.

There is an interesting story about the origin of Coleraine told in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. Madslua, an Irish chieftain, entertained St. Patrick on one of his travels through northern Ireland and offered him a piece of land on the Bann River in Londonderry on which to build a church. When the saint and the chief went to look it over, some boys were amusing themselves by setting fire to the ferns (dead) with which the land was covered. From this incident arose the name, cuil, “a corner or angle”, and rathain, “ferns”, that is cuil-rathain, “a corner of ferns”, altered during the succeeding centuries to Coleraine.

It was named in honour of Lord Collingwood, 1750-1810. He took to the sea at the age of eleven with his uncle, Admiral Braithwaite, at one time Commander of the frigate Shannon. Collingwood distinguished himself at the victory of Cape St. Vincent. He was second in command at the memorable battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and at the death of Nelson, Collingwood took command of the fleet. The town of Collingwood also bears this sailor’s honoured name.

This bay was named in honour of Sir John Colpoy, an admiral in the British Navy. The name was bestowed by Captain Bayfield during his survey of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Prior to this the bay was called Sturgeon Bay and is so named on a map now in the Department of[72] Archives, Ottawa, prepared in 1792 for Lieut.-Governor Simcoe. See History of the County of Bruce.

It was named in honour of Mr. P. D. Conger, formerly of Prince Edward county, 1830-’85. He was a citizen of Toronto for some years before his death. The Conger family were U.E. Loyalists. They settled in Prince Edward in 1797. Stephen Conger gave the ground and material for the Methodist Church near Picton, constructed in 1809.

Consecon: charming lake and picturesque village in Prince Edward county, Ontario.

The name is Mississauga Indian, meaning “pickerel”, a fish abounding in this lake. The word pickerel is a diminutive of pike.

It is in the heart of a great copper producing region, hence the origin of the appropriate name.

The International Nickel Company of Canada have smelters in Copper Cliff. They cover many acres of ground. The crude ore is a combination of nickel, copper, sulphur, and iron. After being crushed the ore is roasted, which drives out in smoke about twenty per cent. of the sulphur. The workmen use rubber nose caps to protect their lungs from the fumes. The country about the town is like a desert. Before the smelters were established it was a green forest. The change is due to the sulphur that comes from the ore and which kills all vegetation.

It was named in 1771 by the famous Arctic traveller and explorer Samuel Hearne, 1745-’92, after the rich copper mines reported on its banks.

They take their name from Cornwall county, England. The title Duke of Cornwall has been borne by the eldest son of the reigning sovereign since the time of the renowned Black Prince whose tomb is in Canterbury Cathedral. This name was selected, no doubt, in honour of the Prince of Wales of the period, afterwards King George IV.

Couchiching: lake in Ontario. It forms the connection between Lake Simcoe and the Severn River by which these lakes discharge into Georgian Bay.

The word is of Indian origin and the generally accepted meaning is “outlet”. It is to be noted, however, that Couchiching and Chinguacousy seem to be the same word with the syllables reversed. Chinguacousy, according to most authorities, means “a pinery”.

It was named after the river on the banks of which it is situated. The river took its name from Captain Courtenay, H.M.S. Constance, on the Pacific Station, 1846-’49.

This word is the name of a tribe of Indians who dwelt in this vicinity in large numbers in early days. In the language of the Cowichan tribe it means “between streams”.

It was named after Hector Theophilus Cramahe, a Swiss Protestant, secretary to General Murray who became commander-in-chief of the British forces at Quebec on the death of Wolfe, Plains of Abraham, September 13, 1759. Cramahe administered the government with ability and discernment during Sir Guy Carleton’s absence from Canada, 1770-’74.

It was named in 1885 by Colonel James Baker, Minister of Mines and Education for the province, after his old home town, Cranbrook, Kent county, England.

It was so called because in former times the fur-traders met the Indians on its banks and delivered to them on credit the goods they required for the chase and for which, in the following year, the traders received the value in good measure. Its picturesque scenery is embalmed in literature in Mrs. Jameson’s Sketches in Canada of 1837.

When a cluster of homes began to grow here one of the residents asked Senator J. R. Gowan, “Simcoe’s grand old man”, to suggest a name. He coined the word from the Gaelic cree mohr, meaning “big heart”. It pleased the kindly Scottish settlers and was readily accepted. The post office was opened in 1854 but the village was founded some years before.

It was named in honour of Professor Henry Holmes Croft, D.C.L. He was born in London, England, in 1820. Having shown superior ability for chemistry in his uni[75]versity course, Mr. Croft received in 1842 an appointment to the Chair of Chemistry in King’s College now the University of Toronto, Toronto. Professor Croft achieved distinction in his special department of education. He contributed largely to agricultural chemistry in Canada. Professor Croft retired in 1879.

The origin of its name is somewhat uncertain. There are several villages by the name of Crosby in England after any one of which it may have been named. On the other hand it is probable the township was named after Mr. Brass Crosby, Lord Mayor of London in 1771 and for some time M.P. for Honiton, Devonshire, England. Lieut.-Governor Simcoe may have suggested his friend’s name.

It took its name from a town of ancient date in Lincolnshire, England. The spelling of the word on most maps of England is Croyland. There is a great curiosity here in the triangular bridge under which pass the waters of Welland, Nene and Catwater streams. It was erected in 941.

The origin of the name is somewhat uncertain. Some maintain that it is a translation of an Indian word meaning “the nesting place of the crows”, applied at first to the timbered, rocky top of a prominent hill near the entrance to Crow’s Nest Pass.

Other authorities state the name commemorates a great slaughter of Crow Indians from the United States[76] by the Blackfeet Bloods and Piegans. The scene of the battle was hard by what is now known as Crow’s Nest Mountain.

It was named after the town of Culross, Firth of Forth, Fifeshire, Scotland. This burgh was celebrated for its girdles (iron bread plates), salt-pans and coal mines.

It took its name from Cumberland, north of England mining county. Cumberland district in B.C. was so named by James Dunsmuir in 1891, owing to the discovery of an extensive mineral region there.

Cumberland township in Russell county, Ontario, erected in 1798, was named in honour of Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, fifth son of King George III.

Dalhousie: township in Lanark county, Ontario, formed in 1823, a town on Chaleur Bay, N.B., and a village in Soulanges district, Quebec.

They were named in honour of George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1816-’20, Governor-General of Canada, 1820-’28. He was the founder of Dalhousie College, Halifax, during his term as Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia. As Governor-General of Canada he had to contend with great difficulties and much opposition. For the most part, however, the people appreciated his outstanding ability and irreproachable character. Dalhousie was a distinguished soldier, and when he left Canada he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces in India.

It was named after Dalrymple post office and the post was named after Dalrymple in Ayrshire, Scotland.

It was named in honour of Dr. John Dalton, 1766-1844, the famous English chemist. His favourite studies were mathematics and the physical sciences. Dalton became a teacher at Manchester and while there announced the atomic theory in chemistry.

Dandurand: canton or township in the counties of Saint Maurice and Champlain, Quebec.

It was named in honour of the Hon. M. Raoul Dandurand, member of the Canadian Senate.

Danforth: district in the north-eastern part of the city of Toronto and of a station there of the Canadian National Railway.

Both take their name from Danforth Avenue which the district adjoins. The name of the avenue commemorates Mr. Asa Danforth who had the contract from the Upper Canada government to construct a road from York to the Bay of Quinte, 1799-1800. The Danforth road was part of the great military highway initiated by Simcoe, from Sandwich to Montreal. See Dundas.

It was probably named after Col. H. C. Darling, military secretary to Lord Dalhousie, Governor-General of Canada, 1820-’28. In 1822 this Colonel Darling made a report to the Government on the military settlements in Lanark.

Darlington: village and also township, erected in 1792, in Durham county, Ontario.

They were named after Darlington in Durham county, England, the old home of some of the first settlers.

One of the younger Verendryes founded Fort Dauphin on the shores of the lake in 1741. He named it after the then Dauphin of France, the title of the King’s eldest son. The name was attached later to the lake and river.

It was named after the navigator, John Davis, 1554-1605. He ranks with Gilbert and Raleigh among the Arctic explorers of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The three grew up in the same Devonian neighbourhood. Davis not only discovered the strait which bears his name but also the Falkland islands while seeking a passage through the strait now called Magellan.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some freed slaves from Virginia settled there and it has been suggested that the name came from their Dawn of Liberty.

It was named in honour of George M. Dawson, C.M.G., sometime director of the Geological Survey of Canada, and explorer of the Stikine, Dease, Francis, Pelly and Lewis Rivers of the Yukon.

It was named in honour of Simon James Dawson, C.E., who was born in Scotland and came to Canada when a youth. He was employed by the Government to direct the construction of public highways, including the Dawson route to the Red River, 1868-’70. In 1875 Mr. Dawson was elected to the Ontario Legislature for Algoma. From 1878 to 1890 he was a member of the House of Commons for the same constituency. Mr. Dawson did much to encourage colonization in unoccupied districts by his policy of good roads.

It was named after Thomas Deacon who represented North Renfrew in the Ontario Legislature, 1871-’79. Mr. Deacon was a member of the legal profession and was appointed judge of Renfrew county in 1895.

Dease: lake and river in the Cassiar district, B.C., and of a river and bay in Mackenzie district.

They are named after Peter Warren Dease, at one time chief factor of New Caledonia (together with Vancouver Island named British Columbia by Queen Victoria[80] in 1868) for the Hudson’s Bay Company. He accompanied Franklin on his expedition of 1825-’27.

It was named after an Indian tribe who removed from the United States and settled on the Thames River in Upper Canada. The name comes from Lord De la Warr or Warre, Governor of the English colony of Virginia in the early years of the 17th century.

The first name of this place was Stevenstown after Stevens, the first settler here. When a stone flour-mill was built about 1812—the first in the county—the name was changed to Stone Mill. Later this name gave way to Beverley after the late Chief-Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson. About 1886 the present name of Delta was adopted.

A river or creek (mill) one mile long connects upper and lower Beverley Lakes. The village is situated on an island at the mouth of the upper lake and source of the lower lake, hence its name, Delta. See Beverley.

This name (delta) is given to land (alluvial deposits) of a triangular shape resembling the Greek capital letter Δ [Greek: D], formed at the mouth or mouths of rivers.

The most historic and most pronounced delta is that of the Nile. It was here that the term was first applied geographically. It is not only appropriately named in this instance but is distinguished by being the only village called Delta in the British Empire Gazeteers.

It was named after Denbighshire in Wales, which has large iron and coal mines. The town of Denbigh was[81] granted to one Hugh Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, by King Edward I. He erected a fine castle in the town and surrounded it by a wall for defensive purposes.

It was named in honour of the Earl of Derby of the period. The title was taken from the city of Derby in Derbyshire, England. It is an enterprising city situated on the Derwent River. The name is probably derived from the British word dur, meaning water, and Anglo-Saxon by, a village or town.

It was named after Major-General Francis, Baron de Rottenburg, in command of troops in Upper Canada in 1813. He was administrator of the government of Upper Canada, 1813-’14.

It was named after Colonel De Salaberry, a distinguished Canadian officer of French extraction, war of 1812-’14. (See Chateauguay.)

It was named in honour of Thomas Devine, P.L.S., who entered the Department of Crown Lands, Upper Canada, in 1846. He became Deputy Surveyor-General in 1872. During his service he brought out many valuable maps of Canada. After thirty-three years of service Mr.[82] Devine retired in 1879. His work was recognized by the Royal Geographic Society of London which elected him a Fellow. He died in Montreal in 1888.

Diamond: bold promontory around which the romantic city of Quebec nestles. This mountain eminence is crowned by battlements, Canada’s Gibraltar. Taken all in all it is the most alluring and historic spot in the Dominion.

“Cape Diamond abounds with very fine specimens of quartz, or rock-crystals, generally pentagons. I have, myself, in walking on the banks of the river at the foot of the rocks, found many of them. They are discovered from the brilliancy of their reflecting surfaces: they sparkle like the diamond, and hence the place had its name.”

—Gray’s Canada.

This township was named in honour of Charles Dickens, the English novelist, 1812-’70. Owing to straitened circumstances his father lived for a time in one of the poorer districts of London. The youth’s keen observation of the people about him here furnished him with the characters so realistically described in his novels. While a reporter on the Morning Chronicle his “Sketches by Boz” brought him into public notice.

Dickens’ novels have been read almost universally. Their animation, drollery, and pathos make them compellingly popular. Queen Victoria offered him a baronetcy. At his death he was buried in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.

It was named after James Dickson, P.L.S., who was born in Scotland, 1834, and came to Upper Canada in his youth. He surveyed much unorganized territory for the Ontario Government. Mr. Dickson was employed in the formation of Algonquin Park, and was appointed one of the Park Commissioners.

They are named after the Honourable Robert Digby, British Admiral, who had charge of the transportation of U.E. Loyalists to this district in 1783.

Digby is also the name of a township in Victoria county, Ontario, erected in 1860. It was named in honour of Captain Digby who won high commendation for his part in the swift and orderly embarkation of the British Army after the battle of Corunna. The Digbys have rendered much civil and naval service to the Empire for several centuries. The family seat is at Sherbourne in Dorsetshire, England.

The name was given by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe and was suggested by his wife after the Don river in England. The Indian name was Wonscoteonach, meaning “back burnt lands”, that is, the river flowing down from the back burnt country. The term was descriptive, referring probably to Poplar Plains to the north, often swept by casual fires in the woods.

It was so called by early French explorers who mistook native copper for gold. Cap d’Or signifies in English “Cape of gold”.

Dorchester: county in Quebec, and a township in Elgin county, Ontario, formed in 1798.

They were named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada from 1786 to 1796. The title is taken from the town of Dorchester of picturesque scenery in Dorsetshire, England.

It was named after the fortified town of Douai in north-eastern France, in commemoration of its occupation on October 18, 1918, by Canadian troops in conjunction with the Allies.

Douglas: mountain 11,017 feet high, headwaters of Red Deer River, Rocky Mountains, Alberta.

It was named after David Douglas, Scottish botanist, who crossed the Rockies in 1827. It is also the name of a mount north of Victoria city, B.C. This elevation was named in honour of Sir James Douglas, Hudson’s Bay Company, Governor of Vancouver Island, 1851-’58, Crown Governor of British Columbia, 1858-’64. Sir James gave the mount and surrounding district to the city of Victoria.

It was named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, England’s greatest military leader. In 1808 he received chief command of the Peninsular army in Portugal and drove Marshal Soult out of that country. Wellesley’s brilliant success over the French at the Douro River won for him the title, Baron Douro.

It took its name from Dover, a seaport in Kent county, England (for an allied meaning of this term, see Port Dover.) The name is British in origin, meaning “a steep[85] place”. It possesses a strong fortress and extensive barracks, both of ancient date. Dover is now a favourite watering-place during the bathing season.

It was named in honour of Mr. Robert Downie, M.P., one of the projectors of the Canada Land Company.

Downie is also the name of an island, Navy group, St. Lawrence River, Leeds county, Ontario.

It was named after Commodore George Downie, R.N., who was killed in action on Lake Champlain, September 11, 1814.

Dresden: flourishing town in Kent county, Ontario, twelve miles north of Chatham.

This town took its name from Dresden, capital city of Saxony in Germany. The old Saxon city is a centre of art. Hardly any place in the world has such a valuable collection of paintings and sculpture.

In an old cemetery near the Canadian Dresden stands a monument which was erected years ago over the grave of Rev. Josiah Henson, the man after whom Harriet Beecher Stowe modelled the hero character of her immortal “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

It took its name from Drumbo, County Down, Ireland. The word is Gaelic Celtic, meaning “a hill ridge like a beast’s back”.

Drummond: county in Quebec, and township in Lanark county, Ontario, formed in 1816.

They are named in honour of General Sir Gordon Drummond, 1771-1854. He came to Canada in 1813 as second in command to Sir George Prevost. General Drummond distinguished himself at the battle of Lundy’s Lane[86] where he was severely wounded. When Sir George Prevost was called home in 1814 Drummond succeeded him as Commander of the forces and Administrator pro tem, of the Government of the Canadas, a position he held until the arrival in 1816 of Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke.

It was probably named after the town of Dudley in Worcestershire, England. This town possesses the ruins of an historic castle said to have been erected in the 8th century by Dudo, a Saxon chief, hence the origin of the name. When Queen Mary came to the throne this castle was the property of a notable character, John of Dudley, Earl of Warbeck and Duke of Northumberland. His son, Lord Guildford Dudley, married the accomplished Lady Jane Grey.

Duff: mountain 7,170 feet high, on the international boundary, British Columbia and Alaska.

It was named after the Right Honourable Mr. Justice Duff, of the Supreme Court of Canada, junior counsel before the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, 1903.

Dufferin: county in Ontario, formed in 1875 out of townships cut off from the counties of Simcoe and Wellington.

It was named after the Right Honourable Frederick Temple Blackwood, 1826-1902, made Marquis of Dufferin and Ava in 1888, but had succeeded to his father’s title, Baron Dufferin, in 1841. The dignity of Dufferin was taken from the barony or territorial division of Dufferin, County Down, Ireland. The title Ava was taken from the province of Ava, British India, formerly the kingdom[87] of Burma, annexed to the Indian Empire during the viceroyship of Dufferin.

The Marquis was descended from a distinguished family and was educated at Eton and Oxford. He was a powerful and graceful orator, a diplomat, a statesman and a litterateur of high rank. During his career Dufferin was British Ambassador at all the important capitals of Europe. He was Governor-General of Canada from 1872-’78, and Viceroy of India from 1884-’88. He made a voyage of 6,000 miles in his yacht The Foam, in 1853, to Iceland, and soon after published Letters from High Latitudes which established his standing in literature.

It took its name from Dumfries, on the river Nith, Scotland. In 1816 the Hon. William Dickson, of Niagara, purchased 90,000 acres of land along the Grand River which he named Dumfries after his home town in Scotland.

It was named after the Hon. William Dummer Powell, Chief-Justice of Upper Canada. Owing to his legal education and natural ability his influence in state affairs in the new province during the first quarter of the nineteenth century was quite supreme. He and Bishop John Strachan were the unofficial advisers of the Lieutenant-Governors of the period.

Prior to 1887 it was known as Alderlea. In that year the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway opened a station[88] there and since then it has been known as Duncan’s Station or Duncan after the late William Chalmers Duncan, a pioneer of 1862.

Dundas: county, town, and street in Ontario; also a group of islands and a point in the coast district of B.C.

Apparently all are named after the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, Treasurer of the British Navy from 1783 to 1801. The first Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, General John Graves Simcoe (1791-’96), had an extensive official correspondence re his plans with Treasurer Dundas, and when he projected a military road across the province from east to west Simcoe named it Dundas Street. Only part of this highway still retains the name.

It was probably named in honour of Hon. John Henry Dunn who was Receiver-General of Upper Canada for many years between 1824 and 1844. He represented for a term the city of Toronto in the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Dunn was a man of high character and moderate views. He died in London, England, in 1854. Dunnville, thriving town in this county, is also named in memory of Mr. Dunn.

A. McLeod of Skye founded the post, naming it after the castle of the McLeods in Scotland.

The group was named in honour of the Hon. James Dunsmuir, founder of the town of Ladysmith, B.C. He died in 1920.

It took its name from Dunwich in Suffolk, England. It was a thriving port in the time of Edward I., but, being gradually undermined by the sea, it is now almost wholly submerged.

The origin of Dunwich is doubtful. Some think it is from Celtic, dun, fort and wich, a station; others derive it from Welsh dwfu, deep and wich, a station.

Durham: county in Ontario, was named in 1792 after Durham county, England. There is also a town of Durham in Bruce county, Ontario.

The word is derived from the Saxon words dur, water, and holme, meadow, descriptive of the situation of the English city.

It came into existence with the Canada Southern Railway in 1872, Mr. A. J. Leitch was the first Postmaster and established the Dutton Flouring Mills.

The village was named after one of the civil engineers who surveyed the line for the Canada Southern (now part of the Michigan Central Railway System). Information received from Colin St. Clair Leitch, K.C., of St. Thomas.

It took its name from the town of Dysart, Fifeshire, Scotland. The place is of ancient date, possessing remains of the Romans and Danes. It is a thriving seaport, exporting coal, salt and linen.

Earl Grey: mount and pass, Kootenay district, B.C., and river emptying into Lake Aylmer, Mackenzie district, N.W.T.

They are named in honour of Earl Grey, 1851-1917, Governor-General of Canada, 1904-’11. He made a horseback trip over this pass in 1907.

It was named in honour of Sir John Easthope, 1784-1865. He was a member of the British parliament for many years, and a director of the Canada Land Company.

It took its name from John Somers Cocks, Viscount Eastnor of Eastnor Castle, County of Hereford, England. The name was suggested by Sir Edmund Head, the Governor-General of Canada at this period. Lady Head and the Viscountess Eastnor were sisters, daughters of the Rev. Philip Yorke, of Ely county, Cambridge, England.

It was surveyed in 1887 and named in honour of Sir James Edgar, M.P. Mr. Edgar was born in the Eastern townships of Quebec in 1841, studied law and was called to the bar in 1864 and practised in Toronto. He was elected to parliament for Monck in 1872 and for West Ontario in 1884, chosen Speaker in 1896 and knighted in 1898. His career was closed by death on July 31, 1899. Sir James was a man of versatile capacity—law, politics literature. Ardent patriotism was evidenced in all.

May our Dominion flourish then,
A goodly land and free,
Where Celt and Saxon, hand in hand,
Hold sway from sea to sea;
[91] Strong arms shall guard our cherished homes,
When darkest danger lowers,
And with our life-blood we’ll defend
This Canada of ours,
Fair Canada,
Dear Canada,
This Canada of ours.
—From Edgar’s This Canada of Ours.

It commemorates an English nurse of the Great War. Miss Cavell was shot by the Germans at Brussels, October, 1915, for aiding convalescent soldiers to escape. A fine monument in her memory stands at Trafalgar Square, London, Eng.

It took its name from Fort Edmonton, built in 1795, twenty miles farther down the North Saskatchewan River, by George Sutherland, of the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was named after Edmonton, near London, England, probably as a compliment to John Prudens, Sutherland’s clerk, who was born there. This fort was destroyed by the Indians in 1807. A new fort of the same name was built in 1808 on the slope of the high bank within the limits of the present city of Edmonton. Later the word fort fell into disuse and when the first post office was opened on February 1, 1877, it was named simply, Edmonton.

Edmundston: town at the mouth of the Madawaska River, north-western New Brunswick. It was formerly called Little Falls (the Petit Sault of the Acadians). The[92] present name was given in honour of Sir Edmund Head on the occasion of his visit in 1848. He was Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1848 to 1854, and Governor-General of Canada from 1855 to 1861.

Sir Edmund was a brilliant scholar and an experienced poor-law commissioner before his appointment as governor. He was appreciated in New Brunswick but was accused of partiality to the Conservative Party by a portion of the community in Canada. The task of an administrator in Canada at this period was a most difficult one, owing to the country being in the throes of the evolution of responsible government.

They were named in honour of Edward, Duke of Kent, 1767-1820, fourth son of King George III. and father of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Burg is derived from the Latin burgus, “a tower”, hence a town.

It took its name from Henry Howard, Earl of Effingham, 1806-1889, a member of a distinguished family in English history. The first Effingham was Lord High Admiral in Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The title was taken from the village of Effingham in the county of Surrey, England. Effingham Lake in Lennox and Addington, Ontario, and Effingham Island, Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island, B.C., are also named in honour of this nobleman.

Eglinton: formerly a village in York township, York county, Ontario, now within the limits of the city of Toronto. The name is preserved in Eglinton Avenue and Eglinton Public School.

It took its name from Archibald William Montague, thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, 1812-’61.

It was named in honour of George O’Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, 1751-1837. The title of the Wyndham family was taken from the town of Egremont on the Broad River, Cumberland county, England.

It was named after the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, which it is said to resemble in some respects. This tower was constructed by Gustave Eiffel, a celebrated French engineer, in 1889. It was one of the attractions of the Paris Exposition of that year. The total height of the tower is 984 feet and the weight of iron 7,325 tons. Persons may be carried to the top by a system of elevators. The cost was about $1,000,000.

It took its name from Ekfrid or Eckfrith who was King of Northumbria (Northumberland, England), from 670 to 685. Ekfrid was an aggressive prince, taking the kingdom of Cumbria from the Britons. He met defeat and death at the hands of the Picts. Ekfrid’s Queen, Ethelreda, was of a highly religious disposition. She withdrew from court, entered a monastery, and later fled to the Isle of Ely, which she held in her own right, and where she founded an influential church.

It took its name from the village of Elderslie in Renfrew county, Scotland. It is said to be the birthplace of[94] Sir William Wallace, Scotland’s hero in its fight for independence against Edward I.

An English statesman, John Scott, 1751-1838, of Newcastle, raised to the peerage as Lord Eldon, was honoured in its name. He entered Parliament in 1783 and was Attorney-General and Lord Chancellor for many years. History ranks Eldon as a man of considerable ability but a time-server withal.

Elgin: county in Ontario, constituted in 1851. Formerly it was part of the forgotten Suffolk county, formed in 1792, and then for a period part of Middlesex county.

The name was given in honour of Lord Elgin, Governor-General of Canada, 1847-’54. The title was taken from the city of Elgin in Elgin county, Scotland.

Elgin took up the reins of administration at a period of great commercial depression and political unrest. Through perseverance, tact and good judgment he mastered the situation. He stood firmly by responsible government. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the Treaty of Reciprocity with the United States, 1854.

Elgin is also the name of a canton in Huntington county, Quebec, erected in 1849, and of a pleasant village in Leeds county, Ontario, founded about 1855. Both were named to commemorate the Governor. The village name was suggested by Robert Dargavel, a Scotch pioneer of the district.

It took its name from Princess Elizabeth, 1770-1840, third daughter of King George III. The Princess is said[95] to have been quiet in her manners, affectionate to her friends, and strictly correct in her private life.

It was named in honour of the Right Hon. Edward Ellice, 1781-1863. Mr. Ellice was one of the first directors of the Canada Land Company, also intimately connected with the North West Company. He was member of the British Parliament for many years, and efficient and popular as Secretary of the Treasury.

It was named in honour of Lady Elma Bruce, daughter of the Earl of Elgin, Governor-General of Canada, 1847-’54. The name Elma is said to mean “a beam of light.”

The first settlers here were probably U.E. Loyalists who brought the name from Elmira, New York State. The word means “the beautiful, the wonderful”.

Elmsley: South Elmsley township in Leeds county and North Elmsley in Lanark county, Ontario, were both formed in 1798.

They took their name from William Elmsley, Chief-Justice of Canada at this period. Lord Durham, in his report, stated that Elmsley had acquired the title to much land at from a gallon of rum to £6 per 200 acres. At the time of his death in 1805 he possessed residences in Quebec, York, and Newark. The Elmsley property in Toronto became very valuable. The family name is preserved in a street name, Elmsley Place. When Lord Elgin moved to Toronto after the destruction of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal, he resided at Elmsley Villa.

Several U.E. Loyalists by the name of Parish moved to this section of Upper Canada after the Revolutionary War. Eliada Parish settled near the lake which took its name from him. The writer is indebted to the research of Mr. S. C. A. Lamb, Phm.B., of Athens for this information.

Eloida seems to be a corruption of the Biblical name Elidad, Numbers xxxiv, 21, or Eliada, Samuel v, 16, meaning “whom God loves or cares for”. Since the foregoing paragraphs were written the Geographic Board of Canada has decided to confer the name Loyada upon this lake. This is the form of the name on the 1861 map of Leeds county. Why a corrupted form instead of the original?

It was so named by William Gilkison who settled here in 1832, having purchased 14,000 acres at the Grand River Falls. Elora is derived from Elura, an Hindustan word for the entrance to the Indian temple of Paradise. Gilkison was entertaining some friends in a river-cave near by when an inspiration of the moment suggested the name.

It took its name from a Dutch family who established a book-printing business in Leyden, the oldest city in Holland, in 1580. Their published works were distinguished for their beautiful typography. A genuine “Elzevir” became a treasure. The word Elzevir is said to denote “elm wood”.

It was named after Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-’82, celebrated essayist, philosopher and poet of Massachusetts, U.S.A.

It was named in honour of Emily Charlotte, daughter of Lord George Lennox. She was a sister of the Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19, whose untimely death was due to hydrophobia caused by the bite of a tame fox.

It took its name from the village of Enderby in Lincolnshire, England. In the Doomsday Book it is written Enderbie. The word means “the dwelling or village of Endred”.

Englehart: town on the Temiscaming and Northern Ontario Railway, in the district of Temiscaming, Ontario.

It was named in honour of Jacob Lewis Englehart for some time in the Ontario public service. He was one of the pioneers in the petroleum trade in the districts of London and Petrolea, Ontario. In 1905 Mr. Englehart was made chairman of the Temiscaming and Northern Ontario Railway Board. He is a man of great wealth, public spirit, and high ability.

It took its name from the town of Enniskillen in Fermanagh county, Ulster, Ireland. The name was suggested, doubtless, by Sir John Colborne, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada 1829-’36. A son of the first Earl of Enniskillen, General Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, was a comrade-in-arms of Sir John in the Peninsular War. The word is said to be a corruption of the Gaelic Inis-Cethlenn, meaning “Cethlenn’s island”.

It was named in honour of William Hare, Viscount Ennismore. His father Richard of Ennismore was M.P. for Cork for a period during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The title is taken from Ennismore, county of Kerry, Free State, Ireland.

The name is said to be Indian in origin, meaning “a dog”, or by some “a dead dog”. The story runs that the surveyors stumbled upon a dead dog on entering this district, hence the name Eramosa.

Erie: one of the Great Lakes of Ontario. Fort Erie is the name of a village and also of a Provincial Park of seventeen acres embracing the ruins of old Fort Erie, in Welland county, Ontario. The Park is part of the Queen Victoria, Niagara Falls, Provincial Park System of 1,664 acres of land and water surface stretching along the thirty-five miles of river between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

The word Erie is Iroquois in origin and means “cat”. It was applied by them to the Indian tribe living in the vicinity of Lake Erie, called by some writers the Cat Nation. Charlevoix says the name was given on account of the great number of cats frequenting this district in former days. Albert Cusick, an Indian scholar of the United States, says the Eries are usually identified with the Kah-kwah nation and that Kah-kwah means “an eye swelled like a cat’s”, that is, prominent rather than deep, a characteristic of this tribe.

Erin: thriving village and township in Wellington county, Ontario, erected in 1820.

Erin is one of the ancient names of Ireland, generally used in modern times in poetry only. The oldest form of Ireland’s native name is Erin, genitive Érenn, dative rinn. The word is said to be a corruption of Sanscrit, Avara meaning “western”.

In modern Gaelic Erin was written Eire (two syllables). This gave rise to Eireland or Ireland (land of Eire or the West).

Ermatinger: mount, 10,180 feet, Rocky Mountains, Alberta and Kootenay district, B.C.

It was named in honour of Prince Ernest Augustus, fifth son of King George III., 1771-1851. He became Grand Master of the Orange Lodges of Great Britain in 1828, opposed the Catholic Emancipation Bill of 1829, and was connected with a conspiracy to exclude Princess Victoria from the throne and elevate him in her stead. In 1837 the Prince became King of Hanover and Britain knew him no more.

Erwood: town in Saskatchewan founded by the Canadian Northern Railway (now the Canadian National) in 1899.

It was named after Mr. E. R. Wood, financier of Toronto, interested in many material and moral undertakings in Canada.

It took its name from the residence of the Yonge family at Escott, Devonshire, England. This township is triangular in shape and was formerly called the Gore[100] of Yonge. It has been known as Escott since about 1840. See Yonge.

Espagnola, of which Hispaniola is the Latinized form, was the name given by Columbus to the island of Haiti on its discovery by him in 1492. The English of Espagnola is “little Spain”, and Espanola is derived from it by the omission of the letter “g”.

The classic form of the name is of late date. The town was originally called Spanish (so-called on some maps still) after the Spanish River which runs through it into the North Channel, Lake Huron. It is said the river was so named from the adjoining district having once been occupied by Spanish Indians, presumably from Spanish America.

Esquimalt: a seaport on the Pacific coast, nine miles north of Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. It has an excellent harbour and a government dry dock.

Report says that Essa was the name of Tecumseh’s second wife, but most writers state he was married but once. Dr. P. E. Jones gives the meaning of Essa as “shame on you”.

It took its name from Essex county in England. The word is derived from the Kingdom of the East Saxons, a corruption of the last two words.

The place was named in honour of George Stephen and William C. Van Horne, the former a director, the latter general manager of the company that built the Canadian Pacific Railway. The word was formed by the selection of letters from the name of each, thus Georg[e Ste]phen, W. C. [Van] Horne.

Both were deeply appreciated by the Crown for the splendid services they rendered Canada and the Empire. Mr. Stephen became Lord Mount Stephen and Mr. Van Horne became Sir William Van Horne.

It is an Indian word, meaning “the place where the alders grow”. The name was applied originally to the river only. Surveyor Augustus Jones spelled it Atobicoake and gave its meaning as “black alder creek”. The correct spelling of the Indian word is said to be Wah-do-be-kaung.

It was named in honour of Mrs. Euphemia Cameron, mother of the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, M.P. for Kent and Lambton at this period. The word Euphemia is derived from the Greek ευ [Greek: eu], meaning “well” and ϕημι [Greek: phêmi], “to speak”.

This word is the name of an annual plant, the common name for which is eyebright. It possesses an astringent quality which was thought to have medicinal value for diseases of the eye. The word is derived from the Greek ευφρασία [Greek: euphrasia] meaning “delight”.

Evelyn: pass from Athabaska Falls, Athabaska River, to Maligne Lake, Jasper Park, Alberta.

It was named in honour of Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire, who visited it in 1920. Her husband was then Governor-General of Canada.

It was named after the town of Exeter in Devonshire, England. The word is derived from the Celtic exe, meaning “water, river”, and ster, “place”, the place on the river (Exe).

It was named in honour of Brigadier-General Sir William Eyre, 1805-’59. He distinguished himself in the Crimean War, 1854-’56. In June, 1856, he became Commander-in-Chief of the military forces in Canada. He was administrator of the government during Governor Sir Edmund Head’s absence from Canada in 1857.

It was named in honour of Professor Michael Faraday, 1791-1867, one of England’s distinguished chemists. He succeeded Sir Humphrey Davy to the chair of chemistry in the Royal Institute, London, in 1827. Among the most valuable works published by him are Lectures on the Forces of Matter, and Researches in Electricity.

It was named in honour of Abbe Fenelon, a Sulpician Missionary. He and his friend Trouve established a school or mission at the village of the Cayuga Indians, on the Bay of Quinte, in 1668. The winter of 1669-’70 suddenly overtook them in their journeys at Pickering Harbour, long known as Frenchman or Frenchman’s Bay from their sojourn there.

Fenelon’s name is also commemorated in a river, a cascade and a village in Victoria county, Ontario.

It was called after Major Thomas Roberts Ferguson. He was member of the Canadian Parliament for South Simcoe 1857-’67. After the formation of the Dominion of Canada, July 1, 1867, Mr. Ferguson was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for South Simcoe and to the House of Commons for Cardwell, now Dufferin county.

It was named in honour of Hon. Adam Ferrie of Hamilton, 1777-1868. He engaged successfully in the[104] mercantile and manufacturing business. In 1841 Mr. Ferrie was appointed a life member of the Legislative Council of Canada.

It was named after James Marshall Ferris, M.P.P. for East Northumberland. He was first elected to the Legislature of Ontario in 1875.

Finch: prosperous village and township in Stormont county, Ontario, erected in 1798.

It took its name from the Finch family who were related by marriage to Viscount Stormont who was Secretary of State for Great Britain about this period.

It was named in honour of Hugh Finlayson, M.P. for East Brant in the Canadian Assembly, 1858-’61 and M.P.P. for North Brant in the Ontario Legislature, 1867-’79. Mr. Finlayson’s home was in Paris, Ontario, where he was engaged in mercantile business.

It was named by Hon. Mr. Pardee of the Ontario Government of the period in honour of James W. Fitzgerald, P.L.S., who surveyed this township and who made many other surveys for both the Ontario and Dominion Governments. Mr. Fitzgerald was born in Cork, Ireland, and educated there. He came to Canada in 1856.

It was named in honour of Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, K.C.B., Captain-General and Governor of New South[105] Wales, Australia; born 1796, died 1858. He married Lady Mary Lennox, eldest daughter of the Duke of Richmond who was Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19.

In the north of this township is a deep bay or inlet of the Ottawa River, known as Fitzroy Harbour. A village was founded here in the early years of settlement. The word Fitzroy means “the son of the king”. It is derived from the French, fils “a son” and roi “the king”.

Fitzwilliam: island and also a channel at the entrance to Georgian Bay, Manitoulin district, Ontario.

They were named in honour of Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen, 1774-1857, in charge of survey of Great Lakes, 1815-1816.

Flamborough: township, east and west, Wentworth county, Ontario, was organized in 1792.

It took its name from the town of Flamborough, Yorkshire, England. The name is said to be derived from the flame of a watch tower. The present beacon has three revolving faces, each of seven reflectors, and one painted red. It is thus distinguished from any other light on the British coast.

It was founded in 1852 and named after W. K. Flesher, one of the first settlers. Flesherton became an incorporated village in 1912.

Flin Flon: lake and mineral field in Northern Manitoba. They lie 400 miles north-west of Winnipeg and about 90 miles north of The Pas. The Hudson’s Bay Railway branch line will serve this district.

The mine is estimated to contain roughly 18,000,000 tons of copper-zinc-gold-silver ore. Some $50,000,000 have already been invested in its development.

The origin of the romantic name is uncertain. All stories agree that it sprang from a book one of the prospectors had read.

Flonflon is found in dictionaries of the French language. It occurs in a common street-song: “Flonflon! tol-de-rol!”

It was named after one of Lady Sarah Maitland’s pet dogs. Lady Sarah was the wife of Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada from 1818 to 1828, and the beautiful daughter of the lamented Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19. She is said to have possessed a character of unaffected excellence.

Foch (pronounced Foash): mount, 10,130 feet, lat. 50° 34′, long. 115° 09′, Alberta and B.C.

It was named after Marshal Ferdinand Foch, famous French General in the Great War, 1914-’18, and Generalissimo of the allied forces, 1918-’19. He died at the age of seventy-seven years in March, 1929, and was buried near the tomb of Napoleon I. in the Invalides, Paris.

The most classic despatch (reputed) of the Great War has been credited to him while engaged at the first battle of the Marne. It was said General Foch reported to his superior officer, Marshal Joffre, in these words: “My right is crushed. My left is in retreat. I am attacking with my centre.” The story has had several variations, the most important of which is: “Pressed on my right wing, with my centre broken, I am attacking with my left. My situation is excellent.”

General Foch (Marshal in 1918) held that offence was the best method of defence and an utterance of the[107] foregoing nature would accord well with his theory but the Encyclopædia Britannica states that the story is a legend and President Poincaré made a similar remark when welcoming the immortal Marshal to the French Academy in 1920. The story persisted in finding credence, however, and gained popular prestige for Foch at an opportune time.

It was named in honour of Hon. Michael Hamilton Foley, M.P. for Waterloo at this period. He was Post-Master General for a term previous to Confederation, 1867. Mr. Foley was born in Sligo, Ireland, in 1820, and was a journalist in Simcoe and Brantford before entering Parliament.

In 1731 Pierre de la Vérendrye and his followers erected Fort St. Pierre here, but made no permanent settlement.

In 1793 representatives of both the North West Trading Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company arrived and erected trading posts. The Hudson’s Bay Company named its establishment Fort Frances in honour of Lady Frances Ramsay Simpson (died 1853), wife of Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Company. When the two companies amalgamated in 1825 Fort Frances was retained. It burned down in 1902 and the Company withdrew, leaving only the historic name to the town.

Fort William: city on Lake Superior, Thunder Bay district, Ontario. It and Port Arthur are called “the twin cities”, because of their resemblance in origin, growth and location.

It was named in honour of William McGillivray of the North West Company who directed the construction of a fort here in 1801-’03 to facilitate the Company’s fur trade. Mr. McGillivray was a member of both the Assembly and Council of Lower Canada for some years. He died in Scotland in 1825.

They were named in honour of Luke Fox, an English navigator, who explored part of Baffin Island and discovered Cumberland peninsula, known formerly as Cumberland island, in 1631. He related his experiences in a book entitled Northwest Fox.

Franklin: the most northerly district of Canada, and also a township in Muskoka district, Ontario, formed in 1865.

They are both named in honour of Admiral Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1786, served with distinction in the navy at Copenhagen in 1801 and at Trafalgar in 1805, was Governor of Tasmania, 1836-’43, and perished in the far North in 1847, with his 134 officers and men, in an effort to discover the North-west Passage.

It was named about 1808 by the officers of the North West Company in honour of Simon Fraser, 1776-1862, the Company’s superintendent of the then district of New Caledonia. Mr. Fraser was the first white man to explore this river from its source to its mouth.

Fraser is also the name of a township in Renfrew county, Ontario, organized in 1854. It is uncertain in whose honour it was named; many members of the Fraser family have been prominent in Canadian history.

Fredericksburg: township, North and South, Lennox county, Ontario, surveyed in 1784.

It was named in honour of Prince Frederick, second son of King George III., 1763-1827. He was hereditary Bishop of Osnabruck in Germany but adopted a military career. The Prince saw active service against Holland and in 1795 was made a Field-Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the British army.

It was named by Governor Carleton. The word occurs first in an Order-in-Council of February 22, 1785, “a town at St. Anne’s Point, on River St. John, to be called Frederick Town after His Royal Highness, Prince Frederick, Bishop of Osnabruck”. He was the second son of King George III.

It was named after John Bailey Freeman, M.P.P. at this period for North Norfolk, Ontario. Mr. Freeman’s family was of U.E. Loyalist descent and among the first settlers of the Long Point district. He was elected to the Legislature as a Liberal in 1879 and was chosen Government whip in 1883.

It was named after the village of Freswick in the parish of Canisbay, Caithness, Scotland. The old home of the Mowat family was in the parish of Canisbay and the name of this township was suggested by Sir Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario, 1872-1896.

Both were named in honour of Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, 1620-’98, Governor of New France for twenty years. The word is a corruption of Frontignac, a sweet grape wine made in Frontignac in the Department of Herault, France.

Frontenac consecrated all his energies to the development of Canada. He was brave and sagacious, but quick-tempered, haughty, and cruel. It is said that Frontenac found the high temper of his wife unbearable and that he was given the government of Canada in 1672 to deliver him from home harangues.

It was named in honour of Captain Fryatt, an English sailor, shot by the Germans in Bruges, Belgium, on July 27, 1916, on a charge of having defended his ship against a submarine.

It took its name from Juan de Fuca, a Portuguese navigator, by whom it was discovered. The name was retained by Captain Vancouver when he took formal possession for Britain in 1792.

It was named after John Fullarton, one of the Directors of the Canada Land Company, a company of British capitalists, organized by John Galt, to settle and withal to exploit choice wild lands in Upper Canada.

Fundy: bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, almost separating Nova Scotia from New Brunswick.

The origin of the name is somewhat uncertain. Many writers derive it from French Fond de la Baie, corrupted[111] into Fundy Bay, meaning “head of the bay”, as if applied in the first instance to the entrance of the bay. However this French phrase might be translated “deep bay”. On Portuguese maps of the 16th century it is marked Rio Fondo, meaning “deep river”, that is, a water extending far inland. Cabot’s map of 1544 also has Rio Fondo. The weight of evidence is in favour of this origin.

It is generally believed to have been named after a French officer of Bayonne. It is also said to be a corruption of French Cap Rouge, “Red Cape”.

It took its name from Gainsborough town in Lincolnshire, England. It was here that Sweyn, the Danish King, was assassinated after his ruthless march through eastern England.

Gainsborough is also the name of a tributary of the Souris River in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It was named in honour of an early settler, J. J. Sadler, whose home town was Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

It took its name from John Galt, the Scottish novelist, 1779-1839. The city was founded in 1816 by William Dickson, a school-fellow in Edinburgh of Galt, who had purchased the whole township of Dumfries. John Galt was Commissioner of the Canada Land Company and resided in Canada from 1826 to 1829. He visited the place in 1827 and was entertained by his friend Dickson.

It took its name from the county of Galway, Irish Free State, the county town of which is the city of Galway.

The origin of the word is disputed. Some think it may come from Spanish gala meaning “ornament”. In early times this port had an extensive trade with Spain. Other writers connect it with the historic Gauls.

Gananoque: town on the St. Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Gananoque River in Leeds county, Ontario. It was founded in 1798 by Colonel Joel Stone who erected a saw mill and carried on a small mercantile business.

The name is Indian, and is generally said to signify “rocks rising out of the water”. Some writers on Indian names state it means “meadows rising out of the water”, and others that it means “wild potatoes”, that is “ground nuts”. However, in the river Gananoque is what is called “marble rock”. It rises above the surface of the water in many places in the middle of the river.

Garafraxa: East, Dufferin county, Ontario, and Garafraxa, West, Wellington county, were formed in 1821.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some consider it a corruption of sassafras, a shrub or tree that was plentiful when the township was being surveyed. Other writers state the word is Indian meaning “the panther country”, and was applied by the Indians to the whole district between the Saugeen Trail and the Toronto Trail.

Gaspé: county in Quebec. The origin of the word is disputed. Most writers state it is Micmac Indian, meaning “the end or extremity”, referring to the northern limits of Micmac country. Others derive it from Gaspar Cortereal, the Portuguese navigator, who visited this coast about the year 1500. Other writers connect Gaspé with Caspe, a community in Aragon, Spain, from which Basque fishermen came to these shores in the fifteenth century.

It is derived from the French word gasparot, the name the Acadians gave to a fish found in abundance in these[114] waters. This fish is known to the English as the alewife.

Gatineau: river, an affluent of the river Ottawa, and also a lake in the Province of Quebec.

Both are named after the Gatineau family who settled in the neighbourhood of these waters. Nicolas Gatineau, connected with the Company of One Hundred Associates, arrived in 1649. He was a notary and also a famous fur-trader.

Georgetown, Georgia, Georgian and Georgina. Georgetown is a thriving town in Halton county, Ontario.

These names represent the laboured efforts of authorities to honour King George III. in the nomenclature of Canada.

In 1929 the Federal Government, through the Department of the Interior, set aside twenty-eight islands in Georgian Bay for a new National Park. Beausoleil is the largest and most interesting. It comprises 2,712 acres. Its name signifies “beautiful and sunny”. It possesses great scenic beauty and historic interest. This island is connected with the triple battle of St. Louis, March, 1649, on the Ridge just above the site of Port McNichol. After their defeat by the Iroquois, refugees from the other Indian tribes came to Beausoleil and settled there and the ruins of some of their buildings may still be seen.

These islands were acquired from the Indians by the Crown in 1856. The new National Park is reached by boat from either Midland or Penetang, Ontario.

Gibson: township in Muskoka district, Ontario, formed in 1880. It was so designated in honour of Thomas Gibson, M.P.P., who represented one of the ridings of Huron county in the Legislature of Ontario from 1867 to 1898. Mr. Gibson was a man of good judgment and his advice was sought in the Assembly.

Glace Bay: town in Cape Breton county, Cape Breton, N.S. It is one of the greatest coal-mining centres in the world. Here is a Marconi receiving station for wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic.

The town’s name is taken from the French word glace meaning ice. The bay is long ice-bound each year. It was so when the French explorers first saw it.

It took its name from the county of Glamorgan in South Wales, Great Britain. The word is a contraction of the Welsh Gwlad Morgan, meaning “the county of Morgan”. The word Morgan is derived from Mor which signifies the sea. Glamorgan is said to have been the name of a Welsh Prince who lived about 800 B.C.

It was named in honour of Charles Grant, Lord Glenelg. The title was taken from Glenelg, county of Inverness, Scotland. Lord Glenelg was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the British Government during the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-’38. Glenelg favoured an elective Legislative Council for Canada. King William[116] IV. opposed the elective principle for the constitution of the legislative councils of the colonies. Glenelg found his administration unpopular and retired from the Government in 1839.

It took its name from the famous glen in Inverness, Scotland, beside the little river Gary. The first settlers in this country were Scottish Highlanders. Some were U.E. Loyalists who made their way to the northern banks of the St. Lawrence when the United States became independent, others came directly from Scotland at a somewhat later date when trade became dull at home.

It took its name from William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, 1776-1834, a nephew of King George III. The title was taken from Gloucestershire, England.

In the Cathedral of the city of Gloucester is a statue to Robert Raikes, the founder of national Sunday Schools. The house still stands in St. Catharine St., Gloucester, in which the first school was opened in July, 1780.

Goderich: township in Huron county, Ontario, erected in 1828, and also the county town of Huron. The town was founded in 1827 by John Galt, Commissioner of the Canada Company.

Both were named in honour of the Right Hon. John Robinson, Viscount Goderich, Earl of Ripon, 1782-1859. He entered Parliament in 1806 and had a distinguished political career. He was Secretary for the Colonies for several years before the Rebellion period of 1837-’38. Goderich evinced a genuine desire to remove all grievances of the Canadian people but his concessions and reforms were often ill-received by the Assembly.

Gordon: township in Manitoulin district, Ontario, surveyed in 1871, by Mr. Edgar Bray.

The origin of the name is uncertain but the honour is generally given to the Hon. James Gordon, a resident of Toronto, and member of the Legislative Council of Canada for twenty years, 1845-’65.

The name was taken from the village of Gosfield in Essex county, England. Here stands the inviting Gosfield Hall, the home of the Dukes of Buckingham.

It was named in honour of Sir Lomer Gouin, for many years Premier of the province of Quebec. In 1928 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Quebec.

Gower: South Gower township, Grenville county, and North Gower township, Carleton county, Ontario, were surveyed in 1798.

They took their name from Admiral the Hon. John Leveson Gower (1740-1792), a distinguished naval officer. He was Lord of the British Admiralty, 1783-’89.

Granby: township in Shefford county, Quebec, surveyed in 1792, and a city in the same locality founded in 1858.

There are several Granbys in England. This is the name of a parish and a village in Bedfordshire, from which probably Quebec Granby took its name. The origin of the name is, doubtless, grand and the Danish by, a village or town.

The word is derived from Passamaquoddy or Micmac Indian, mun-aa-nook, “the island”, with French grand to distinguish it from Petit Manan on the Maine coast. It was erected into a parish in 1816.

Grand Pré: district on the shores of Minas Basin, Kings county, Nova Scotia. It is also the name of a small village and a railway station in the neighbourhood.

Grand Pré means in English “great meadow”. At one time it was an Acadian settlement of rare beauty and fertility. When the province fell into the hands of the British, many of the Acadians refused to take the oath of allegiance. For several years the Provincial Government tried by peaceful methods to gain their adherence to British rule, but in vain. The long patience of the authorities was finally exhausted and what is known as the Expulsion of the Acadians took place in 1753—an act of absolute necessity for the protection of British settlements.

It took its name from the town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. It was at Grantham that Cromwell won his first victory over King Charles I.’s forces.

The area was named in honour of Henry Grattan (1750-1820). Mr. Grattan was elected to the Irish Parliament in 1775. He was of the opinion that the British Parliament had no right to legislate for Ireland and opposed the union of the Irish Parliament with the English Parliament in 1800, forming the Imperial Parliament.

Gravenhurst: thriving town at the foot of Lake Muskoka, Ontario. It is the gateway to one of Canada’s most picturesque and salubrious summer play-grounds.

The town’s early name was McCabe’s Landing. A. P. Cockburn, at one time President of the Muskoka and Nipissing Navigation Co., and a discoverer of the scenic beauty of this northern group of lakes, secured for the people of the district improved postal facilities. The new name of Gravenhurst came from the Postmaster-General’s office. The only place the name seems to occur is in Washington Irving’s story entitled “Bracebridge Hall”, in which it is referred to as a location in England. As it is not found in England in any of the Gazeteers of the world, it likely existed only in Irving’s imagination.

It took its name from Greenock, on the estuary of the Clyde River, Renfrew county, Scotland. Greenock is the seaport of Glasgow and has a large world commerce. It is also a ship-building centre. One of the titles of Lord Cathcart, Commander of the forces in British America in 1845, and Governor of Canada from Lord Metcalfe’s departure until the arrival of Lord Elgin in 1847, was Baron Greenock.

The name Greenock is derived from the Gaelic grian, genitive gréine meaning “of the sun” plus cnoc meaning “a hill”, that is “a sunny hill”.

Robert Wood was the first settler in 1895 and he owned the town site which was covered with green timber. These facts suggested the name, Greenwood.

It was named in honour of William Wyndham Grenville, 1750-1834. He was elected to the British House of Commons in 1782 and chosen Speaker in 1789. Mr. Grenville was created Baron Grenville in 1790 and was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for ten years, 1791 to 1801. He voted for the Canada Bill or Constitutional Act of 1791. His father, George Grenville, was the reputed author of the Stamp Act of 1765 which brought about the revolt of the American Colonies in 1775.

Grey: county, Ontario, erected in 1852, and Grey township, Huron county, in 1848.

Both were named after Charles, second Earl Grey, 1764-1845. The Grey family, of Saxon origin, rose to eminence in James I.’s reign. Earl Grey entered Parliament in 1786. For eighteen years he led the opposition, and on the defeat of the Wellington Government in 1830, became Prime Minister with “peace, retrenchment, and Parliamentary reform” as his policy.

The origin of the name is quite uncertain. Several officers of the name distinguished themselves in the naval and military service of the British Empire. Some think the township was named in honour of Colonel Griffith who commanded the Greys at Balaclava, 1854.

Grimsby: township, North, and South Lincoln county, Ontario, were surveyed in 1792. Grimsby is also the name of a charming town in this county.

The name is taken from Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. There is a tradition about the name. It is said that a local fisherman named Grime found a Danish Prince named Havelock in a boat adrift and took care of[121] the lad who, grown to maturity, married the daughter of the King of England. In confirmation the story runs that Danish conquerors granted special favours to Grime’s by or town, that is Grimsby. The surname Grim is very common in England.

It took its name from Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincoln county, England. This Castle was built by Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, to entertain his royal brother-in-law, King Henry VIII. Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada at this period, suggested the name. His relative, Sir Peregrine Bertie, was owner of Grimsthorpe Castle at this time.

The name is French, meaning “great island”, given to distinguish it from others in the vicinity. A quarantine station is maintained on Grosse Ile.

Guelph: city and township in Wellington county, Ontario, both of which were founded in 1827.

Mr. John Galt of the Canada Company chose this name in compliment to the Royal Family whose baptismal name was Guelph.

It took its name from the town of Guilford (Guildford) on the river Wey in Surrey county, England. This town possesses a written charter issued to its citizens in 1256.

It was named by Hon. T. B. Pardee, Commissioner of Crown Lands at the time in honour of his friend and political supporter, R. S. Gurd. The Gurd family were, and still are, prominent citizens of Sarnia, Lambton county. Mr. Gurd was a lawyer by profession.

This area was named in honour of Donald Guthrie, Q.C., of Guelph. Mr. Guthrie was M.P. for South Wellington, 1876-’82, and elected M.P.P. for the same constituency in 1886.

Guysborough: county in Nova Scotia, and also the name of a township and a town within the county.

They were named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, second Governor of British Canada. Guysborough township was settled by disbanded soldiers who had served under General Sir Guy Carleton, the hero of the siege of Quebec, 1775.

Gwillimbury: township, East, North and West, York county, Ontario, formed in 1798.

It was named in honour of Miss Gwillim, a young lady of Wales, who became the wife of Lieut.-Governor John Graves Simcoe. Miss Gwillim’s father was a soldier, aide-de-camp to General Wolfe, and was killed before Quebec in 1759. The Duc de la Rochefoucalt, writing in 1795, said, “Mrs. Simcoe is a woman of sense, handsome and amiable, and fulfils all the duties of a mother and a wife with the most scrupulous exactness.”

It was named after the Hon. John H. Hagarty who was born in Ireland in 1816 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was appointed Chief-Justice of Ontario in 1868.

It was named in honour of Judge Christopher Alexander Hagerman. He served in the war of 1812 and was appointed to a puisne judgeship in 1828. At a later date Mr. Hagerman became Solicitor-General and prosecuted the rebels who were imprisoned in 1838. In this capacity he incurred the enmity of their relatives who thought him cruelly severe.

The village is named after Charles and David Hager, pioneers here, who arrived in 1845. They were of U.E. Loyalist descent.

Haig: mount, 11,174 feet, in the Rockies, Alberta and B.C., canton in the counties of Pontiac and Montcalm, Quebec.

They were named in honour of Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces on the western front in the Great War, 1914-’18.

Haig’s historic order of 1918: “With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end”, will rank in history with Nelson’s famous words at Trafalgar, “England expects every man this day to do his duty”.

At the end of the war, the British Government presented him with the family estate, Bemersyde, free from debt ($1,500,000), cash gift of $500,000, and raised him to the rank of Earl Haig of Bemersyde.

When he died in 1928, burial in St. Paul’s Cathedral was proffered, but he had expressed a wish to be buried in the family vault, Dryburgh Abbey. After a memorial service in Westminster Abbey, the remains of the great soldier were interred at Dryburgh.

The town was founded by Mr. C. C. Farr, who came to the site as a settler in the year 1873. At that time there was a Hudson Bay Company’s post here.

The place was named by Mr. Farr from Haileybury College in England, where he was educated.

Haileybury College, two miles south-east of Hertford and twenty-six miles north of London, was erected in 1809 by the East India Co. as a place of training for cadets in their service. After the transference in 1858 of the powers of the Company to the Crown, an interval ensued during which the College was unused, but in 1862 a new public school was opened in the building, its numbers being limited to 500 by the charter. It has numbered among its professors and students many illustrious names.

Haldimand: county in Ontario, surveyed in 1783, and a township in Northumberland county, Ontario, formed in 1792.

They were named in honour of Sir Frederick Haldimand, 1721-’91, Governor-General of Canada from 1777 to 1784. Under his administration the citadel of Quebec was designed and begun, and the first system of canals[125] in America was constructed to overcome the rapids of the St. Lawrence River. Haldimand has been assailed unjustly by some writers as harsh and tyrannical. Kingsford made a special study of his administration and in summing up his services states, “That Canada remained a British possession in those trying days was greatly owing to his just and firm rule, and to his unwearied efforts to safeguard the province”.

It was named in honour of Thomas Chandler Haliburton, born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1796, died in Isleworth, England, in 1865. Mr. Haliburton studied law and was called to the bar in 1820. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1840. Haliburton is also one of Canada’s most distinguished authors. His greatest work is The Clockmaker, or Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville. In 1842 he took up his residence in England and in 1859 was elected M.P. for Launceston.

Halifax: city, capital of Nova Scotia, was founded in 1749 under the patronage and financial support of His Majesty’s Government. 1176 settlers and their families, army and navy veterans for the most part, were transported free of cost, supplied with provisions for one year, and arms and ammunition for defence. In addition they were given free lots, building material, implements for tilling the soil, and articles for prosecuting the fishery.

The Hon. Edward Cornwallis was appointed Captain-General of the expedition and Governor of Nova Scotia. He named the new town Halifax in honour of George Montague Dunk, second Earl of Halifax, President of the Board of Trade at this period.

Some writers state the word Halifax means Holy Hair. It is said a virgin was murdered long ago near this place,[126] (Halifax, York county, England) and suspended by her hair from a tree.

The Micmac Indian name for Bedford Basin is Chebooktook meaning “chief harbour”, and for the site of Halifax, Gwowamicktook, meaning “white pine forest”.

Hallowell: mount (3980 feet), Jervis inlet, British Columbia. It was named after Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew, commander H.M.S. Swiftsure in the Battle of the Nile, 1798, by Captain Richards, H.M. survey vessel Plumper, about 1859.

After this famous victory, Nelson received many gifts, but the most extraordinary was one from Captain Hallowell who sent him, some months after the battle, fearing the effect of all the praise, a coffin with a signed certificate pasted on the bottom, “Every part of this coffin is made of wood and iron of [3]L’Orient (a gigantic French war-ship) most of which was picked up by H.M.S. under my command in the Bay of Aboukir.”

Swiftsure, 23 May, 1799.

My Lord:

Herewith I send you a coffin made of part of L’Orient’s mainmast that when you have finished your glorious career in this world, you may be buried in one of your own trophies; but may that period be far distant is the sincere wish of your obedient and much obliged servant

Ben Hallowell.

Nelson received this extraordinary gift with the utmost cordiality and affection and kept it standing upright in his cabin for some months, when his servant persuaded him to have it stored below.

Hallowell was born in Canada in 1760. He was the son of Benjamin Hallowell, commissioner of the American Board of Customs. At an early age he entered the navy.

By a curious chance, Hallowell succeeded on the death of his cousin, Mrs. Anne Paston Gee, in 1828 to the estate of the Carews of Beddington and pursuant to her will, assumed the name and arms of Carew, to which family he was in no way related.

It took its name from Benjamin Hallowell, a U.E. Loyalist, whose estate in Maine was confiscated and he himself banished in 1778. The British Government granted Mr. Hallowell lands in Nova Scotia and in Upper Canada. Some writers state he received a free grant of a great part, if not the whole, of the township which bears his name.

Halton: county, Ontario, instituted in 1816. At that time it included besides its present limits, Wentworth (North), Brant (North), Waterloo and Wellington.

It took its name from Major William Halton, who was Secretary to Mr. Francis Gore, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada from 1806 to 1811 and from 1815 to 1817.

The word Halton signifies “a town upon a hill”. There are several villages in England bearing this name.

It took its name from George Hamilton, son of Hon. Robert Hamilton of Niagara who bought a farm here in 1812 and divided a part of it into building lots the next year.

Hamilton is also the name of a township in Northumberland county, Ontario, erected in 1792.

It was named in honour of Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada for a few months in 1785. Formerly he had been Governor at Detroit, 1777-’78. He is said to have possessed courage and energy, but lacked the tact and judgment essential for the satisfactory performance of the duties of his exalted position.

The name is contracted from Hamilton, (which see) and Sioux Indian otah meaning “much, too many”, that is “too many Hamiltons”. The original name of the place was Hamilton from a large family of settlers of that name. On account of mail going to Hamilton, Ontario, in mistake, the name was changed to Hamiota.

It is the abbreviated form of Hampshire—old English “Hantes shire”. It was probably suggested by the U.E. Loyalist settlers from New Hampshire, U.S.

It was probably named after the village of Harcourt in Shropshire, England. Michael Harcourt represented Haldimand in the Canadian Assembly before Confederation, and his son Hon. Richard Harcourt represented Monck in the Ontario Legislature. He became Provincial Treasurer in 1890 and at a later date was chosen Minister of Education. The district may have been named in honour of Mr. Michael Harcourt, M.P.

They were named after Richard Hardisty, 1831-’89. He was Chief Factor, Hudson’s Bay Company, Edmonton district, for many years and later Senator of the Dominion.

It was named in honour of Hon. Arthur Sturgis Hardy. Mr. Hardy was born at Mount Pleasant, Brant county, in 1837. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1865. In 1873 he was elected to the Ontario Legislature by the Reformers of South Brant. Mr. Hardy was chosen Provincial Secretary in 1877, Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1889, and Premier in 1898, a position which he held until 1899. He died in 1901.

It was named after Hon. Robert Alexander Harrison, 1833-’78. Mr. Harrison studied law and was called to the bar in 1855. He achieved great success in his practice in Toronto. In 1875 he was appointed Chief-Justice of Ontario, the duties of which position he ably discharged until his death.

It was named in honour of Sir John Harvey, 1778-1846, a British soldier of distinction. He planned and won the battle of Stoney Creek, Upper Canada, June 5, 1813. At a later date he was Governor of each of the Maritime provinces and also of Newfoundland.

It took its name from the town of Harwich in Essex, England. The word is derived from the Saxon terms, hare, “an army”, and wich, “a strong place”. At one time it was a fortified stronghold for troops.

It was named in honour of Francis Rawdon, Marquis of Hastings, son of Sir John Rawdon, Earl of Moira and his third wife, Elizabeth Hastings, daughter of the ninth Earl of Huntingdon, 1754-1826. He gave the Empire distinguished military service in America and India. Rawdon succeeded to the Earldom of Moira in 1793 and was made Marquis of Hastings for his services as Governor of Bengal.

The Hastings family got its title from the town of Hastings in Sussex, England. It took its name from a Danish sea-captain who built a fort there in the Danish invasions of the ninth century.

Hawkesbury: township (East and West) erected in 1798, and thriving town in Prescott county, Ontario.

They were named in honour of Charles Jenkinson Baron Hawkesbury and Earl of Liverpool, (1727-1808). He was a friend of King George III., and Under Secretary of State for several years. His son, the second Lord Hawkesbury, was Premier of the Kingdom for fifteen years.

There are several villages by the name of Hawkesbury in England. The word is derived from Hawk, a man’s name and old English burg meaning “a castle”, that is “Hawk’s castle”.

It is generally held to have been named after Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General of Canada, 1855-’61, an accomplished scholar.

It was named in honour of Sir William Hearst, sometime Premier of Ontario. His Government passed the Ontario Temperance Act during the Great War, 1914-’18. By the vote of the people this Act was rescinded in 1927 and Government control of the sale of liquors instituted in its stead.

Hecate: strait lying between Queen Charlotte islands and the mainland of British Columbia.

Hecate was a Grecian goddess represented with three heads. She was thought to have power from Zeus in heaven, earth, and sea. An offering of purification was made to her on the 30th of each month at three cross roads.

Apparently the name is derived, through a misuse of the aspirate, from Epworth, a small town in the county of Lincoln, England, from which doubtless some of the first settlers came. It is said to have been suggested by an English pioneer named Mr. Spencer. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was born there.

The word Epworth is derived from Eppa, a person’s name, and old English worth meaning “a farm”, that is “the farm of Eppa”.

It was named in honour of Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1790-1871. He was the only son of Sir William Herschel, both distinguished astronomers. Sir John made a special study of the firmament of the southern hemisphere. He calculated, too, the density of the atmosphere.

Hespeler: town in Waterloo county, Ontario. This town had its beginning in 1818 when Abram Clemens purchased 515 acres of Indian Lands from Richard Beasley. Of that acreage 464 acres are included in the incorporated town of Hespeler.

The first name given the settlement was Bergeyville after a settler named Michael Bergey. In 1835 the name was changed to New Hope. In 1844 Jacob Hespeler arrived and infused new life into the village. He built a saw mill, grist mill and a distillery, cleared the forests, drained the swamps and constructed roads. When the municipality was incorporated as a village in 1858 it was named Hespeler in honour of its most public-spirited citizen. The village became a town in 1901.

It took its name from William T. Hibbert of London, England, a Director of the Canada Land Company.

It was named after Major George Hillier, Aide-de-Camp and Secretary to Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, 1818-’28. In the literature of the time the Major is described as extremely polite and tactful, devoted to his superior’s interests.

It was named in honour of William Alfred Himsworth, a member of the bar of Lower Canada. He was appointed Clerk of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in 1872.

Hinchinbrooke is the name of a village in Huntingdon county, England. At one time Lord Nelson commanded a ship called the Hinchinbrooke. Viscount Hinchinbrooke, M.P. for Huntingdonshire, voted for the Canada Bill in 1791.

It was named in honour of Sir Francis Hincks, at one time Minister of Finance in the Government of Canada.

Hochelaga: an Indian village or encampment on ground which now forms part of the site of Montreal, visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535. It consisted at that time of about fifty wooden dwellings, each about 150 feet long by 45 feet wide. Several families were accommodated in each house. The place was inhabited by one to two thousand natives. The village had a triple enclosure or palisade of circular form. Here and there were elevated structures, with piles of stones near by for defensive missiles.

Père Arnaud is of the opinion that the word Hochelaga is derived from the Iroquois oshelaga, meaning “a place where one is surprised in an ambuscade and held in derision”. M. l’Abbé Manville states the word is a corruption of the Iroquois term oserake and that it may have any one of several meanings according to the context. The Iroquois language abounds in homonyms and one may take his choice in this case of the following:

The name is preserved in Hochelaga county in which the city of Montreal is situated.

The origin of its name is uncertain. It may have been named after Major Samuel Holland who was with Wolfe at Louisbourg and Quebec, and afterwards became Surveyor-General of Canada. He died in 1801.

It is possible that it was named in honour of Lord Holland who was a member of the British Government at this period, 1835-’41.

Holland is also the name of a historical river, York and Simcoe counties, Ontario, emptying into Lake Simcoe. It took its name from Major S. Holland who distinguished himself under Wolfe at Louisbourg and was appointed Surveyor-General of Canada.

It took its name from the village of Hooge, east of Ypres, where the Canadians took back from the Germans, June, 1916, ground which they had lost in the Ypres salient.

It was named in honour of Sir William Jackson Hooker, 1785-1865, celebrated British botanist, by David Douglas, Scottish botanist who crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1827.

It is generally thought to have been named in honour of Colonel Henry Hope who commanded the British forces[135] in Canada in 1785. In the same year he was made acting Lieutenant-Governor of Canada and held this position until the arrival of Carleton as Governor-General in 1786. Hope then became Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec. He died in 1789 and was buried in the city of Quebec with military honours. As a mark of respect “Hope Gate”, upper town of Quebec, was named after him.

It was named after R. J. Wilmot Horton, a member of the British House of Commons at this period. He supported a scheme to assist emigration to Canada.

It was called after Houghton in Norfolk county, England. Sir Robert Walpole resided here. The word is derived from hough meaning “a hill” and ton, “a town”.

It was named in honour of Thomas Howard, Earl of Effingham. His daughter, Lady Mary Howard, married Sir Guy Carleton, Governor-General of Canada at this period.

It was named in honour of Sir Douglas Howard, Governor of this province in 1825.

Howe: island in Lake Ontario, being a township of Frontenac county. It was surveyed in 1792.

Some authorities state it was named in honour of Richard, Earl Howe, a British Admiral, 1725-’99. In 1782 he relieved Gibraltar, besieged by the combined navies of France and Spain. Others think it was named after[136] the Admiral’s brother, Sir William Howe, who served under Wolfe at Quebec and was Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in America, 1775-’78.

It was named in honour of Henry George Grey who entered Parliament as Lord Howick in 1829. He was made Secretary for the Colonies in 1846. Near Howick, Northumberland county, England, is Howick Hall, the beautiful home of the Grey family. The word Howick is probably derived from the Danish holde, “a fortress”, and wick, “a station or village”, that is “a fortified place”.

It was named in honour of Sir William Pearce Howland who represented West York in Parliament from 1857 to 1868. He was a member of the Coalition Government of 1864 which worked out the scheme of Confederation. From 1868 to 1873 Sir William was Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. He was knighted in 1879.

The Howland family was descended from John Howland, an English Quaker who came to America with the Puritan emigration in 1620. These people founded the free states of New England. The Bible was their law and brotherhood their charter. Sir William came to Canada from the United States in 1830 and took up mercantile business in Lambton Mills and Toronto.

They are named in honour of their discoverer, Henry Hudson, a distinguished English navigator. His last voyage was made in 1610 when he entered this strait and bay and explored a portion of their coasts. Owing to scarcity of food his sailors mutinied and set Hudson,[137] his son, and seven infirm members of the crew adrift in a small boat. They were never heard from again. The mutineers reached England after much suffering.

Philemon Wright, the founder of the city, named it after Hull in England. At a later date the name was extended to the canton or township.

It was named after John Hullet, a friend of John Galt, and one of the first directors of the Canada Land Company.

Before Governor Simcoe’s time it was known as Toronto River, and St. John’s creek after Jean Baptiste Rousseau, an early trader and interpreter, who had a public house on its banks, near Dundas Street. Simcoe disliked the aboriginal name of Toronto and ordered it to be replaced by Humber. “The north of England names began to be in use, and the Humber, with perhaps some influence added from that Humber near his Devonshire estate, displaced the Toronto and St. John’s Creek”—K. M. Lizars in The Valley of the Humber.

The word Humber is probably the aspirated form of cumber (Danish) denoting the confluence of the Ouse and Trent Rivers.

It took its name from Humberston, a village in Lincolnshire, England, five miles from the seaport town[138] of Great Grimsby. It is also the name of a pleasant village in this township.

The origin of the name is unknown. Boswell in his Life of Johnson speaks of Ozias Humphry as an eminent painter of the period.

Hungerford took its name from a title of the Hastings family. Edward Hastings was summoned to Parliament in 1482 as Baron Hungerford. The title was taken from the town of Hungerford in Berkshire.

It was named in honour of James Hill Hunter, M.P.P. for South Grey. Mr. Hunter was first elected to the Legislature in 1875. He was engaged in the mercantile business in Durham village.

It took its name, by proclamation of 1792, from the shire of Huntingdon, England.

Huntington township, Hastings county, Ontario, was organized in 1798. Its origin is the same as Huntingdon, only a “t” has been substituted for the “d”.

It took its name from Huntley Castle, Aberdeen county, Scotland, the girlhood home of Lady Charlotte Gordon, wife of the Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19. The word is a corruption of hunting and lea, “a meadow”, originally “a hunting ground”.

Huntsville: thriving town in Muskoka district, Ontario. It possesses a superb situation for scenic beauty at the gateway of the Lake of Bays and is the centre of numerous summer resorts. Half a century ago the red man was the sole enjoyer of this district’s beauties.

Huron: a great lake, a county organized in 1841, and a township of the same county, in Ontario. It is also the name of a river flowing into the Richelieu River, Quebec.

Father Lalement, writing in 1639, states that about 1600, a French soldier, seeing a party of Indians (Wyandottes) with their hair cropped and silver-coloured, dubbed them “Hurons”. This word is derived from the French hure meaning bristly. The manner in which they dressed their hair suggested the bristles of the wild boar.

The Wyandottes or Hurons at first occupied the northern shores of the St. Lawrence westward from Montreal and afterwards the country between Lake Simcoe and Matchedash Bay. The Iroquois waged war against them here and drove them still westward to Manitoulin Island in the lake that now bears the name Huron, to Michilimackinac, and the northern shores of Lake Superior.

Iberville: county and its chief town in western Quebec, and canton, county of Saguenay, Quebec, erected in 1860, and also the name of a lake in northern Quebec.

They were named in honour of Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville who distinguished himself in expeditions to Hudson’s Bay.

Ile-aux-Coudres: island in the St. Lawrence River, county of Charlevoix, Quebec.

The words are French, meaning “island of nuts”. This island was discovered by Cartier in 1535 and so named on account of the abundance of hazel-nuts he found on it.

On the 7th of September, 1535, Cartier discovered this large and fertile island. He gave it the name of Bacchus (in mythology the son of Jupiter and god of wine) on account of finding it covered with wild grapes. The name was afterwards changed to Orleans, some writers say by Cartier on his third voyage in 1541, in honour of the Royal Family of France.

Illecillewaet: glacier, mining district, village and river flowing into Columbia River at Revelstoke, Kootenay, British Columbia.

The name is Indian, meaning “swift water”, originally applied to the river only.

It was named after Colonel Charles Ingersoll, a U.E. Loyalist, who settled in this district in 1793. He became the first postmaster of the village of Ingersoll in 1821.

The word is a shortened form of Innisfail, one of the poetical names for Ireland.

Iona: town and parish in Victoria county, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It was settled by Scotch in 1802.

Bishop McKeown gave it this name in 1873 on account of its physical features resembling those of Iona, Scotland. The name was confirmed by Parliament in 1891.

It took its name from one of the principal Indian tribes of North America, called by the French “Iroquois” and by the British the Six Nations. The Iroquois Confederacy was composed of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras. It was formed about 1540 for mutual protection, and was successfully maintained for 200 years. The union was never formally dissolved. The Indian name of this league was Ho-de-no-saw-nee, or “People of the Long House”. It is said the structure of this league suggested the union of the thirteen English colonies in the Revolutionary War of 1776-’83—a union which developed into the United States of America.

The origin of the Iroquois is obscure. Most authorities state this tribe came originally from the vicinity of Hudson Bay by way of the Ottawa and Saguenay in the days long agone, as a small nation, and settled along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, from Hochelaga to Stadacona, among the Hurons and Algonquins, from whom they learned the arts of husbandry and the tactics of war. Becoming numerous they rose against their[142] masters but were compelled to seek fresh fields and settled in the district now known as the State of New York.

Charlevoix derives the word Iroquois from hiro, “I have spoken”, and koue which when long drawn out is a cry of sorrow and when briefly uttered an exclamation of joy. With these words, according to Charlevoix, the orators of this tribe were in the habit of closing all their public speeches.

Horatio Hale objects to the French compound and states that the term Iroquois is a modification of Ierokwa, meaning, “They who smoke” or briefly the “Tobacco People”.

Dr. Benjamin Suite of Ottawa states that an Iroquois chief at Caughnawaga near Montreal told him Iro was not used at the close of an address but was a salutation on entering a room where there was company and that it meant, “here”, “here I am”.

This mountain was named in honour of Miss Ishbel MacDonald, eldest daughter of the British Premier, Ramsay MacDonald, who accompanied her father on his visit to Canada in the autumn of 1929. On the morning of the 25th of December of that year Premier Mackenzie King cabled the distinction to the delighted family at their Scottish home, Hillocks, at Lossiemouth, as Canada’s Christmas gift to this popular and capable young woman.

Isle-aux-Noix: island, county of St. John, Quebec, where Lake Champlain narrows into the Richelieu River. Both the French and the English considered it a strategic point for military operations and built fortifications on[143] the Island. Many a fierce encounter took place on both the water and the land of this locality during the American War of Independence (1775-’83), and the War of 1812-’15.

The name is French meaning in English “Island of Walnuts”. The walnut tree flourished here in early days and bore nuts in great profusion.

There are three kinds of walnuts; the black walnut of North America, the grey walnut or butternut also of America, and the European walnut, a native of Persia, whose nuts are superior to any other.

Jacques Cartier: county, lake, and river in Quebec. It is most fitting that the discoverer of Canada in 1535 should have his name thus commemorated. His name and that of the Huron Indian village of Hochelaga which he visited on this occasion are borne by the two counties of the island of Montreal.

The river known as Jacques Cartier was visited by Champlain in 1603 and so named by him under the impression that the Admiral and his company of three ships had wintered in its mouth in 1535-’36. Later he decided from ruins found on its banks that Cartier had wintered in the St. Charles (St. Croix), or rather in its tributary St. Michel or Lairet. Here in 1843 was found the hull of his vessel “Petite Hermione” left behind on his return to France.

James: bay, north of central Canada, an arm of Hudson Bay. It was discovered by Captain Thomas James.

In May, 1631, Captain James sailed from Bristol in a 70-ton vessel, the Mary, furnished and equipped by the enterprising merchants of that city, with a crew of twenty men and two boys. He passed through Hudson Strait and reached the north-west portion of Hudson Bay. Working south and east in quest of the north-west passage, he had the honour of discovering that deep bay which still bears his name.

James and his heroic seamen wintered on Charlton Island deep down in the bay. Their sufferings from cold and scurvy beggars description. The good ship Mary was much buffeted and broken by the Arctic gales and ice, but she brought them safely home in triumph the next summer.

The ship was named in honour of Princess Mary, daughter of Charles I. She married William, Prince of Orange, and became mother of William III., King of England (1688-1702).

They were named after Jasper House which was a North West Company trading post in charge of Jasper Hawes, 1817.

Jasper Park was set aside in 1907 by the federal government for the perpetual use, benefit and enjoyment of the people. It contains 4,400 square miles, and is the largest of the fourteen federal reservations for park purposes. It is historic ground, many early explorers having passed this way to the Pacific, among them David Thompson in 1810.

Johnstown: hamlet situated on the St. Lawrence River in Grenville county, Ontario, and former name of a district in Upper Canada, embracing the present counties of Leeds and Grenville and parts of two townships in each of the counties of Lanark and Carleton.

They took their name from the celebrated U.E. Loyalist, Sir William Johnson. Before the Thirteen Colonies declared their Independence in 1776, Rev. John Stuart, D.D., Episcopal clergyman, had been missionary to the Mohawks in the state of New York. Sir William Johnson (married Molly Brant, sister of Chief Joseph Brant) secured from Governor Clinton a grant of land for him which Dr. Stuart named Johnstown in honour of his patron. In consequence of his loyalty to the British Crown, Stuart had to remove to Canada in 1781. The Government granted him land in Grenville county, which he named New Johnstown, the village subsequently be[146]coming the first capital (county town) and giving its name to the entire district. Here in 1792 Simcoe was given a royal reception.

The Dominion Government has recently decided (1928) to expropriate this land of historical associations along the shore of the St. Lawrence from Windmill Point to Johnstown Creek on which to erect the Great Lakes Grain Terminal, and has opened (1930) Port Johnstown post-office.

It was named in honour of Louis Jolliett, the discoverer of the Mississippi River in 1673. He was born at Quebec in 1645 and educated for the priesthood. Talon, the Intendant, and Frontenac, the Governor, chose Jolliett to explore the Mississippi. He asked Father Marquette to accompany him, and together they reached their goal by way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. The explorers proceeded down the great river as far as the mouth of the Arkansas tributary where they were compelled to retrace their course, owing to the unfriendliness of the Indians. As a reward for his services he was granted the island of Anticosti. He died there about 1701.

It was named after the Hon. Barthelmy Joliette, founder of an industrial village in this district. (Origin of the Geographic Names of Quebec, by P. G. Roy.)

Joly: township in Parry Sound district, Ontario, surveyed in 1878, and a canton in Ottawa county, Quebec.

They were named in honour of Hon. Sir Henri Gustave Joly de Lotbinière. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1855. Sir Henri was a member of the[147] Canadian Assembly from 1861 to 1867, later Prime Minister of Quebec, member of the Federal Ministry and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.

It was named in honour of Judge Jonas Jones. He was a son of Ephraim Jones who settled in Augusta, Grenville county, and was a member of the first Parliament of Upper Canada, held at Newark. Young Jones was educated by Dr. Strachan, studied law, and served in the war of 1812. He was appointed Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1837 and died in Toronto in 1848.

Kaien: island, Tuck inlet, Chatham sound, British Columbia. It was selected in 1905 as the western terminus of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway, now a division of the C.N.R. See Prince Rupert.

The name is Indian and means “foam”. In the channel at the south end of the island there is a strong rapid and during a storm, foam extends at times a mile or so along the shore, hence the name.

The word is a corruption of Indian Kakapikank, and signifies “high fall”. (Picturesque Canada, p. 270.)

The origin of this name is uncertain. Some writers think the word may be derived from an East Indian word, Killahdar or Killedar, meaning “the Governor of a Fort”. Kalandar is a term applied to a vagrant saint in India. There is a tradition in the township that its name is a corruption of “kill a deer”.

Kaministikwia: river emptying into Lake Superior, Thunder Bay district, Ontario.

The word is Indian, meaning “the river with short bends and many islands”, according to the Geographic Board of Canada.

This word is sometimes written Kaministiquia, and according to some Indian headmen of the district it is a corruption of Kaw-maw-naw-taw-quaw which applied to both river and valley through which it flows, and means “The place where there is always plenty of game”.

In May, 1812, Alexander Ross of the Pacific Fur Co. established a trading post here and named it Cumeloups which is Indian for “the meeting of the waters”. At this point is the junction of the South Thompson and North Thompson Rivers. A post office was opened here in 1872 under the name of Kamloops.

Kapuskasing: enterprising town in Timiskaming district, and picturesque river, tributary to Mattagami River, Algoma and Timiskaming districts, Ontario.

The city was named in 1890 after the river of the same name by the pioneer settlers. The postmaster, D. P. Kane, states that the river was named after himself by a Frenchman, John Kaslo, who came up the Kootenay Lake to the head, looking for placer gold, in the days of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Kawartha: group of beautiful lakes extending across Victoria and Peterborough counties, Ontario. They are fourteen in number: Scugog, Sturgeon, Cameron, Balsam, Pigeon, Bald, Sandy, Buckhorn, Chemong, Deer, Lovesick, Stony, Clear and Katchewanooka.

The name is an Indian word meaning “grizzly bear”. It was given by the late John Coryell, C.E., of the firm of Coryell and Burnyeat of Vernon who surveyed the site of the city in 1891-’92 for Legume Bros., the owners of the land. The post office was opened February 1, 1893.

It was named by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in honour of Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, 1718-’82.

It was named in honour of Sir James Kempt, Governor-General of Canada, 1828-’30. He made no radical changes, disappointing those who hoped he would support an elective legislative council.

Its origin is somewhat uncertain. Most authorities state the word is Abenakis Indian, meaning “a snake”, others “deep river”. In combination may be the solution—a river infested with snakes. Abbé Maurault in his History of the Abenakis states the word is derived from Kanibeseck, meaning “the path which leads to the lake” (Megantic). There is a Kennebec river in Maine which takes its rise in Lake Megantic, and U.E. Loyalists came to Upper Canada from its immediate neighbourhood.

The word is Maliseet Indian, Ken-a-bee-kay-sis, but its meaning is uncertain. It is supposed to be a diminutive of Kennebec (river in Maine, U.S.A.), that is, little Kennebec, and Kennebec is variously stated to mean “long river”, “deep river”, and “snake”, any one of which is applicable to a certain extent.

The name is pronounced locally, Ken-ne-bec-ay-shus. Tradition says the word had the following origin. Two travellers arrived at a tavern on the river’s banks on a stormy night, and one remarked as they drew near, “Can it be Case’s?” It is said a family by the name of Case still keeps a public house on the banks of the Kennebecasis.

Kennebecasis Bay at the mouth of the river is the scene of the legend of the beaver pond from which the Indian demigod Glooscap formed some of the adjoining physical features while chastising the great beavers for misconduct.

The Maliseets or Malicites occupied the St. John River district mainly and were so called by the Micmacs. The word means “broken talkers”, “those who speak badly”.

The Micmacs lived in Gaspé, northern New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. The name of this tribe is French and means, “secret practice”, “underhand dealing”. These people were so designated, it is supposed, because of the large number of “medicine men” found among them.

The town was originally called Rat Portage, and a large district now included in Manitoba and Ontario was called Keewatin, “home of the north-west wind”. Near Rat Portage was the village of Norman. About 1899 by Act of Parliament they united under the name of Kenora. The new name was made up of the first two letters of Keewatin, Norman and Rat Portage. There is also the town of Keewatin three miles from Kenora.

It took its name from the beautiful county of Kent in England. The Teutonic Kingdom of Kent was founded by the Jutes after they had driven out the Britons about 450 A.D. Their chief city was called Cant-wara-byrig or Kentmensborough, now the city of Canterbury.

There is also a county of Kent in New Brunswick. It was named in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, father of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria.

It was named in honour of Lloyd, Lord Kenyon, a distinguished Welsh lawyer, born at Gredington, county of Flint, Wales, in 1739, died 1802. Pitt made him Chief-Justice of the King’s Bench in 1788 with the title of Lord Kenyon, Baron of Gredington.

It was named in honour of Captain Henry Keppel of the British navy. After many years of distinguished service, chiefly on the China and Japan station, he was made an Admiral in 1869.

Kicking Horse: pass, and river, branch of Columbia River, Kootenay district, B.C.

In 1859 Sir James Hector was kicked by one of his horses near Wapta railway station. The name was given by his men. The pass is on the line of the C. P. R.

Kildonan: historic parish in Manitoba, a few miles north of Winnipeg, founded by some of Selkirk’s settlers from the Hebrides in 1812. There are parishes or villages by the name of Kildonan in Arran, Eigg, Skye and Sutherlandshire. The word is derived from the Gaelic cil (kil), “church” and St. Donan, “the church of St. Donan”. He was a friend of Columba and met a martyr’s death at Eigg in 617.

Killarney: a picturesque village on the shore of Georgian Bay, Parry Sound district, Ontario, also a village in Manitoba and a settlement in B.C. All were named after Killarney, Ireland.

The word is derived from the Celtic cil or kil meaning “church” and larney, meaning “black thorn or sloe”, that is “the church among the black thorns”. In early days a church was the centre around which a village grew.

Kincardine: township in Bruce county, Ontario, erected in 1849, and also a town situated on Lake Huron in the same county.

Kindersley: town in Saskatchewan, first division point on C.N.R. between Saskatoon and Calgary.

It was named in honour of Sir Robert Kindersley, representative of Lazard Bros. great financial firm of London, Paris and New York. By his advice that house under-wrote millions of dollars’ worth of Canadian Northern Securities while the Road was still under construction.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some ascribe the honour to Mr. John King, Under Secretary of State at this period. His correspondence with public men of Canada at this time is to be found in the Archives. Dr. Henry Scadding was of the opinion that this township was named after Sir Richard King, an Admiral in the British Navy.

Kingston: city, Frontenac county, Ontario, occupies the site of the Indian village of Cataraqui and of the fort which Count de Frontenac, Governor of Canada, built in 1672. The English village of Kingston was founded in 1784 by U.E. Loyalists.

Kingston township was outlined in 1783 and sub-divided into lots in 1784 by John Collins, land surveyor, at the direction of General Haldimand, Governor of Canada.[154] Both city and township were named Kingstown (afterwards contracted to Kingston) in honour of King George III.

It took its name from Kinloss, a parish and hamlet on Moray Firth, Elginshire, Scotland. The ruins of the beautiful Abbey of Kinloss are still to be seen. It was built in 1170 by David I. for the Cistercians. He was lost while out hunting and was led here by a white dove in answer to his prayers.

Kitchener: city in Waterloo county, Ontario, so named in 1916 after Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener.

Joseph Schneider from Pennsylvania is said to have been the first settler in 1807. The earliest name was Sand Hills and later Mount Pleasant. In honour of some settlers arriving about 1830 direct from Germany the name was changed to Berlin.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener was born in 1850 at Gunsborough House near Listowel, Kerry county, Ireland. The family motto was “Thorough”, which marked his military career. His achievements in Egypt, in the Soudan, in South Africa, in India, are unparalleled. On the outbreak of the Great War, 1914-’18, K. of K. became Secretary of State for War. On the 5th of June, 1916, he set out on an important mission to Russia. On the same day he was drowned at sea when the Hampshire was wrecked off the Orkney Islands. What more fitting sepulchre for Britian’s great son!

It was called after Kitley, near Yeolhampton, in Devonshire, England. Kitley was the residence of the ancient family of Bastard after whom Bastard township in this county is named.

Klondike: village and small river, tributary to the Yukon River, Yukon Territory.

The famous Klondike placer-gold region lies in the basins of the Klondike and Indian Rivers. Gold was discovered here in 1896. At one time the annual output of the precious metal reached $20,000,000. The region is well-wooded. The summers are warm and the winters vigorous.

The name Klondike is derived from Indian Throndiuk meaning “river full of fish”.

Labrador: coast district on the north-east boundary of Quebec Province, forming a dependency of Newfoundland.

Authors do not agree as to the exact meaning or origin of the word Labrador. Gosling in his History of Labrador states that in 1501 Henry VII. gave letters patent granting certain privileges in the New World to three merchants of Bristol and three farmers or labourers from the Azores by name Gonzales and the two Fernandez. On the voyage out Juan Fernandez was the first to sight this land and the sailors dubbed it Lavrador or Labrador, the Portuguese word for labour.

Dr. N. E. Dionne in his book La Nouvelle France de Cartier à Champlain is inclined to think that the Spaniards and even the Portuguese may have translated Terre de Labour, primitively given by the Basques to this part of their discoveries, by the word Labrador. Labour is a small territory in southern France, situated between Gascony and the Basque country.

Kingsford in his History of Canada says that the word is a corruption of Laboratores terrae, so called because in the year 1500 Cortereal seized a cargo of fifty natives and sold them in Europe for slaves.

Other writers derive the word from the Spanish phrase, Tierra Labrador, “the farmers’ or labourer’s land”, it being less barren than Greenland. Monseigneur Charles Gway in an article published in 1903 agrees with this derivation but states that it is evident the name was given in derision to this tract of waste land.

Another origin that has been suggested is the French phrase le bras d’or, “the arm of gold”. Most early explorers were in quest of the precious metal and the natives informed those who gave the name that their land[157] abounded in the golden ore. If this be the origin, the name has so far proved a misnomer. As recently as 1924 discovery of rich gold mines was reported, but prospectors who rushed to the scene were disappointed.

Lachine: rapids, canal, city, on the St. Lawrence River, a few miles west of Montreal.

The devoted and ambitious La Salle was granted a site here in 1667 by the Sulpician Fathers on which to erect a fortified outpost for the defense of the city of Montreal. He, or some jocular pragmatist, named his clearing and settlement La Chine (thither the way to China), thus embalming his dominant idea of a passage across the continent to the Indies and Cathay (the name by which China was known to Europeans in the middle ages). Tiring in two or three years of this uneventful life, La Salle sold out his concession and entered upon his voyages of discovery.

It was named in 1900 by James Dunsmuir, owner at that time of extensive coal mines in this district, after Ladysmith in South Africa when he heard of its relief by the British army after it had been besieged for several months by the Boers. Before this time the town was known as Oyster Harbour on which Ladysmith is situated. The name was officially changed on January 1, 1901.

It was named in honour of Viscount Gerard Lake, 1744-1808, a soldier of distinction. He was commander of the British force which suppressed the rebellion of 1798 in Ireland by his defeat of the insurgents at Vinegar Hill, Wexford county. Lake also conducted the campaign in India against the Mogul Emperor, bringing it to a close by the capture of Delhi in 1803.

Lambton: county in Ontario, organized in 1850, and also a canton in Frontenac county, Quebec, erected in 1848.

They were named in honour of Sir John George Lambton, Earl of Durham, 1792-1840. In 1838 he was appointed Governor-General of Canada, and Her Majesty’s High Commissioner to enquire into the public affairs of the country. Durham arrived at Quebec, May 29, 1838, and departed November 1st of the same year. His voluminous and illuminating Report which resulted in the union of the two Canadas and the establishment of our free municipal system was dated January 31, 1839. Canada owes a great debt to the Earl of Durham’s discernment, judgment and courage.

Lanark: county in Ontario, organized in 1825, and also a township in this county, formed in 1820.

They are named after Lanark, the county-town of Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was in Lanark that William Wallace commenced his military efforts to break Edward I.’s power in Scotland. There is a statue of the hero in the Lanark parish church.

Lancaster: thriving village and township in Glengarry county, Ontario, erected in 1787.

They were named after the county of Lancaster in England, and in honour of King George III., one of whose titles was Duke of Lancaster.

The name means “the fortress or stronghold on the River Lune” (Lancashire). The word is derived from Celtic lon, meaning, “marsh, pool, stream” and Latin castrum “a fortress”.

It was named in honour of Major-General William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelbourne, 1737-1805, a[159] distinguished soldier and statesman. He was Secretary of State in 1766 and had an extensive correspondence with Governor Haldimand about affairs in Canada. This statesman voted against the Stamp Act, sought to remove the grievances of the Thirteen Colonies and strongly opposed the granting of Independence. Fitzmaurice was created Marquis of Lansdowne in 1784. The title was probably taken from Lansdowne Road, Dublin, his birthplace. Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitzmaurice, fifth Marquis of Lansdowne, was Governor-General of Canada, 1888-’93.

Lansdowne is also the name of a pleasant village on the C.N.R. in this township.

La Prairie: county in Quebec. This district was originally given to the Jesuits in which to establish a mission by an Abbé of the Church of the Magdalene, Paris, a member of the One Hundred Associates.

L’Assomption: county, town, river, and lake in Quebec. On some maps it is printed Assomption, meaning in English Assumption.

It is the name given to a festival celebrated on the 15th of August by the Roman Catholic Church, commemorating the taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary in body and soul. The word is derived from the Latin ad, to, sumere, to take up, and ion, act of.

It was named in honour of Abram William Lauder, a resident of Toronto and M.P.P. for South Grey from 1867 until his death. Mr. Lauder supported the coalition government of John Sandfield Macdonald and was henceforth known as one of the “nine martyrs”.

Laurentides: mountain ranges or hills that divide the St. Lawrence basin from the watershed of Hudson’s Bay. They extend in an irregular curve from Labrador to the Arctic, a distance of 3000 miles. This great angular belt is the nucleus of the continent of North America. It consists of two broad bands or ridges meeting in the region of the Great Lakes. These rocks belong to the archaean system (gneiss, quartzites, schists).

The word Laurentides is derived from (Saint) Laurent, the French form of Lawrence. It is said to have been coined by Garneau, the Canadian historian. Doubtless our poets appreciated its rhyming elements. On some maps these ranges are called the Laurentian Mountains. See St. Lawrence.

Laurier: township in Parry Sound district, Ontario, surveyed in 1878. Laurier is also the name of a lake in Kenora district, Ontario, a mount, Yukon Territory, a peak 11,750 feet, in B.C., and a river emptying into Clinton-Colden Lake, Mackenzie district, and of twelve other places in Canada, seventeen in all.

They are named in honour of Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, (1841-1919), Prime Minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. He was born at St. Lin, Quebec, and educated at L’Assomption College and McGill University. Mr. Laurier entered the House of Commons in 1874. A feature of his first Administration was the inauguration of a British preferential tariff in 1897. Sir Wilfrid’s parliamentary career was distinguished by urbanity, ripe scholarship, elevated statesmanship, and uprightness of character.

It was named in honour of Calixa Lavallee, 1842-’91, musician. He composed the air of the national hymn, “O[161] Canada!” His first appearance as a concert-pianist was at the age of ten years. He entered Paris Conservatory when fifteen years of age. Returning to America, Lavallee had a distinguished musical career in the United States. His compositions included two operas, an oratorio, a cantata, a symphony, and several overtures and piano-pieces.

It took its name from the village of Lavant, near Goodwood, in the shire of Sussex, England. In Goodwood Park was the beautiful home of the Richmond family. While touring this section of Upper Canada, Charles Lennox, the fourth Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19, died from hydrophobia. It was his wife who gave the military ball at Brussels, on the eve of Waterloo, which Byron celebrated in “Childe Harold”.

It was named in honour of Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1811-’79, who rendered distinguished service in India at the time of the Mutiny. He was Governor-General of the Indian Empire from 1863 to 1868.

It is said to have been named after the village of Laxton in the county of Northampton, England.

It was named after the Lea family who settled in this district about 130 years ago.

Leeds: county in Ontario, organized in 1792, and a township in the same county surveyed in 1785.

Both were named in honour of Francis Godolphin Osborne, fifth Duke of Leeds, Secretary of State for the Home Department in the British Government at the period. The founder of this historic family was Edward Osborne who, when a young apprentice to Sir William Hewett, jumped from London Bridge to rescue from drowning the young daughter of his master. He afterwards married the girl he had saved and in later life became Lord Mayor of London and Member of Parliament. The family title is taken from the city of Leeds in Yorkshire.

Leeds is also the name of a canton in Megantic county, Quebec, erected in 1802. It took its name from the English town.

It took its name from Charles Lennox, third Duke of Richmond, 1734-1806, active in the political affairs of his day. On April 7, 1778, the Earl of Chatham, broken in health, was assisted to the House of Lords to protest against the dismemberment of the monarchy. “He listened impatiently to the reply of the Duke of Richmond (in favour of the surrender of the thirteen American colonies), and again rose to speak. But he had hardly risen when he pressed his hand upon his heart, and falling back in a swoon, was borne home to die.”—John Richard Green.

It was named in honour of Charles Gordon Lennox, fourth Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada,[163] 1818-1819. He died suddenly of the worst form of hydrophobia, having been bitten by a tamed fox.

It was named after William Lethbridge, 1824-1901, formerly of London, England, and first president of the North Western Coal and Navigation Co., Ltd.

Both were named in honour of Francis Gaston, Chevalier de Levis, 1719-1787, who was in command at Montreal when Quebec fell in 1759. On Montcalm’s death, Levis assumed command of the French forces in Canada. In an effort to retake Quebec, he won the battle of Sainte Foye in the spring of 1760. According to Kingsford, Levis possessed ability and courage, but was lacking in personal honour.

Lillooet is an Indian word meaning “wild onion”. The Report of the Geographic Board of Canada states that Lake Lillooet is so indicated on A. C. Anderson’s MS. map of 1849.

It took its name from the city of Limerick in the county of Limerick, Ireland. Limerick is embalmed in literature as the city of the Fights. The Danes over-powered the Irish here and built a fortress about the middle of the ninth century. In 1651 it fought bravely against the Parliamentary army under the command of Ireton. Limerick fought desperately against the army of King William III., and was the last place in Ireland to submit to his sovereignty.

It took its name from Lincolnshire, England. This English county contained several Roman roads, and military stations. The city of Lincoln, municipal centre of the shire, was a hill-fort of the ancient Britons. Its ancient cathedral still retains some of its former splendour.

Lord Bury, the son of the Earl of Albemarle, visited Canada in 1855 and it is said that he had the honour of naming this township after his mother’s people, the Lindsays.

Lindsay is also the name of the county-town of Victoria county, Ontario. The original survey of this site was made in 1825 by John Huston of Cavan, who had as an assistant a man named Lindsay. He died following an accidental shooting, and the circumstances of his death led to the town-site being called Lindsay. Information received from Mr. A. F. Palen, Postmaster.

Lion’s Head: village on Georgian Bay in Grey county, Ontario, incorporated in 1917. The post office was opened in 1875 with F. W. Stewart as Postmaster.

The village took its name from the resemblance to a lion’s head to be seen on a rocky cliff about two miles out in the Georgian Bay, which point was so called by the Indians and by the first surveyors—Point Hangcliff or Lion’s Head.

L’Islet; (le-lá): county in the province of Quebec. This county is composed of two old seigneuries, L’Islet and Bonsecours, united under the name of L’Islet.

It was named in honour of James Frederick Lister, a member of the legal profession, Sarnia, Ontario. He represented West Lambton in the House of Commons, 1882-’98, and was later a judge of the Court of Appeal.

It took its name from Listowel in Kerry county, Ireland, a pleasant, picturesque and prosperous town.

The name Listowel is derived from lis, liss (Irish lios) meaning “a fort” and the personal name Tuathal or Thoohal, that is Tuathal’s or Thoohal’s fort.

Liverpool: town and harbour in Queen’s county, Nova Scotia. They are named after Liverpool, England.

There is a fanciful story that it took its name from a large extinct bird, called the liver, which used to frequent that part of the Mersey river on which the city is situated. Johnston in his Place Names of England and Wales says this supposed origin is wholly imaginative. He states that it is probably derived from Old English laefer or liber meaning “a rush-like or sword-like plant”, and the word pool, a place in the river where these plants grew in abundance.

It was named in honour of David Livingstone, missionary and explorer, born at Blantyre, Scotland, March 19, 1813, died at Llala, Africa, May 1, 1873. The London Missionary Society sent him to South Africa in 1840, where he spent the rest of his life in the interests of the[166] natives and their country. He discovered Lakes Nyassa, Rangweolo, Moero, and also the sources of the Congo River. At one period no communications were received from him for three years. It was then that the New York Herald sent its correspondent, Henry M. Stanley, in search of Livingstone. Stanley found him busily engaged in his beloved work near Lake Tanganyika. The two travellers parted in 1872 and Livingstone died the next year. His body was brought home in 1874 and buried in Westminster Abbey.

Lloydminster: prosperous village on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary. This district was at first the site of an all-British colony founded by Rev. I. M. Barr but soon taken over by its chaplain, Rev. George Exton Lloyd, after whom the town is named. The colony is no longer composed of people of all-British birth. Americans, Canadians and Scandinavians have flocked into this fertile area.

At the battle of Cut Knife Hill in 1885, two theological students from Toronto, Lloyd and Atcheson, distinguished themselves for resource and bravery under the deadly fire of Poundmaker’s braves. It is that same Lloyd whose name is immortalized in the town of Lloydminster and who is now Bishop of Saskatchewan.

The word is Spanish meaning “wolf”. The name was, doubtless, given by Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, 1818-’28, who had a fancy for Spanish names, having served under Wellington in the Peninsular War.

It took its name from Lochiel, chief of the Clan Cameron. Thomas Campbell has embalmed the name in his poem, “Lochiel’s Warning”. This chief fell at Culloden, fighting valiantly for the cause of Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie”.

It was named after Hart Logan, merchant of London, England, and a director of the Canada Land Company. His nephew Sir William E. Logan was a learned Canadian geologist.

London: city, Ontario, county-town of Middlesex county; also the name of a township in this county, erected in 1798.

They took their name from the capital city of the British Empire. The early Britons called this place, then a hamlet constructed of wicker and mud, Llyndin, meaning the “town on the lake”. The Romans renamed it Augustus, after their Emperor Augustus, that is “the venerated one”, but the Saxon conquerors retained the British name Lindum, now spelled London.

The site of the Canadian city of London was examined by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, accompanied by Captain Fitzgerald, Lieutenants Smith, Talbot, Grey and Givins, and his secretary, Major Littlehales, in 1793. It was judged to be “a situation eminently calculated for the metropolis of all Canada”. Simcoe selected York as the site of an excellent port of entry and a safer seat for his government than Newark. His intuition was that the future capital should be inland at the forks of the Thames and should be named Georgina, in compliment to George III.

It took its name from the county of Longford in Ireland. The earldom of Longford belongs to the Pakenham family. The first Duke of Wellington married a daughter of the Earl of Longford of the period.

The word is derived from the French, long-ue and oeil, an eye, meaning “long eye” or “long view”. Charles Le Moyne acquired a seigniory in Chambly county, Quebec, in 1672, which possessed a fine, long view of the St. Lawrence River. He added de Longueuil to his name and received letters patent for the title from his sovereign. New Longueuil in the county of Soulanges, Quebec, was granted to Sieur Joseph Lemoine in 1734.

L’Orignal: picturesque and historic village in Prescott county, Ontario. It is the county-town of the united counties of Prescott and Russell. In 1873 the place was incorporated as a village by special Act of the Province. Its history dates from 1797, when Nathan Hayard Treadwell erected a mill here.

The village took its name from L’Orignal Point which extends into the Ottawa River a short distance from the place. The word L’Orignal is French and means “the elk”, a species of deer. It is said “the Point” was a crossing-place for deer, which was remarked by the voyageurs in passing up and down the river, hence the name.

It took its name from Louis Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière who served his country well for many years in[169] councils and courts. Intendant Talon granted him a seigniory on the St. Lawrence on November 3, 1672. Lotbinière gave his own name to his possessions.

It took its name from Alexander Wedderburn, Baron Loughborough, Earl of Rosslyn, 1733-1805. He was an able lawyer and was made Attorney-General in 1780. Mitcham Grove, Surrey, a beautiful country home, was presented to Loughborough by Lord Clive for his masterly defence of him in his trial in the House of Commons. But withal, history records he was lacking in personal honour. It is said that when King George III. heard he was dead, he remarked: “He has not left a greater knave behind him in my dominions.”

The French built a fortress here in 1713 and named it Louisbourg in honour of Louis XIV., 1638-1715, King of France. General Amherst’s forces captured the fortress in 1758 and completely destroyed it and the town. When the writer visited the site in 1915, only a few relics of the bomb-proof casemates of the King’s bastion remained. Over the grass-grown ground, where formerly stood a great fortress and a busy town, a flock of sheep was quietly grazing. A granite shaft on the site of the Dauphin’s Gate of the fort, erected by citizens of the U.S., the Society of Colonial Wars in America, in 1895, commemorates the first capture of Louisbourg by Sir William Pepperell and Commodore Peter Warren in 1745. This monument was later handed over to the care of Canada’s Department of the Interior.

The modern town, generally spelled Louisburg, is on the opposite side of the harbour, on the ground on which Wolfe erected his battery in the siege of 1758. It is made up largely of fishermen and coal-miners. But the scene is not altogether one of desolation. Between the new and the old town stands a powerful Marconi wireless transmitting station.

In 1928 Canada acquired 328 acres of land surrounding and including the remains of the famous French fortification and it is to be marked and preserved as a national monument by the National Parks Branch of the Dominion Government.

Louise: canton in Frontenac county, Quebec, erected in 1920, and also a far-famed Alpine lake in Alberta.

Both were named in honour of the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, and wife of the Marquis of Lorne, Governor-General of Canada, 1878-’83.

“I have a picture taken from Punch just after the marriage which I value very highly. It depicts a scene on the seashore, with fishing-boats and fishermen standing near by. The first Gael stands with an oilcloth coat over his arm and wearing a sou’wester. His companion is attired in sailor’s clothes and a tam. He has a short pipe in his mouth. This is the conversation as it appears beneath:

“First Gael (just come ashore from the herrin’ fishin’)—Hoos a’ wi’ you, Donal’? Hae ye ony news yonder?

“Second Gael—Na, I hear nathing—oo, aye, they were sayin’ MacCallum Mohr’s son’s goin’ to be marrit.

“First Gael—Ay, ay, an’ wha’s he goin’ to get marrit on?

“Second Gael—Ye ken the Queen, ech?

“First Gael—Ay, I ken the Queen.

“Second Gael—A-weel, it’s her young dochter he’s goin’ to get marrit tae.

“First Gael—Ech! Dod, the Queen maun be the prood woman.”

It took its name from William Lount, Q.C., of Toronto. He was M.P.P. for North Simcoe, 1867-’71. Mr. Lount was a son of George Lount, Esquire, Registrar of Simcoe county, and nephew of Samuel Lount who was hanged in Toronto in 1838 for his part in the Rebellion of 1837, in Upper Canada.

There is a township named Lucan in Cheshire and also in Lancashire, England, and a village by this name in Dublin county, Ireland. Dr. Joyce, an Irish authority, states lucan means “land producing marsh mallows”.

The Earl of Lucan was in command of the cavalry at Balaclava. It fell to him to carry out the order which resulted in the famous “Charge of the Light Brigade”. Blamed by Lord Raglan, commander of the British forces, who was his brother-in-law, Lucan was recalled, but not generally held to blame.

Lord Raglan, smarting under the criticism at home, fell sick and died in camp, 1855.

Lulu: an island at the mouth of the Fraser River, B.C. It is the centre of Japanese salmon canneries.

This island was so named in 1862 by Colonel Moody, R.E., in command of the Royal Engineers, in honour of Lulu Sweet, an actress in the first troupe that visited New Westminster. Miss Sweet was much admired for her acting, good manners and graceful bearing.

Lunenburg: county in Nova Scotia. It was settled in 1751 by immigrants from Hanover, and retains to a[172] certain extent its German character. The movement was under the fostering care of George II., who was King of Hanover as well as of Great Britain and Ireland.

The name is derived from Luneburg (properly spelled) in Hanover, the old home of the pioneers of this county.

Luther: (East): township in Dufferin county, and Luther (West) a township in Wellington county, Ontario, both surveyed in 1821.

It was named after Martin Luther, the eminent religious reformer, born at Eisleben, Germany, Nov. 10, 1483; died there Feb. 18, 1546. He completed the translation of the Bible into German in 1534. In his sermons and theses, he denied the Pope all right to forgive sins, and maintained that papal absolution had no value.

H. F. Gardiner in his book, Nothing But Words, states: “A correspondent gives the following account of the naming of Luther and Melancthon townships, which he had from a man who assisted to survey them. He said the surveyor first ran lines round these townships and filled the interior with the legend ‘All Swamp’. The plans were sent back and he was ordered to survey the townships into farm lots. Having done so, he said that as it was the meanest tract of land he had ever surveyed he would name the country after the meanest men he had ever heard of, so being a Roman Catholic, he called the one township Luther and the other Melancthon township.”

It took its name from Lutterworth, a town on the Swift River in Leicestershire, England. Lutterworth was the residence of John Wycliffe, born in Yorkshire,[173] England, about 1324; died Dec. 13, 1384. He was educated at Oxford University and became Master of Baliol College, later rector of the parish of Lutterworth. Wycliffe translated the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate, and challenged several of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. The Council of Constance in 1414 pronounced him a heretic, and his bones were dug up and burnt, the ashes being thrown into the River Swift. He is now regarded as a forerunner of the Reformation.

It was named in honour of Sir Charles Lyell, a distinguished English geologist, 1797-1895. He visited Niagara and was the first to compute the number of years it had taken the Falls to recede from the high land at Queenston, 35,000 years at one foot a year.

Its first name was Coleman’s Corners, after its founder, an Englishman, Abel Coleman, 1764-1810. In the third quarter of the nineteenth century the village became a flourishing centre of industry and a more serviceable name was sought. A crystal stream of water afforded the power to drive the wheels of its mills and suggested Lyn. The word is derived from the Scotch lyne, Welsh llyn, meaning “a pool, stream, cascade”. Lynn, Mass., is English in origin, derived from the linden or lime tree.

One-half mile south of this village was erected the first smelter in Upper Canada about the year 1800. Because of this and the mining activities in the vicinity, the[174] place was formerly called Furnace Falls. By 1850 there had been erected a carding and fulling mill, a saw mill, grist mill, post office, and one small tavern. At this time Okill Jones had secured all the water privileges on the local stream whose outlet is the Gananoque River and he had the name changed to Lyndhurst by the Postmaster-General in honour of John Singleton Copely, Baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863).

Lyndhurst’s parents were U.E. Loyalists who left Boston for London on the outbreak of the War of Independence, 1775. Young Copely’s father sent him to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a brilliant course, graduating in 1794, being second in the mathematical tripos and first in his own college. He chose the profession of law and after a distinguished record at the bar, he entered parliament and rose to be Lord Chancellor.

It was named in honour of Thomas Graham, Baron Lyndoch, 1750-1843, a distinguished military officer under Wellington. He was in command of the forces that besieged Malta, 1798-1800, until the French surrendered the fortress. For his services during the Peninsular War he was made a general and a peer with a pension of £2000 a year.

It was named after Chief-Justice Sir James Buchanan Macaulay, 1793-1859. He was a son of Dr. James Macaulay, of the 33rd Foot, was born at Niagara, studied law, and was called to the bar in 1822. In the war of 1812, Macaulay shared the dangers and duties of the field with the Glengarry Fencibles.

It was named by Sir Oliver Mowat, when Premier of Ontario, in memory of Rev. John Machar, D.D., formerly minister of St. Andrew’s Church, Kingston. He was one of the founders of Queen’s University, and for ten years its president.

They were named in honour of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, (1755-1820), explorer. In 1789 he discovered the Mackenzie River, and was the first white man to reach the Pacific overland from Canada, 1793.

Mackenzie: township, Parry Sound district, formed in 1872; mount, Kootenay district, B.C.

They were named in honour of Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, born in Dundalk, Scotland, in 1822, died in Toronto, 1892. He worked at his trade of stone-mason in Kingston and Sarnia, and represented Lambton in the Canadian Assembly, 1861-’67. After Confederation Mr. Mackenzie became a member of the House of Commons,[176] representing Lambton and later East York until his death. When the Liberal Party came into power he was chosen Prime Minister of Canada, 1873-’78. Mr. Mackenzie was offered knighthood by the Queen in 1877 but declined the honour.

Mackinac: strait connecting Lake Huron with Lake Michigan, also island situated in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The word Mackinac is Algonquin Indian and means “tortoise” or “turtle”. Alexander Henry in his notes of the island in his Voyage of 1760 states the name is very appropriate, the physical appearance of the centre of the island resembling a turtle. The name passed from the island to the strait adjacent. Michilimackinac was the former name of the island, michi meaning grand, “the grand turtle”.

In the county of Champlain, Quebec, there are a lake and a village bearing the same name (Algonquin) but written Mickinack. In this instance the name was first applied to the water, turtle lake.

In 1874 Col. J. F. Macleod, Commissioner of the North West Mounted Police, (merged into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in 1920) selected the site of this town on which to erect a fort and barracks for his men serving as police in that district. The establishment was named Fort Macleod in the leader’s honour. With settlement and civil government, the place became known simply as Macleod.

The word is Indian but its meaning is disputed. The Geographic Board of Canada gives “having its outlet among reeds”. Roy gives “land of the porcupine”. Madawaska is also the name of a county in New Brunswick and of a river rising in Lake Temiscouta and emptying into the St. John River at Edmunston, N.B.

It took its name from Madoc, a Welsh prince. He is said by the early chroniclers of this country to have discovered the new world beyond the western seas, now America, in 1170. Madoc made a second voyage from which he never returned.

It took its name from Maidstone, county-town of Kent, England. Mr. William Woollet who engraved the plate of the historical picture, “The Death of Wolfe”, was born at Maidstone.

Maitland: village in Grenville county, Ontario, situated on the River St. Lawrence, and river in western Ontario, emptying into Lake Huron at the town of Goderich.

They were named after Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1818-1828. During his term of office Sir Peregrine became very unpopular with a large section of the population. He was ruled by the sinister Family Compact.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some writers derive it from the Indian word, Malegawate, meaning, “the mocking place”, the annual games of the young braves of the district having been held there. Micmac scholars say the word means “the end of smooth water”, being rough beyond the point. Other authorities derive Malagash from meligech the Indian word for “milk”, referring to the milky surf prevalent in a storm.

A salt mine has recently been uncovered at Malagash. It is part of the deposit of what was once a salt lake here, the water of which was subsequently evaporated. The quantity of salt in that particular region is estimated as over 60,000 tons.

It was named after Malahide, a town near Dublin, Ireland. It was there that Colonel Thomas Talbot, in pioneer days the sovereign, de facto, if not de jure, of a vast tract of wild land along the shore of Lake Erie, was born, and, doubtless, the name was suggested by him.

It took its name from the town of Malden in Essex, England. On the field of Malden in 991 the Norwegian Vikings utterly defeated the host of East Anglia under Ethelred the Unready.

The place is named after the Mallory family. The pioneers were Daniel Mallory and his wife, United Empire Loyalists, who came here from Vermont in 1784. Their great grandsons still occupy the lands on which their ancestors settled.

Manitoba: province of Canada, erected May 12th, 1870, and a lake in the same province.

This euphonious name was originally applied to the lake only, or according to some authorities to the narrows of the lake only. Two explanations of this Indian word are given. One derives it from the Cree manito-wapow or the Objibway manito-baw, meaning “the strait of the manito or spirit”. On stormy days a roaring sound is produced by the waves dashing pebbles against the rocky beach of an island (Manitoba) in the strait, and this gave rise to the Indian superstition.

The other explanation derives the word from the Assiniboine or Sioux, mine, meaning “water”, and toba, meaning “prairie”; “the water or lake of the prairie”. The La Vérendryes, father and son, discovered this lake in 1738, and in their journal call it Lac des Prairies, or Lake of the Prairies. At that time the Assiniboine Indians dwelt on its shores.

The word is Algonquin Indian, meaning the home of the spirit. According to their superstitions it was the abode of both the good spirit, gitchi-manito, and of the evil spirit, matchi-manito.

It was named in honour of Charles Pierrepont, 1737-1816, Earl Manvers. This British title has been borne by the Pierrepont family since 1806. Their home seat is in Nottinghamshire. Members of the family are prominent still in affairs of state.

It was, doubtless, named after Madam Mara, a favourite public singer in England at that time.

It was named in honour of the Duke of Richmond, Earl of March. The name is derived from the French word, marche meaning “a mark, a frontier boundary”. Soon after the Norman conquest, districts on the border of Wales and Scotland began to be known as marches. These lands were granted to powerful nobles on condition they protected the bordering counties of England. In Edward I.’s reign one-half the area of Wales was known as the Marches of Wales. The marches were only of historical importance by the reign of Elizabeth.

It is said to have been named in honour of Anna Maria Yorke, wife of Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General of Canada from 1854 to 1860.

Mariposa: township, Victoria county, Ontario, surveyed in 1821. It is also the name of a village in the township.

The word is Spanish, and signifies “butterfly”. It was, no doubt, given by Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, 1818-’28. He had rendered military service in Spain before coming to Canada.

It was named in honour of the Most Reverend William Markham, D.D., 1720-1806. He became Bishop of Chester in 1771, and Archbishop of York in 1777. Henceforth he was active and influential in both church and state.

It was named in honour of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, 1650-1722, the greatest general England had before Wellington. For his services in the War of the Spanish Succession, Queen Anne showered honours upon him. Later he was accused of having misused public money and removed from his command. However, at his death he was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. The title was taken from the town of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. It is situated at the foot of a hill of marl, hence the name.

Singular marmor, plural marmora, is the Latin word for marble. There are marble quarries in this township, hence the name.

It commemorates Père Jacques Marquette (1637-’75), a distinguished French missionary of the Jesuit order to the Indians of Canada. He founded missions at Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinaw.

In 1673, Talon, Intendant of New France, commissioned Marquette and Joliet, a geographer of Quebec city, to seek the great river flowing south of which the Indians had told him. They went by way of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Fox River, Wisconsin River, until they beheld the Mississippi, as Marquette wrote, “with a joy I cannot express”. They descended the great river to the mouth of the Arkansas, where they turned back on account of the hostility of the Indians and Spaniards[182] beyond this point. It remained to the heroic La Salle to explore “the Father of Waters” to its mouth, 1682.

It was named in honour of William Wellesley-Pole, first Baron Maryborough, of Maryborough, Queen’s county, Ireland, 1763-1845. He was a brother of the Duke of Wellington. Maryborough was Postmaster-General for a time in William IV.’s reign.

It was named after Princess Mary, daughter of King George III. She is said to have been one of the good Maries of history.

The word is Algonquin Indian, derived from mac or mask, meaning “large”, and kinonge meaning “pike”. The maskinonge is the largest fish found in fresh water.

Matane: canton, erected in 1834, lakes and river in the county of Matane, Quebec.

The word is said to be a corruption of Micmac Indian mtctan meaning “beaver ponds”.

The word is Micmac, meaning “a volume of water which descends into a great sea”. Rand derives it from Micmac madabegeak, meaning “roughly flowing waters”.

The word is Indian and signifies, “a bad and swampy place”. Reeds grew here in abundance.

It was named after Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Arthur James Matheson of Perth, Ontario. He represented South Lanark in the Legislative Assembly for many years. In 1905 Mr. Matheson became Provincial Treasurer in the Whitney administration. He was a lawyer by profession.

It was named in honour of the Princess Royal, Charlotte Augusta Matilda, 1766-1828, daughter of King George III. She married Frederick, King of Wurtemburg, in 1797. It was with great regret that the Princess quitted her English home.

Mattagami: river and lake in Sudbury and Timiskaming districts, Ontario, and also a lake in Abitibi territory, Quebec.

It is an Indian word signifying “where the waters meet”, according to the Geographic Board of Canada. R. P. Lemoine derives the term from Montagnais Indian mitta gumaii, meaning “a lake where one may find wood for fuel”.

Mattawa: tributary of the Ottawa river, and also a town in Nipissing district, Ontario.

It is an Algonquin Indian word meaning “where a river falls into another body of water”; “a confluence”. This word is also written Matawa, Mattawan and Mattawin. It is a place-name in both Champlain and St. Maurice, Quebec.

The meaning of this Indian term is disputed. Some think it might be another form of the word Madawaska,[184] the name of a larger river flowing through the township. Mr. William White thinks it may be derived from Mattawa or Mattawan. Dr. Jones states Mattawan means “greasy” and that Mattawatchan refers to something greasy, but he does not offer any explanation of the connection.

Maxville: enterprising village on C.N.R. in the north-western part of Glengarry county, Ontario. Its growth dates from 1880.

The district was settled by immigrants from Scotland. Among them were so many “Macs” that the place was named Macsville, corrupted into Maxville.

It took its name from the county of Mayo, Free State, Ireland. The Right Hon. Richard Bourke, sixth Earl of Mayo, 1822-’72, was Secretary of State for Ireland for a long period, and the efficient Governor-General of India from 1868 to 1872.

It was named in honour of Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, 1819-1907, the gallant Arctic navigator. In 1857 he discovered the fate of Sir John Franklin, his two ships, the Erebus and Terror and their crews. Lady Franklin had fitted out the yatch Fox for this expedition and McClintock in 1860 told the stirring story in The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas. He received many promotions for his naval services, reaching the highest rank, full admiral, in 1884.

McClure: strait between Banks Island and Melville Island, Franklin territory, and also a township in Hastings county, Ontario, erected in 1857.

Both are named in honour of Sir Robert J. McClure, Arctic explorer, 1807-’73. Some authorities credit him with the discovery of the Northwest Passage (that is a water-way from the Atlantic to the mouth the Great Fish River), in 1850, but this honour really belongs to Sir John Franklin’s crew, who perished there in 1848. However, McClure discovered two straits on either side of Banks Island.

It was named after Thomas David McConkey, M.P., Canadian Assembly for North Simcoe from 1863 to 1867, and M.P., House of Commons, 1867-’72. He was also a successful merchant of Barrie. Mr. McConkey was appointed sheriff of Simcoe county in 1875.

It was named in honour of Daniel McCraney, M.P.P. for East Kent from 1875 to 1885.

It was named after Hon. William McDougall (1822-1905), one of the Fathers of Confederation. He gave many years of able parliamentary service both in the Canadian Assembly and the House of Commons. Mr. McDougall was Commissioner to London for the acquisition of the Northwest Territory in 1868.

It took its name from Simon McGillivray, a director of the Canada Land Company. Mr. McGillivray was very active for many years in trade affairs in Upper Canada at this period.

It was named in honour of Hon. Thomas McKay, M.P. for Russell county in 1835 and member of the Legislative Council from 1841 to 1855, the year of his death. Rideau Hall, Ottawa, now the residence of Canada’s Governors-General, was built by Mr. McKay for a private residence. He voted for the secularization of the Clergy Reserve Lands.

It was named after Hon. Archibald McKellar, 1816-’94, M.P. for Kent county of the Canadian Assembly, 1857-’67 and M.P.P. for Bothwell, 1867-’75. Mr. McKellar was a farmer and became Minister of Agriculture in Sir Oliver Mowat’s government. In 1875 he was appointed Sheriff of Wentworth county, which position he retained until his death.

It took its name from James McKillop, M.P., a director of the Canada Land Company.

It was named in honour of Dr. James Wellington McLaughlin of Bowmanville, M.P.P. for West Durham at this time.

It was named for Archibald McLean, 1791-1865. He was a lawyer by profession and appointed to the Bench in 1837. In 1860 a fugitive slave had escaped from Missouri to Canada and in doing so had killed a man who tried to[187] prevent his escape. His extradition was demanded under the Ashburton Treaty. A Court of Appeal, consisting of Chief-Justice Robinson, Justice Burns, and Judge McLean, was appointed to report on the case. The court decided that Anderson should be given up, McLean dissenting. Later the former slave was set free by the Court of Common Pleas at Toronto on the ground of informality in his warrant of committal. No further action was taken against Anderson.

It was named in honour of Hon. John McMurrich, 1804-’83, a wholesale merchant of Toronto. He was elected a member of the Legislative Council for Saugeen (Bruce, Grey and North Simcoe) in 1862, and M.P.P. for North York in 1867.

It took its name from Archibald McNab, 1775-1860, the last of the Chiefs of the McNab clan. He came from Scotland to Canada with some of his clan in 1825 and settled on the banks of the Ottawa River. Chief McNab tried to form a colony there on the fashion of the feudal system but it was not satisfactory to the settlers. In 1842 the Government of Canada took over the project and paid McNab $16,000 for his interests.

Meaford: town in Grey county, Ontario. It was part of the township of St. Vincent until 1874 when it was incorporated into a town.

The town took its name from Meaford Hall, Staffordshire, England, the country seat of Admiral Sir John Jarvis, Earl St. Vincent, who was Nelson’s superior officer in the battle of Cape St. Vincent. All the streets[188] in the original plot of the town are named after British naval officers.

The Indian name is Saamis, meaning the headdress of a medicine man. The site was selected in 1882 by W. Johnson of the Royal North West Mounted Police. The origin of the name is disputed. One explanation states that in a fight between the Cree and Blackfoot tribes in this district, the Cree medicine man lost his professional hat in the river and the battle was, therefore, lost by his people; another story connects the name with the rescue of a squaw by a brave from the South Saskatchewan River here and of his reward, a medicine hat from his admirers; another account states that the name was first applied to a hill east of the town, from its resemblance to an Indian medicine man’s hat.

It is an Indian word but its meaning is uncertain. Dr. Jones translates it by “Evil Spirit”. The late John Reade, for many years a writer on the Montreal Gazette, thought Medonte might be a corruption of the Objibway word madonan, meaning “I carry on my back”, referring to an Indian portage between Orillia and Matchedash Bay.

It took its name from Medora Cameron, wife of Mr. A. Cameron of Toronto, and niece of Hon. Stephen Richards, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Ontario, 1867-’71. Byron has embalmed “Medora” in his tale, “The Corsair”.

Megantic: county in Quebec, and also a lake and village in Frontenac county, Quebec province.

Some writers derive Megantic from an Abenaki Indian word meaning “the place where they catch fish”, and others from the Cree word miatick, meaning “great forest”.

It was named in memory of Philip Melanchthon, 1497-1560, the brilliant scholar of the Lutheran Reformation. The Elector of Saxony appointed him Professor of Greek at the University of Wittenberg in 1518. He published the first treatise on Protestant theology, and many commentaries on the Bible and the classics. The spirit of his works is altogether ironic. Originally his name was Schwarzerd, German, meaning “black earth” and this he changed to Melanchthon, its Greek equivalent, melan “black”, and chthon “earth”. See Luther.

It is derived from the Abenaki term mamhrobagak meaning “great extent of water”. Magog, a small lake in Stanstead, is a diminutive of Memphremagog.

The site was surveyed in 1906, and named in honour of William Hamilton Merritt, promoter of the railway running through the Nicola valley.

Merritton: town in Welland county, Ontario, situated on the old Welland canal. Before it was incorporated as a village in 1879 it consisted of four sections: Slabtown, Cinderville, Westport and Welland-Valley. The place was incorporated as a town on July 1, 1918.

Merrittown was named after William Hamilton Merritt (1824-1906), founder of St. Catherines and promoter of[190] the Welland Canal. At one time Mr. Merritt represented Haldimand and Lincoln in parliament before and after the Union of 1841, and was President of the Imperial Bank of Canada for some years. The Merritt family were U.E. Loyalists and among the first settlers of Lincoln county. They were distinguished for enterprise, public spirit and unswerving allegiance to British Institutions.

It took its name from the island of Mersea in Blackwater Bay, Essex, England. The island is noted for its picturesque scenery.

It was named in honour of Sir Charles Metcalfe, 1785-1846, Governor-General of Canada, 1843-’45. His nobility of character and capacity in statesmanship won for him deep appreciation both in India and Canada. On account of great suffering from a cancer in the face, Metcalfe was compelled to resign his office and return to England. For his services he was raised to the peerage as Baron Metcalfe in 1844.

It took its name from the Duke of Richmond, Lord Methuen. The village of Methuen is near the town of Perth, Scotland. The castle of the Methuen family adjoins the village.

Michipicoten: island in Lake Superior and a harbour, river and village in Algoma district, Ontario.

Michipicoten is an Algonquin Indian word meaning “the great bluff”. Iron, copper and gold are extracted from the rocks of this district.

Middlesex: county, Ontario, organized in 1796. At that date it included Elgin county within its boundaries.

It took its name from Middlesex county (that is, the country of the Middle Saxons), England.

The origin of its name is uncertain. There are many villages in England by the name of Middleton. It was probably named after Sir William Middleton, M.P. for Northumberland or Lord Viscount Middleton of Whitchurch, both of whom voted against the Canada Bill or Constitutional Act of 1791.

This place was originally called Mernersville after Senator Samuel Merners who built a hotel here in the early days. About 1865 the name was change to Mildmay after Mildmay Park in Scotland by William Murray who built a grist mill in the village to serve the settlement.

It was named in honour of Hugh Miller, 1802-’56, a famous geologist of Scotland. His more important contributions are entitled Footprints of the Creator, and Testimony of the Rocks.

Mills: township in Parry Sound district, erected in 1877, and also a township in Manitoulin Island, Ontario, erected in 1878.

Both were named in honour of the Hon. David Mills, a member of the legal profession, and an authority on history and constitutional law. He represented Bothwell (now included in Kent and Lambton), Ontario, in the[192] House of Commons, 1867-’96, when he was appointed to the Senate. Mr. Mills was Minister of the Interior in Hon. Alexander Mackenzie’s government, and succeeded Sir Oliver Mowat as Minister of Justice in Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s government in 1897.

It is generally held to have been named in honour of John Milton (1608-’74,) England’s great Puritan poet, author of “Paradise Lost”, “Paradise Regained”, “Comus”, etc.

Previous to 1837-’38 the place was known as Milltown, after Martin Mills, an early settler. It has been suggested that the early name was merged into Milton. It may be that the humbler name suggested the more exalted.

It was founded in 1847 when Andrew West built the first shanty there. The place was known as West’s Corners until 1871 when it was thought this name smacked too much of cross-roads. A public meeting was called. The Rev. Peter Musgrave, Presbyterian minister, suggested the name be changed to Milverton after his native village in Somerset county, England. The suggestion was accepted. The village was incorporated in 1880.

The site of the village was purchased by Mr. West from Mr. Joseph Hamilton, when but a few trees had been cut, for a pair of long boots.

Information received from Malcolm Macbeth, Esq., postmaster of the village and editor of the Milverton Sun.

The word is Mississauga Indian, meaning, “the place of the wild pigeon”. Dr. Scadding held the proper[193] spelling of the term was Mimica. The fields near Mimico creek used to be favourite feeding grounds for these birds which “when they rose obscured the sun” some fifty years ago. They, the American passenger pigeons, are now thought to be extinct.

Minaki (pronounced Mee-Naw-Kee): summer resort of great natural beauty, delightfully situated on the Winnipeg River in Ontario.

Minden: township in Haliburton district (provisional county), Ontario, formed in 1858, and also the county-town of this county.

It took its name from the town of Minden in Westphalia, Prussia. The British and Hanoverians won an important battle there over the French on August 1, 1759. “I have seen”, said the French commander, Contades, “what I never thought to be possible—a single rank of infantry break through three lines of cavalry ranked in order of battle, and tumble them to ruin!”

The name is Sioux Indian, meaning “much water”. This locality is well-watered by the Assiniboine River and Minnewasca creek. The name was given by W. A. Doyle, rancher, first settler, (1879) and first warden of this county, (1882).

It was named in honour of Sir Gilbert Eliot, Earl of Minto and Viscount Melgund, 1751-1814. He had a distinguished political career, culminating in the position of Governor-General of Bengal, 1807-’13. The family[194] residence is named Minto House, Roxburghshire, Scotland. Gilbert John Eliot, fourth Earl of Minto, was Governor-General of Canada, 1898-1904.

