Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

To: elcid1970
There's a band of Indians called the Pechanga Band in the Pechanga Valley in San Diego County. The Valley was named by Jedediah Smith after "someplace" he'd heard about ~ it had meaning to Jedediah.

I believe I have discovered that place along the Pechanga Valley in NW Nikel Oblast near the Norway/Russia border.

Some of the earliest settlers in what is now the United States came from Nikel Oblast and were members of the Skolt Sa'ami tribe (which is down to 500 native speakers in the Old World, and may number as many as 2 million people in America ~ virtually none of whom know they are an ancient people called Skolt). Many settled around Nickel Mines Pennsylvania (and a gazillion other places with a Christmasy, or traditional Scandinavian motif name, e.g. Santa Claus, Christmas Valley, Deer Park, Elkins, Elkton, etc.)

Jedediah Smith would necessarily have had considerable contact with American Skolt.

Why I posted that bit of early settlement lore is because we face a similar problem with "Croatan" ~ a place named Croatan Island, a band of Indians at Croatan Island, next thing you know you have the Croatan Indians.

The Indians didn't name themselves Pechanga. The Indians didn't name themselves Croatan.

"River Avon" is yet another instance of this sort of thing ~ "Avon" means "river" in Welsh.

33 posted on 02/01/2009 7:31:27 PM PST by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies ]


To: muawiyah
Some of the earliest settlers in what is now the United States came from Nikel Oblast

My mother's family came to North America from Sweden in the 1630s on the Kalmar Nyckel settling near what is now Philadelphia. A reproduction of the Kalmar Nyckel is currently moored in Delaware. Does the ship's name "Kalmar Nyckel" have anything to do with the region you mention -- Nikel Oblast?

63 posted on 02/02/2009 2:00:06 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson