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California name debate


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I live in Lower kingswood in Surrey, which is a bona fide village. I work and grew up in Earlsfield in South West London, where since its gentrification, is now referred to by some of the 'locals' as a village!. Nearby Southfields has suffered the same fate. Both areas are now so congested, that you need traffic lights on the pavements!

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To quote from some of the material I have:

"The name California appears on local maps as early as 1761."

1930s adverts refer to "Longmoor speedway at California."

Apart from the country park there is little evidence of California as a settlement, the church and hall already referred to and the double mini roundabout. These are generally shown as having Finchampstead addresses.

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3 hours ago, arnieg said:

To quote from some of the material I have:

"The name California appears on local maps as early as 1761."

1930s adverts refer to "Longmoor speedway at California."

Apart from the country park there is little evidence of California as a settlement, the church and hall already referred to and the double mini roundabout. These are generally shown as having Finchampstead addresses.

Now, that is interesting - particularly the 1761 info. It appears on maps, but in what form? Of course, that means it predates the US state...

Things likes this genuinely intrigue me.

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2 hours ago, racers and royals said:

Not sure if i`m allowed to post on this thread- as it appears to be private conversations between 2/3 posters  :) Anyway all the talk about the barbers and the murders is hair raising stuff.

So, be careful what you say here. We have connections... B)

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19 minutes ago, chunky said:

So, be careful what you say here. We have connections... B)

I don’t think I ever went into Tom’s tbh. Not sure what was going on, but I always had to wait in the car while my dad popped in to see him. But knowing my dad it was some dodgy deal :rofl:

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1 hour ago, iris123 said:

I don’t think I ever went into Tom’s tbh. Not sure what was going on, but I always had to wait in the car while my dad popped in to see him. But knowing my dad it was some dodgy deal :rofl:

Or it could be that your dad was trying to protect others from you!!! :rolleyes:

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3 hours ago, chunky said:

Now, that is interesting - particularly the 1761 info. It appears on maps, but in what form? Of course, that means it predates the US state...

Things likes this genuinely intrigue me.

California was definitely in use in England before the US State took the name. Went to the emigration museum here in Hamburg and they have a map of the US and a button with a few place names. Hamburg, Hannover and one or two others in North Germany. You press the name and all the places in the US which share the name light up. Quite amazing how many Hamburgs or Hannovers there are

Looks like California does originate from the Spanish ?

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5 minutes ago, iris123 said:

California was definitely in use in England before the US State took the name. Went to the emigration museum here in Hamburg and they have a map of the US and a button with a few place names. Hamburg, Hannover and one or two others in North Germany. You press the name and all the places in the US which share the name light up. Quite amazing how many Hamburgs or Hannovers there are

Hmmmm... I can tell you that in the US there are MANY foreign town names there are here, particularly German ones. There were so many German settlers here that whole areas were taken over. Just west of St. Louis, there is a sizeable area along the Missouri river with a number of German-named towns and villages.

Looks like I'll have to look into the California debate a little more.

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3 minutes ago, chunky said:

Hmmmm... I can tell you that in the US there are MANY foreign town names there are here, particularly German ones. There were so many German settlers here that whole areas were taken over. Just west of St. Louis, there is a sizeable area along the Missouri river with a number of German-named towns and villages.

Looks like I'll have to look into the California debate a little more.

Yup. In one town in the early 1900s I think there was around 80 German language newspapers !!! Might have been Baltimore. The Heinz  ( of baked beans, ketchup etc fame) used to speak german and annually visit the place they originated from, until WWI when they cut off ties.. Love all this stuff

Of course Hamburg was one of the main ports to emigrate to America from. Hapag-Lloyd came about from shipping people to the US. Hapag stands for Hamburg- America-Packet-AG (ie company)

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3 hours ago, Bavarian said:

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the origins of the name California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_name_California

(but there is no mention of the place in England)

Click through the many other places link and you get to:  

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/California,_Berkshire

 

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Thanx for posting the link Bavarian, most interesting-have greatly enjoyed this thread. Clearly forumlanders have catholic tastes (catholic not Catholic). It means universal or wide ranging  interests(but of course you all know that). Reason I know this is when I was at Nottingham Univ. I took my girlfriend to Sheffield Speedway(it was a British semi-final in 1968).She arrived back late after curfew and the next day she was called in by the Hall Warden and asked where she had been, when she told her-the Hall warden said "you have catholic tastes"!!!!!!!!!!!

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