Origin of the word is somewhat uncertain. Some think it is a corruption of the Indian term megumagee, “the land of the Micmacs”; others suppose the word Miramichi to be Micmac for “happy retreat”. See Restigouche.

The name is Indian and generally translated “much water-fowl”. Early settlers related dense flocks of fowl used to frequent the waters of this district.

From this river all the Indians inhabiting the north side of Lake Huron were called Mississaugas. They were of the Algonquin race and speech. Bands of them came south and were found in Simcoe’s time (1792-’96), encamped along the shore of Lake Ontario. The name is descriptive of the mouth of the river, michi or missi, meaning “much or many”, and saki or saga, “outlet”, a river having several outlets.

Mistassini: river emptying in Lake St. John, and also a lake, both in northern Quebec.

It was founded in 1837. William Hicks and his son John, erected the first building within the confines of the present town in that year. It was incorporated as a village in 1857 and as a town in 1874.

The place took its name from a coloured settler, named Mitchell, who lived on the banks of the Thames at this point. Information received from W. W. Hicks, postmaster.

Monaghan: south, township in Northumberland county, and Monaghan north, a township in Peterborough county, Ontario, both organized in 1820.

It was named in honour of Charles Stanley, fourth Viscount Monck, 1809-’94, Governor-General of Canada, 1861-’68. He took a deep interest in all matters pertaining to the progress of the Dominion.

Monckton: thriving city and an important railway centre of New Brunswick. It is also the name of the adjoining parish and township.

They commemorated Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. Robert Monckton who was General Wolfe’s first Brigadier before Quebec in 1759, Townshend and Murray being second and third respectively. Monckton was wounded in the battle of the Plains of Abraham but lived until 1782. The township name was spelled Monckton until 1786 when the New Brunswick law establishing parishes called it Moncton, presumably by clerical error. The city took its name and the spelling of it from the township.

Monckton City Council has decided recently (1930) that henceforth the city name shall be Monckton, in the interest of accuracy and correct spelling.

It took its name from the county of Monmouth on the border between England and Wales.

The origin of its name is uncertain. The word mono is the Spanish word for monkey and since Sir Peregrine Maitland, who had served in Spain, was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada at the time, it may have been given by him. Some writers think it may have been derived from an Indian word, Monon, a squaw concerning whom Henry R. Schoolcraft wrote an interesting sketch.

It took its name from Admiral Sir George Montague, 1750-1829. He rendered conspicuous naval service during the War of American Independence.

It was named in honour of the distinguished French general who lost his life defending Quebec, dying from his wounds the morning after the battle of the Plains of Abraham, September 13, 1759.

It was named after the Right Hon. Thomas Spring-Rice, Lord Monteagle, 1790-1866. He entered parliament in 1820, and rose to be Secretary for the Colonies and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Montmorency: county in Quebec. It is also the name of a small river, in the county, which rises in Snow Lake and flows south into the St. Lawrence. There is a series of famous falls on the Montmorency River, remarkable for their picturesque scenery. It was on the east bank of this river that Wolfe’s forces under Townshend received their first repulse in a flank movement on Montcalm’s Beauport lines, July 8th, 1759.

The name was first applied to the Falls by Champlain on a map in 1613 in honour of his friend, Chevalier de Montmorency, Admiral of France.

Montreal: the largest and in many respects the most important city in Canada, situated on the island of Montreal in the province of Quebec. The site of the city was occupied originally by the Algonquin village of Hochelaga. In 1642, the French founded the present city under the name of Ville-Marie, de Maisonneuve being in command of the party of colonists.

A prominent elevation near the city had been named Mont Réal (“Mount Royal”) by the French. Since the English captured the town in 1760 it has been known as Montreal, (Mont Réal).

Montreal River, named after the metropolis, in Algoma, Ontario, emptying into Lake Superior, possesses much potential electric power.

It was named in honour of Sir John Moore, 1761-1809, a British military leader of distinction. He fell in battle at Corunna, Spain. Rev. Charles Wolfe has commemorated the event in his single celebrated poem, “The Burial of Sir John Moore”.

It took its name from Moose Jaw Creek, so named on Captain Palliser’s map of 1859. The origin of the name is obscure. Some derive it from an Indian word meaning “the place where the white man mended the cart wheel with the jaw bone of the moose”.

Morden: town in southern Manitoba, on the Pembina branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This enterprising town is in the heart of one of the best farming districts of Western Canada.

It took its name from Alvey Morden, its first settler, who located here in 1875. The Morden family are of U.E. Loyalist descent. After the Revolution of the American States, their ancestors removed to Canada, settling in the Bay of Quinte district, Ontario.

It was named in honour of Richard Wellesley, second Earl of Mornington, and eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington. The title is taken from the village of Mornington in the county of Meath, Free State, Ireland.

Morpeth: pleasant village in Kent county, Ontario, situated near Lake Erie and four miles from Ridgetown.

In the rectory of Trinity Church in this village was born Canada’s greatest poet, Archibald Lampman, (1861-1899). His work is pre-eminent for beauty and truth. He was a true poet, one who wrote because he must.

The village is named after Lord Morpeth, a one-time guest of Colonel Thomas Talbot. (See St. Thomas). The title Morpeth is taken from the town and municipality of Morpeth in Northumberland county, England.

The name morpeth is derived from old English morth (murth) and peth (path) meaning “murder-road”.

It took its name from the Hon. William Morris of Perth, 1786-1858. He was a veteran of the War of 1812-’14. In 1820 Mr. Morris was elected to Parliament for Lanark county, representing it continuously till 1836, when he was called to the Legislative Council. He was made Receiver-General in 1844 and President of the Executive Council in 1846, discharging all his duties with ability and probity.

Morrisburg: charming village situated on the St. Lawrence River, Dundas county, Ontario. It was incorporated as a village by by-law of the county council, October 17th, 1860.

Morrisburg was named in honour of the Hon. James Morris, who was Postmaster-General in the Hincks-Morin government formed in 1851.

It is generally thought to have been named after Angus Morrison, M.P. for North Simcoe, 1854-’63, who pressed upon the Government the desirability of opening up Muskoka district for settlement. He was Mayor of Toronto, 1876-’78. Hon. J. C. Morrison, a brother of Angus, was Solicitor-General for Canada when this township was surveyed and some think it may have been named after him.

This is the Latin and Spanish name for the Meuse, and was, doubtless, given by Lieutenant-Governor Sir[200] Peregrine Maitland. This river takes its rise in the Cote D’Or Mountains of France and passes through the Netherlands under the name Maas, emptying into the North Sea by several mouths.

It took its name from the residence of the Boulton family in Lincolnshire, England. Henry J. Boulton was a member of the legal profession and rose to be Attorney-General in 1829. He was prominent in political affairs in Canada during most of the first half of the nineteenth century.

It was named in honour of Right Rev. Jacob Mountain, D.D., first Protestant Bishop of Quebec, 1750-1825. The family was originally French Protestant and the name Montaigne. Dr. Mountain was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, England. He was in many respects the founder of the Anglican Church in Canada.

It was named in honour of Hon. Sir Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario from 1872 to 1896, the longest term of office in the British Dominions. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario in 1898 and died before the expiration of his term.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Mull and Mullmull are peculiar to Scotland. It is probably the corruption of an Indian name whose story has been forgotten.

It was named in honour of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, a British geologist, 1792-1871. In 1855 he was appointed Director-General of the Geological Survey of the British Isles.

It was named in honour of Brigadier-General James Murray who served under General Wolfe in the taking of Louisbourg in 1758 and Quebec in 1759. After the capture he was appointed Governor of Quebec city, and in 1763 Captain-General and Governor of the province of Quebec. Murray discharged his onerous duties with ability and singleness of purpose.

Murray Bay: river, bay, town, famous summer resort, in Charlevoix county, Quebec.

They were named in honour of General James Murray, first Governor of British Canada. See Murray.

Muskoka: district in Ontario, formed in 1868, and a township in this district, surveyed in 1857, and also of a lake, a river and a bay in the same area.

The word Muskoka is generally derived from the name of a Chippaway Indian chief, Misquuckkey, whose name is attached, among others, to two treaties made in 1815, surrendering 250,000 acres in this part of Ontario to the Crown for the sum of £4,000.

This name is a Tlingit Indian word meaning, “satisfier of the stomach” or “food depot”. The reference is to the abundance of fish found in these waters.

The meaning of the word is “strong, big, great”. There used to be several small tribes of Indians in this vicinity, but, for protection, they formed “one big union” or confederacy and called themselves “Esta Nanaimo”. The whites called their early settlement Colville Town, after Andrew Colville, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1852-’56, but after 1860 the Indian name, Nanaimo, came into general use. Information received from A. H. Horne, postmaster, whose father, Adam Grant Horne, settled in B.C. in 1850.

There is some uncertainty about its origin. It is generally derived from Mississauga Indian, Nan-pan-nay, meaning “flour”, the milling of wheat being the town’s first industry. On the other hand it is said the river was known as the Apanee before the first mill was erected, and that Napanee is a derivative from a term whose meaning is unknown.

Nassagaweya: village, river and township in Halton county, Ontario. The township was surveyed in 1819.

The name is a corruption of the Mississauga Indian term, Na-zhe-sah-ge-way-yong, meaning “a river with two ways or outlets”. The village and township were named after the river.

Neebing: river flowing into Thunder Bay in Neebing township, Thunder Bay district, Ontario.

Nelson: city in East Kootenay district, B.C., founded about 1887 by a Mr. Sproat.

Its first name was Salisbury, after Lord Salisbury, sometime Premier of Great Britain and Ireland, then Stanley after Lord Stanley of Preston, sometime Governor-General of Canada, and later Nelson after Hon. Hugh Nelson (1830-1896), then Lieutenant-Governor of B.C. Post Office opened for the first time on August 1st, 1889, and under the name of Nelson.

According to Luke Fox, or Foxe, an English navigator, who attempted the North-West Passage in 1631 and published his experiences under the name of North-West Fox, (Foxe), this river was named Port Nelson by Sir Thomas Button, an English navigator, in honour of his sailing master (Nelson) who was buried there. Button was frozen in and wintered on the west coast of Hudson Bay in 1612-’13.

It was named in honour of Horatio Viscount Nelson of the Nile and Duke of Bronte in Italy, 1758-1805. He was the son of Rev. Edmund Nelson and begun his career on the sea at the age of twelve years, becoming Tennyson’s “The greatest sailor since our world began”. Nelson crowned his long and able service with his life in the battle of Trafalgar, Oct. 21st, 1805. It was at the beginning of this engagement that he gave his memorable signal, “England expects every man to do his duty”.

Nelson is also the name of a canton in the county of Megantic, Quebec, erected in 1804, in honour of the English Admiral.

It was, doubtless, named after Sir Evan Nepean, Under Secretary for the Colonies at this period.

Nepigon (Nipigon): lake, river and bay in Thunder Bay district, Northern Ontario.

The word is a corruption of the Indian name, Annimigon, meaning “lake that you cannot see the end of”, according to Picturesque Canada, edited by G. M. Grant. Mr. R. Bell of the Geological Commission of Canada states Nepigon is Algonquin Indian meaning “a deep lake of clear water”. Other authorities derive the name from Aweenipigo, Indian for “the water which stretches far”.

Lake Nepigon might well be included in the St. Lawrence system of Great Lakes for it is full half as large as Lake Ontario, and the main source of the St. Lawrence.

New Brunswick: one of the provinces of Canada, a part of the ancient French Acadie.

The American War of Independence, 1775-’83, has been called the mother of New Brunswick. St. John was founded in 1793 by United Empire Loyalists. The next year New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia and erected into a separate province. The name was chosen as a compliment to King George III., 1760-1820, who was descended from the House of Hanover or Brunswick, a principality of Prussia.

Newcastle: port of entry on Miramichi River, New Brunswick, and village in Durham county, Ontario.

They were named after the city of Newcastle, England, by pioneers in memory of their former home.

Niagara: river which empties the waters of Lake Erie into Lake Ontario; famous Falls of the river; and township in Lincoln county, Ontario, surveyed in 1798.

It is generally stated to be a Huron Indian word, meaning “thunderer of waters, resounding with a great noise”. Some writers hold the word is of neutral origin, others again maintain it is Iroquois, and interpret it variously as “neck” that is “connecting water”, “divided waterfalls”, “bisected bottom land”.

It was named in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Nichol who rendered invaluable services to Canada during the War of 1812-’14. Richardson in his War of 1812 states that “Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Nichol of the 2nd Regiment of Norfolk Militia was appointed Quartermaster-General of Militia at the beginning of the war, and performed the arduous and important duties of that office to the entire satisfaction of the commanding officers.” General Brock entrusted Col. Nichol with the arrangements for moving his force from Long Point to Amherstburg and for the crossing of the troops to Detroit on August 16th, 1812. It is said on every important question he was consulted by the officers in command. Col. Nichol received the gold medal for Detroit. He was elected member of the Legislative Assembly for Norfolk in 1813, 1817, and in 1820. His death was caused by driving over the cliff on a stormy night near Queenston. He was buried in Stamford cemetery on the 6th of May, 1824.

It was named in honour of Florence Nightingale who organized and led a band of hospital nurses to attend the sick and wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, 1854-’56. This was an innovation and Miss Nightingale won the world’s admiration for her efforts to relieve the sufferings of the camp.

Nipissing: district in Ontario, formed in 1858, a township in this district, surveyed in 1879, and a lake and village in the southern part of the district.

The lake was the first to receive the name, the Indian word Nipissing meaning “the little body of water”—in comparison with the Great Lakes.

Nissouri: township, East, in Oxford county, and Nissouri township, West, in Middlesex county, were both surveyed in 1820.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some writers think it is related to the Indian word Missouri which means “muddy water”. Many residents think it is a corruption of “Nigh Zorra” to which letters were addressed in the early days. Zorra is the name of an adjoining township, erected in 1819.

It was named in honour of Alexander Niven, P.L.S., who was in the employ of the Ontario Government for many years, surveying townships and base and meridian lines. Mr. Niven was warden of the provisional county of Haliburton from 1874 to 1879.

They were named by the noted British sailor and explorer, Captain James Cook, in 1778. He was under the impression that this word was the Indian name for the Sound but some authorities state there is no such Indian word.

However, Cook may have made a tour of the sound which is somewhat circular, in his boats, and in conversation with the Indians about it they may have used the term nootk-sitl which means to go round, to make a circuit and he mistook this phrase for an Indian name and corrupted it into Nootka.

Another conjecture is that the Indians were holding a dance in a circle on the beach when Cook returned from exploring the Sound and when asked what they were doing, used a derivative of nootk-sitl which the white men mistook for a reference to their name of the place.

It took its name from Norfolk county, England. This district was the home in the early days of the North folk.

It was named in honour of Henry Phipps, Marquis of Normanby, 1797-1863, Secretary of State for the Colonies in the British Government at this period. There are several villages in England by the name of Normanby, derived from Norman (Northman) and “by” meaning a town.

Northumberland: county in Ontario, surveyed in 1792; a county in New Brunswick; and a strait between N.B. and Prince Edward Island.

They took the name from Northumberland shire, England. Umbria is a province in Italy. The name may date from the Roman occupation of Britain.

Norval: village situated on the Credit River and C.N.R., Halton county, Ontario.

The settlement was founded in 1820 by a family named McNabb and at first was called McNabbville. The last survivor of this family, Alexander McNabb, had the name changed to Norval. He owned a large sheep run on the hills about the village, which he called the Grampian Hills. Both names were taken from a dramatic composition entitled “Douglas” by John Home.

It took its name from the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The word is Norwegian in origin, derived from nordo-vicus, meaning “northern village”.

Notre Dame: a succession of ridges which enter Quebec between Lakes Champlain and Memphremagog, and continue in a north-easterly direction across the country to a point about thirty miles south of the St. Lawrence. Thence they follow the general course of the river to form the table-land of Gaspé and the Shick-shock Mountains. The Notre Dame Mountains are but a spur of the great Appalachian (from Apalachi, an Indian tribe, meaning “those by the sea”), range along the eastern United States.

Notre Dame is French, meaning “Our Lady”. The reference is to Mary, the Mother of Christ. This name was given by Champlain, “Father of New France”.

John Mason Clarke in his story of Gaspesia entitled The Heart of Gaspé states that the Micmac word from which Shick-shock is derived means “Rocky Mountains”. The name appears to have been first applied in 1857 on a map of counties Gaspé and Bonaventure, published by the Crown Lands Department, Toronto, Joseph Cauchon, Commissioner.

Nottawasaga: bay, river, and township, in Simcoe county, Ontario. The township was erected in 1832.

The name is derived from the Algonquin words Nahdoway, meaning “the Iroquois”, and saga, meaning “outlet of river”. The Iroquois used to come north to attack the Algonquins by way of the Nottawasaga River.

The words are Latin meaning New Scotland. Many of the British pioneers of this province came from Scotland.

Oakland: township in Brant county, Ontario, erected in 1821. It was known formerly as the Gore of Burford, being triangular in shape.

This section of the province was largely covered before settlement with oak trees, hence the name.

The origin of the name is uncertain. There are several villages by this name in England, receiving their name from the abundance of the country’s famous oak trees. Ley (lea) is Anglo-Saxon, meaning “an open space in the wood, grass-land”.

The name was suggested by G. E. Howard in 1914. It was given in honour of Captain L. E. G. Oates, one of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s four companions in his final dash for the South Pole in 1912. All perished on the return journey, Oates sacrificing himself in an effort to save some of the party. His body was never found. As near the scene of his death as the rescue party could determine a cairn and cross were erected, bearing this inscription: “Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons.”

Oates was an Eton College boy—Eton where the teachers seek to make real men. When the writer visited[211] Eton in 1913 a senior boy showed him over the building. The oaken wainscotting, doors, desks, etc., of the headmaster’s room (Assembly), are completely covered with the names of former students. Each boy on completing his course has the privilege of having his name carved here. The boy pointed with pride to the names of many famous in the public life of the Empire, and talked glibly of their achievements. When he came to the name of Oates on the master’s desk, not a word was said, but, the boy removed his school cap, and we looked into each other’s soul. Both stood for a moment beside the brave Captain in the awful blizzard in which he passed on, seeking to save his comrades.

This place was founded under the name of Mill Creek. In 1854 it was named Odessa by the Post Office Department of Canada. In that year what is known as the Crimean War, 1854-1856, had broken out between Russia and Turkey, England and France taking up the quarrel on the side of Turkey. An Anglo-French squadron bombarded Odessa, southern port of Russia, but without result, hence the name.

Odessa is a flourishing city, picturesquely situated on an inlet of the Black Sea. It possesses a fine university and an international museum of antiquities.

Oka: Indian village in the county of Two Mountains, Quebec. It is situated on the Lake of Two Mountains, an expansion of the Ottawa River, thirty-six miles from Montreal.

Oka is an Algonquin Indian word signifying a species of fish called doré, plentiful in the Lake of Two Mountains. This fish is commonly called John Dory, from the[212] French “jaune doreé”, meaning yellow gill, a tinge of the doré.

Okanagan: lake, river (affluent of Columbia), valley, and town in Yale district, British Columbia.

According to Professor Boas, of Columbia University, Okanagan is derived from Okinagen, the name of a Salish tribe of Indians. The meaning of the word in English is uncertain. It may be a corruption of kana, “the place of” and gan, “water, lake”.

Okotoks: town, also mountains, south of Calgary, Alberta. The town is a flourishing distribution centre for the Turner Valley oil field.

The name is Blackfoot Indian meaning “lots of stones”, referring to the ford of Sheep Creek on the Calgary-McLeod Trail.

It took its name from the Oneida tribe of Indians. The term is a corruption of a compound word, formed from onenhia, “stone”, and kaniote, “upright”. It was applied to a large boulder on an eminence near which the Oneidas had their chief village.

Onondaga: township in Brant county, Ontario, organized in 1840. It is largely an Indian Reserve.

The word is a corruption of onontake meaning “at the mountain”. The site of this tribe’s early home in New York State stretched along the back and sloping sides of a great hill, hence the name.

Ontario: province of Canada, known as Upper Canada from its erection in 1791 to the passing of the British[213] North America Act of 1867; a county in Ontario, cut off from York county in 1849; and one of Canada’s Great Lakes.

The word is a corruption of the Iroquois Indian phrase kanadario, according to Hennepin, which means “sparkling or beautiful water”, and was used by the aboriginals to describe only the handsome lake now known as Ontario.

The white settlers gave the name to the land along the lake’s shores and later to an ever-extending area.

It is a Latin word meaning “riches, abundance”, whatever puts people in a position to do great things. The Romans personified Ops as the goddess of plenty.

In 1832 James Greggs erected a flour mill and a saw mill on the site of the town and for several years it was known as the Mills. In 1844 Orange Lawrence bought both mills and shortly after one of the early settlers wrote the Governor-General of Canada, suggesting the place be called Orangeville in honour of their chief captain of industry. The suggestion was accepted. The story of the origin of the name was received from the present postmaster, Geo. H. Harshaw, son of Moses Harshaw.

It took its name from the town of Orford in Suffolk, England, and was, doubtless, suggested by Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe. Sir Robert Walpole was made Earl of Orford in 1742.

Orford is also the name of a canton in Sherbrooke county, and of a lake in Brome county, Quebec.

Orillia: enterprising town situated on the shores of Lake Simcoe; and a township in Simcoe county, Ontario, surveyed in 1822.

A magnificent monument to Champlain adorns Orillia. It was designed by the late Vernon March, a brilliant young sculptor of England, and erected in 1925 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Champlain’s visit to the site of this town.

The origin of the name is much disputed. Some scholars maintain the word is Spanish and means “border, bank, shore”. If so, it was given, no doubt, by Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of the period, who had formerly served in the British army in Spain, or by time-expired soldiers from Wellington’s army who settled here.

Other writers state that the name is derived from the Indian word orelia which the red man applied to a berry growing in the neighbouring bush.

It is the Spanish word for gold, and was chosen in all likelihood by Sir Peregrine Maitland. Rio del Oro was then and is still the name of a river and town in Spanish Territory, west coast of Africa. A considerable trade in gold and slaves was carried on with this Territory at that period, and as it had been suggested that this township be set aside for liberated slaves, the African name was thought appropriate.

Oromocto: island, lake, village, and river in York and Sunbury counties, New Brunswick.

The word is Maliseet Indian and means “good river”, free from obstructions to canoe navigation. The term was applied by the Aborigines to the river only.

There is a town by the name of Orono in the State of Maine, U.S.A. Many of the first settlers in Durham were U.E. Loyalists from the New England States. They brought the name of their former home with them.

“The Maine town was named from a distinguished chief of the Tarratine tribe of Indians.”—Maine Register.

It was named in honour of William Osgoode, 1750-1824, who came from England with Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe in 1791. He was made Chief-Justice of Upper Canada in 1792, transferred to Lower Canada in 1794, retaining the office for ten years when he retired with an allowance of £800 a year. Osgoode Hall, Toronto, the seat of the Supreme Court and Law School of Ontario, is named after him.

The word is Seneca Indian in origin and means “The Carrying Place”, according to Picturesque Canada. Here was an old portage leading from the shore of Lake Ontario to Lake Scugog.

Joseph Gould, a pioneer of this district, in the story of his life states the word Oshawa is Indian for “Salmon Creek”, a term the natives applied to a local stream which well deserved the name.

It was named in honour of Hon. Featherston Osler, 1838-1924, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He[216] was a son of the Rev. F. L. Osler, of Newmarket. Other distinguished sons of this clergyman were Britton Bath Osler, Q.C., Edmund Boyd Osler, financier, and Dr. William Osler, professor of medicine. All are dead.

It took its name from Osnabruck, a town and province in Hanover. They belonged to the House of Brunswick. The township was so named in honour of Frederick, Duke of York, son of King George III., hereditary lord and bishop before he ceded Osnabruck to Hanover.

It is the Spanish word for “bear”, a fierce animal. It is another evidence of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland’s sojourn in Spain.

The osprey (fish hawk) arrives in Ontario in early spring, remaining generally for only a few days and then passing on to the Arctic where the young are reared. The surveyors may have run across a pair that had settled in Grey for the summer and suggested the name. There was a ship in the British Navy called the Osprey from which the township may have taken its name.

It is an Indian word and means “water at the mouth of a river”, and was used by the Aborigines to describe only the waters of the delta of the river now called the Otonabee emptying into Rice Lake.

Ottawa: the capital of Canada, and a grand river, an affluent of the unrivalled St. Lawrence.

The city was called Bytown until 1865, after Colonel By of the Royal Engineers to whom the British Government entrusted the construction of the Rideau canal. The word Ottawa is generally derived from the Indian term adawe, “to trade”. The name was given to the Indian tribe who dwelt along this river because its members were good hunters and brought fine furs to market. The French missionaries Belcourt and Lafleche say that the name Ottawas was given by the Algonquins to those Indians who had “grand or decorated ears”.

Ross in his Ottawa Past and Present derives the word from the Outwuak of the Jesuit Relations, “an Indian tribe which lived at the north end of Lake Huron and only came down the Ottawa River periodically to trade with Montreal merchants."

Owen Sound: flourishing city in Grey county, Ontario, situated at the foot of Owen Sound, an arm of Georgian Bay, at the mouth of the Sydenham River. The place was originally called Sydenham and was founded by John Telfer, Government Land Agent, in 1840.

The name was changed later to Owen Sound in honour of Lieutenant Owen, Navigating Officer for Commander Bayfield who made the survey of the bay, 1822-’24.

Oxford: county in Ontario, and also three townships in the county, East, West and North. There is also a township by this name in Grenville county, Ontario. It was named Oxford on the Rideau. All were organized in 1798.

They took their name from the city of Oxford in England. The name is derived from a ford of the river Thames. The word was originally Oxnaford, and here at the confluence of the Cherwell and Thames, was, perhaps, the most historic ford in England.

The place took its name from Paisley, Scotland. In 1158 the word was written Paisleth meaning probably “at the front of the slope”, which suits the site of the old town. The name is derived from the Gaelic bathais, “front” or “brow” and leathad “a slope, declivity”.

Here by the beautiful Saugeen of the Canadian Paisley Isabella Valancy Crawford lived her girlhood days, receiving her first impressions of nature’s sublimity. Many of her poems attest the depth of her sensibilities as she absorbed the beauty about her.

They were named in honour of General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, 1778-1815, killed at the battle of New Orleans while galloping along the front line to animate the British troops by his presence.

This district was settled by U.E. Loyalists who arrived shortly after the close of the War of Independence, 1775-’83.

The village took its name from Palermo in Sicily. The Bay of Palermo was a temporary base for the division of the British navy under Admiral Nelson in the earlier years of the Peninsular War, 1793-1815. Palermo is the least glorious name in the annals of his career.

No city of Italy is more beautifully situated than Palermo. It is a noted manufacturing centre with a vast[219] commercial trade. It is thought to have been founded by the Phœnicians and was known to them by the Greek name, Panormus, which signifies “a haven for all”, in allusion to its fine harbour.

Palmerston: township in Frontenac county, Ontario, organized in 1822, and town in Wellington county.

Both were named in honour of Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston, 1784-1865. He entered the British Parliament at the age of twenty-one and held office for nearly fifty years, becoming Premier in 1855, and was head of the ministry for nearly ten years. His policy was inaction at home and neutrality abroad.

Papineau: township in Nipissing district, Ontario, formed in 1878, and also a canton in Labelle county, Quebec, erected in 1919.

They were named after Louis Joseph Papineau, 1786-1871. He was the outstanding leader of the Rebellion in Lower Canada in 1837-’38, until insurrection broke out and then he sought safety in flight. After ten years in exile in the United States and France, Papineau returned to Canada.

Paris: picturesque town in Brant county, Ontario. The place is divided into upper and lower town by the Nith River, which, after winding through romantic glens, joins the Grand River.

The settlement here was called “The Forks of the Grand River” until about 1836. One, Hiram Capron, a business man from Vermont, who had established a plaster mill in the village, called a public meeting and protested against having to head all his letters with such a long name. He suggested Paris both for convenience and for the crude plaster of Paris in the locality. Capron was their greatest captain of industry and his shrewd[220] suggestion was accepted by the residents. Gypsum deposits extend on the Grand River from Paris to Cayuga, thirty-five miles.

Plaster of Paris is so called from having been originally obtained from Montmartre in the environs of Paris. The word Paris was derived from Parisii, a tribe of Gauls, who dwelt on the site of the city when the country was conquered by the Romans.

Parry Sound: district in Ontario, formed in 1870; a town in the district and its harbour, and also an island in Georgian Bay, adjacent to the town.

They were named after Parry or Melville Sound in the north polar regions of Canada, and it was named in honour of Sir William Edward Parry, 1790-1855, who made several voyages in search of the North-West Passage, and published illuminating accounts of his adventures and discoveries.

Patricia: unorganized district in Northern Ontario, from 1912 to 1927 when by “the Patricia Act” of the Province of Ontario it was annexed to and made part of the territorial district of Kenora, to be known as “District of Kenora, Patricia Portion”.

It was named in honour of Princess Patricia, daughter of His Royal Highness, Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, 1911-’16. The first Canadian Contingent, Great War, 1914-’18, was named the Princess Pat’s Light Infantry. She presented the corps with regimental colours made by herself. At the close of the War the Princess married Captain Ramsay of the British Navy.

It was named in honour of Hon. Christopher S. Patterson, 1823-1893, a member of the legal profession of[221] Ontario, and judge of the Supreme Court from 1888 till his death.

It is Micmac Indian, a corruption of pesku-tum, in English “pollock”, and a-guah-dik, “abundance”, that is, “a great water for pollock”.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in the account of his voyage in 1793 to the Pacific, states:

“On October 13th at noon we came to the Peace point, from which, according to the report of my interpreter, the river derives its name; it was the spot where the Knisteneaux (Crees) and Beaver Indians settled their dispute.”

It was named in honour of Samuel Stanley Peck, sometime M.P.P. for North Victoria. His family were of U.E.L. descent, having settled in Prince Edward county in 1880.

Peel: township in Wellington county, Ontario, erected in 1835, and a county of the same province, cut off from York county in 1849.

Both were named in honour of Sir Robert Peel, 1788-1850, a distinguished British statesman.

It took its name from Point Pelee on the mainland of Essex. This name was given by the French explorers. The word Pelee means “bare”, and the east side consisted largely of sand banks, no trees.

It took its name from the Pelham family, several of whom held office in the British Government during the reigns of George II. and George III. Thomas Pelham, 1693-1768, Duke of Newcastle, was Prime Minister for nearly ten years. He was not a great statesman, but honest, industrious and energetic. Newcastle twice refused a pension and left office £300,000 poorer than when he entered the government.

Pembina: river, mountain and county in Manitoba, an affluent of the Arthabaska, Alberta, and two lakes in Quebec.

Pembroke: thriving town on the Ottawa River in the county of Renfrew, Ontario, and a township in the same county, formed in 1843. Pembrokeshire is the name of a county in Wales.

The township was probably named in honour of Hon. Sidney Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, and Secretary at the Admiralty at this period.

Penetanguishene: historic town in Simcoe county, Ontario, situated on an arm of Georgian Bay and possessing a fine harbour.

The name is Abenaki Indian and means “the place of white falling sands”. On the western side of the harbour there is a great sandy cliff, pieces of which are continually breaking away. The place-name of Penetanguishene remains an imperishable cenotaph of an almost extinct nation.

Penticton: thriving town situated near the southern extremity of Lake Okanagan, Yale county, B.C. The[223] first white man to settle here was Thomas Ellis in 1867. The Southern Okanagan Land Company purchased from Mr. Ellis in 1905 and laid the land out in fruit lots. This was the beginning of the town’s modern development.

The name Penticton is of Indian derivation meaning “meeting of the ways”. Probably it is a shortened Indian phrase for “getting-off place at the end of big water”.

They took their name from the great water-pierced rock, a natural curiosity, off the shore of Gaspé in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Percy is a Norman family name taken from the village of Percy in Normandy. The family attained prominence in England after the Conquest and were granted the dukedom of Northumberland. So powerful did the family become that they were often a peril to the throne, notably so in Henry IV.’s and Elizabeth’s reigns. If the name were to be translated to Canada it was appropriately placed in Northumberland.

It was named in honour of George Perry, 1818-’91, M.P.P. for North Oxford from 1867-’72 and Sheriff of Oxford from 1873 till his death. In younger days he was a distinguished teacher and a man of very high character.

Perth: the county-town of Lanark county, Ontario, and also a county in the same province, formed from the Canada Land Company’s Huron district in 1847.

Both were named after the town of Perth on the Tay River in Perthshire, Scotland.

The name is probably derived from Gaelic barr tha meaning, “height over the Tay”, i.e. Kinnoull Hill, or from aber tha “confluence of the Tay” with the Earn.

It is a corruption of the Algonquin Indian pitwewe, meaning “where one hears a noise like this”, the voice of the waters according to the Indian fancy. Petawawa is also the name of a township in Renfrew county, Ontario, organized in 1857.

Christopher Robinson, a U.E. Loyalist, removed from Virginia to Canada after the Revolutionary War. His son, Colonel Peter Robinson, was sent out to Canada in 1825 by Earl Bathurst with over 2000 emigrants from Ireland. He conducted them to Indian Plains (Peterborough county) and settled them on free government lands. A town sprang up where he encamped the emigrants and his friends insisted it be called after him, Peter’s borough or Peterborough. The county was organized in 1849 under the same name.

Petitcodiac: river in New Brunswick emptying into Shepody Bay, an arm of the Bay of Fundy; and also a village situated on the same river, in the county of Westmoreland.

