attempts made to explain the origin of the name: Red Hook,' which appeared in the northwest portion of the county before the Revolution. All the attempts have doubt cast upon them though when it is realized that Dutchess cannot claim the only instance of the name. In 1633 mention was made of Red Hook on the South (Delaware) River. In the 1630's Roeloff Jansen of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck received a grant of land "near Red Hook." The present Slingerlands, Albany County, was first called Red Hook and may have been the site of Roeloff Jansen's grant. In 1646 (and for long after) Red Hook was a well known point on the site of Brooklyn, while in 1776 the Clinton Papers refer to Red Hook on the east side of the Hudson in the Highlands near Peekskill. The name is a hybrid, a semi-Anglicized form of the Dutch words: Roode Hoeck2 (Red Point or Red Corner) but why it was so, often used and whether the reason was a common one or varied in each case can only be conjectured. These few but typical examples of colonial place-names, repeated contemporaneously in widely separated locations, will serve to outline the principle under consideration. The story of how and why and by whom names are given to places is a fascinating one and presents many aspects for study and research. Names are occasionally unique, as Krom Elbow seems to be. Often the original occasion for a name is obscure, as with Hopewell, and only the fact of its frequent use remains. Some names are obviously reminiscent of former associations, as Tower Hill and Little Rest, and some are literally descriptive, as Vis Kil (Fish Creek), while some honor prominent persons. In the last class may be listed in Dutchess, Charlotte Precinct for Queen Charlotte of England, Beekman Precinct for Colonel Henry Beekman, the town of Washington, town of Clinton, &c. There is greater difficulty in determining the origins of names in New York than in the other Atlantic states because three languages complicate the situation. Indian and English words mingle elsewhere 1.—Martin Hoffman, a Hook, lived on the shore of deed, recorded liber 2, page hook." 2.—In connection with Eiland (Rhode Island), the Island.
ptominent resident of what is now the town of Red the Hudson a little south of the present Tivoli. A 343, dated June 1, 1744, describes him as "of Yellow Roode Hoeck, attention should be called to Roode name given by Adrian Block to what is now Block
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