1. INTRODUCTION This study of the place names of Sumter County, , which is based upon my master’s thesis,1 attempts to examine the histori­ cal, geographical, social, and linguistic aspects of the names. As Robert L. Ramsay, one of the pioneers in the field of place-name study in the United States, has stated:

A man’s name tells us his family and his ancestry, usually also his nationality and racial background, often his physical and mental inheritance, and the hopes and ambitions which his parents had for him. Just so the place names of a county or state yield to patient scrutiny a host of hidden facts about its history and its traditions, its geography and its natural resources, its people and their ideals.2 A brief consideration of the history of Sumter County, Alabama, will reveal the source of some of the names that are to be discussed. Sumter County, which is situated in west central Alabama, was created by an act of the state general assembly on December 18, 1832. The land had been acquired on September 27, 1830, through the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Indians. In 1847 two ranges were taken from the area and added to land from Washington County to form Choctaw County. As early as 1735 a fortified post, Fort Tombecbe, was established in the territory by the French as a base against the . After the French abandoned the fort, the English occupied it from 1763 to 1768. In 1783 it was acquired by the Spanish, who surren­ dered it to the United States in 1795. Here the United States negotiated its first land cession from the in 1802 and guaranteed their title to this and other sections of land later granted to the United States by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Although some white men had drifted into the area after George S. Gaines, the Indian agent, established his factory in 1816, the first large groups came in 1831 and 1838. These were, for the most part, well-to-do people from the South Atlantic States, who settled around Gainesville, Jones Bluff, Alamuchee, Bluff Port, Belmont, Sumterville, Payneville, Jamestown, Ramsey, and Hickory Hill. In 1833 a committee of seven men, William Anderson, John C. Whitsett, Charles J. Puckett, Andrew Ramsey, William O. Winston, Edward B. Colgin, and Warham Easley, who were appointed by the general assembly, chose a site for the courthouse. The county seat, Livingston, was laid out that same year.

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By 1840 Sumter had the largest population of any county in Alabama, and Gainesville, which was to be the scene of General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s surrender in 1865, was the fourth largest town in the state. Since it has remained a rural district, Sumter County has never again been so populous.3 The chief model for this study of the place names of Sumter County, Alabama, is The Place-Names of Dane County, Wisconsin, by Frederic G. Cassidy.4 Other works which have served as mod­ els are the study of Pike County, Missouri, included in the Introduc­ tion to a Survey of Missouri Place-Names, by Robert L. Ramsay, Allen Walker Read, and Esther Gladys Leach,5 and the thesis “A Study of Place-Names of Clarke County, Mississippi,” by Mary Frances Bass.6 Like these three studies, the following study is an attempt to collect all the place names used within the present bound­ aries of the county since it was organized. The only intentional omissions are the names of churches, schools, roads, and railroads which were named for already existing settlements. The latter were not considered distinctive place names. In addition to the names conferred after the organization of the county, all those appearing on maps issued before 1832 are listed, but no attempt has been made to translate the early ones of Indian origin. After a search of all available historical and governmental docu­ ments and maps had been made, many residents of the county were interviewed. A great many more people than the ones listed as informants were questioned, but only these provided facts not al­ ready recorded. As many places as it was possible to reach by automobile were visited. Although it is probable that a number of small features have been overlooked, one can assume that a repre­ sentative selection of the names in the county is included. Despite the fact that every effort has been made to correct all errors, no doubt some have been overlooked. The old maps, such as those of Crenay, Mitchell, Purcell, Darby, Thomson, and Melish, have many of them. I shall appreciate being informed of any correc­ tions or additions that should be made. The main part of the study is the list or dictionary of Sumter County place names at the end. Since the names are arranged alphabetically, with cross references, it should be easy to use. Asterisks precede the obsolete names. Although several analyses of the material are included in the introduction, this is primarily a descriptive study because broad generalizations must await the

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publication of far more place name studies than are at present available. However, the arrangement of the material is such that the reader should be able to make additional analyses of his own.

THE KINDS OF INFORMATION SOUGHT

Wherever possible the following items have been included in each entry in the dictionary:

1. Identification. a. The names are spelled correctly, with any variants and the dates and sources of these variants added below. b. The local pronunciations, if in any way different from what might be expected, are indicated by transcriptions with the modified IPA system used by Lawrence M. Foley in his study of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, speech.7 c. The nature of the place, if not indicated by the name itself, and its location in its section, township, and range are given. 2. Dates. Wherever possible the date when the name was con­ ferred is given. In all others, the date of the earliest map, document, or book in which it appeared is listed. 3. Origin. The etymology is given for the names of non-English origin and for a few English-language names, descriptive and humorous, which require explanation. The origin of the other names in the dictionary is traced back only one step to the person or place for which the feature in Sumter County was directly named. If known, the circumstances of the naming and the people in­ volved are mentioned in the discussion of the name. This informa­ tion was readily obtainable for many of the larger places but had not been preserved for some of the smaller ones. 4. Changes. At the end of each entry the other names which the feature bears or has borne are listed as cross references. Each of these names is discussed separately in its alphabetical place in the dictionary. 5. Authorities. References to sources of evidence are made by means of abbreviations (listed under Sources with the full descrip­ tion of the works to which they refer). These are placed within parentheses at the end of the paragraph containing the information to which they apply.

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THE FEATURES NAMED Place names may be divided into two groups, natural and artificial features. The distinction is easily made in this county, though ponds, lakes, etc. are often man-made. Next, the names in these two groups may be divided into types with the same generic parts. All place names have two parts, the generic, which designates the place, and the specific, which particularizes it. The generic part may be omitted, but the specific must be present. Among the natural features in Sumter County that sometimes leave off the generic part are the rivers, creeks, and branches, and these compensate for it by prefixing “the.” For example, the Sucarnochee River becomes the Sucarnochee, and Alamuchee Creek becomes the Alamuchee. Gen­ erally, as McMillan notes, proper names are not preceded by arti­ cles, but some place names— in this county, the rivers— always have a definite article.8 Although the generic part of the names of settlements is occasion­ ally used in legal documents, as the town of Livingston, ordinarily it is dropped. Some of the settlements which grew up around stations on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad and on the Southern Railroad, such as Epes Station, York Station, Cuba Station, Curl Station, and Bennetts Station retained Station in their names until about 1895. The ones on the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad are known locally as Griffin Spur, Charles Spur, Sledge Crossing, and Elliotts Crossing, but only their specific parts have been used in printed sources. In Sumter County, as elsewhere, if two similar features have the same specific part, the generic of at least one is necessary for distinction between the two; for example, Livingston, the town, and Livingston Beat. In such names as Gainesville and Summerville the generic parts have been combined with the specific parts. There are also several examples of the conversion of the generic part of one name into the specific part of other names: Jones Creek Church, Fourth Creek Church, Black Bluff Landing, and Black Bluff Church. In these names the new generic has to be used to avoid confusion.

TERMS FOR NATURAL FEATURES The generic terms in the names of natural features in Sumter County may be grouped as follows:

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Water-courses: Spring, River, Creek, Branch; Bodies of relatively still water: Lake, Pond, Slough; Coastal features: Island; Wet lands: Hammock; Relatively flat lands: Prairie; Relatively low areas: Hollow, Gully; Relatively high areas: Hill, Ridge, Bluff. To prevent misunderstanding each term will be defined as it is locally used. For the number of names containing each term, see Chart I.

Spring is the natural source of a stream. As a rule, only the large ones are named. River and Creek. As elsewhere, the common term is “creek” until the stream is of considerable size. Although only one “river,” the Noxubee, flows through Sumter County today, a number of early cartographers labeled the Suctaloosa (modern Cotahaga Creek) and the Sucarnochee “rivers.” Even today the latter is called Sucarnochee River by many of the local residents. Besides the fact that the Sucarnochee probably had more water in it in the early days, the reason for this designation is that the last element of the name was originally hacha, the Choctaw word for “river.” Branch is either a small primary stream, such as Spring Branch, or a stream flowing from and then rejoining a river. Lake and Pond. Only one example of each is named. Alligator Ponds appears only on La Tourette’s map of 1839. Generally the term is applied to a small body of water on land belonging to one man. A “lake” is usually a larger, fairly deep body of water: Lake Hallalla. Slough, pronounced [slu], is the term for natural backwaters along the . Island has its usual meaning. Hammock. In its local sense, it is moist land with deep, rich soil that is covered with cedar trees. Hollow is a small valley. Gully is a miniature valley excavated by running water after rains. Hill. The hills are of various sizes. Unless there is something particularly striking about them, they are unnamed. Ridge is a range of hills. Bluff is a prominent hill above a river.

