JONATHAN CARVER AND THE NAME OREGON 343

Minnesota and Wisconsin and the scenes of Carver's travels There an answer to the first question must be sought- for if the name Oregon or something similar to it, was a spoken word among the Indians or the traders with whom Carver mingled, there is where he heard and made note of it, this whether its ultimate source may have been in the Spanish, the French, the English or the Native-American tongue. And the path then continues on to the famous trading post of Mackinac in Michigan and to London in England, where the other answers will more naturally be looked for. '

This discussion is not intended to include the last word upon the subject, but rather to bring within the reach of Oregon readers some of the results of modern research regarding Jonathan Carver and his book, and to place some interpreta- tions thereon; also to suggest some possible sources for his name Oregon. Source words other than through Carver do not concern us.

Strangely enough, until very recently, the date, place of birth and family line of Jonathan Carver have been quite as much a mystery as is his source for the name Oregon. Among other statements about him appear those of his biographer in London, Dr. John Coakley Lettsom, as follows: "Our author died on the 31st of January, 1780, at the age of forty-eight years, and lies interred in the Holy well- Mount burying ground," (Lon- don) ; and the place of birth is given as at Still water, Con- neticut. However, in March, 1920, in volume three and num- ber three of the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Dr. William Browning, of Brooklyn, New York, has quite conclusively shown from the "Vital Records of Weymouth" that Jonathan Carver was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts, on the 13th of April, 1710, and, at the age of about eight years, removed with his parents to Canterbury, Connecticut. Thus it appears that, while in the wilds of Minnesota in 1767, our traveler could have celebrated his fifty-eighth birthday, and at the time of death had nearly reached the allotted limit of three score years and ten. Later in this discussion some explanation will