What's in a name: Kearsarge North

A small side discussion in the thread on Trail Bandit's new (and I might say very excellent) map of the Ossippee Mountains concerned the name Kearsarge which is used for two mountains well known to hikers and climbers.

Some time ago when I was searching the old records for the survey work done by Professor E. T. Quimby in New Hampshire in the 1870s led me to discover the following extract from the 1877 Annual report of the United States Coast Survey (which later became the Coast and Geodetic Survey which later became the National Geodetic Survey).

The old annual reports are available on the NOAA web site (NOAA is the parent agency of the NGS) here: Coast Survey Annual Reports.

This particualr report is located here: CS Annual report for 1877.

Here's the title page:



And here's the section of interest. Note the discussion of the two Kearsarges in the second half of the text. It was clear that someone in the USCS really wanted to "get it right" and went to a rather in-depth study of the historical record, going back some two hundred years, to the mid 17th century. He was mindful that information, once published in a government report, would have a tendency to take on an air of truthfulness and permanency (something much more so now that we have the WWW, except perhaps the "truthfulness" part ).

The text speaks for itself. Enjoy.

Thanks for this, which I hadn't seen. It certainly adds evidence for "Kearsarge North," but I have seen briefs that appeared to be done with equal care collecting powerful evidence for "Pequawket." Why would P. Carrigain have taken it upon himself to change the name arbitrarily?

I have a photo of Prof. Quimby's "station" on Green Mtn. in Effingham. It was a rickety-looking wooden tower he had built, later replaced by the current metal fire-tower (itself moved from Cedar Mtn. in Parsonsfield, ME, in 1922). His wasn't as tall, but had the same stairs/platform/stairs et seq. shape as the current. My photo is undated but the caption says the tower was built for Quimby in 1858 to foster his topographical studies. At the top are two ladies, and archaeologists of feminine attire might be able to deduce a date from their get-ups, which look early Victorian to me (and the photo is pretty primitive to boot).

As an aside, the name Kearsage is probably derived from the Old Abenakis word "Kesarzet" meaning the proud or selfish.
I am guessing the connection would have to do with the appearance of the mountain from a distance.

Prof. ET Quimby and Kearsarge

On the west side of the summit rocks of the Kearsage in Wilmot/Warner (the "real" Kearsarge!) there is a neatly-carved rectangular indentation in the rock in which are chiseled the names of the USCS survey party, "Prof. ET Quimby" prominently on top, and another Quimby listed among the crew.

This Full text of "Mount Kearsarge and Mount Pequawket, New Hampshire: historical notes relating to the conflicting names of Mount Kearsarge and Mount Pequawket, New Hampshire" transcribes (with loads of typos, but it can be deciphered) a mass of evidence on this, including much that supports limiting "Kearsarge" to that prominent hunk in Wilmot. The NH Historical Society formally adopted that position, for one thing, after a considerable investigation and debate.

On the other hand, this also notes some of the facts adduced by Papa Bear's Survey Report that favor "Kearsarge North," including the AMC's determination many decades ago that the evidence favored that over "Pequawket."

So, not one to wax dogmatic about, whatever your preference.

It's always interesting when you start looking at these things and find information in unexpected places. The 1877 report was basically buried and lost to the ages until NOAA decided in 2001 to digitize their archives. Prior to that you might or might not find this report in some library - but who would search in a USCS report of progress in surveying the East and Gulf coasts in 1877 for data pertinent to this question. And if you did find the volume, who would read through it and find this passage! Now we just say
Search for Quimby and up it pops.

As another example of an unexpected find, I was looking for information about the 1741 survey of the NH/Mass line and found the daily journal of one of the surveyors in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register published in 1879! Thank you Google Books! See this thread on my Benchmark Hunting Forum: Pine tree Monument

But getting back to the current case, the value of this particular information is not in the facts uncovered per se, but the fact that they were trying to figure out what the NH Historical Society is still trying to figure out, namely what are the right names. And the fact that they had picked one name in 1851 and changed it in 1877 after some investigation is important. The other advantage is that they could talk to folks presumably alive in the early 19th century perhaps before Phillip Carrigain made his map in 1816.

I guess my point is, whether we know it or not, we are entering the golden age of historical research where with a few clicks we can read original texts from hundreds of years ago found all over the globe. No one, but no one could have done that even as recently as 10 years ago.

I have no interest in this particular issue, but I think with the tools available now, questions long since settled might merit another visit.

Another issue sometimes discussed is which of these mountains the famous warship USS Kearsarge was named for. The official Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships says it was named for "a mountain in New Hampshire"

The Hikers said:

As an aside, the name Kearsage is probably derived from the Old Abenakis word "Kesarzet" meaning the proud or selfish.
I am guessing the connection would have to do with the appearance of the mountain from a distance.

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Are you sure about that? That full-text compendium quotes the Smithsonian Institute to different effect:

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,

Washington, D. C, April #0, 1915.


Dear Sir: In response to your communication of March 27th, I beg leave to say that your inquiry was referred to Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, of this bureau, who gives the following information:

"The words Carasaga and Cusagee and Kyrsarge are, like Kearsarge, seemingly corruptions of the fuller form Cowissewas-chook, which in turn is apparently a different spelling of Kowa-is-atcliu-ok, meaning "At the Mountain of Small (Young) Pines."

"Kearsarge as a name without the locative should signify "Mountain
of Small (or Young) Pines."

Very truly, yours

F. W. LODGE,

Ethnologist in Charge.

Click to expand...

RoySwkr said:

Another issue sometimes discussed is which of these mountains the famous warship USS Kearsarge was named for. The official Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships says it was named for "a mountain in New Hampshire"

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This too has been debated, but here the evidence seems overwhelming for the the big one in Wilmot/Warner. Admiral Winslow, who commanded the original USS Kearsarge in its famous victory over the Alabama, requested that a rock from Mt. K. be placed on his grave. This plaque appears on that rock:

Rear Admiral
JOHN ANCRUM WINSLOW
U.S. Navy
Born in Wilmington N.C.
Nov.19,1811
Died in Boston Mass.
Sept. 29,1873
He conducted the memorable
Sea-fight in command of
U.S.S. Kearsarge,
When she sank the Alabama
in the Eng. Channel, June 19,1864.
------------------------------------------
This boulder from
Kearsarge Mt. Merrimack Co. N.H.
is the gift
Of citizens of Warner N.H.
and is erected to his memory
by his wife and
surviving children

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.

Amicus said:

Are you sure about that? That full-text compendium quotes the Smithsonian Institute to different effect:

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,
Washington, D. C, April #0, 1915.

Dear Sir: In response to your communication of March 27th, I beg leave to say that your inquiry was referred to Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, of this bureau, who gives the following information:

"The words Carasaga and Cusagee and Kyrsarge are, like Kearsarge, seemingly corruptions of the fuller form Cowissewas-chook, which in turn is apparently a different spelling of Kowa-is-atcliu-ok, meaning "At the Mountain of Small (Young) Pines."

"Kearsarge as a name without the locative should signify "Mountain
of Small (or Young) Pines."

Very truly, yours
F. W. LODGE,
Ethnologist in Charge.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Interesting.
That suggests that Couchsachraga (Daks) might well derive from the same root.

Of course the letter from lodge doesn't indicate what dialect (s) we are talking about.
Indeed, "Cohoes" is Abinakis for young pine.I would expect "Cohoesadinok"
or something close to it to mean at the mountain of the small pines in Abenakis.
I think it is real stretch from there to "Kearsage", As did Jos Laurent in his compilation of Abenakis Dialogues (1884).

The Hikers said:

Of course the letter from lodge doesn't indicate what dialect (s) we are talking about.
Indeed, "Cohoes" is Abinakis for young pine.I would expect "Cohoesadinok"
or something close to it to mean at the mountain of the small pines in Abenakis.

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Place Names of the White Mountains (Revised Ed.), by R. and M. Julyan, gives six different etymologies for "Kearsarge" - yours, the Smithsonian's and four others. The authors agnostically conclude that any or none of them might be correct.

Amicus said:

Place Names of the White Mountains (Revised Ed.), by R. and M. Julyan, gives six different etymologies for "Kearsarge" - yours, the Smithsonian's and four others. The authors agnostically conclude that any or none of them might be correct.

Click to expand...

Well, that certainly clears that up!

Papa Bear said:

Well, that certainly clears that up!

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From the Julyans' book:

...When the old Pequawket Indian Sabatis was asked the peak's Indian name, he replied "Ke-sough" or "Ke-a-sock," Indian pronunciations not easily fitted to English spellings.

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What's worse, if anyone asked Sabatis what those sounds signified to him, they neglected to record his reply. There isn't even agreement that the original words are Abenaki - one of the six suggestions is an Algonquian word that means "born of the hill that first shakes hands with the morning light."

It is amazing what discussion will be started by a little trivia.
I should make it clear that the original suggestion that I presented for the origin of Kearsage was not my opinion but that of Jos Laurent, Abenakis Chief, in his "Abenakis and English Dialogues" published in 1884.
So will we ever know for sure???
Probably not.