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TERMS FOR ARTIFICIAL FEATURES The generic terms used in the names of artificial features may be grouped as follows: Settled areas: County, Division of an area, Town, Settlement, Beat; Foci of small settlements: Post Office, Church, School; Transportation features: Highway, Road, Bend, Ford, Bridge, Landing, Fork Road, Ferry; Miscellaneous small features: Field, Farm, Mill, Fort, Cemetery, Store, Hunting Club, Dam. For the number of names containing each feature, see Chart II. County. There is no fixed size for a county in Alabama. Sumter County, with its area of nine hundred square miles, is one of the larger ones. Beat is the administrative subdivision or voting precinct of a county in Alabama.9 In 1959, when this study was made, there were nineteen beats in Sumter County. Division of an Area. This is not a generic term but a descriptive one of an unspecified division of a larger area. Town. Incorporated urban areas only are so designated. When “-town” follows the specific part of a name, it means a small settle­ ment and is about equivalent to “-ville.” Settlement is any small unincorporated urban area. Post Office. In the early days post offices frequently were not specific places. Three in Sumter County—Flamner, Ivy, and Fair- oaks—were in the homes of the postmasters. Because of the fact that the names had to be approved by the Post Office Department so that there would be no conflict with already established post offices, one settlement, Lee Station (q.v.), was unable to obtain a post office by its own name. The spelling of the names of two others (see Romsey and Walk) had to be altered in order to prevent confusion with ones already in existence. Church. Only those churches which existed as separate buildings before settlements grew up around them are listed. School. Here, as with the churches, all those which were named for already existing settlements, except the ones whose names have been changed, are excluded. Highway. Only one is included in the dictionary because most of them are known by number. Road. Only two are included. One is a descriptive name; the other

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is for a bridge which the road crosses. The other names of roads, which merely mention places they connect, are omitted. Bend, Fork R oad, Ford, and Bridge have their usual meanings. Landing is a place where steamboats took on and discharged passengers and freight. Ferry. These important transportation features were numerous in early times because of the abundance of large streams within the county and because of the fact that the Tombigbee River forms the northern and eastern boundaries of the county. Field is cleared land used for cultivation or pasture. Farm. Four unusual names are included. Mill. Three which have been of significance in the locality are included. Fort. There is one, an early French fortification, which has had two other names. Cemetery. Only those which are not connected with churches and which have different names are included. Hunting Club. One which is on the site of an important early settlement is included. Dam. One has been of local significance.

THE TYPES OF NAMES The place names of Sumter County are grouped under the same headings as those in Cassidy’s study of Dane County, Wisconsin.10 Certain classifications are omitted because of differing local condi­ tions. Those which seem to be of significance in this county are as follows: 1. For an important non-local person 2. For a local person 3. For a distant place 4. For a nearby place or establishment 5. Descriptive and locational 6. Subjectively descriptive 7. Inspirational and symbolic 8. Anecdotic, ironic, humorous 9. Uncertain and unknown 10. Indian 11. French The terms are used in this study of Sumter County in the same

