Leading a double life

These are the final sentences in a 1950s book titled, Village School.

This fictional book written by Miss Read and illustrated by J. S. Goodall takes place in the United Kingdom. Handwritten notes revealed, “The town called Caxley, is really Newbury, in Berkshire. Miss Read is a Mrs. Dora Saint and is the headmistress at Chieveley, and her husband is a master at Newbury Grammar School.”

Mrs. Dora Saint is the author of the “Miss Read” series of books about village life.

She was advised by her publisher to create an alter ego and write under a different name.

As many of us are country folk at heart, this country setting can be summed up quite well by a quote from English writer Walter de la Mare, “Even a Cockney’s starven roots may thirst for soil.”

Authors often write under pseudonyms; this double life adds to their success.

Mark Twain is a popular American writer who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn amongst many others. His real name was Samuel Clemens. Working as a riverboat operator on the Mississippi, historians believe his pseudonym name likely came from a nautical term.

“Mark Twain” was called out by a crewman on a riverboat to indicate a water depth of two fathoms (12 feet).

As the early settlers arrived in the Lloydminster area, many came from the United Kingdom. These British settlements with their diverse cultures and traditions developed into villages, towns, and cities.

Renaming these settlements added an air of mystery as to their actual origins.

How did the early settlers name their settlements? Answers include being named after community founders, railroad influencers or employees, natural environment, Aboriginal origins, and the list goes on.

Blackfoot was renamed in 1909; its original name when the post office opened in 1905 was Blackfoot Hills. One of the early settlers in the Marwayne area was the Marfleet family.

The settlement name came from the first part of this family name and from the Wainfleet community which they came from in England.

Vermilion was originally named Bre - age after a village in England. It was later renamed after the Vermilion River; its red clay components were used as a pigment.

Lewis Stringer homesteaded with his family and once the area post office was established, the settlement was called Stringer.

When the Canadian Northern Railway came through, this settlement was relocated and renamed Marshall after a railroad employee.

Wirral was renamed Lashburn after a railway solicitor whose last name was Lash; burn was the Scottish name for a nearby small creek.

Throughout history, there is a story behind the naming of every settlement. The challenge though is that memories may differ from one generation to the next as to how the name came about and conflicting answers may arise.