Petitcodiac is a Micmac Indian word, in the opinion of most authorities, meaning “the bend in a bow fitted to an arrow”, descriptive of the winding course of the river.

Some derive the term from the French petit coude meaning “the little elbow” in reference to the river’s course in the vicinity of Monckton. This derivation is not probable.

Petrolia: thriving town in Lambton county, Ontario. It was incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a town in 1874.

The town was named by the first postmaster, Patrick Barclay, and the name is derived from petroleum, the production of which is the staple industry of the place.

Pickering: village, and also township, in Ontario county, province of Ontario, organized in 1792.

At first the township was designated Edinburgh but renamed Pickering. It took its name from the town of Pickering in Yorkshire, England.

It was named in memory of Major-General Sir Thomas Picton who led the 5th Division in the battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, and fell in the action.

Pictou: village and county, Nova Scotia, and also an island in the strait of Northumberland.

The origin of the word is uncertain. Some think it a corruption of Poictou, the name of a province in France, and that the district was so named by the French explorers.

Rand derives the word from the Micmac pictook, meaning “fire caused by the explosion of gas”, explained by the presence of coal mines in the immediate vicinity.

Other writers think Pictou a corruption of the Micmac bucto which signifies “fire”. Tradition relates that a large Micmac encampment at this place was destroyed by a great fire and the Micmacs ever afterwards pointed the place out to the whites as the scene of mickeak bucto, “a great fire”. This is the most probable derivation.

It took its name from General Robert Pilkington. As a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers he was stationed at Fort Niagara in 1795. Pilkington was a capable officer, became a favourite of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe’s, and received a grant of 20,000 acres of land, known for some years as the Pilkington Block, afterwards incorporated into Pilkington township.

It took its name from an old Indian mound there that guided or piloted pioneers coming in over the old Emerson trail of the 1880’s.

It was named in honour of the Right Honourable William Pitt, (1759-1806), second son of William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham. He studied law and became a member of the bar at twenty-one, at twenty-three he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and at twenty-five he was Premier of Great Britain. Pitt was the author of the Canadian Constitutional Act of 1791. This illustrious statesman was buried beside his father in Westminster Abbey.

It took its name from a line of kings of England of whom Henry II. was the first. Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry’s father, wore a sprig of broom or planta genista as his device. Some historians called this Royal House the Plantaganets and others the Angevins, or descendants of the Count of Anjou.

It was named after the town of Plympton in Devonshire, England, near which was Beechwood, a residence of Sir John Colborne who was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1829 to 1835.

Pointe-aux-Trembles: parish, county of Portneuf, and village on the island of Montreal, Quebec. These places were famous for their aspen trees with their continuously quivering leaves, hence the name.

Pointe de Bute: historic community on the Missaquash, New Brunswick. This place figured prominently in the struggle between the English and the French in 1755.

The name is a corruption of Pont à Buot meaning Buot’s Bridge. Buot was probably an Acadian.

So named to commemorate the noted chief of the Ottawas, an Algonquin tribe. Pontiac, 1712-1769, was a steadfast ally of the French, contributed largely to Braddock’s defeat in 1755, and organized a compact among the Indian tribes in 1763 with the view of exterminating English settlers.

Port Alberni: city in British Columbia, situated at the head of the Alberni Canal. For origin of name see Alberni.

It was named Prince Arthur’s Landing by Colonel Wolseley in 1870, on his expedition to the Red River Settlement, in honour of Prince Arthur, now Duke of Connaught, and Governor-General of Canada from 1911 to 1916. In 1883 this name was changed to Port Arthur to correspond with Port Moody, the western accepted terminus of the C.P.R. at that time.

Port Burwell: police village, situated on Lake Erie, Elgin county, Ontario, incorporated in 1900.

The name Burwell is derived from Old English burgh meaning “a castle” and wella, “a spring or well of water”.

The name was probably given at first to the man who had charge of a castle well.

Port Dover: port and town in Norfolk county, Ontario, and port and village in Halifax county, Nova Scotia.

Both are named after Dover, Kent county, England. The town is situated on the River Douver still correctly pronounced Douvre(s). The name is French in origin, meaning “a stream”. It is the Welsh dwfr meaning “water”. The town took its name from the river. It is another example of the general names of primitive peoples taking on a proper signification on the advance of civilization.

The first white settler on the site of the town was one Peter Smith, a trader and hunter, who established himself here about 1778. An Indian village in the locality was called Cochingomink and Smith built his cabin on a creek which ran through it. In process of time both the creek and settlement became known as Smith’s Creek.

By 1792 U.E. Loyalists began to arrive, and take up farms, Mr. Myndert Harris and family pioneering the way. In 1815 Jeremiah Britton opened up the first store. Smith’s Creek soon fell into disuse and Toronto was[229] substituted therefor. But when a post office was opened in 1817 the duality of names gave rise to confusion. In 1819 a public meeting was called and G. S. Bolton, a resident, suggested Port Hope, which was unanimously adopted.

No one seems to know why Hope was made the choice of the residents, no record of the meeting bearing on this point having come to light. However, in all probability it was named in honour of Colonel Henry Hope, Lieutenant-Governor of Canada from 1785 to his death in 1789. He was a true friend to all the people of Canada and was particularly careful in considering the fortunes of the new Loyalist settlers on the banks of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, of which there were 1,800. The Government had undertaken to furnish provisions only until May, 1786. Pointing out that destitution would arise, Hope had the period extended until the crops were harvested. He had a Commission appointed also to investigate and adjust all Loyalist claims. It is not at all likely that the U.E. Loyalists were unmindful of his vital services.

As a mark of respect the citizens of Quebec City called the gate finished in 1784, leading from the upper town to the ramp descending to Saint Roch suburb, after him. At this time it was first known as “Hope Gate” which name it still bears.

Portland: township in Frontenac county, Ontario, organized in 1798, and a village situated in Rideau Lake in Leeds county, Ontario.

They were named in honour of William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, third Duke of Portland, who became Secretary of the Colonies in the British Government in 1796. The family is descended from the Dutch friend of[230] King William III., William Bentinck, who sought to save the Prince’s life by lying in bed with him when he had the smallpox. When William of Orange became King of England he showered estates and honours on Bentinck.

The title was taken from the Isle of Portland in Dorsetshire, famous for its bed of rock known as Portland stone out of which many of the beautiful mansions of England have been erected.

It was founded about 1909 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and named in honour of its Vice-President at that time, the late David McNichol.

It was named in 1860 by Captain Richards, H.M. surveying vessel Plumper, in honour of Major-General Richard Clement Moody (1813-’87), at that time commissioner of lands and works of British Columbia. Port Moody was originally chosen for the Pacific terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It lost much of its importance when the road was extended to Vancouver at its completion in 1886.

Port Neuf: rivers, one in Saguenay county, and the other in Port Neuf county, Quebec.

On the latter river Pierre Robineau, member of the One Hundred Associates, built an establishment which he called Portneuf, “new port”, hence the name, according to some authorities. Others presume the word was coined by Le Neuf de la Potherie, who obtained a seigniory here, by adjoining “port” to the second syllable of his name.

In 1827 Elder Scott of the American Missionary Society established an Indian school on the lake front where Port Perry is now situated. The first general store was opened by Chester Draper in 1840.

The village has been known as Port Perry from about 1852. It was named after Peter Perry of Whitby who laid out the first town plot. Previous to that date it was called Scugog Village. Information received from Thos. H. Follick, M.A., Principal of Port Perry High School.

Port Weller: name of the Lake Ontario entrance to the new Welland Ship Canal now (1930) nearing completion.

The place was named in honour of George H. Weller, for some time Superintendent Engineer of the present Welland Canal. The one now under construction is, in the main, built on the original plan submitted by the brilliant engineer, Weller. He did not live to see his dream approach realization.

Prescott: county in Ontario, erected in 1798; and a town in Grenville county, Ontario.

They were named in honour of Major-General Robert Prescott, 1725-1815, Governor-General of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 1796-’99. Prescott listened to the settlers’ complaints and tried to befriend them. This brought down upon him the ill-will of Chief-Justice Osgoode and the Board of Management of the Crown Lands, the members of which had acquired under one pretext or another many of the best tracts of land in the country. These officials secured the Governor’s recall, but the majority of the people held him in high esteem as an honourable and upright man.

It was named after Doctor Robert Henry Preston, M.P.P. for Leeds from 1875 to 1890.

Preston is also the name of a prosperous, picturesque town in Waterloo county, Ontario. It possesses mineral springs of much medicinal value.

It was named in 1866 after Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, by Reverend James Nisbet who established a Presbyterian mission station at this place in that year.

Prince Albert is also the name of a National Park thirty miles north of the city of Prince Albert, set aside by the Dominion Government in 1927. It contains 1377 square miles and is of great scenic beauty.

Prince Edward: the island province of Canada; also a county of Ontario, organized in 1792.

Both were named in honour of Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George III., born 1767, died 1820. He was the father of our late illustrious Queen Victoria.

The Micmac Indian name of Prince Edward Island was Epagwit, meaning “resting on the waves”. The French name was Ile St. Jean, and the English name was St. John’s Island until its present name was adopted in 1800.

The French name of Prince Edward county was Presqu’isle de Quinte, the almost island of Quinte.

It was the only Pacific terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway. The name was chosen in 1906 in open competi[233]tion, the Grand Trunk Pacific Company offering a prize of $250 for the most suitable name. There were about 1,200 names suggested. Miss Eleanor M. McDonald of Winnipeg offered Prince Rupert, Mrs. John Orme of Bonnechere and Mr. R. Kirkwood of Copper Cliff, Port Rupert. One condition was that the name should not contain more than three syllables and ten letters. The Company finally preferred Prince Rupert but in order to be fair awarded $250 to each of these three competitors.

Prince Rupert, 1619-’82, was the son of Frederick V., King of Bohemia and Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England. He entered the military service of his Uncle Charles I. in 1642 and fought in the Civil War until the Royalist cause was lost in 1649. At the Restoration in 1660, Rupert returned to England and was made Admiral of the fleet by Charles II. By virtue of Hudson’s discoveries in 1610, King Charles II. claimed the northern territory of America, and in 1670 he granted a Charter to an English company to trade in furs in this region. Prince Rupert was the first governor of this Hudson’s Bay Company.

It was named by the Hon. T. B. Pardee after his friend Robert Roderick Pringle, son of Dr. James Pringle of Cobourg, Ontario.

Proton is the neuter form of the Greek adjective protos meaning “the first”.

It was named in honour of Hon. William Proudfoot, Judge of the High Court of Ontario. He was the son of Rev. William Proudfoot, a Presbyterian minister, who came from Scotland to London, Ontario, in 1832.

Pugwash: village in Nova Scotia, situated on the strait of Northumberland; and also a river which empties into the Bay of Pugwash.

The word is Micmac Indian meaning “a bank of sand”, descriptive of the adjoining shore.

It took its name from the town of Puslinch, Devonshire, England. Lady Colborne, wife of Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, 1829-’35, was born there.

Quadra: mountain, 10,410 feet, Alberta and B.C.; island between Vancouver Island and the mainland and hill, Galiano Island, Strait of Georgia.

They were named after Francesco de la Bodega y Quadra, Spanish naval officer, who made explorations along the coast of B.C. and Alaska in 1775 and 1779.

Quebec: the oldest province of Canada, and its capital city, founded in 1608 by Champlain.

The word Quebec is Indian in its origin and all authorities agree that its meaning is narrows, contraction, obstruction—“Where the river narrows”. Here is the narrowest place in the whole course of the St. Lawrence. The term is common to the Algonquin, Cree and Micmac languages and signifies the same in each dialect.

Most of the early French authors spelled the word Kebec. Champlain wrote it Quebecq.

These were all named after Queen Charlotte, wife of George III., King of England, 1760-1820, or after H.M. ships bearing that name.

In 1792 Simcoe wrote to Dundas that he had the Queen’s Rangers, Col. Simcoe’s own British regiment,[236] hutted at the Niagara Landing, now Queenston. Janet Carnochan thought the word probably originated from the Queen’s Rangers being stationed there at that time.

The river was named by Simon Fraser after Jules Maurice Quesnel, who accompanied him down the Fraser River in 1808. Quesnel was a clerk in the employ of the North West Company.

Quinte: bay, Lake Ontario, almost separating Prince Edward county from the mainland of Ontario.

The word is a corruption of the name of an Iroquois Indian village of former days, situated in the neighbourhood of Rice Lake and variously spelled by French geographers, Kentsio, Kentio, Quento. English geographers called Lac de Kentsio, Rice Lake, and taking a long stride eastward brought the Indian name down to the French Lac St. Lyon under the form, Bay of Quinte. The meaning of this Indian word is unknown.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It may have been named after Hon. Thomas Radcliffe, 1794-1841, who served under Wellington through the Peninsular Campaigns. He settled in Adelaide, Wellington county, in 1832, and gave loyal service in 1837-’38. Mr. Radcliffe became a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada.

Another Radcliffe in the public eye about this time was General Sir William Pollexfen Radcliffe, 1823-’97, who gave distinguished military service in both India and the Crimea.

It was named in honour of James Henry Fitzroy Somerset, Lord Raglan, 1788-1855. He served with Wellington in the Peninsular War. He lost his right arm in the battle of Waterloo. Lord Raglan had command of the British army of invasion of the Crimea until his death from cholera June 28, 1855. On every field of action he valiantly defended the honour of the country’s flag.

It took its name from Rainham village in Norfolk, England. At the time of its settlement this township formed part of Norfolk county.

The river takes its name from the lake which the Indians called Tekamammaouen and the French Lac la Pluie, meaning “It is raining all the time”, referring to the spray from the Koochiching Falls at the outlet.

The origin of the name is uncertain. In all probability it was named after Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618, a versatile favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He achieved distinction as soldier, sailor, scholar, courtier, orator and historian.

Doubtless this name was suggested by Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada 1818-1828, who had seen considerable military service in the Peninsular War. It is Spanish for “the branch of a tree”.

“Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not”. Jeremiah XXXI, 15.

Rama is the Greek form of Ramah of the Bible, which is said to mean “a high place”.

It was named in honour of a British officer of distinction at this time, General George Ramsay, 1770-1838.

It took its name from Francis Rawdon Hastings, 1754-1826, who gave many years of military and civil service to the Crown in George III.’s reign. See Hastings county.

Regina is the Latin word for Queen. The name was[239] suggested in 1882 by the Princess Louise, wife of the Governor-General, Lord Lorne, who had been appealed to for a more attractive name than Pile of Bones when Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney selected the spot where the C.P.R. crossed Pile of Bones Creek as the site for a new seat of government. The name of Waskana, Sioux Indian for Pile of Bones, was suggested by Sir Sam Steele of the North West Mounted Police. In the early days heaps of buffalo bones lay along the edge of the creek.

Renfrew: the largest county in Ontario, bordering for many miles on the Ottawa River.

It took its name from Renfrewshire, Scotland. The original home of the Stuarts was in the parish of Renfrew. This fact accounts for one of the titles of the Prince of Wales, Baron Renfrew. George I. was the grandson of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of the Stuart line.

Restigouche: county and river in New Brunswick, the county taking its name from the river. There are two spellings, English map-makers give Restigouche, French, Ristigouche. There are also three significations of this word.

The Rev. Ph. F. Bourgeois derives it from the Micmac, Lust-a-gooch, meaning “river with five branches”, or “river of numerous branches spread out like the fingers of the hand”.

R. F. Pacifique traces it to the Micmac word, Listogotig, meaning “the scene of the great quarrel about the squirrel”. Tradition relates that many years ago the Micmacs met the Mohawks here in council. When their children were playing they caught a white squirrel and quarreled about its possession. Their parents took up the quarrel and the Micmacs fought the Mohawks along the banks of this river for forty years.

Rev. Dr. S. T. Rand states Restigouche is a corruption of the Micmac word lustegooch, meaning “dead, decaying trees”.

W. F. Ganong, an eminent authority, states the meaning is uncertain, but that Restigouche and Miramichi are derived from Micmac synonyms, and, therefore, the meaning must be some peculiarity in common; such as, “with numerous branches”.

It was named in honour of Lord Revelstoke, head of the British banking firm of Baring Bros. He bought $15,000,000 of the first bond issue of the C.P.R. The city was founded in 1886.

Reversing: falls St. John River, St. John county, New Brunswick. There are two falls during every tide, one outward and one inward. The scene is unique and visited by all tourists of the Province.

Rice: lake lying between the counties of Northumberland and Peterborough, Ontario.

This plant is known by many names. The French called it riz du Canada. The English called it Canadian rice, wild rice, wild oats and Indian rice. The Indians used a derivative of the Algonquin word manomin meaning “good berry”. It abounds in many waters of Canada and northern U.S.

Mrs. Thraill thus describes the plant in June: “It has a beautiful appearance, with its broad grassy leaves and light waving spikes garnished with pale yellow-green blossoms delicately shaded with reddish purple, from beneath which fall three straw-coloured anthers, which move with every breath of air or slightest motion of the water.”

Wild fowl fatten on Canadian rice and the Indians considered it fully as nourishing as maize or wheat. The squaws collected it when ripe by poling their canoes into the rice fields and, reaching out, drew over the heads and beat the grain into the canoe.

It was named in honour of Chief-Justice Sir William Buell Richards, 1815-’89. His family was of U.E. Loyalist descent, having settled in Brockville in 1785. Mr. Richards studied law, was called to the bar in 1837, and elected member of Parliament for Leeds county in 1848.

Father Guay states it is a corruption of Lichibouktouck, meaning “river which enters the woods”.

It took its name from Charles Lennox, third Duke of Richmond. The title was taken from the town of Richmond in Yorkshire. See Lennox.

The villages of Richmond in Carleton county, and Richmond Hill in York county, Ontario, are named after the fourth Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19, so also the county and town of Richmond, Quebec.

Rideau: river in Ontario, an affluent of the Ottawa, a lake expansion of the river, a canal connecting Kingston with Ottawa by way of the river and lake, and a falls on the river in the vicinity of Ottawa.

Rideau is a French word meaning “a curtain, a screen”, descriptive of the appearance of the Falls to which the word was first applied. The Governor-General’s residence at Ottawa is called Rideau Hall.

Ridgetown: picturesque and enterprising town in Kent county, Ontario. It was incorporated as a village in 1876 and as a town in 1882.

The first settlers taking up the four farms that afterwards became incorporated in the town were, William Marsh, James Watson, Edmund Mitton, and Ebenezer Colby. Mr. Marsh came in 1822, and the others in 1823.

The town was named from its location on the summit of the ridge or watershed dividing the water flowing to the River Thames on the north and to Lake Erie on the south. The honour of giving the name was bestowed by the settlers on James Watson, who furnished the lot for the first school-house which was built in 1830 at a corner that is now the centre of the town.

It is named in honour of a well-known Toronto family of a former generation, of which Thomas Ridout was the founder. Mr. Ridout was an Englishman by birth from Sherbourne, Dorsetshire. He settled with his family in York, now Toronto, in 1797. Mr. Ridout became Surveyor-General of Upper Canada, Registrar of York county, and member of the Legislative Council.

All authorities agree the word is Malecite or Micmac and means “the home or retreat of dogs”, in allusion perhaps to its fine hunting grounds.

It derived its name from the river there so called on a map of 1685. Loup is the French word for wolf. It[243] was the river of the wolves or Mahingan Indians. The name may have been suggested by, the ferocity of the animals, or by the warlike disposition of the Indians that inhabited this region, or by both.

It took its name from a member of a distinguished Toronto family, probably Hon. John Beverley Robinson, 1821-’96, son of Chief-Justice Sir J. B. Robinson. Mr. Robinson was Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1880 to 1887.

It took its name from an ancient Roman station or camp (now a city) in Kent county, England. The English city has a famous castle built by Bishop Gundolph in the eleventh century. It is still in a fair state of preservation.

The earliest recorded reference to these mountains is found in the diary of 1716 of James Knight, who was governor of York Factory. Indians from this part of the country told him it was very mountainous and of a prodigious height.

In 1730 Beauharnois the French Governor transmitted to France a sketch drawn for La Vérendrye by the Indian Ochagach on which is indicated the “Montagnes de Pierres Brillantes” or “Mountains of Bright Stones”.

Legardeur St.-Pierre’s Journal of 1752 refers to them by their present name “Montagnes de Roche”, which in Cree Indian is assinwati.

Rogers: glacier, pass and peak, Selkirk mountains, Kootenay district, British Columbia.

They were named after Albert B. Rogers (1829-1889) who, in 1883 explored the pass that bears his name and by which the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses the Selkirks.

When Van Horne took hold of the C.P.R. in 1882, its charter provided for the line to be built through the Yellowhead Pass, but the route was changed to go to Fort Calgary even though no pass through the Selkirks was known. Rogers and a companion named Carroll were sent to search for one. After months of incredible hardships the pass was found which is forever associated with his name.

Rogers was a graduate of high standing of Yale, a lover and liver of the wild. The C.P.R. acknowledged his great service by a cheque for $5,000. He did not cash it but had the check framed and hung in his brother’s home in Minnesota. When Van Horne reminded him a year later that he had not cashed the check, Rogers said he was not in the game for money.

It was named after Hon. John Rolph, M.D., 1793-1870. He was opposed to the Family Compact and secretly associated with William Lyon Mackenzie. On the outbreak of the Rebellion Rolph fled to the United States, but was pardoned and returned to Canada in 1843. After his return he was elected to Parliament. In 1853 Dr. Rolph founded the Toronto School of Medicine.

Rondeau: village in Kent county, Ontario. Rondeau Harbour is a village and port on Lake Erie in the same county.

Rondeau is derived from the French rond, “circular” and eau, “water”. The name is descriptive of the shape of the harbour.

It took its name, doubtless, from Ross county, Scotland, having been settled largely by Highlanders from that county. The name of Sir James Clark Ross, 1800-1862, a British navigator and Arctic discoverer, has been associated sometimes with the naming of this township.

Rouyn: canton in Temiscaming county, Quebec, erected in 1916; and a lake and mining town in the district.

They were named in memory of Captain de Rouyn of a famous French regiment that gave distinguished service to New France.

Some three years ago gold was discovered in Rouyn and later rich copper mines. Copper is now counted as the wealth of the Rouyn belt with enough gold to pay for mining and reducing the ore. The town of Rouyn has now (1927) a population of over 4,000 and is provided with all modern civic conveniences.

It was named after Roxburghshire, a border county of Scotland. Some writers state the selection of this name was due to King George III.’s friendship for the Right Hon. John Ker, third Duke of Roxburgh.

Runnymede: district, avenue, and public school in the western part of the city of Toronto.

It took its name from Runnymede (a park, island, and district) in Buckinghamshire, England. It was here on June 15, 1215, that King John signed Magna Charta or the Great Charter of English liberties or rights presented by Archbishop Stephen Langton, leader of the people in their protest against the unjust exactions of the King.

This word is found in literature in three spellings; Runnymede, Runnimede, and Runemede. At the railway station in England the writer saw “Runemede” and this spelling indicates most clearly the origin of this interesting word. It was the “meadow of the runes”, that is the ancient Anglo-Saxon field of council. Here they met for the purpose of legislation.

Rune is one of the characters of the earliest alphabet of the Teutonic nations. In the plural it was often used to represent these people or their language.

While Runnymede Park has been government land for many years, the historic island and immediate environs have been private property until very recently (1929) when they were presented to the British nation by Lady Fairhaven. All hail the public-spirited Lady and her ever-memorable gift.

They were called after Hon. Peter Russell who came to Canada with Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe. From Simcoe’s departure in 1796 until the arrival of General Hunter in 1799 Mr. Russell was President or Administrator of the Government of Upper Canada. History accords him many virtues and but one vice, a too excessive desire to acquire public lands for himself and friends. (See Dr. Scadding’s Toronto of Old.)

It took its name from the town of Ryde in the Isle of Wight. Ryde is nearly opposite to Spithead, a favourite area for naval reviews. The town is picturesque in situation and a charming watering-place.

It was named in honour of Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D., LL.D., 1803-’82. His father Colonel Joseph Ryerson was a U.E. Loyalist. In 1825 Egerton Ryerson became a Methodist minister; in 1829 he was appointed editor of the Christian Guardian, which was merged into the New Outlook in 1925; in 1841 he was chosen President of Victoria College, then at Cobourg, and in 1844 he was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, retiring in 1876 on full salary. Dr. Ryerson is regarded as the founder of Ontario’s public school system.

It was named in honour of General Sir Edward Sabine, 1786-1883, distinguished as soldier and scientist. He took part in the War of 1812-’14 in Canada. Afterwards he made a series of voyages from the equator to the Arctic circle to determine the requisite length of the pendulum to beat seconds in different latitudes, and thus laid the basis for an accurate determination of the shape of the earth. His discoveries led to the establishment of magnetic observatories in Britain and the overseas Dominions.

This name was given by the early French settlers. The phrase means “River of Sands” or “Sand river”, in allusion to its sandy banks and bottom. The French phrase is sometimes corrupted into “Ausable River”.

Sackville: seaport town of New Brunswick, and village in Halifax county, Nova Scotia. Sackville, N.B., is the seat of Mount Allison University, founded in 1843 by Charles F. Allison.

Both places were named in honour of Lord Sackville who was made Commander of the British Forces in 1758.

The county took its name from the river. The origin of the word is disputed. Lafleche derives it from the Cree Indian, sake, “to emerge”, and nipi, “water”, that is, “water which emerges” (from between high rocks). Arnaud derives it from the French and states it means “ice pierced or perforated”, describing the effect of the Saguenay at its mouth on the ice-bound St. Lawrence.

It takes its name from Scotland’s patron saint. The town is picturesquely situated and is a favourite watering-place.

Andrew was one of the twelve Apostles of our Lord. He was crucified in A.D. 60 by order of the Emperor Nero on a decussate cross (divided crosswise in the form of an X) to which he was bound not nailed, to prolong his sufferings. This cross is now called St. Andrew’s. His commemoration feast day is November 30th.

There is a tradition that a French priest erected a cross on the site of this town and celebrated Mass here for the first time on November 30th, hence the name.

St. Anne de Beaupré: the village of St. Anne of the beautiful meadow land is situated on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, Montmorency county, Quebec.

It was named in honour of Anne who, according to tradition, was the mother of the Virgin Mary, was born in Bethlehem and became the wife of Joachim. A church was built in her honour in Constantinople by Justinian in 550 but it was not till 1584 that the observation of her festival (July 26) was enjoined on Roman Catholics. St. Anne is the special patroness of women in child-birth and of minors.

On the high rock ridge behind Percé village, Gaspé, is erected a magnificent gilded statue of the Saint. The fishermen off this coast generally carry a small flag at the bow of their boats, on which is inscribed, “St. Anne protects us.” If a storm should arise they cease work, fall on their knees in the boats and pray for protection to the good Patroness of their wives and families.

The church of St. Anne de Beaupré is a shrine visited by thousands each year and many cures are reported to[250] have been effected there. The origin of the church was a “great peril to which certain Breton fishermen were exposed in a tempest in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about the beginning of the 17th century. They made a vow to erect, if they escaped, a chapel to good St. Anne on the spot where they should land. Heaven heard their prayers and they kept their word.” (Life of Laval, Makers of Canada Series.) In 1878 a magnificent edifice was erected on, or near the original site.

It was here that the Irish poet, Thomas Moore, wrote his melodious poem, “A Canadian Boat-Song”. The house in which he was entertained on his visit in 1804 still stands. It is a fine old gray stone structure now used as a bank. Macdonald College, devoted to agriculture and horticulture, is situated in close proximity to the village.

The name was given in honour of the Saint revered by all French-Canadians. See St. Anne de Beaupré.

St. Boniface: city in Manitoba, situated on the Red River, opposite the city of Winnipeg.

It was named in honour of St. Boniface, a Christian missionary, born at Crediton, England, in 680 and killed by a pagan mob in Friesland, Germany, in 755. He converted most of the heathen people of Germany and baptized them into the Church of Rome. In 732 the Pope appointed him Archbishop of all Germany. In 1926 a baptismal font into which St. Boniface is believed to have immersed his converts was found in the ruins of a chapel in Hesse.

The name was translated to Canada by Abbé (later Bishop) Provencher in 1818 who placed his little chapel on the Red River “under the patronage of St. Boniface to draw God’s blessing on the Swiss-German Roman[251] Catholic settlers of his parish.” The settlement soon became known as St. Boniface.

St. Catharines: city in the county of Lincoln, Ontario, commonly called “the Garden City”, owing to its early and beautiful flowers and foliage.

It was named in 1809 in honour of Mrs. Catharine Hamilton, wife of Hon. Robert Hamilton. See Hamilton.

The early name of the settlement was “Shipman’s Corners” after Paul Shipman who had a tavern here at the beginning of the nineteenth century. St. Paul Street perpetuates his name.

On the twelfth of August, 1679, La Salle, with his pioneer merchantman, the Griffin, entered this lake. It was the day dedicated to Sancta Clara, in French Sainte Claire, in English Saint Clair, hence our name. Clara of Assisi was a charming maiden who became the Abbess of San Damiano and foundress of the Order of the Poor Clares. She died in 1253 and the festival is held on the anniversary of her burial.

St. Croix: river, village and island (now Dochet Island in Maine politically) in south-western New Brunswick.

The river and village took their name from the island, so named by De Monts, companion of Champlain, in 1604. The cross formed by two streams coming into the main one above the island suggested the name, Sainte Croix, “Holy Cross”.

It was named in honour of Major David Secord who commanded the Second Lincoln Militia in the Battle of Chippewa, July 5, 1814. David Thompson in his history of the war states that Secord’s Militia distinguished them[252]selves in this action by feats of genuine bravery and heroism, stimulated by the example of their gallant leader. The Secords were of Huguenot and U.E. Loyalist descent.

The Governor of New France granted this seigniory to P. T. de Rigaud in 1748. He sold it in 1753 to Hyacinthe Simon Delorme, from one of whose Christian names the word is derived.

Its foundation was laid in 1848 by one Solomon Bauman who built a saw mill in that year on the Conestoga River. This mill was purchased in 1850 by Jacob C. Snider, Sr., who built a large brick grist mill in 1851. The village was then named after Jacob C. Snider, Sr., as St. Jacobs. Information received from W. H. Winkler, Postmaster.

The city takes its name from the river which was discovered by Champlain on St. Jean Baptiste’s day, June 24, 1604, and by him named St. Jean or St. John in honour of the Saint. It has borne this name ever since.

The city was founded by U.E. Loyalists in 1783 under the name of Parr Town in honour of the Governor, Colonel Parr. Incorporated in 1785 under the name St. John it is the oldest incorporated city in Canada.

St. Joseph: or St. Joseph’s; an island nineteen miles long in the channel between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. It contains the historic ruins of a British fort now somewhat preserved by the Federal Government.

St. Joseph is also the name of a village in Huron county, Ontario, and of several villages in Quebec.

They were all named, doubtless, in honour of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the Mother of Christ. The Recollets or Recollects, the first French missionaries to the Indians (1615), chose St. Joseph for the patron saint of the new Indian church they sought to establish in Canada. The Jesuit Fathers who came later to aid them, seem to have acquiesced in their choice. St. Jean Baptiste is the patron saint of the Canadien church.

St. Lawrence: magnificent river, outlet of the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean through the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its immediate source is in Lake Ontario, its ultimate source in the St. Louis River which rises in northern Minnesota and flows into Lake Superior. The St. Lawrence River alone from Lake Ontario to the Gulf is 750 miles. This immense chain of lakes and rivers is Canada’s water highway of commerce.

On his second voyage in 1535 Cartier sailed into a little bay on the north shore of the Gulf on the 10th of August. This is the feast day of St. Lawrence, so he named the bay after him. Later the name spread to the whole Gulf and River.

Saint Lawrence was a venerated deacon of the Roman Church, put to death August 10, 258, by order of Emperor Valerian. When asked to hand over the treasure of the church he brought forward the poor among whom he had divided the church’s income. The burial place of this celebrated martyr is in the Catacomb of Cyriaca. He is said to have been roasted to death on a gridiron. In the library of Lambeth Palace, England, there is an illuminated representation (exquisite piece of art) of the Saint with a gridiron in his right hand, and a painting of his ordination as deacon by Sixtus II., done by Angelious, in the Vatican.

St. Lin: pleasant town in the county of L’Assomption, Quebec. It was here that Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of Canada for fifteen years (1896-1911), was born, and here and at L’Assomption College he passed his school days.

St. Lin is named in honour of St. Linus, the immediate successor of St. Peter in the see of Rome. Tradition says he lies buried near the “Prince of the Apostles” in St. Peter’s. He is generally conceded to be the Linus mentioned in 2 Timothy (IV-21).

It took its name from the wife of Commissioner Thomas Mercer Jones of the Canada Company.

Picturesque Canada gives the origin of the name as follows: “Met together to christen ‘The Falls’ as the locality was named from the Thames rushing over a succession of rapids at this point, the wife of the Commissioner of the Canada Company, being present, suggested her own as a good name in default of a better, and at the same time offered £10 towards the construction of a much needed school-house. The suggestion was accepted and so were the ten pounds. Mrs. Mary Jones was canonized on the spot and from that day, the place was known as St. Marys. But the Commissioner himself had a frugal mind. The people built their school-house at a total cost of £100 and applied for the bonus of 10 per cent. offered by the Company for all such public improvements, when the Company, through the Commissioner, reminded them that they had already received £10, exactly the 10 per cent. contemplated!”

They took their name from Captain Pierre de Saint Ours who was granted a district here in 1672 by the[255] French government. He had been an officer in the famous Carignan-Salières Regiment which arrived in Canada in 1665, the first force of regulars sent to America by the French. The Regiment had been raised by Prince de Carignan and was under the command of Henri de Chapelas, Sieur de Salières, hence its name. Many of the soldiers on receiving their discharge became settlers.

