JANUARY, 1882.

THE

ANNALS OF IOWA.

A HISTORICAL QUARTERLY.

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY

SAMUEL STORRS HOWE,

IOWA CITY, IOWA.

115,865 JAN 2 5 1902

NOTICE.

The undersigned now issues a NEW SERIES of the ANNALS OF IOWA, originally thus named and published by himself, then Librarian of the State Historical Society of Iowa. The Society having discontinued its publication, this Series is published on his personal responsibility as Editor and Proprietor; and the copyright as to both title and matter, is secured by law.

SAMUEL STORRS HOWE,

Editor and Proprietor,

(Lock Box 1399.)

IOWA CITY, IOWA.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by SAMUEL STORRS HOWE, in the office of the

Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

F 616

A lo

A MEMOIR OF INDIAN NAMES IN IOWA,

WITH THEIR SIGNIFICATION.

BY THE EDITOR.

[My attention has been directed for some years, to the signification of the Indian names connected with the State, counties, towns, and rivers of Iowa. My first information was obtained from Antoine Le Claire, an early Indian interpreter of the Government, and the original proprietor of Davenport. His death hindered the completion of my design, and caused a resort to the History of the Indian Tribes in the United States," the " History of the North American Indians," "Catlin's Letters," and the "Life of Blackhawk," as authorities, to a great extent, from which this Memoir of Indian Names is composed. It by no means completes the list of Indian names, incorporated with the geography and history of Iowa.-EDITOR.]

INTRODUCTION.

The story of Indian names in Iowa remains to be told. And their signification in plain English, should be ascertained before their true interpretation is forever lost from the memory of men.

The very name of the State of Iowa, of several of its counties, towns, and rivers, is Indian; and each name is full of significance. For all Indian names, like those in Hebrew and other oriental languages, have a distinct meaning. It is now too late to trace the origin of Indian names, arising from circumstances that tradition has not preserved to our time, since the American Indians had no written language nor history of their own.

Even in our day, the origin of names is often most curious and singular. For example, the county-seat of Yates, N. Y., which is Penn Yan, originated in this way: The place was settled by Pennsylvanians and Yankees from New England. And so they concluded to name it from the first syllable of each word, "Penn" and "Yan," or Penn Yan. or Penn Yan. So likewise in Iowa, the northeastern county of the State was named Allamakee, from Allan McKee, a Scotchman of that section al

though the word as contracted sounds very much like Indian. In like manner arose the name of Winterset, the county-seat of Madison, in Iowa. The commissioners to locate and name it, as reported, were sitting around the fire, and one proposed to call it Summerset. But another, influenced by the cold of the season, said: "Call it Winterset, rather;" on which they agreed.

IOWA.

Iowa, to begin with the Indian name of the State, means: "This is the place," or "Here is the spot." It was so given to the country when the Indians crossed the great river Mississippi, as driven before their enemies they exclaimed: "This is the place" to live unmolested! "Here is the spot" to dwell in peace amid wild, unbounded hunting grounds!

Writers of fiction have attempted to throw much romance around this significant name. Washington Irving represented a tall Indian on the high bluffs of Illinois, "overlooking the majestic Mississippi, as exclaiming at the sight of the green prairies beyond, and of the wild scenery of nature: I-o-wa! I-o-wa! I-o-wa! Beautiful! Beautiful! BEAUTIFUL!”

Others, (like Augustus C. Dodge of Iowa, when formerly a United States Senator, in a speech before Congress,) have said the word means "None such." But the most reliable interpretation is that of Antoine Le Claire, which has been already given, namely: "This is the place," or "Here is the spot." Mr. Le Claire was himself of French and Indian extraction, born among the Indians, and familiar with their language from his youth, when he early began to be United States interpreter, and only ceased to be interpreter after the removal of the Indians from the territory. And it is much to be regretted that more information could not have been obtained from him before his death.

The earliest form of this name, as far as known to the writer, is in French-"Ai-ou-ez.” conforming as nearly to the idiom of the Indian tongue as the French will permit, but not conveying the exact sound of the word. From the French word came the English spelling of it, I-o-way, as found in old books and maps. But the word has finally assumed the more classic form of

I-o-wa, with the accent on the letter I, and the final a pronounced like the last letter in America, or like e in the English word her. It is now so spelt and pronounced in Webster and Worcester's dictionaries, and so uttered by polite speakers. It is most devoutly to be wished that this classic English pronunciation may prevail.

Iowa is not only the name of a growing State, but of a large county; of a prosperous town, Iowa City; and of a beautiful river, so long the haunt of the tribe of Indians called Iowas, after the same original word, giving name to all and to each of these. It has thus, from the place or tribe been adopted and transferred to the geography and history of the country.

DES MOINES.

Des Moines, the French name of the present capital of Iowa, and of the river on which it is situated, as well as of the county of which Burlington is the seat of justice, is deserving of mention here as being of Indian origin, and belonging to Indian history. Mr. Antoine Le Claire wrote in a special communication to the author of this Memoir, under date of March 11th, 1858, as follows: "In regard to the definition of Des Moines, the name was given by the Indians; that is, the Indians living on this side of the river were a large tribe; and those on the other side, few in number; and these [took] the name of De Moins, meaning the small tribe of Indians. As regards some persons saying it was derived from the monks, [Des Moines,] that is incorrect."

In a subsequent personal explanation, he insisted that the name should be spelt De Moins, and not Des Moines, for the reason given as to its origin, De Moins being a phrase for "The Less" tribe, or the tribe "of Inferiority."

And here it may be suggested, that it might better be anglicised and spelt Demoin, uniting the two words and dropping the final s, since the nasal sound of Moins cannot become English, nor the present spelling of Des Moines be rid of the hissing sound of the s in each word, as pronounced by the illiterate mass of people unaccustomed to the French pronunciation. But Demoin, dropping the s and pronouncing it as plain Eng