THE ORIGIN* OF AMERICAN" STATE NAMES 



10'i 



Photograph by U. S. Air Service 



THE WATERFRONT OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST CITY, AS SEEN FROM THE AIR: THE 



STEAMSHIP PIERS OF XEW YORK 



remain today to remind us of their oc- 

 cupation. 



Charles II of England, the "Merry 

 Monarch,'* spent so much of his coun- 

 try's funds on pleasure that state debts 

 often remained unpaid. One of these 

 was for salary to one Sir William Perm, 

 one of the lords of the admiralty, who. 

 on his death, bequeathed the claim, which 

 amounted to some £16,000, to his son. 

 William Penn, a Quaker. The latter 

 agreed to accept a land grant from the 

 crown in exchange for the debt. The 

 land was described in the royal grant as 

 ''a tract of land in America, lying north 

 of Maryland, on the east bounded by the 

 Delaware River, on the west limited as 

 Maryland, and to the northward to ex- 

 tend as far as plantable.'* Had this last 

 boundary been strictly adhered to. Penn- 

 sylvania would indeed be the largest 

 State in the Union. 



Penn wanted to call this land '"Sylva- 

 nia" on account of its vast forests, but 

 the king insisted that the founder's name 

 be incorporated in that of the colony, 

 and thus it is as Pennsylvania, literally 

 "Penn's woods." that the Keystone State 

 is known to us today. It is the only 

 State named for its founder. 



Our second smallest State, Delaware, 

 bears the name of Lord de la Warr, first 

 governor and captain-general of Vir- 

 ginia, who in 1630 went on an exploring 

 expedition in the bay and river after 

 which the State is named. 



In this connection it is interesting to 

 note that the Leni-L,enape tribe of In- 

 dians were also called Delawares. after 

 the river valley which they inhabited, this 

 being a reversal of the custom of naming 

 a State after an Indian tribe. 



The first English Roman Catholic set- 

 tlement in America was made in Mary- 



