I wondered recently about towns bearing someone’s first name combined with counties bearing the same person’s last name. This spark came after learning that Gail was the county seat of Borden County, Texas. Both honored Gail Borden, the condensed milk guy (and so much more). The only other instance of this first name – surname symmetry I’d found was Horace in Greeley County, Kansas. However, Horace wasn’t even the seat of county government there.
The ever-inquisitive readers of Twelve Mile Circle discovered several more examples. I enjoyed every one of them. So I recommend that readers go back to that original article and review the comments. They provide quite a compendium, and perhaps the most complete set of this obscure geo-anomaly anywhere. A couple of comments fascinated me enough to investigate them a bit further. Credit should go to the people who first brought them to my attention, with my sincere thanks and appreciation.
Schuyler Colfax
“John Deeth” offered Schuyler, Nebraska. It’s the seat of government in Colfax County (map).
I would never have discovered this combination on my own. I had no conceptualization of Schuyler Colfax. Why did he deserve the symmetry of a town-county combo named in his honor anyway? I could have driven through Colfax County ad infinitum — and I have driven through Colfax County — and the connection never would have clicked.
This also demonstrates rather clearly a truism in U.S. politics. Serving as President of the United States is a magnificent event bringing instant fame and name recognition. Being Vice President on the other hand, in the famous words of John Nance Garner (VP to Franklin D. Roosevelt for two terms), is “not worth a bucket of warm piss.”
Some Background
It’s hopefully a safe assumption that most 12MC viewers have heard of Ulysses S. Grant. I’m sure that even includes many readers from outside of the United States. He served as General of the Union Army during the Civil War and 18th President of the United States. Now meet the guy who served as Grant’s VP during his first term (1869-1873): Schuyler Colfax.
Schuyler Colfax isn’t exactly a household name, however he accomplished quite a lot during his lifetime. He rose to Speaker of the House of Representatives and then became Vice President. He accomplished all that by the time he was only 45 years old.
There’s no telling how successful he may have become. Unfortunately one of the many scandals of the Reconstruction implicated him. His downfall came during the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal. This debacle involved gifts of stock to influential government officials from a construction company helping to build the transcontinental railroad. Then he quickly fell out of favor.
Nonetheless, Colfax followed a well-worn path blazed by numerous failed politicians before and since. He became a lecturer and went on the speakers’ circuit, thus proving that political pundits are nothing new.
In His Honor
He was fortunate in a sense to serve as Vice President during a period of homesteading and rapid territorial expansion. Colfax became a label applied to many locations throughout the United States. Imagine if the same were true today. There would be a bunch of places called Quayle, Gore, Cheney and Biden actually referencing the men themselves instead of simple coincidences.
Schuyler the town in Nebraska, abutted the Transcontinental Railroad. I wonder if Schuyler the person might have begun to appreciate this delectable irony as the years passed by.
In a related tangent, “Mr. Burns” noted that the City of Ulysses is the seat of government in Grant County (map), Kansas. It’s nice to see that both sides of the Grant-Colfax ticket garnered similar geo-oddities. Grant is just two counties south and one east of Greeley County by the way. So this might be a nice little corner of the state to experience a couple of first name – surname combos in one swoop.
Collin McKinney
“Joe” offered McKinney, the seat of government for Collin County (map), Texas.
I found this one remarkable for several reasons. Both locations recognized Collin McKinney. He was an important figure in the Texas Revolution and in the early formation of the Republic of Texas. He was also one of the principal authors of the Texas Declaration of Independence and its oldest signatory. Thus, his surname survives through the town name and his first through the county. So that one flips the order of precedence observed by other examples.
This might also be a first name – surname combination that contains the most residents. This rapidly-growing suburb of the larger Dallas metropolitan area recorded some of the greatest percentage population increases of the last decade. McKinney currently has about 130,000 residents and Collin Co. about 780,000.
The Handbook of Texas contains a fascinating biography. One can thank Collin McKinney for all of the small, square counties in Texas. Yes, he suggested their regular shape and arrangement. Wikipedia claims without attribution that he promoted areas of about 30 miles square so a rider could travel to the county seat and return in a single day. However, I haven’t been able to corroborate that independently. Bottom line for all of you County Counters out there who are trying to nail-down all 254 counties in Texas: you can either thank or curse Collin McKinney depending on your outlook.
As if that were not enough, Collin McKinney actually lived in the place named for him during the latter part of his life.
Thomas Jefferson
“Ian” postulated several combos based on U.S. Founding Fathers. I think my favorite instance was Jefferson County, Florida. It had a small unincorporated town called Thomas City although that’s not much more than a dot on a map. However the county seat is Monticello (map), which of course derives from Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Albemarle County, Virginia.
Here’s where it gets even stranger. When looking at the map I discovered that it abuts a county in Georgia called Thomas. Thus, one can drive from Thomas in Georgia to Jefferson in Florida. It’s only coincidental, though. The county in Georgia honored Jett Thomas. He gained renown for his role in the founding of the University of Georgia. Even so, I still found it amusing.
There were other honorable mentions: “Lindsay” suggested George, Washington (which is one of my favorites) and “Greg” mentioned Hernando, in De Soto County, Mississippi (which I flew directly over on my last airline trip).
Thanks everyone. It was great fun!
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