REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I913 57 



High Mills. Hamlet. Old milling settlement deriving its name 

 from falls in the Alplaus known as High falls. 



Hoffman's Ferry. Named for John Hoffman, 1835. Now Hoff- 

 man. Originally Vedder's Ferry, from Harmanus Vedder, 

 1790. 



Jan Wemps creek. Jan Barentsen Wemp was the ancestor of the 

 Wemp family. Name appears on some maps as Van Wemps 

 creek. 



Kelley's Station. Hamlet. Named for Andrew Kelley. 



Mariaville. Hamlet. Named for a daughter of James Duane. 



Mohawkville. Hamlet. 



NiSKAYUNA. Township, village. Con-nes-ti-gu-ne or Nis-ti-goo-ne, 

 corniiats. 



NiSKAYUNA pool. Name recently introduced, with approval of 

 Board of Geographic Names, for a body of water impounded 

 by barge canal construction. Replaces " Peck Lake," not 

 approved, 



Pattersonville. Village. Named for W. H. Patterson, hotel 

 keeper. 



Plotter kill. Stream. " Plotter kill is probably a corruption of 

 Platte kill, which occurs also in Ulster county. Platte kill = 

 flat creek, seems a strange name. Het platte land is the term 

 applied in Holland to the country districts, in contradistinction 

 to the cities, and in a country which is mostly fiat, is self- 

 explanatory. But why a kill should be called plat I do not 

 know." (A. J. F. van Laer) 



Poentics kill. Stream. " This may be a corruption of Poenties 

 kill. Poentie (or Poentje) was the nickname given to both 

 Teunis Comelissen Van Vechten and Teunis Dircksen Van 

 Vechten (see Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS, p. 815, 819). The 

 meaning of the word poentje is unknown to me. Poent is 

 Middle Dutch spelling for modern punt = point. Poentje is the 

 diminutive form. There is also a word poenter = assessor, so 

 that poentje may be either a nickname for a person with a 

 pointed face, nose or chin, or else be the real surname of the 

 Van Vechtens, derived from some ancestor who held the office 

 of assessor." (A. J. F. van Laer) 



Princetown. Named for John Prince of Schenectady, member 

 of Assembly. 



Quaker Street. Village. Quakers settled here in 1790 and made 

 purchases of land. Now Delanson. 