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way as those in the Dane County, Wisconsin, study. The following types of material are included in the classifications: For an important non-local person. Here belong such names as that of Sumter County itself and Livingston, the name of the county seat. For a local person. The persons commemorated are chiefly land­ owners. These names form the largest class in the list. For a distant place. Names in this class include only the first of a series. Thus the name of the town Cuba belongs here, but the name of the beat belongs in the next classification. Some names that have been used so often that they are no longer associated with specific places are labeled “reminiscent.” Most of these are Biblical names for which the exact references could have been given. However, such detail did not seem essential because most of the namers probably merely selected familiar Biblical names without having their original source in mind. For a nearby place. Here belong Black Bluff Landings Black Bluff Beat; Black Bluff, settlement; and Black Bluff Church, all named for the bluff. Descriptive and locational. The former connotes an objective description such as Oak Grove Church, and the latter a direction for identification such as North Sumter School. Subjectively descriptive. In this class belong names in which personal observation or opinion is expressed, such as Pleasant Ridge and Silver Creek. Inspirational and symbolic. These names make reference to some ideal which the namer wished to have associated with the place. Included in this classification are such names as Morning Star Church and Harmony Church. Anecdotic, ironic, humorous. In this class belong such names as Scratchill, Struggle Ranch, and Buzzard Roost Bluff'. Because of the nature of these names, the reasons given for their selection are often open to question. Uncertain and unknown. Here are included those names for which there is not even a basis for conjecture. If the supposition is reasonably well substantiated, the name is placed in another clas­ sification. Indian. Choctaw names make up 33.99 percent of all those for natural features, as opposed to 1.06 percent for artificial features. In Sumter County, Alabama, as in Dane County, Wisconsin, water­

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courses are the features which bear most of the Indian names.11 Only one artificial feature, the settlement, Panola, has been given an Indian name within recent years. The following sources have been consulted in dealing with the Indian names still in common use: William A. Read’s Indian Place-Names in Alabama,12 Thomas M. Owen’s and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, H. S. Halbert’s article “Choctaw Indian Names in Alabama and Mississippi,” 13 and Henry Gannett’s article “Origin of Certain Place-Names in the State of Mississippi.” 14 As noted earlier, most of the Indian names no longer used are merely listed. French. There is one name of French origin for a natural feature, but it is not in current use.

LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF THE NAMES As Cassidy says in his study of Dane County, Wisconsin, a detailed linguistic analysis of the names of so small an area as one county would be of doubtful value because the generalizations would have to have a great many qualifications.15 Although it would be better to postpone extensive conclusions until a larger area than Sumter County has been studied, a few facts seem worthy of com­ ment. Etymology. This is not the major item in the study because the explanation of the names is either obvious or does not belong to the local name. For names such as Jamestown, provenience is what is important; therefore only the place for which the local place was named is mentioned. The Indian names and the French one are discussed in detail in the dictionary. The only one which may have been formed by folk etymology, Scratchill, is also discussed in the dictionary. For an analysis of the provenience of the names, see Charts I and II. Lexical and dialectal matters are discussed in the section dealing with the names of the features. See especially the remarks under branch, slough, hammock, hollow, town, beat, and field. Orthography. Of these factors the Anglicizing of Indian names is especially interesting. Most of them are spelled with a final a , which represents the sound [a]. The internal schwa is represented by er in Kinterbish and ar in Sucarnochee. In these names the er and ar have been substituted for the original a's in kinta ibish and in shuka in

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hacha. In Phenatchie the letters ph have been substituted for the original /. Other interesting orthographical factors occur in the English- language names. From about 1841 to 1860 in both Sumterville and Sumter County, p's were inserted between the m’s and the fs. This is a natural phonetic development, resulting from the fact that the lips are already in position to form [p] after they form [m]. Phonology. In general, the pronunciation of Sumter County place names is the same as that found in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama,16 mostly Inland Southern with some features of South Midland. For example, Cooper is pronounced ['kup3(r)] rather than ['kup9(r)]. As indicated by the inclusion in parentheses of the r in this name, this final consonant is often dropped. Another regional characteristic is the use of [i] or [i] as the unstressed vowel in names like Derby. Almost all the Indian names are stressed on the penult: for ex­ ample, Coatopa, Miuka, and Alamuchee. The exceptions are Noxubee, Ponkabiah, and Kinterbish, in which the stress is upon the antepenult. The names which end in -ville always have the stress upon the first element, and generally the suffix is pronounced [vl]. Morphology. According to McMillan, most specific terms were originally genitive case attributives.17 One still hears genitive suffixes in the local pronunciations of many names in Sumter County. Most of these names had spur, station, crossing, or beat, for their generic terms. Even the apostrophe was retained until after 1878 in some names such as Curl's Station and Clay's Station. Although many of the genitive suffixes have been dropped along with the generic terms in written usage, one still often hears Curl and Boyd called Curls and Boyds. Two obsolete names, Cutt Off Mills Beat and Blacksbluff, apprently acquired genitive suffixes by analogy. Structure is discussed with the explanation of the terms generic and specific. Usually, the generic term, when it is used, comes second except in formal expressions like the town of— and in the names containing the terms fort and lake. Also see the remarks about -ville and -town in the discussion of the generic term Town. One name composed of two elements that are ordinarily generic terms is written in some of the early sources as one word, Bluffport, and in most of the others as two words, Bluff Port. Of the five other names composed of two elements that have combined into one,

