The greater part of the Alexanderwohl series has been spent in a twofold investigation: to re-create as accurately as possible the early history of the village and to then compare our best understanding of Alexanderwohl’s history with the account given in the 1848 community report (Gemeindebericht). Thus far we have determined that the report is correct in its broad claims but not entirely precise in all its details. More on that in the near future.
For now we want to consider one of the more incredible claims that the community report makes, one repeated in every account of Alexanderwohl’s history that I have encountered. The claim relates to how the village received its name. The relevant section of the Gemeindebericht reads as follows:
When this community, which had existed as a church in Prussia for over 200 years, emigrated to Russia under the leadership of its church Ältester (elder), Peter Wedel, they rested for two days on the south side of the city of Warsaw. Tsar Alexander I—may he rest in peace—and a segment of his troops were outside the city engaging in field manoeuvres. We waited anxiously when the tsar, who had been alerted by several passing generals, stopped his carriage and beckoned with his right hand. Several church leaders ran to him and were asked where we came from and where we were going. When he heard we were going to Molotschna in southern Russia the tsar said: “I wish you luck on your journey. Greet your brethren for I have been there.” This happened on September 14, 1820.
When we arrived in Molotschna these greetings were promptly conveyed by Peter Wedel, our Ältester, to the congregations gathered in the churches. When the office in Ekaterinoslav heard of this extraordinary event, the chief judge Fadeyev immortalized it by naming the colony Alexanderwohl because, as he said, “Tsar Alexander has wished you well.”
When we arrived in Molotschna these greetings were promptly conveyed by Peter Wedel, our Ältester, to the congregations gathered in the churches. When the office in Ekaterinoslav heard of this extraordinary event, the chief judge Fadeyev immortalized it by naming the colony Alexanderwohl because, as he said, “Tsar Alexander has wished you well.”
Before we look at the details of the report, we need to discuss what type of literature this portion of the report actually is. In form and function it corresponds to a literary type in folklore and biblical studies commonly known as an etiological tale. George Coats explains that this type is “a narrative designed in its basic structure to support some kind of explanation for a situation or name that exists at the time of the storyteller” (1983, 318). Etiological tales, then, often give the story behind why something bears a certain name. Clearly, the Alexanderwohl community report fits the bill according to that definition: it explains how the village got its name.
What is interesting about etiological tales is that, although some of them originate in an actual event (i.e., they report how something came to be, how a name was assigned), many of them are after-the-fact explanations that make sense of the end result but actually have no basis in history or reality. The following two examples (the first one entirely made up!) illustrate the difference between these two types. Each example offers an etiology for how the village of Lushton received its name.
Etiology 1: In the mid- to late 1880s the farmers of southwest York County were a hard-drinking lot constantly on the search for good liquor. Eventually an enterprising individual took steps to supply this high demand and built a frame house and business establishment near where he knew a railroad track was to be laid. A constant stream of neighbors flocked to him, so much so that the area became known as a hangout for drunks, or lushes. In time, the name stuck, and the small village that grew up around the shop became known as Lushton.
Etiology 2: In the spring of 1887, the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad laid track between Sutton and McCool Junction. Roughly midway between the two towns, a new village was platted, complete with its own train depot. In recognition of the railroad’s role in giving birth to this village, the founders named it after a railroad official named William Lush (see, e.g., here).
Each of the etiological tales sounds plausible, although the first is a total fabrication. Lushton did not get its name because it was a hangout for drunks. The point of recounting etiology 1 is to show that an etiological tale that sounds plausible or at least possible may be a total fabrication.
In fact, at times even a historical-sounding account such as etiology 2 may also be fictional, an after-the-fact attempt to fill in the gaps. This is such a key point that we need to address it fully before we proceed to the Alexanderwohl etiology. Rest assured: we will return to that matter shortly. However, first we must pursue the possibility that the official story of the naming of Lushton is just as much a fabrication as the fanciful tale of etiology 1. We pursue this primarily not to decide how Lushton received its name (although that question interests me as well) but to work through the process of judging the historicity of an etiology before we apply the same methodology to the story recounted in the Alexanderwohl community report.
Most sources agree on the basic facts regarding Lushton’s founding: the village was platted in the late 1880s when the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad laid track between Sutton and McCool Junction. The etiological claim is that the village was named after a railroad official by the name of William Lush. Can we substantiate this claim?
An online search confirms that William Lush was indeed a prominent railroad official. For example, the 2 March 1888 The Railway Age reports that William Lush had been chief engineer of the St. Joseph & Grand Island and was being promoted to acting general manager (for the original, see here). (We should not ignore the fact that, according to the announcement below, the previous general manager’s name was McCool.)
William Lush’s obituary seven years later (11 January 1895 The Railroad Gazette, p. 29) confirms and supplements the picture of him as an important railroad official (original here).
In addition to this contemporary evidence confirming that William Lush was a chief engineer who managed the laying and modification of tracks in central Nebraska at the time when Lushton was founded, we have an early claim that the village was named after him. Specifically, in 1925 Lilian Linder Fitzpatrick published “Nebraska Place-Names,” in which she stated:
To complicate matters further, we have an even earlier attestation that calls Fitzpatrick’s explanation into question. T. E. Sedgwick’s 1921 York County Nebraska and Its People states: “The Kansas City & Omaha was put through here [Lushton] in the spring of 1887” (475). Sedgwick, writing four years prior to Fitzpatrick, clearly contradicts her on the identity of the Lushton railroad company.
