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Is it Raymond's Hill or Ramo's ?
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The caller introduced himself as a new member of the
community, recently retired from the Eastman Kodak Company. He had a
question: “What was the correct name for the hill west of the village on
Route 37? Was it Raymond’s Hill or was it Raymo’s Hill?” He explained that
he had heard both names and was confused.
That question prompted a lively discussion the next morning when it was
brought up to the group of regulars at Diane’s Park Street Bagel and Deli
Shop. I volunteered that I had always called it a Raymond’s Hill. “Not so,”
came a heated rejoinder from the other end of the counter, between bites of
Diane’s famous lemon-filled strudels. “I’ve lived here as long as you have
and it’s Raymo’s Hill.” A third opinion was calmly voiced, suggesting that
“maybe you are both right. Raymo might be the French pronunciation of
Raymond.”
That made sense and I might have let the question end there. Instead, the
question kept popping up in my head. Who was the family or individual the
hill was named after?
This type of connection with our past is worthwhile, interesting and even
important. After all, it’s pretty well known that Demars Boulevard was named
after the grandfather (Leon) of my former classmate Ben Demars. Stetson Road
(where the first school was located) was named after early settler Royal
Stetson; Hurd Street (Civic Center) was named after John Hurd, whose
railroad and sawmill were actually responsible for the founding of this
village; Santa Clara Avenue (Clara was John Hurd’s wife) after the
successful lumber company brought to prominence by the Meigs family.
Most folks would connect Larkin Street, Palmer Avenue or Cheney Avenue, but
who was Seymour? Or, for that matter, who was Vachereau? Which McCarthy of
that prominent family was McCarthy Street named after, or was it a general
recognition? Stay with me and let’s do a “Travel in Time” and try to
determine who the hill in question was named after.
I discovered almost at once that early census reports, which I had hoped
would tell me about the different Raymonds (Raymos), could only add to the
confusion. Consider the following: In the middle 1800s, writing instruments
were primitive. Heck, we were still using ink wells and stick pens when I
started school! As a result, the writing was often illegible. Many words
were spelled either incorrectly or phonetically. Furthermore, the practice
of Anglicizing names made some hard to trace.
In regards to the spelling problem, let’s look at some examples from the
1892 census. Oliver Martineau (antecedents of Betty Sarvis) has his name
spelled Martino. My wife, not a native, pronounces it Mar-Teen-O, whereas
locally the name has always been pronounced Martin-O. Betty tells me it
means “skunk water.” Two different spellings, two different pronunciations –
same family? Some others” Oliver and Fred Besaw (was this Bisson?), Cyrell
Coro (Couroux, Carrow?), Gokey (Gauthier?), Antonine Charbono (Charbouneau?).
Then, of course, there are the names that have been Angelicized over the
years. When did Jardine (Fr: Garden) become Gardener? Fire Tower Observer
Adelard Fromage was just as often called Adelard Cheese; LeMieux (La Mere,
Fr: best, better) became Betters; LeBlanc (Fr: white) became White; and my
favorite, Tupper Lake’s first settlers, the Charboneau’s (Fr: Charbon,
meaning coal), often Anglicized to Cole.
I did discover two Raymonds (Raymos). One was Antonine and the other was
George. In the next column I’ll tell you how a chance meeting helped solve
for whom Raymond Hill was named. |
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