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three are still in use. Only one of these, Fairoaks, was ever a post office; therefore the practice of the Post Office Department during the 1880’s of simplifying names is of no great importance here. The two obsolete names, like Blujfport, were written in some sources as one word and in others as two.

LOCAL SPREADING OF NAMES Below is a list of the names in which the specific part has spread to one or more other features. One hundred three groups of these names, containing from two to five members, were found. The sequence of spread is chronological; that is, a sequence such as settlement—post office— school means that the post office received the name later than the settlement, and the school later than the post office. The groups are listed in descending frequency:

Church— Settlement (7 of these) Church— Settlement— School (4 of these) Church— Settlement—Beat (2 of these) Church— School (19 of these) Settlement— Post Office (19 of these) Settlement—Post Office—Beat (2 of these) Settlement—Post Office—Beat— School Settlement—Post Office— Beat—Gully Settlement—Post Office— School Settlement—Beat Settlement— Beat— Post Office (3 of these) Settlement—Beat—Town Settlement— Beat— Spring Settlement— Church— Hunting Club Creek— Branch Creek— Branch— Settlement— Post Office Creek—Branch—Church— School Creek— Farm— Settlement— Post Office Creek— Settlement (2 of these) Creek— Settlement— Post Office (3 of these) Creek— Church (2 of these) Creek— Hill Creek— Beat

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Creek— Fort Town— Post Office (2 of these) Town— Post Office— Beat (2 of these) Town—Post Office—Beat—School (2 of these) Town— Beat— Post Office (4 of these) Bluff— Settlement— Beat— Post Office Bluff—Landing— Beat— Settlement— Church Post Office— Settlement (2 of these) Hill—School Subdi vi sion— School Bend—Fork Road Bridge—Road Mill— Beat Store— Beat River—Island—Settlement Branch— Mill— Beat State— School— Hill County—Town—School School—Church— Settlement Farm— Post Office— Settlement The features from which Sumter County names have most often spread to others are the church, the settlement, the creek, and the town. Thus, the two largest groups begin with artificial-feature names, and the next largest with a natural-feature name. More series begin with artificial than with natural features (85 vs. 19), though the latter are proportionally almost as influential because they are only one-fourth as numerous as artificial features.

ANALYSIS OF THE CHARTS Because the list of place names is not complete, the figures in Charts I and II can not be considered wholly accurate. Although most of the names for the larger features have been collected, those of many smaller features, such as springs, branches, small creeks, Black churches, and abandoned Black schools, have probably been overlooked. However, from the information gathered, several in­ teresting observations and comparisons with the findings in the study of place names in Dane County, Wisconsin,18 can be made. 1. In Sumter County, Alabama, as well as in Dane County, Wis-

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© Subjec. Anecdotic Descr. Ironic French Indian Nearby Place Loc. Descr. Descr. & Local Person

Spring 3 1 1 5 River 5 5 Creek 8 6 12 1 29 56 Branch 6 3 1 10 Lake 1 1 Pond 1 1 Slough 2 2 Island 1 1 Hammock 1 1 Prairie 2 2 Hollow 1 1 Gully 1 1 2 Hill 3 2 1 6 Ridge 1 1 2 Bluff 4 2 1 1 8 103 25 11 26 4 1 35 1 Percent 24.2 10.7 25.2 3.9 1.0 34.0 1.0

consin, the names for artificial features outnumber those for natural features. In Sumter County the churches, schools, post offices, and beats furnish 55.51 percent of the names for artificial features. 2. Water-courses, high lands, and bodies of water furnish most of the natural-feature names in Sumter County, Alabama, as they do in Dane County, Wisconsin. In Sumter County they furnish 91.26 percent of the natural-feature names. 3. In both counties the most frequent types of names for natural features are the descriptive and those for local people. In Sumter County these furnish 49.51 percent.

