What are the origins of the names of area towns, such as Greenville, Vandalia, Pocahontas
and Carlyle?
Possible answers are given in a manuscript written by William D. Barge and Norman W. Caldwell
and published by the state in the 1930s. Many small towns are not included. However, here are
some of the origins of names as listed by the two men:
The authors say that Greenville got its name from the city of the same name in North Carolina. That
city was named for the Revolutionary War Gen. Nathaniel Greene. He was George Washington's
second-in-command during the war.
(In his 1905 history of Greenville Will C. Carson cited two other possible sources of the name.
One story is that early settler Thomas White named the town because "everything looks so green
and nice..." A third theory is that the town was named for Green P. Rice, an early Cumberland
Presbyterian minister and Greenville's first merchant.)
Barge and Caldwell say Pocahontas' name came from the name of the daughter of Chief Powhatan
of the Powhatan Indians in Virginia. Pocahontas is said to have rescued Capt. John Smith just
before he was to be executed by her father in the early 1600s.
The word Pocahontas is from "pokahantesu," a verbal adjective meaning "he (or she) is playful."
The authors give an interesting explanation for the naming of Vandalia. They say it was named by
the commissioners who located the state capital there "because they had been led by some wag to
think that the Vandals were a renowned Indian nation."
(The Vandals were in fact a Germanic people who overran Gaul, Spain and northern Africa and
also sacked Rome in the 4th and 5th centuries.) Highland was named for the highlands of
Scotland. Hillsboro was named for its location on hills.
Carlyle was named for Thomas Carlyle, the celebrated English essayist. Breese was named for
Sidney Breese, justice of the state Supreme Court. Alhambra "was named for the palace in Spain."
Litchfield was named for one of its founders, E.B. Litchfield.
Coffeen was named for Gustavus Coffeen, one of its founders. Ramsey was named for Alexander
Ramsey, governor of Minnesota from 1859 to 1863. Bond county was named for the first
governor of Illinois, Shadrach Bond, who served from 1818 to 1822.
Fayette county was named for Marquis de la Fayette, a French nobleman who served in the
American Revolutionary Armies. Montgomery county was named for Gen. Richard M.
Montgomery, killed in the assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775.
Clinton county was named for New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, the chief supporter of the building
of the Erie Canal.
Madison county was named for President James Madison, who served from 1809 to 1817.
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