*** For whom is Bonneville Dam named?

*** Where is/was Hicksville, Neppel, Culver, Parnell and  McEntee’s Crossing?

*** How many counties were carved from huge Stevens County?

*** Scottish heritage in the Pacific Northwest?

*** Kudos to Blue Mountain Heritage (pub of Walla Walla Gen Soc) and the Big Bend Register (pub of the Grant County GS)

Bonneville Dam was named for Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville who was at Fort Walla Walla on March 4, 1834. Big honor, I would say, for a one-time visit from a Frenchman. (Who might know the rest of the story?)

********************************

Hicksville’s name was changed in 1911 to Wheeler in Grant County, east of Moses Lake.  Neppel was the first name for the town of Medical Lake. The bitsy town of Culver was west of Blewett, up hill on Culver Creek. The town of Parnell was founded on August 6, 1889. The site was 1/2 mile south of Hartline and was was established because it was expected that the railroad line would cross there but that failed to materialze and Hartline got the deal. Oh, and Hartline was named for John Hartline on 28 Jul 1890. Did you know that McEntee’s Crossing was the first name of Coulee City? By 1900 the place became the city of Coulee and in 1937 officially became Coulee City. I think this sort of history is important to those having Washington ancestry; wish I did but I do not.

*********************************

Originally Stevens County was enormous and twelve counties (or parts of counties) were carved from that territory. Stevens County was named in 1863 to honor Isaac Stevens as Washington’s first governor.

********************************

Sandy Doutre was the speaker at the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society’s meeting in September last. Sandy is a local “guru-expert” on Scottish history, heritage and research. As part of her talk, Sandy explained that Scots came for the gold in the Pacific Northwest, which, early on, comprised a part of New Caledonia (Canada) which was “owned” by the Hudson’s Bay Company which employed many Scots.  According to Sandy, all of these are Scottish heritage names:  Glasgow, Aberdeen, Butte, Anaconda, Colville, Rathdrum, Selkirk Mountains, Athol, Murray, Colfax, Pomeroy……. and many more that I wasn’t quick enough to scribble down. This is not to mention the Highland Terrier dog, the Angus cow, the Chisholm Trail and much more, quipped Sandy. I did not realize that there was such a huge Scottish presence in the Pacific Northwest but guess I should have. 

**********************************

Teaching Tip: There is much to be learned from a genealogical society’s periodical, even very old ones. While I think that the Walla Walla Gen Society and the Grant Co Gen Soc no longer meet, their publications live on. Having some library time not too long ago, I paged through some back issues of the Blue Mountain Heritage and the Big Bend Register and was very impressed by how much local history they contained…. WPA pioneer interviews, pioneer reminiscences, town histories, biographical sketches, Letters Home, obituaries, newspaper bits, high school graduation lists…and this list could go on and on. If you know the COUNTY where your people once lived, DO NOT overlook searching the back issues of any genealogical or historical publication originating in that area. 

******************************

Joke to Close:  She:  “What’s that lump on your head?”  He: “Oh, that’s where a thought struck me.” Duh.