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Distant Place Subjec. Place Descr. & Loc. Non-Local Person Nearby Local Person Descr. Anecdotic Ironic Indian Uncertain Unknown Symbolic 472 Inspir. - County - N> - 00 LA Beat £ - - Div. of Area N> N> - u> Town © a U) u> LA LA -u - ON LA Settlement L N> P.O. 4^ ON N> N> 0 \ '-J 00 3 00 00 N> N> N> N> Church UJ > n 3 u> u> School o n LA

Highway - — Road N> h j Bend - N> Fork Road - U) Ford Ni a

Bridge L

Landing ?3 U) Ferry u> - Field U» 4^ - ~ - - Farm -

Mill -- - N- Fort - u> u> U> Cemetery -

Store Ni - Hunting Club - - Dam H- N> N> N> U> NÍ ON ■u ^1 N) N) 00 LA L/t LA ^4 LA A ■u VO r so LA VO Percent L 37.2 1 0 .8 32.0

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4. For artificial features the most frequently occurring in Sumter County are those for local people, for distant places, for nearby places and institutions, and descriptive and locational names, which furnish 89.62 percent. In Dane County, Wisconsin, the most fre­ quent type of name is that for nearby places, whereas here the most frequent type is that for local people. The reason for the difference is that ferries, all of which are mentioned in documents and on maps as definite locations, are included in this study. 5. Here as well as in Dane County, Wisconsin, subjectively de­ scriptive names are few for natural features. The reason that they are also few for artificial features is that in Sumter County there are no larger cities with many subdivisions, as there are in Dane County, Wisconsin. 6. No natural features here have inspirational and symbolic names, names for distant places, or names for non-local people. In Dane County, Wisconsin, there are a few natural features with these types of names. 7. In both counties Indian names for natural features outnumber those for artificial features: in Sumter County by seven to one. 8. Inspirational and symbolic names are fairly common for arti­ ficial features because a larger number of churches here have them than in Dane County, Wisconsin. 9. In both counties anecdotic, ironic, and humorous names and those of non-Indian foreign languages are so few in number that their significance is slight. Although, as has already been stated, no final generalizations can be made from the study of one county, enough observations have been recorded in this paper to make it of some immediate value as a reference work. It is hoped that the survey of place names of Alabama now underway will rapidly be completed so that valid conclusions about the names of the entire state can be drawn.

NOTES

1 Virginia Oden Foscue, “The Place-Names of Sumter County, Alabama,” Master’s thesis University of Alabama, 1959. 2 The Place Names of Franklin County, Missouri, The University of Missouri Studies, 26, No. 3 (Columbia, 1954), 10.

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3 For additional details, see Willis Brewer, Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men, from 1540 to 1872 (Montgomery, 1872), p. 533; Thomas M. Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography (Chicago, 1921), 2, 1977; and Marylee Reynolds, “A Social and Economic History of Sumter County, Alabama, in the Antebellum Period,” Master’s thesis University of Alabama, 1953. 4Publication of the American Dialect Society, No. 7 (April 1947). 5The University of Missouri Studies, 9, No. 1 (Columbia, 1934). 6 Master’s thesis University of Alabama, 1941. 7 A Phonological and Lexical Study of the Speech of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Publication of the American Dialect Society, No. 58 (November 1972). 8 James B. McMillan, “Observations on American Place-Name Grammar,” Ameri­ can Speech, 24 (December 1949), 243. WEDS 1933 s.v. beat, lOd. 10Cassidy, pp. 29-32. 11 Ibid., p. 41 12Louisiana State University Studies, 19, Bulletin 2 (Baton Rouge, 1927). 13Publications of the Alabama Historical Society: Transactions, 3 (1898-99), 64-77. 14Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, 6 (1902), 415-39. 15Cassidy, p. 32. 16Foley, pp. 28-29 and pp. 48-49. 17McMillan, p. 246. 18Cassidy, pp. 38-41.

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