We seem to be at an impasse. If the consensus that the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad ran through Lushton is correct, then Fitzpatrick’s explanation loses credibility, since towns are generally not named for an official of a railroad that did not give rise to the town. On the other hand, if Fitzpatrick is correct that the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad laid track between Sutton and McCool Junction, then her account of Lushton being named after William Lush seems highly likely.
Cases such as this cannot be decided without recourse to contemporary evidence. Fortunately, such evidence exists in this instance in the form of an 1889 railway map issued by the Nebraska Board of Transportation (see here).
When we zoom in on the relevant section of the map (below), we notice both lighter lines and heavier lines. According to the key in the lower left of the map, the heavy lines trace Union Pacific, St. Joseph, and Grand Island lines (Union Pacific had purchased St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad in 1880). Now locate Lushton in the upper fourth, just right of center. It has a heavy line connecting it to Sutton to the southwest and McCool Junction to the east. Note further that just north of Fairfield on that same line one can read “S JOS & G'D I'D,” clearly an abbreviation for St. Joseph & Grand Island.
Evidence from 1889, a mere two years after Lushton’s founding, indicates that Lushton straddled the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad track that extended from Fairfield (which was on the main line to St. Joseph) and McCool Junction (so named because it was at the junction of two lines of this railroad, whose general manager at the time was named Daniel McCool).
Fitzpatrick is correct, and the other accounts of the railroad that went through Lushton have it wrong. Further, because Fitzpatrick is correct about the railroad, and because we know that William Lush was a central figure in the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad’s laying of track in central Nebraska at this very time, her explanation that the town Lushton was named after him is not only plausible but highly likely.
To bring this quickly back to Alexanderwohl, we have a story of how the village got its name: to state the matter briefly, the 1820 party traveling from Przechovka to Molotschna camped south of Warsaw, Poland, and there encountered Tsar Alexander I on field maneuvers with his troops. His well wishes at the end of that encounter led to the naming of the village. Is this what really happened? We begin with that question in the following post.
Postscript
Additional exploration of the railroads related to Lushton’s origins complicates the account offered above, which I now know needs to be clarified. I will publish a followup post offering further detail and link it from here.
The town of Lushton was surveyed and platted in the spring of 1887. It was named for a railroad official by the name of Lush in the same year when the Saint Joseph and Grand Island railroad was built through the town. (Fitzpatrick 1925, 147)
This would seem to be compelling evidence in favor of the official etiology—except for one nagging detail: according to the generally accepted etiology, the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad laid track through Lushton, not the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad. There is no disputing the fact that William Lush held a key position in the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad, but that seems rather beside the point if some other railroad gave birth to Lushton.
We seem to be at an impasse. If the consensus that the Kansas City & Omaha Railroad ran through Lushton is correct, then Fitzpatrick’s explanation loses credibility, since towns are generally not named for an official of a railroad that did not give rise to the town. On the other hand, if Fitzpatrick is correct that the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad laid track between Sutton and McCool Junction, then her account of Lushton being named after William Lush seems highly likely.
Cases such as this cannot be decided without recourse to contemporary evidence. Fortunately, such evidence exists in this instance in the form of an 1889 railway map issued by the Nebraska Board of Transportation (see here).
When we zoom in on the relevant section of the map (below), we notice both lighter lines and heavier lines. According to the key in the lower left of the map, the heavy lines trace Union Pacific, St. Joseph, and Grand Island lines (Union Pacific had purchased St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad in 1880). Now locate Lushton in the upper fourth, just right of center. It has a heavy line connecting it to Sutton to the southwest and McCool Junction to the east. Note further that just north of Fairfield on that same line one can read “S JOS & G'D I'D,” clearly an abbreviation for St. Joseph & Grand Island.
Evidence from 1889, a mere two years after Lushton’s founding, indicates that Lushton straddled the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad track that extended from Fairfield (which was on the main line to St. Joseph) and McCool Junction (so named because it was at the junction of two lines of this railroad, whose general manager at the time was named Daniel McCool).
Fitzpatrick is correct, and the other accounts of the railroad that went through Lushton have it wrong. Further, because Fitzpatrick is correct about the railroad, and because we know that William Lush was a central figure in the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad’s laying of track in central Nebraska at this very time, her explanation that the town Lushton was named after him is not only plausible but highly likely.
To bring this quickly back to Alexanderwohl, we have a story of how the village got its name: to state the matter briefly, the 1820 party traveling from Przechovka to Molotschna camped south of Warsaw, Poland, and there encountered Tsar Alexander I on field maneuvers with his troops. His well wishes at the end of that encounter led to the naming of the village. Is this what really happened? We begin with that question in the following post.
Postscript
Additional exploration of the railroads related to Lushton’s origins complicates the account offered above, which I now know needs to be clarified. I will publish a followup post offering further detail and link it from here.
Works Cited
Coats, George W. 1983. Genesis, with an Introduction to Narrative Literature. Forms of the Old Testament Literature 1. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder. 1925. Nebraska Place-Names. University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism 6. Available online here.
Sedgwick, T. E. 1921. York County Nebraska and Its People. 2 vols. Chicago: Clarke. Available online here.
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