St. Ours is also an island (named after the same Captain, part of whose seigneury it was), in the St. Lawrence River, opposite the parish of Contrecœur in Verchères county. This parish or seigneury is also named after a Captain in the Carignan Regiment.

St. Stephen: town in New Brunswick. The name was suggested no doubt by the names of other saints so honoured in the vicinity.

Stephen was one of the first deacons and the first Christian martyr. See the Bible, Acts vi and vii. His feast of commemoration is held on December 26th.

The name commemorates Colonel Thomas Talbot, 1771-1853. It is in the very heart of what is known as the “Talbot country”.

Young Talbot was a member of Lieut.-Governor Simcoe’s staff, 1791-’96. Colonel Talbot returned to Upper Canada in 1803 with the title to a grant of 5,000 acres in his pocket, secured through Simcoe’s influence. He became a great colonizer, giving his settlers fifty acres free on performing certain settlement duties. Talbot and Wellington had been school boys together and through the great Duke’s influence the Colonel’s original grant is said to have grown in half a century to 700,000 acres. The two friends died in the same year, Talbot three months after Wellington. He is said never to have broken his word to a settler and to have created thousands of happy[256] firesides, though some thought him exacting and unfair. This civil and military saint sleeps among his old settlers in a little churchyard at Port Talbot.

It took its name from John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent, 1734-1823. He went to sea when he was ten years of age and gradually rose to be captain in the naval service. His command defeated the Spanish fleet at Cadiz in 1797. For this he was raised to the peerage, awarded a gold medal and granted a pension of £3,000 per annum. The title appears to have been taken from Cape St. Vincent in Portugal, near where the Battle of Cadiz was fought.

It was named in honour of Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, 1812-’72. He was a lawyer by profession, entered Parliament in 1841, and became Premier of Canada in 1862, Mr. Macdonald opposed Confederation in 1867, but became the first Premier of Ontario. Though a Roman Catholic he was opposed to Separate Schools. His government was efficient and economical, but was defeated in 1871. In his memory a fine statue was erected by the Provincial Government in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

Sandwich: county-town of Essex county: and two townships, East and West Sandwich, in the same county.

They took their name from Sandwich, a borough and Cinque Port in Kent county, England. The word is derived from sand and wick or wich, found in both Anglo-Saxon and Norse names. Wich means a station, with the[257] Saxons a station or village on land, with the Norse it was a station for ships.

It took its name from Sarawak in the island of Borneo. In 1841 the Sultan or Chief of Borneo ceded a part of the island, including the town of Sarawak, to Sir James Brooke, a British naval officer, who suppressed piracy in that quarter.

Sarnia: the county-town of Lambton county, Ontario, and township in that county, instituted in 1835. Sarnia is the name the Romans gave to the island we call Guernsey. Sir John Colborne had been Governor of Guernsey before he was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada. In 1835 Sir John visited this district and was asked to give a name for the new settlement. He suggested the old Roman or Latin name for the Channel Island from which he had recently come. Sarnia was incorporated as a city in 1914.

Saskatchewan: was erected into a province of Canada in 1905 by the Dominion Government.

It took its name from the Saskatchewan River which flows through the central part of the province into Lake Winnipeg. The word is derived from Cree Indian, kishiska, “rapid”, and djiwan, “current”, the river with the “swift current”.

The site was selected and named in 1882 by John N. Lake of Toronto, acting for the Temperance Colonization Society of Toronto who had bought from the Government 100,000 acres here for $200,000. Saskatoon was the name of a red berry found growing wild in this district. It was used in making buffalo pemmican.

Saugeen: river flowing into Lake Huron, Bruce and Grey counties, Ontario, and also a township in Bruce county, erected in 1850.

The township took its name from the river. Saugeen is a Huron Indian word meaning “river mouth”.

Sault Ste. Marie: river connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron, and also a city situated on the river, district of Algoma, Ontario.

The city, incorporated in 1918, takes its name from the cataract on the river, the Sault Ste. Marie or Falls of St. Mary, so called by Jesuit missionaries. Ste. Marie is French for Mary, the Mother of Christ. Sault is old French for saut, modern French, meaning “a leap”. Sault is pronounced sō, commonly sö.

It took its name from the town of Scarborough on the North Sea, Yorkshire, England. Near the town are huge craggy cliffs similar to those of Canada’s Scarborough bordering on Lake Ontario.

It was named after the Duke of Schomberg, an exiled Huguenot general, who followed William of Orange to England in 1688. He was killed in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Huguenot is a term applied to the Protestants of France during the Reformation and in the religious struggles of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Persecution by the Government drove them into political as well as religious unity. For many years war was waged between Catholics and Protestants. Thousands of Huguenots sought new homes in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England and the United States. They were the most industrious, intelligent and moral people of France. The[259] Protestants attained equality in political and civil rights with the Revolution of 1789.

Huguenot is a double diminutive of the French surname Huges (Hugh). It was a common name before the Reformation. Some derive the word from Hugo.

It was named in honour of Sir Collingwood Schreiber, civil engineer, Dominion public service. Mr. Schreiber was the son of Rev. Thomas Schreiber of Essex, England. He was born in 1831, educated in England, and came to Canada in 1852, entering immediately railway engineering service in this country. In 1880 Mr. Schreiber succeeded Sir Sandford Fleming as chief engineer of the C.P.R. In 1892 he was appointed chief engineer of the Department of Railways and Canals and Deputy Minister of Railways and Canals, Federal Government. Mr. Schreiber was a man of great ability and an authority on railways. He died in 1918.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Some think it was named after Colonel Hercules Scott of the British Army, who was killed at Fort Erie in 1812. Others are of the opinion that it was called after Thomas Scott who was Chief-Justice of Upper Canada from 1806 to 1816.

Scubenacadie: river in central Nova Scotia, flowing north into Cobequid Bay, and a village situated on the river in Hants county.

The word is Micmac Indian derived from segubun, “ground nut” and akade, “place of”, the place where the native potato or ground nut grew abundantly.

Scugog: lake in central Ontario, and also a township in Ontario county, Ontario, erected in 1831.

Scugog is a Huron Indian term meaning “submerged or flooded land” according to W. H. Smith’s History of Upper Canada of date 1851. He states that a large part of this lake was artificially made. The formation of a mill-dam at Lindsay, many years ago, raised the water and forced it back over the land, thus flooding a large extent of country.

It took its name from Seaforth, an arm of the sea in the Hebrides, which partially divides Lewis from Harris. It is derived from sea and Gallic frock, by transposition and softening “forth”, meaning “an arm or inlet”.

In the Crimean War of 1854-’56 Sebastopol, a fortified city of Russia, was taken after a long siege by the allied British, French and Turkish armies on September 8, 1855. The township was named Sebastopol to commemorate this victory.

It took its name, doubtless, from the Seine in France. The word is derived from sein, “a fishing-net”, fishing being this river’s chief contribution to man’s welfare in early times. This is an instance of a common name or noun passing over to a proper one, another example of the native psychology of the human race in its infancy. Names were descriptive of some utility or characteristic of the thing named.

It took its name from Lord Selkirk who founded or attempted to found a colony here in the early years of the nineteenth century. His name is also commemorated in[261] a mountain range and peak in British Columbia and in several minor places in Canada.

Selkirk was a member of the Douglas family and his patriotic feelings were aroused by the condition of the humbler classes of the Highlands. His remedy was emigration. He bought £40,000 of the £100,000 stock of the Hudson’s Bay Company and this, with the stock held by friends, secured Selkirk a controlling interest in the Company. He then asked and secured from the directors 160,000 square miles of territory in Manitoba on certain conditions of settlement. In 1811 about ninety persons from Scotland and Ireland reached York Factory, Hudson Bay, where they wintered, and in the spring of 1812 continued their journey, arriving at Red River in August of that year. This date marks the commencement of the settlement of the North West. From year to year settlers continued to arrive but all eked out a miserable existence until the North West Territory was taken over by the Dominion Government in 1870.

It took its name from one of the six Indian nations that made up the Iroquois Confederacy. The Senecas guarded the western end of the league in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. Seneca is said to be a corruption of Sonontowane meaning “great mountain”. It may be of Algonquin origin from their word sinako meaning “mountain snakes”, showing contempt for their enemy. Some writers think the present spelling of the word is due to its resemblance in sound to the name of the Roman orator Seneca.

The words are French and mean “lonely lake”. On[262] Peter Pond’s map of 1784 this body of water is called “lake Alone”. Its isolation suggested the name.

Seven Sisters: falls on the Winnipeg River, Manitoba, possessing potential electric power of great value. Sir W. F. Butler in his tale of travel, The Great Lone Land, 1870, states there are twenty-seven falls on this river and that it descends 360 feet in a distance of 160 miles. The Seven Sisters have a total fall of sixty feet in three miles. All the falls in this group are much alike in every particular, hence the name.

Seven Sisters is also the name of an historic group of majestic Douglas pines in Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C.

See Wordsworth’s poem, “The Seven Sisters”. It may have suggested the name.

It was named in honour of Lady Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, and wife of Hugh Smithson who was raised to the peerage as Duke of Northumberland.

Shawanaga: township in Parry Sound district, organized in 1877. It is the name of a small tribe of Indians to whom the Federal Government gave land along the Shawanaga bay and river in the district in 1877. The word Shawanaga is a corruption of Shahwahnegah which means “a long bay”.

Shawinigan: lake and river, affluent of the St. Maurice River, Quebec. There is much controversy over the meaning of this word. Some Indian scholars derive it from Cree shabonigan (Algonquin dialect) meaning “a portage shaped like a beech-nut”; others maintain the word means “the eye of a needle” in allusion to the foamy water flowing between rocky shores, suggesting white thread passing through the eye of a needle. Shawinigan Falls is a[263] town on the St. Maurice, the site of important electric power development.

The word is Indian, meaning “long wigwam, having a door at each end”. It is said to refer to a special tent that the aborigines used to erect for a dancing ceremony. It was put up in the spring from willows and poplars woven into a frame which was covered with skins. The Shebandowan was quite long and the guests danced the full length, returning on the outside to the front again.

The length and contour of the lake suggesting a ceremonial hall, the water was given its name.

The name is commonly said to be a corruption of the French phrase Chapeau de Dieu, “hat of God”. Ganong says this is wrong. He derives it from Micmac Indian Es-ed-a-bit, but gives no signification.

It is probable that Shepody and Shediac have a similar or at least allied, origin, both being derived from Micmac Indian esedaik meaning “deep bay, an inlet that runs far back”.

On records of 1686 the name is written Chigpondy, later, Chepodi, Chipondi. The Morris map of 1749 is the first to write it Shepody.

Sherborne: township in Haliburton district, Ontario, surveyed in 1862. It was named after Sherborne, Dorsetshire, England, where Thomas Ridout was born. Sherbourne Street, Toronto, has the same origin. See Ridout.

Sherbrooke: county and city in Quebec; townships, North and South, in Lanark county, Ontario, organized in 1820; and township in Haldimand county, Ontario, organized in 1825.

They were all named in honour of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, 1764-1830, Governor-General of Canada, 1816-’18. His name is also retained in the fine residential street of Sherbrooke in Montreal.

Sherbrooke was one of Wellington’s generals. He had given his country twenty-five years of military service before coming to Canada. Impaired health compelled him to resign after two years of civil administration distinguished by equal and impartial justice. Kingsford in his History of Canada writes:

“He has left behind him the impress of one of the wisest and ablest governors who held office before the establishment of responsible government.”

It was named in honour of Judge Henry Sherwood, a son of Levins Sherwood whose uncle, Thomas Sherwood, was the first settler in the county of Leeds, where he arrived from Connecticut in 1784.

The meaning of this word, according to John Mason Clarke, in his story of Gaspesia, entitled The Heart of Gaspé, is as follows:

“The Micmac word from which Shick-shock is derived means rocky mountains; they are the mountains to which Champlain applied the name Notre Dame. . . .”

The name was applied first to the narrow passage between the island and mainland. It is Micmac Indian, meaning “duck road”. This water-way was much frequented by wild ducks.

The word is derived from Micmac Indian Segubuna-akade, “where nuts grow in abundance”.

It was named after Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, 1732-1800, who was Secretary of State in the British Government at this period. Sydney, a city in Nova Scotia, has the same origin.

Sillery: village and parish in Quebec county, about four miles south-west of Quebec city. The village occupies the site of an old Huron village.

It is named in honour of M. Noel de Sillery, a principal member of the One Hundred Associates formed by Richelieu in 1627. Before coming to New France he had played a considerable part in the political affairs of France, but eschewed temporal matters in the New World and expended his fortune in founding and maintaining a charitable institution at this point for the education and christianizing of Indian children.

They were named in honour of Lieut.-General John Graves Simcoe, first Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada from 1791 to 1796. He established the seat of government at Newark (Niagara) in 1792 but moved it to York (Toronto) the next year. Eventually, in his opinion, London would be the best site for Upper Canada’s permanent capital. Simcoe was zealous, active, and honest in the discharge of his duties as he saw them.

Toronto commemorates its founder’s name in Simcoe Street, John Street, and Simcoe Hall, the administrative building of the University of Toronto. The provincial Government has erected a fine statue of Simcoe, executed by Canada’s famous sculptor, Walter S. Allward, in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

Simpson: pass and river in British Columbia, lake and mountains in Yukon Territory, island (Great Slave Lake) and Hudson’s Bay Company post in McKenzie Territory.

They were named in commemoration of Sir George Simpson (1792-1860), Governor of Hudson’s Bay Company, 1822-’60. He was the first Governor in Chief of the reorganized Hudson’s Bay Company after it had absorbed the North West Company. Simpson possessed undoubted ability and great energy. Under his management the Company’s business prospered, but there was now no rival and its hand was heavy and of iron.

It took its name from Donald Sinclair, M.P.P. for North Bruce from 1867 to 1883, when he was appointed Registrar of Deeds for Bruce county.

It was named in honour of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 1755-1820, who crossed the Rocky Mountains near here in 1793.

Sir Donald: mount, over 10,000 feet, a glacier, and a range of mountains in the Selkirks, B.C.

They were named in 1885 by an Order in Council after Sir Donald A. Smith, Lord Strathcona.

It was named after the late Sir Douglas Haig, Earl Haig of Bemersyde, Commander-in-chief of the British armies in France during the later years of the Great War, 1914-1918.

It is derived from Indian iksh, meaning “out of”, and[267] shean or shyen, “the clouds”, indicating the source of the river.

Slave: Great Slave is the name of a lake in the North West Territories and of a river in North West Territories and Alberta. Lesser Slave is the name of a lake and a river in Alberta.

When the Cree Indians defeated and plundered the Etchareotine and Thlingchadinne or Dogrib Indians and drove them north they nicknamed them Awokanak, that is “slaves”, and the name became attached to the waters of these tribes’ new home.

The origin of the name is uncertain. The government of Upper Canada was administered for several years about this period by Hon. Samuel Smith, a U.E. Loyalist and a man of ability and character. It is probable that the township was named in his honour.

Sir David William Smith was Surveyor-General of Upper Canada and member of the Canadian Parliament for a good many years during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. He died in England in 1837.

It was named after General Sir H. L. Smith-Dorrien, in command of the Second British army in France, 1914-’15. This gallant soldier died in 1930.

Smith’s Falls: large town on Rideau Canal, Lanark county, Ontario. It is an important railway (C.N.R. and C.P.R.), manufacturing and commercial centre.

The town owes its name to an enterprising Canadian who built a mill here in the early days of settlement on a waterfall of the Rideau, the site of which is now occupied by canal locks.

It was named in honour of General Jan Christian Smuts, a distinguished soldier and statesman of British South Africa.

It was formerly called Edmonton after the English town of that name, but when Edmonton, Alberta, became a prosperous post the confusion in mail matter led to the present designation. The Snell family whom the modern name honours was one of the first settlers among a fine band of immigrants from Britain who located in this fertile district. See Edmonton.

It took its name from Snowdon, the most lofty mountain of Wales. The poet Gray has immortalized the name in “The Bard” whose recitative falls on the ears of Edward I., the Conqueror of Wales:

Sombra is Spanish for “shade” and is another instance of Sir Peregrine Maitland’s familiarity with Spanish terms from his military service in the Peninsular War before becoming Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, 1818-’28. This township was reserved for the Shawanese Indians, so loyal to British interests, and was, doubtless, wooded or shaded long after the adjacent townships were settled by tillers of the soil.

It was named after the Princess Sophia, a daughter of King George III., 1777-1848. She was delicate in health, never married, and was beloved for her good qualities.

In 1661 Pierre de Saurel, captain in the regiment de Carignan, superintended the building of Fort Richelieu here. In 1672 Saurel or Sorel received a grant of land in this district and the town was named after him.

In 1787 the name was changed to William Henry in honour of Prince William Henry, later King William IV., who landed at that village in September of that year. Sorel was never quite disused and ultimately displaced the Royal name.

Pierre de Joybert who was granted a seigneury in this district, called it after the seigneury of Soulanges, Vitry, Champagne province, France, of which he had been the proprietor.

Souris: river, affluent of Assiniboine, Sask. and Man.; a town in Man.; and a town in P.E.I.

The word is French meaning “mouse”. Plagues of mice were experienced in these districts in former years.

It took its name from Southwold in Suffolk, England. Southwold is Anglo-Saxon in origin, wold or weald meaning “an open country”.

Recently (1930) the Federal Government has acquired five acres of land in this township for a national park. It includes the Southwold Earthworks of three and one-half acres, unique in its class, being the only existing remains of a double-walled Indian fort on the continent.

It was named in honour of Hon. Robert Spence, M.P. for Wentworth (North) and a Cabinet Minister of the[270] Coalition Government from 1854-’58. Later he became Collector of Customs at Toronto.

The village was named after the Spencer family who settled here about the year 1800. Peleg Spencer was granted by the Crown 200 acres of land for himself, and 200 acres for each of his four sons. David, the eldest son, received the land on which Spencerville now stands. Information received from Mrs. Fairbairn (now eighty-eight years old), a daughter of George Spencer, youngest son of Peleg.

Spencer Wood: the official residence of the Lieut.-Governor of the province of Quebec. It is situated on the north shore of the River St. Lawrence, just west of Wolfe’s Cove, about two miles above the city of Quebec.

This sylvan retreat was owned from 1780 to 1796 by General Henry Watson Powell who named it Powell Place. In 1811 Michael Henry Perceval purchased it from Francis Le Houiller and renamed the estate Spencer Wood in honour of his relative and patron Hon. Spencer Perceval, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister of England. In 1833 the property—originally over 100 acres in extent—passed to Henry Atkinson who sold, about 1850, the larger part of it to the Government of Canada for a Governor’s residence, retaining the smaller part for himself under the name, Spencer Grange. Later the Grange became the residence of Sir James Le Moine, the distinguished historian and litterateur, and Spencer Wood was acquired by the province of Quebec in 1870 from the Dominion Government on condition that it be used only for the official residence of its Lieut.-Governor.

It was named after Charles H. Sproule who became Provincial Auditor of Ontario in 1886.

Stadacona: was the name of the Algonquin Indian village which Cartier visited in 1535 on the ground now occupied by part of the city of Quebec. The name is preserved in one of the wards of the city.

Lafleche and Ferland derive the word from the Algonquin term statakwan, meaning “a wing”, the angle formed by the meeting of the St. Charles River with the St. Lawrence having the conformation of a bird’s wing.

Arnaud and Lacasse say the word is a corruption of the Montagnais Statakosnen, meaning “the place where they pass on a collection of logs as on a bridge”. It is said that in the days before the coming of the French the current of the river brought down fallen trees which jammed at this point so that the Indians could pass over them, back and forwards, from the mouth of the St. Charles to Sillery, to hunt and fish.

It took its name from Staffordshire, England, the home shire of Sir Charles Bagot, Governor-General of Canada, 1842-’43.

Stafford town is said to get its name from the river Low being so shallow there that it could be forded by means of a staff.

The name was suggested by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe, 1791-’96, after Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. The English town took its name from a stone bridge or road across the Welland River at this point. The Anglo-Saxon form[272] was Stanford or Staenford, of which Stamford is a corruption. Stan is the Anglo-Saxon form of modern stone.

It was named after Philip Henry Stanhope, fifth Earl of Stanhope, a British parliamentarian and writer of historical works of the period.

It was named in honour of Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, fourteenth Earl of Derby, 1799-1869. He was a distinguished member of the British parliament and for a time Premier. His second son, Lord Stanley of Preston, was Governor-General of Canada, 1888-’93. Stanley Park, City of Vancouver, is named in the Governor’s honour. It consists of 950 acres bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and is the largest and most picturesque of all Canada’s civic parks. This area was originally a Dominion Government Military Reserve. On the 1st of November, 1908, the Minister of Militia and Defence leased Stanley Park to the City of Vancouver for ninety-nine years, renewable.

The town’s first post office was opened on September 1st, 1855, under the name of Nottawasaga Station. The Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, the first of any importance in Canada, was opened from Toronto to Aurora, March 16, 1853, and completed to Collingwood on January 1, 1855. The railway authorities established a station at this point in 1854 and since the Nottawasaga Valley was near by, Nottawasaga Station was an appropriate name.

However the name proved somewhat awkward for a post office centre in time on account of its length, and it was changed by the Federal Post Office Department to Stayner, November 1st, 1862. It was named Stayner after Mr. Sutherland Stayner who was the owner at that time of a large tract of land in the vicinity. He was the son of Mr. T. W. Stayner who was deputy Postmaster-General for Canada (an Imperial appointment) from April 6, 1828 to April 6, 1851, when the Post Office Department was transferred to the provincial authorities.

It took its name from James Stephen, Under Secretary for the Colonies in the British Government at this time. His views about the system of Government that should prevail in Canada were liberal, so much so that Sir Francis Bond Head described him in 1837 as a rank republican.

Stephen is also the name of a mount, 10,485 feet, Yoho Park, B.C. It was named in honour of Sir George Stephen, first president Canadian Pacific Railway, 1881-’88.

It was so called in honour of Robert Stephenson, Civil Engineer, 1803-’59, who designed the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. His father, George Stephenson, invented the first locomotive in 1814. It operated a train between Stockton and Darlington, England.

Stikine: river, Cassiar district, B.C., thence by way of the Alaskan riband into the Pacific Ocean.

It was named in honour of Major-General Henry William Stisted who acted as Lieut.-Governor, or Administrator, of Ontario from July, 1867, to July, 1868.

Stormont: county in Ontario, bordering on the St. Lawrence River, organized in 1792.

It was named in honour of David Murray, seventh Viscount Stormont and second Earl of Mansfield, 1727-’96. He was a distinguished British lawyer and statesman, at one time Secretary of State.

The title of Stormont was taken from the picturesque district of Stormont in Perthshire, Scotland. The family residence is called Scone Palace, near the city of Perth. It occupies the site of the ancient castle of the Kings of Scotland.

It took its name from the village of Storrington, Sussex, England, from which came the mother of Sir Henry Smith who represented Frontenac in the Legislative Assembly for a good many years.

It was named after Abraham Stouffer (or Stauffer) who moved here from Pennsylvania about the year 1806 and bought the 200 acres on which the south half of the village is built. Abraham Stouffer was the great-great-grandfather of my informant, Mr. Archie Stouffer, principal of the Continuation School of the village.

Stratford: city in Perth county, Ontario, so named by the Canada Company in 1831.

It took its name from Stratford-on-Avon, England, the birthplace of one of the immortals of literature, William Shakespeare. Stratford is derived from Saxon—Latin straeta, strata, meaning “a road or street” and ford, the ford of the Avon on the stone highway, that is Watling Street built by the Romans from the fortified port of Richborough to Chester.

The name is derived from the Gaelic, strathan, “a valley”, and ruadh, “reddish”.

It was named after James R. Stratton, M.P.P. for West Peterborough for many years in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

It was founded by the late Timothy Street and named in his honour. The village was incorporated in 1857.

Sudbury: city and district in Northern Ontario. Near the city is the largest nickel mine in the world. Canada supplies ninety per cent. of the total world production of nickel, New Caledonia, an island east of Australia and belonging to France; Germany, France, Norway and Hungary the remaining ten per cent.

The name was given to the town by James Worthington, Superintendent of Construction on the C.P.R. main line in the winter of 1882-’83. Mr. Worthington named the place after Sudbury, Suffolk, England, the birthplace of his wife. The word is derived from old English, Suth beri meaning “south burg or fort”.

The word nickel has an interesting origin. Among the first discoverers of this metal were the German miners of old. Its hardness and the difficulty they experienced[276] in smelting it led them to associate the metal with “Old Nick”, the vulgar name for the devil. So nickel is derived from low German nikker meaning “devil”, and el, diminutive—signifying “a little devil”.

It was named in honour of Hon. Robert Baldwin Sullivan who was born in Ireland and came to York, Canada, in 1834. He studied law and was appointed a member of the Executive Council of Upper Canada by Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieut.-Governor. In 1848 Mr. Sullivan was appointed a Judge of the Queen’s Bench. He discharged with distinction the duties of this high office until his death in 1853.

It was named after the parish and town of Sunbury on the Thames River, Middlesex county, England.

The name is derived from old English sunna meaning “the sun” and burgh, “castle”, the castle of the sun. In Doomsday Book the word is written “Suneberie”.

It is supposed to have received the name from the bright, sunny aspect of its landscape.

Sutton: incorporated village situated on Lake Simcoe in York county, Ontario. It is a favourite summer resort.

Its name was taken from Sutton in Surrey, England. The word occurs in the Doomsday Book as Suthdun, that is “south fort or town”.

Sutton is also the name of a village in Brome county, Quebec, and in St. John county, N.B.

It took its name from Swansea, Wales. The word is Danish, derived from Sweynsei, meaning “the isle or land of King Sweyn” who reigned over England, 1013-’14.

Sydenham: township in Grey county, Ontario, erected in 1842; a river in the same county; a river in Kent county, and a village in Frontenac county, Ontario.

They were named in honour of Charles Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham, who was Governor-General of Canada from 1839 until his death in 1841. He successfully inaugurated the union of Upper and Lower Canada.

Kingsford in his History of Canada states that Sydenham overcame all difficulties “owing to the tact and judgment he displayed and the confidence he caused men to feel personally in him. The success of the union is Lord Sydenham’s epitaph.” He had chosen Kingston for the capital of Canada and here he died and his body was interred on the 24th of September, 1841, beneath the floor of St. George’s Church in that city.

Tadoussac: chief town of the county of Saguenay, Quebec, situated on the north-east side of the river Saguenay near its entrance into the St. Lawrence.

The word is derived from the Montagnais Indian term, tutushits, meaning “teat, nipple”. The name is descriptive of the situation of the town with regard to its environs.

Tantramar: tidal river in New Brunswick, emptying into Cumberland Basin; and also the rich marsh lands along its banks.

The word is a corruption of the French tintamarre, meaning “a thundering noise”. It has generally been considered the name was applied on account of the noise made by the rush of the tide, but later students of the origin of the term think it referred to the noise of the great flocks of wild ducks and geese which frequent the marshes of the river.

The dyked lands, some 75,000 acres, of the Tantramar produce great quantities of timothy and clover hay. Much of its scenery is picturesque and inspiring. One of Canada’s pre-eminent writers, Charles G. D. Roberts, is reported in the Press recently to have said that his mentality was largely formed by his father and the Tantramar.

The first settler here was Henry Eckstein who opened an hotel in 1846 and named the place Freiburg after his native city in Bavaria. A post-office was opened about 1849 under the name Tavistock, given by the Canadian[279] Post Office Department. It was named, no doubt, after Tavistock, a parish and a town in South Devon, England. The town is picturesquely situated in the valley of the Tavy River.

The word Tavistock is derived from Tavy and old English stoc meaning “a place”, Tavy stoc passed into Tavistock. Tavy is old English meaning “still, silent”, a characteristic of this river.

It took its name from one of Lady Sarah Maitland’s three pet dogs. Lady Sarah was the wife of Sir Peregrine Maitland, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, 1818-’28. She was the daughter of Charles Lennox, fourth Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada from 1818 till his death from hydrophobia, caused by a bite from a tame fox, in 1819.

It is named in honour of Tecumseh, the Shawanoe chief, who fell fighting on the side of the British at Moraviantown in 1814. Tecumseh is also the name of a charming town near Windsor, Essex county, Ontario.

The Indians did not give their children permanent names in infancy. They waited until the youth or maiden manifested dominant qualities or characteristics and then gave a name in keeping therewith. Te-cum-seh is said to signify in English “a tiger crouching for its prey”.

This great chief is generally conceded to have been the bravest and most humane soldier, the wisest counsellor, and the most eloquent statesman of his race. From his youth he set his face steadily against the torturing or killing of captives and prisoners. His conception and[280] formation of a union or confederacy of all the Indian tribes to protect themselves against the encroachments of the whites is without a parallel. Tecumseh’s speeches that have been preserved are extraordinarily logical and graphical. See his addresses before Harrison in the Council of Old Vincennes and before Proctor and his officers in the council held before the British retreat from Detroit in 1814, in Gurd’s Story of Tecumseh.

It takes its name from the Tees River and bay between Yorkshire and the county of Durham, England.

The word Tees is probably of Pre-Celtic origin. It may be from Welsh tesack, “wantonness”, a derivative of tes meaning “heat of the sun”.

The county took its name from the lake which is Malecite Indian, meaning “deep lake forming the source of a river”, temig, “deep” and esgoateg, “lake forming the source of a river”.

Temiskaming: great lake, an enlargement of the Ottawa River, on the frontier between Ontario and Quebec.

It is Algonquin Indian derived from timi, “deep” and skami, “a great extension of water where the current in a river is very slow”.

Thames: river in Ontario, emptying into Lake St. Clair. It is named after the Thames in England.

The word Thames is of Celtic origin. An old form of the word is Tamesis, derived from the root word tam meaning “quiet, still”, which is descriptive of the Thames water.

The Pas: enterprising town on the banks of the Pas and Saskatchewan Rivers in northern Manitoba. The site was selected and laid out by the Dominion Government when the province was enlarged in 1905.

The origin of the name is disputed. Some derive it from Cree Indian, opasquiaow, “water converging to a narrows with high land and spruce trees on either side”.

Others think the term is French, Le Pas, meaning “the gateway” or “narrow passage” leading to the northland.

The younger Verendryes discovered the Saskatchewan River in 1741 and explored it from its mouth to the forks. Tradition says they named it Rivière du Pas in honour of their mother, Marie Anne Dandonneau du Pas. Some writers favour this origin.

A few farm settlers were attracted here by the fertile soil in the sixties of last century, but the town was founded in the seventies by Dyment and May. Mr. N. Dyment of Barrie was the leading spirit in establishing a lumbering industry on this site.

With regard to the origin of the name Mr. J. B. Dobie writes me as follows: “The town of Thessalon was named for Thessalon River which flows through the town into Lake Huron. The town is on a peninsula through which the river flows. On the west side of the river a narrow point juts out for one-half mile, and as this is approached by water from east or west it looks as though it were leaning over the water, and the Jesuit Fathers named it “leaning point” which sounds in French like Thessalon. This was told me by a Frenchman sixty years ago, and[282] was confirmed by a surveyor who was doing survey work here in the early history of the district.”

Thetford: thriving town and township in Megantic county, Quebec. In this district are the richest asbestos mines in the world and they form the total Canadian output. They were named after the town and borough of Thetford in Norfolk, England. The town is situated on the Little Ouse River at the influx of the Thet.

The name Thetford is derived from Old English theod and ford meaning “the ford of the people”, that is a large wide ford.

It was named by Simon Fraser in honour of David Thompson (1770-1857), trader, astronomer, pathfinder and map-maker, Canada’s prince of geographers and explorers from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific.

He gave thirteen years of service to the Hudson’s Bay Company and fifteen years to the North West Company of which he was a partner. Thompson died in poverty and obscurity in Montreal and was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery. His grave remained unmarked for seventy years. On May 23, 1927, the Historical Association of Canada unveiled a fitting monument in his honour over his remains.

The word is Hebrew, meaning the Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament in which the will of God is revealed to Moses.

They were named after Sir John Thorold, M.P. (1734-1815), who represented Lincolnshire in the British[283] House of Commons at this period. He opposed the war with the American colonies and voted against the Canada Bill (Constitutional Act of 1791).

Three Rivers (Trois-Rivières): city in St. Maurice county, Quebec, situated at the entrance to the St. Maurice River which discharges its waters into the St. Lawrence by three mouths.

The bay was called by the aborigines Animikie wekwed, meaning “Thunder Bird Bay”. In folk-lore the thunder bird (imaginary) is the personification or cause of thunder common in the legends of many primitive peoples.

“We had rather foggy, dull weather on our way up to Lake Superior and after passing Thunder Cape (which is over twelve hundred feet high), and getting into Thunder Bay, we had a thunder storm which for grandeur I never expect to see surpassed—the vivid flashes of lightning lighting up the mountains on each side of us and showing the black waves with their white caps around us on every side; then from all sides of us ribbons of fire ran up the sky in all shapes, more like rockets and fireworks, whilst the thunder leaped from mountain to mountain in a continued roar, like nothing I ever heard before, and followed by a low growl. The lightning I suppose is attracted by the mineral deposits all around Thunder Bay. Certainly the whole locality is well named. If I were an artist I would choose Thunder Bay in a storm as the grandest representation of the end of the world. I could not help fancying when I looked over the side of the vessel that I would see old Charon launch his boat from the foot of Thunder Cape. Thunder Bay would be a magnificent Styx.”

—From a letter by Catherine Moodie Vickers
to her mother, Susanna Moodie, in 1873.

It was named in honour of Edward Thurlow (1732-1806), an English statesman. He entered parliament in 1768 and became in turn Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, and Lord Chancellor in 1778, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Thurlow.

The place took its name from Thurso, town and river, Caithness, Scotland, which is derived from Old Norse, Thorsaa, meaning “Thor’s river”.

Tignish: river, pond, village, western terminus of the Prince Edward Island division of the C.N.R. The name is a corruption of the Micmac Indian word mtagunich, meaning “a paddle”, in allusion presumably to the outline of the river and pond. Dr. Rand suggests “the tacking place”, that is, where the course is changed.

Tilbury: village and outport of Kent county, Ontario. Tilbury East, is a township in Kent county, organized in 1794; and Tilbury West, is a township in Essex county, Ontario, organized in 1792.

The name was taken from the old fort of Tilbury near the mouth of the English Thames. Tilbury is the port of the London of to-day. Bede wrote this word Tilaburg, that is “Tila’s castle or burg”. The first part of the word is probably pre-Celtic, meaning “unknown”, likely the name of a man.

It took its name from the Tillson family who settled here in 1825, coming from Norfolk, England.

The term is Algonquin Indian meaning “deep water”, derived from timi, “deep” and gama or gami, a termination or suffix meaning “lake”.

It is named after Noah A. Timmins, President of the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mine, Ltd., and one of the chief stockholders in the Company. The Hollinger is the[285] richest producing gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. This mine claim was staked in 1909 by one Hollinger and sold to the Timmins associated interests in 1911 for $330,000. Up to the end of 1925 it had paid over $30,000,000 in dividends.

It was named after one of Lady Sarah Maitland’s three pet dogs. See Flos and Tay.

There is a village called Tiverton in Devon and also in Cheshire, England. The word is a corruption of Twyford and -ton, that is “two-ford-town”.

It took its name from an historical city on the Tagus River, central Spain. About the time the village was founded the Spanish town was much in evidence in British military history. The War with France (1793-1815) led to the Peninsular Campaign (1809-’13) in which Toledo was held by French armies for several years. It was in and around Toledo that Sir Andrew Keith Hay, a British officer, author of A Narrative of the Peninsular War performed amazing exploits while reconnoitring the enemy.

The name is taken from one of the titles of the Duke of Richmond, Governor-General of Canada, 1818-’19—Baron Settrington and Methuen of Torbolton. It is a village in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Toronto: the capital of Ontario, and of a township in Peel county, Ontario, organized in 1806, and of Toronto Gore township in the same county, formed in 1819.

The city of Toronto was founded in 1793 by Lieut.-Governor Simcoe of Upper Canada under the name of York. This name was given in honour of Frederick, Duke of York, second son of King George III., who was commander of a British army that won a victory in conjunction with the Austrians in this year over the French armies in Flanders. When York was incorporated as a city in 1834 its name was changed to Toronto.

The word Toronto is stated by nearly all authorities to be of Iroquois Indian origin but its meaning is disputed.

Dr. Hough, an Indian scholar of the United States, derives the word from Iroquois Thoron-to-hen, meaning “timber (fallen trees) in the water”.

Dr. L. H. Morgan, an American student of the Iroquois language, traces Toronto to De-on-do which he translates by “logs floating on the water”; a common sight, doubtless, on the bay before the advent of the whites.

General John S. Clark of Auburn, N.Y., who contributed an exhaustive study of the word Toronto to the Ontario Archaeological Report of 1899, holds that the foregoing derivations are erroneous. He thinks the word is a contraction of a compound formed from Seneca Kanitare, “lake”, and onto, “to open”, that is the opening or gateway from Lake Ontario to the country of the Hurons. Toronto Bay was but the entrance to the route which continued by Toronto River (now Humber) and Lake Toronto (now Simcoe). See copy of a French map of 1680 in Lizars’ The Story of the Humber, the original of which is in the Quebec Seminary.

Dr. Scadding in his Toronto of Old derives the word Toronto from the Huron language with the meaning of “much, many”. It was their name for the meeting-place, the populous region of native tribes, bordering on Lake Simcoe. The name became attached to the landing-place[287] of parties on the shore of Ontario who were on their way to the Huron country to hunt or trade, the starting place gradually taking the name of the goal.

Some writers maintain Toronto means “a place of plenty”, a signification allied to that given by Dr. Scadding. They state the Hurons applied the term from which Toronto is derived to any body of water where ducks and fish were plentiful.

Another signification is “trees-rising-out-of-the-water”, willows on The Island sighted from canoes, which seems to be mere guesswork from a Mohawk word of fancied resemblance.

Its origin is somewhat uncertain. One writer states it is Huron Indian meaning “beautiful mountain”.

Mr. J. W. Totten informs me that he distinctly remembers a public meeting being called, when he was ten or twelve years of age, to consider some matters relating to the opening of a post-office at this centre and that a very highly respected citizen, Mr. Nicholas Eagan, who was present, suggested that the name be Tottenham after a place he had known in the old land and in honour of Mr. Alexander Totten who had been largely instrumental in securing a post-office for the community.

Tottenham in England is a district of London. In Doomsday Book it is written Toteham. The word is derived from old English Tota or Totta and ham, “home”, meaning “the home of Tota”, a spy, lookout or tout ensconced on a hill.

It took its name from Thomas Townsend, Baron Sydney, (1732-1800), who was Secretary of State in the British Cabinet about this period. General Townsend who was present at the capture of Quebec, 1759, was of this family.

Tracadie: village in Gloucester county, N.B., and bay and settlement in Prince Edward Island.

The word is a corruption of the Micmac Indian name, Tulakadik, meaning “camping ground”.

It took its name from Cape Trafalgar, coast of Cadiz, Spain. It was near this cape that the British fleet under Nelson defeated the combined fleets of France and Spain on October 21, 1805. See Nelson.

It is situated at the mouth of the River Trent, named after the River Trent in England. By reversion the place on the Trent became Trenton, or according to some writers Trent town was shortened into Trenton.

It took its name from Martin Tucker Smith, banker of London, England, and one of the original directors of the Canada Land Company.

It took its name from Turnberry Castle, Carrick coast, Scotland. This castle was the old home of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland.

This area forms part of an Indian Reserve for the Tuscaroras, one of the Six Nations, the confederacy of the long house. The name Tuscarora is said to mean “shirt wearer”, the badge of the tribe it may be. If so Mussolini’s Fascists did not originate the emblem.

It was named after Lieut.-General Sir R. E. W. Turner, V.C., D.S.O., at one time commander of the Canadian forces in the British Isles during the Great War, (1914-’18).

Turner Valley: extensive plain and town south-west of the city of Calgary, Alberta. Its oil-wells are the greatest producers to date in Canada.

They were named after Robert and James Turner from Edinburgh, Scotland, who homesteaded in the northern end of the valley in 1886. They became well-known horse and cattle breeders.

It took its name from Tweed, Scotland. The word was applied doubtless to the water in the first instance.

In 1160 the name was written Tweda. It is derived, probably, from twy “to check or bound” in reference to this characteristic of the river.

It took its name from Thayendanegea, the Indian name of the Mohawk chief Brant. There is a Mohawk Indian Reserve in this township.

Ungava: bay on the north shore of Quebec province. It is sometimes applied to the great northern district of this province.

It took its name from Henry Usborne, one of the first directors of the Canada Land Company. He sought to interest the government of Great Britain in Canadian timber and made a contract with the Navy Board to supply it with certain requirements from Canada’s forests.

Uxbridge: town in Ontario county, Ontario, and also a township in the same county, organized in 1798.

They are named after the town of Uxbridge in Middlesex county, England. The word is derived from the Celtic axe, ex, usk, or ux, meaning “water”, and bridge.

Valcartier: village in Quebec county, Quebec, about 16 miles north of the city of Quebec. In its vicinity was established by the Government of Canada the first training camp for Canadian Forces in the Great War, (1914-’18).

The name is derived from French val meaning “vale or valley” and Cartier, the discoverer of Canada in 1535.

Vancouver: seaport city of British Columbia; and a large island off its coast, forming a part of the province.

Both are named in honour of Captain George Vancouver, 1757-’98, of the British naval service, who discovered the island in 1792. It was made a British colony in 1859 and was united to British Columbia in 1866. Captain Vancouver is buried in Petersham churchyard, England.

Before the C.P.R. reached the city in 1886 it was but a small village called Granville. In that year the name was changed and the place was incorporated under the name of Vancouver.

Vankleek Hill: town in Prescott county, Ontario, incorporated in 1897. It is picturesque in situation, occupying the highest portion of a ridge of land.

The town gets its name from its first settler, Simeon Van Kleek, a U.E. Loyalist from Duchess county, New York State.

At the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783, he with his family followed the British army to Nova Scotia. From there he moved to Argenteuil county, Quebec, in 1798, where he had been given a grant of land by the Government. Seeing the high ridge on the south side of the Ottawa River, Mr. Van Kleek crossed over and secured several lots for himself and son in the township of West Hawkesbury, including the site of the town.

It takes its name from an English family but from which member it is uncertain. Gardiner in Nothing but Names states it was named after Benjamin Vaughan who with Richard Oswald negotiated the Treaty of Peace with the United States in 1783. Dr. Scadding suggested the fourth Viscount Vaughan, Earl of Lisburne, who appears to have been a soldier of some distinction at this period.

Verchères: county and village in Quebec, south shore of St. Lawrence, about twenty miles east of Montreal.

They are named after Captain Verchères of the famous Carignan Regiment of French soldiers raised by Prince Carignan for service against hostile Indians in Canada. This regiment, the first to serve in New France, arrived at Quebec in 1665. On the completion of his term of service Verchères was granted a seigneury here. In his absence in 1692 the Fort of the settlement was valiantly defended against an Indian attack by half-a-dozen persons under the leadership of his daughter Madeleine. The story is one of the most thrilling in our history.

Recently a statue of Madeleine, some thirty feet high, has been erected on the spot where the Fort stood, overlooking the St. Lawrence. It was designed and executed by the eminent sculptor, Philippe Hébert.

It was named by Dr. G. M. Dawson, in 1885, after the famous French explorer of the present Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Dakota.

Both are named in honour of Hon. Forbes George Vernon, sometime Commissioner of Lands and Works in[293] the British Columbia Government, who owned much property in the city district. The post-office here was opened in 1884 under the name of Priests Valley and changed in 1887 to Vernon.

It was named after James Walter Grimston, 1775-1845, Earl of Verulam, brother-in-law of Lord Liverpool, Premier of Great Britain, 1812-’27. The title is taken from Verulam in Hertfordshire, the ancient capital of Britain.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It may be derived from the Latin, vesper, meaning “evening”.

Victoria: the capital city of British Columbia; and a county in each of the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; and several minor places in Canada.

All are named in commemoration of the illustrious Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Overseas Dominions, and Empress of India, 1837-1901.

It was so called in honour of Lord Mount Stephen (Sir George Stephen) whose relatives lived there when the town was founded about 1880. They came to Canada from a place named Virden in Scotland. Mr. Stephen was a member of the Company that built the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1871-’86, and later president. For his services Queen Victoria made him a Baronet in 1886 and raised him to the Peerage in 1891.

The word is Algonquin Indian, meaning “white feather”. The Indians say that when the lake was first seen it was covered with white feathers which were probably white water-lilies.

It took its name from Wainfleet in Lincolnshire, England. There are a marsh and creek in this district. The word is derived from Anglo-Saxon fleet meaning “a creek, a river” and wain, “a wagon”, “a creek through which a wagon can pass”.

It was named in honour of William Wainwright of the Canadian railway service. Mr. Wainwright was a native of Lancashire, England, having been born in Manchester in 1840. He entered the service of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway as clerk, becoming Secretary to the General Manager in 1858. In 1862 Mr. Wainwright came to Canada as a senior clerk in the G.T.R. He rose steadily in the service and by 1911 was senior Vice-President of the G.T.R. and second Vice-President of the G.T.P.R. (now the C.N.R.). Mr. Wainwright was a hard-working, kindly man of exceptional ability.

It is said to be named after Baron Thomas Wallace, sometime Vice-President of the British Board of Trade. His heir, Colonel Hope-Wallace (1807-’54), raised a[295] regiment in Canada for service in the Rebellion of 1837-1838.

In all probability, the old settlers state, it was named in honour of the great champion of Scottish independence—Sir William Wallace. The pioneers of this famous “Baldoon” community were brought out by Lord Selkirk from the Hebrides. The place was known at first as “The Forks” owing to the fact that the north and east branches of the Sydenham River unite here. When the Forks began to assume the proportions of a town it was given the name of Wallaceburg by the descendants of the hardy settlers from Western Scotland.

It was named in honour of Hon. Lewis Wallbridge, 1816-’87. Mr. Wallbridge was of U.E. Loyalist descent. The family were the first settlers in the present city of Belleville.

Lewis Wallbridge studied law in Robert Baldwin’s office, Toronto, and was called to the bar in 1839. In 1858 he was elected to Parliament for North Hastings and in 1865 he was chosen Speaker. From 1882 till his death in 1887 Mr. Wallbridge was Chief-Justice of Manitoba.

The first settlers arrived here in 1771. The town is named after its first mayor, Joseph Walker.

It was named after the late Hiram Walker, of Walker and Sons, distillers, founder of the town. He died in 1899.

It was probably named after Sir Robert Walpole, 1676-1745, who was Premier of Great Britain for twenty years. Historians generally state that bribery was the secret of his long reign.

It took its name from Warwick county, England. Warwick Castle is famed in story and is still a fine baronial residence. The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon wick, meaning “a station” and war, that is “a great stronghold in war”.

This word is derived from Nottawasaga by the omission of the first two syllables, and Nottawasaga is from the Algonquin Indian Nahdowa or Nodway, signifying “Iroquois” and saga, “outlet of river”, that is, the outlet of the river by which the Iroquois came to attack the Algonquins. The name was applied in the first instance to the mouth of the river.

Washago: post village in Simcoe county, Ontario, at the outlet of Lake Couchiching, twelve miles north of Orillia.

The name is derived from the Indian phrase wash-a-go-min, meaning “sparkling waters”. It is applied sometimes to Lake Couchiching.

Waterloo: county of Ontario, formed in 1849, and a township in this county organized in 1817.

It took its name from Waterloo in Belgium where the English army and their allies won a great battle in free[297]dom’s cause over the French army under Napoleon on June 18, 1815.

Waterloo is derived from Anglo-Saxon waeter, “water”, and leah (lea), the Flemish form of which is loo, “a meadow”, that is, “the meadow by the water”.

Watford: incorporated village, (1874), in the county of Lambton, Ontario, situated on the C.N.R., thirty-three miles west of London.

The place was named after the town of Watford, in Hertfordshire, England, on the River Colne, fifteen miles north-west of London.

In 1853 the late Richard Brown, Esquire, settled in the Township of Warwick at a place then called Brown’s Corners, where Watford now is located, opening a small store. In 1854 he was appointed postmaster by the Postmaster-General, Hon. Malcolm Cameron. On being asked by Mr. Cameron to suggest a name for the new post-office, Mr. Brown replied that he had just received a letter dated at Watford, England, from a friend, and if the Honourable Gentleman thought it fit he might apply that name, which was accordingly adopted. This information was received from the courteous Town Clerk, Mr. W. S. Fuller.

The word, Watford, was derived from Wat or Wata, and ford, that is, “Wat’s ford on the river Colne”.

It was named in honour of James Watt, 1736-1819, the famous inventor of the modern condensing steam engine.

The word is Algonquin Indian, waubau, “narrows”, and shene, “the place of”. Here is the narrowest channel of the bay. Another English translation is “the meeting of the rocks”. Both significations embody the same idea.

Wawanosh: two townships, East and West Wawanosh, in Huron county, Ontario, instituted in 1840.

It is an Algonquin Indian name meaning “beautiful sailor” or “sailing well” and was borne by several chiefs of this tribe.

Webbwood: town in Sudbury district, Ontario. It was founded in 1875 and incorporated in 1907.

The principal industry of Webbwood, as its name indicates, was lumbering until about five years ago when, the timber being exhausted, the people turned to mining. Some rich veins of gold have been uncovered a few miles north of the town.

Welland: county in Ontario, formed in 1849, and its county town, and also a river emptying into the Niagara River.

The county and town take their names from the river which was so named in 1792 by Lieut.-General Simcoe after the Welland River in Lincolnshire, England.

The word Welland is derived from Weallende, old English, meaning “boiling, bubbling up”, land of springs (wells).

It took its name from Richard Wellesley, Baron Wellesley, eldest brother of the Duke of Wellington. The title is taken from Wellesley in Somersetshire, England.[299] He gave distinguished service to the Empire as Governor-General of India, 1798-1805.

It was named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, 1769-1851. He had a distinguished military and political career. His remains are interred in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, side by side with Nelson.

The town of Wellington from which the title is taken is in the county of Somerset, England. Near the town is a magnificent monument, erected by voluntary contributions, in commemoration of the great victory at Waterloo.

It was named in honour of Sir John Wentworth, Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia, 1792-1808. Sir John was of U.E. Loyalist descent, having been Governor of New Hampshire before the American Revolution. So appreciated were his services to Nova Scotia that on his retirement from office in 1808 the Legislature granted him a pension of £500 sterling per annum for life.

It was named after the ancient city of Westminster, London, England. Its chief ornament is the Abbey[300] famous as the coronation place of the Empire’s Sovereigns and the last resting-place of many of its noblest dead. The first church was built on this site in the seventh century by Sebert, King of the East Saxons. In 1065 the first stone church was erected there by Edward the Confessor. A part of it, the Pyx-House, still remains.

It took its name from the county of Westmoreland in England. The name is derived from westmoor(waste)-land.

The name is Indian meaning “hills of peace”. In earlier days certain tribes met in the neighbouring hills and made peace.

It was named by Sir William Whyte about 1892, then Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, after a friend, according to some reports. There are a parish and a village named Weybourne in Norfolk, England, from which it may be derived. There is a small stream running through the town, a wee burn, and this is the origin generally accepted by the citizens.

Whitby: township in Ontario county, Ontario, erected in 1792; and a town in the same county.

The name is Danish. It is a contraction of Whitteby. Whitte means “white”, and bye or by means “a village”, that is, “the white village”. The allusion may be to the lighthouse of the port.

The origin of the name is uncertain. There are at least twelve towns or villages of this name in England. The word is probably derived from white and church, “the place of the white church”.

It was named in honour of Mr. Aubrey White, at that time Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands in the Ontario Government.

Wiarton received its name from the birthplace of Sir Edmund Walker Head, Governor-General of Canada (1855-’61) at the time of its survey. He was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, England. Mr. James Lennox (1815-1902) built the first house here, arriving on Nov. 16, 1866.

It took its name from the county of Wicklow, county town of the same name, Ireland.

It was named in honour of William Wilberforce, an English statesman and philanthropist. It was largely through his efforts that the Emancipation Act of 1833 was passed by the British Parliament. By this Act slavery was abolished in all British Dominions. The slave-holders were granted £20,000,000 as compensation, and eight hundred thousand slaves were set free in 1838, after giving five years of apprenticeship to prepare them for freedom, and to enable the planters to meet the new conditions.

It was named after Alfred John Wilkes, Q.C., of the law firm of Hardy, Wilkes and Hardy, Brantford, the senior partner of which was Hon. A. S. Hardy, for many years a prominent member and Minister of the Ontario Legislature, becoming Premier shortly before his death.

Williams Township, East and West, was named after William Williams, M.P., Deputy Governor of the Canada Land Company at this period.

It was named in honour of Prince William Henry, third son of King George III., 1765-1839. At the age of fourteen he became a midshipman on a man-of-war. In 1811 at the age of forty-six he had risen to be Admiral of the fleet. The sailor Prince became King William IV. in 1830. It has been written of him that he “walked in London streets with his umbrella under his arm, frankly shook hands with old acquaintances, and was a favourite with the people”.

Williamstown: historic and picturesque village on the River Raisin in Glengarry county, Ontario. Along the banks of this river, wild grapes grew in abundance and for this reason the French voyageurs named it “Rivière aux Raisins”.

This settlement was founded by Sir John Johnson who was granted a tract of land here by King George III. He called the place Williamstown in honour of his father, Sir William Johnson. Both gave distinguished service in aid of the lost cause of the U.E. Loyalists.

In early days several men who achieved notable distinction had their homes in this town. Among them were Simon Fraser, David Thompson and Sir Alexander Mackenzie, each of whose names are forever embalmed in the nomenclature of great rivers of Canada.

The origin of the name is uncertain. It may have been named after Major Samuel Street Wilmot of U.E.L. descent who took part in the war of 1812. He was a surveyor and surveyed many of the townships of Upper Canada.

A Mr. R. J. Wilmot was Secretary for the Colonies in the British Government at this period and favoured the sale of the Clergy Reserve Lands to the Canada Company.

The origin of the name is uncertain. There are seven villages in England bearing this name, three of them in Lincolnshire.

The word is derived from old English welig or wilig, “a willow” and the Danish suffix by, “a farm, a village”, that is, “the willow village”.

It was named in honour of Chief-Justice Sir Adam Wilson, 1814-’91. He came to Toronto from Scotland in 1830 and studied law in Hon. Robert Baldwin’s office. In 1859 Mr. Wilson was elected to the Canadian Assembly from North York and was Solicitor-General for a time before going on the Bench in 1863.

Winchester: township in Dundas county, Ontario, erected in 1798; and a town in the same county.

They took their name from the old town of Winchester in Hampshire, England, the capital in King Alfred the Great’s reign.

The word is derived from old English win, “a plain”, and caster (Latin castra), “a fort”, that is, “a fortified place in the open country”.

It was named in honour of Hon. William Windham, 1750-1810. He was member of the British Parliament for twenty-six years and Secretary of War and the Colonies for some time at this period. Mr. Windham was a statesman of the highest character, holding the deepest respect of his Sovereign and his country.

Windigo: bay and islands, Lake Nipigon, Thunder Bay district; and lake and river, tributary to Severn River, Patricia district, Ontario; and also a tributary of the River St. Maurice, county of Champlain, Quebec.

Windigo is an Algonquin Indian word, meaning literally “devil”. According to the Indian superstition the wendigo is a giant cannibal some twenty to thirty feet high and Indians who have gone hunting and have never afterward been heard of, have been devoured by this monster. They believed that certain waters and districts were reserved by this semi-devil for his exclusive use and avoided them.

Windsor: city in Essex county, Ontario, founded in 1834. East Windsor, formerly the town of Ford City, Essex county, assumed full urban status in 1929.

It takes its name from Windsor, England. The word is derived from old English Wyndelshore, “the shore of Wendel”, the bank or locality of the Vandals, a fierce Teutonic tribe.

Windsor is also the name of a town in Hants county, N.S., and in Richmond county, Quebec.

Winnipeg: the capital city of Manitoba; and a lake in the same province. The city took its name from the lake.

The word is Cree Indian, derived from win meaning “dirty” and nipi, “water”.

An Indian legend ascribes the muddy character of the water of Lake Winnipeg to a deity who was taken captive by an elderly squaw and so besmeared by dirt that it took all the water of the lake to purify him, and by way of retaliation he has ever since busied himself keeping up the discoloration.

Fort Garry, a trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and so called after one of its officers, was the nucleus of the city of Winnipeg. The first house in the place is said to have been built in 1862. The post office was opened in 1870 under the name of Fort Garry and changed in 1876 to Winnipeg.

Lower Fort Garry was in the Selkirk Settlement twenty miles north of Upper Fort Garry (Winnipeg).

Wolfe: county in Quebec, and an island township in Frontenac county, Ontario, named in 1792.

They were named in honour of Major-General James Wolfe, a native of Westerham, Kent county, England, the victor in the historic battle of the Plains of Abraham before Quebec.

Wolfe died from his wounds on the field of battle. His body was taken to England on a war-ship. It rested in his mother’s home in Westerham for one night and was[306] then buried in the village church. A beautiful bronze tablet telling briefly the story of his life marks the place. Many Canadians visit the church annually to view his last resting-place. A striking statue to his memory is erected in Westminster Abbey.

Recently a fine memorial to General Wolfe has been erected in Greenwich Park, London, England, and on June 5th, 1930, it was unveiled by the Marquis of Montcalm, a direct descendant of the brave general, in the presence of a distinguished gathering of the Empire’s sons. Thus did the marquis of to-day show his appreciation of the illustrious opponent of his heroic ancestor. This statue of the general was the gift of Canada and was designed by the famous Canadian sculptor, Dr. Tait McKenzie.

A memorial column erected by the victors on the Plains marks the spot where Wolfe fell and one hundred years ago the Governor-General of Canada unveiled a monument at Quebec bearing the inscription “Wolfe—Montcalm.”

It took its name from a property belonging to Lieut.-Governor Simcoe in Devonshire, England. His residence there was known as Wolford Lodge. He was buried at his household chapel at Wolford. See Simcoe.

Wolfville or Wolfeville: pleasant town in Nova Scotia, incorporated in 1893. It is situated close to Grand Pré, the centre of the “Evangeline District”. During the summer season it is the headquarters of tourists visiting this historic section of the Province. Wolfville is the seat of Acadia College, an institution of the Baptist Church, and the much loved alma mater of many professional Maritime men.

The town was named in honour of its founders, a family by the name of De Wolfe, descendants of whom still reside there. They are said to be distant relatives of General James Wolfe, the leader of the British army in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, 1759.

In recent years the “e” has been elided from Wolfeville, but it was retained by Haliburton in his History of Nova Scotia and by early map-makers.

It was named after Dr. William Hyde Wollaston, 1766-1828, a celebrated chemist of London. He added to Dalton’s “Atoms theory” and was honoured with the presidency of the Royal Society.

It was named after Hon. Burke Wood, 1817-’82. He was a member of the Canadian Assembly for South Brant, 1865-’67. After Confederation Mr. Wood was elected to both the Ontario Legislature and the House of Commons. He held the office of Treasurer in Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald’s government. In 1874 Mr. Wood was appointed Chief-Justice of Manitoba, which office he held until his death. He discharged all the duties of his several offices with distinction.

The origin of the name is not known. There are nine villages of the name of Woodhouse in England, but not one of them is in Norfolk.

Woods: lake, south-west of Ontario, bordering on Manitoba and Minnesota. It is extremely irregular in shape and contains many islands. This lake collects the[308] waters of many rivers and discharges them by the Winnipeg River into Lake Winnipeg.

The first French explorers of this district found the islands of the lake so thickly covered with trees that they called it Lac des Bois, Lake of the Woods.

During the year 1736 one of the sons of the enthusiastic explorer, Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de la Vérendrye, a Jesuit Priest named Père Aulneau and twenty companions and guides, were massacred on one of these islands by Sioux Indians. A memorial chapel has been erected on it to which the Geographic Board of Canada has given the name of Massacre Island.

Woodstock: city in Oxford county, Ontario, founded in 1833; and also a town in Carleton county, New Brunswick.

Wooler: pleasant and prosperous village of about 400 people in the county of Northumberland, Ontario.

C. G. Ruttan, a pioneer who rode into this district on horseback seventy-eight years ago (1851) states that there was only one building then on the site of the present village. It was half hotel and half store. The place was then known as Smith’s Corners. Mr. Ruttan built the first church when the number of people in the place had grown to about one hundred. Then the name was changed at the people’s request to Wooler after Wooler in Northumberland county, England, from which some of the early settlers had come. Information from Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Scott of Wooler Post Office.

The word Wooler is derived from old English Welloure meaning “well over the bank or edge” of the River Till, an affluent of the Tweed, on which it is situated. Locally[309] the word Wooler is considered to mean a great wool market which the town is, but English place-names in Wool, seldom have any connection with the wool of commerce.

It took its name from Woolwich, Kent, England, famed for its extensive naval arsenal and royal dockyard.

The word Woolwich is derived from Anglo-Saxon wul, “wool”, and wich meaning “station, house, village”, that is “the village for wool”.

It was named in honour of Hon. James Wylie, sometime member of the Legislative Council of Canada before Confederation, 1867. Mr. Wylie came to Canada from Scotland about 1820 and engaged in the mercantile business in Ramsayville, now Almonte, Ontario.

Yale: picturesque town situated on the Fraser River and county or district in southern British Columbia.

Fort Yale was founded by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1848 and named after a Mr. Yale, an efficient factor, in the employ of the Company in that district. The town and county were named in his honour.

Lacombe and Lafleche derive the word from the Cree Indian Igamaska, meaning “where the grass and rushes are high”. R. P. Lemoine thinks it is Montagnais with[310] practically the same meaning. The word was, doubtless, applied first to the water by the Indians.

Yarmouth: county and town in Nova Scotia, and township in Elgin county, Ontario, surveyed and named in 1792.

The word Yarmouth is derived from the mouth of the river Yare. Yare or Yar is Celtic, meaning “rough”. In Doomsday Book it is written er, the Gaelic form is Garbh.

Yellowhead: the pass in the Rockies, Alberta and B.C. through which the Canadian National Railway crosses the mountains.

It was suggested by Tête Jaune, French for Yellowhead, a nickname of a trapper who used to cache his furs west of this pass. Malcolm McLeod states the trapper’s name was Francois Decoigne, who was in charge of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Jasper, Brule Lake, in 1814.

It is named after the borough of Yeovil in Somerset, England. The word is derived from yew and village, “the yew village”.

Yonge: township in Leeds county, Ontario, organized in 1786, and also Toronto’s great thoroughfare.

They were both named in honour of the Right Hon. Sir George Yonge. He was a personal friend of Lieut.-Governor Simcoe and Secretary of War in the British Government from 1782 to 1794. Sir George supported the Canada Bill or Constitutional Act of 1791. There is a portrait of this statesman in Read’s Life and Times of[311] General John Graves Simcoe. It is taken from an engraved portrait after Mather Brown, in the possession of the Toronto Public Library.

York: county in Ontario, and township in the same county, both organized in 1792.

They were named after Yorkshire in England. Original Celtic form was Eborach, ebor or abar, “a marsh”, and ach, “place of”, meaning “a marshy or muddy place”. The present form of York comes through the influence of Danes who called it Jorvick, the J being equivalent to Y. (Johnston’s Place Names of England and Wales.)

The word is Indian, meaning “the river”, that is, the greatest river, to which it was only applied in the first instance. The name Yukon was first given to this water by J. Bell of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1846.

The present area known by this name was cut off from Orford township to give a separate organization to the district or zone reserved for Moravian Indians.

Zorra: East and West; famous township in Oxford county, Ontario, organized in 1819.

Zorra is the Spanish word for female fox, a crafty person. It was, doubtless, suggested by Lieut.-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, 1818-’28, who gave military service in Spain under Wellington before receiving his appointment to Upper Canada.

Some do not take kindly to this derivation and prefer to think it was called after the Biblical Zorah, Judges xiii, 2.

AUTHORS AND WORKS CONSULTED

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber’s Notes

Errata has been incorporated.

Page 31: inserted ‘Army’ to read Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

page 279: Shawanoe changed to Shawanee

page 189: Abenaqui × 2 changed to Abenaki

Minor spelling and punctuation corrected without specific note.

[The end of The Origin and Meaning of Place Names in Canada by George Henry Armstrong]

Eugene Rouillard	Noms Géographiques de la Québec et des Provinces
	Maritimes, 1906.

W. F. Ganong	The Nomenclature of New Brunswick, 1896.

William Kingsford	History of Canada, 1887-’98.

F. Garneau	History of Canada, 1862.

G. M. Grant	Picturesque Canada, 1886.

Beckles Wilson	Nova Scotia.

Canon Isaac Taylor	Words and Places, 1864.

J. George Hodgins	History of Canada, 1866.

H. Scadding	Toronto of Old, 1873.

H. F. Gardiner	Nothing But Names, 1899.

J. Ross Robertson	Landmarks of Toronto, 1894-1914.

P. G. Roy	Noms Géographiques de Québec, 1906.

James B. Johnston	Place-Names of England and Wales, 1915.

J. Timperlake	Toronto, Past and Present, 1877.

George Bryce	Lord Selkirk’s Colonists, 1909.

James B. Johnston	Place-Names of Scotland, 1892.

Thomas J. Brown	Place-Names of Nova Scotia, 1922.

Beckles Wilson	Quebec, 1912.

R. and K. M. Lizars	In the Days of the Canada Company, 1896.

John MacMullen	History of Canada, 1868.

R. R. McLeod	Markland or Nova Scotia, 1903.

K. M. Lizars	The Valley of the Humber, 1913.

G. M. Grant	Ocean to Ocean, 1877.

Geographic Board of
Canada	Eighteenth Report, 1924; Nineteenth Report,
	1928.

Anna B. Jameson	Sketches in Canada, 1838.

John F. Wallbran	British Columbia Coast Names, 1909.

C. Roger	History of Canada, 1855.

P. W. Joyce	Origin and History of Irish Names of Places,
	1883-1913.

David Williams	Place-Names in Simcoe County, Ontario,
	1906.

S. T. Rand	Micmac Place-Names, 1919.

James White	Place Names, Quebec and Northern Canada,
	1910.

PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

THE

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF

PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

By

G. H. ARMSTRONG, M.A.

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF
CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE
1930

Copyright, Canada, 1930,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED

Printed in Canada

THE HUNTER-ROSE CO., LIMITED

PREFACE

Errata

THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

AUTHORS AND WORKS CONSULTED

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber’s Notes

PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

By G. H. ARMSTRONG, M.A.

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE 1930

Copyright, Canada, 1930, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED

Printed in Canada THE HUNTER-ROSE CO., LIMITED

PREFACE

Errata

THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

A

AUTHORS AND WORKS CONSULTED

FOOTNOTES:

Transcriber’s Notes

THE

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF

PLACE NAMES IN CANADA

By

G. H. ARMSTRONG, M.A.

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF
CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE
1930

Copyright, Canada, 1930,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED

Printed in Canada

THE HUNTER-ROSE CO., LIMITED