Hi all, i have a question that i desperately hope some of you can answer. When i was growing up my dad and my grandfather and pretty much the rest of my family always said that Birmingham, Alabama was named after my great great great great great grandfather (5 ‘greats’ i think) because he started the first post office there or something like that. I always told this with pride to people but then around 5th or 6th grade people started laughing at me and saying that it was named after Birmingham, England. Ever since then i have been wondering what the actual truth is, was Birmingham, Alabama named after an ancestor of mine for starting a post office there, or was it just named after Birmingham, England? I e-mailed this question to Cecil at least 8 months to a year ago and i got an email back a few days later saying that they got my question but Cecil is a very busy person…etc and i still havent gotten an answer. Ive been reluctant to post it on the board because i always figured that people would just say it was named after Birmingham, England without thinking twice about it. If theres anyone out there that KNOWS FOR SURE the answer, one way or the other, i would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know. Thanks.
They make encyclopedias for this reason. Birmingham, Alabama, founded in 1871 is named after the city in the UK, according to nearly every reference source I can find.
i have an old set of world books that doesnt mention the origin of the name and i never could find anything about it on the internet. another notable thing to mention and something that most people who read the straight should be familiar with is that encyclopedias and other normally reliable info sources can be wrong.
Encylopaedias can be and often are wrong. Especially about a small detail like this. Did it say why it was named after that other city?
What i was looking for actually was a long time native or possibly even a local historian from Birmingham. Local historians tend to know ALOT that you will never find in most books.
Yeah, the web is your friend, just search & you should be able to find the info. I went to ask.com, & got a lot of URLS:
Your city site:
http://www.ci.bham.al.us/
but try the ask.com thing, it has a lot of places you can write for info.
The Birmingham Convention and Visitors’ Bureau says the city is named after Birmingham, England, apparently because of a similarity in their industry. Read about it here
The city’s own website is under construction, so this is the most official thing I could find.
thanks guys. im glad i stopped telling people that when i was still young.
I think it is a cute idea to name your city after the guy who had the first post office - honestly I do. But, wouldn’t it have had to be a settlement of some significance (no matter how relative) before it could get a post office? So it would either be the town with no name, or town hitherto known as xx, Y, or Z, after the proprietor of the first general store, proud possessor of the first wheel, oor first sheriff. Sad, because place names with good stories attached are fun, i.e. the stories, not necessarily Birmingham. Of course, it leads me to wonder about the meaning of the city name Birmingham - if your relation turns out to have a name the original meaning of which is interesting in some way, perhaps that would make up for the post-office disappointment.
There is another possibility. The website found by D Marie has the following to say:
Perhaps your ancestor was named Elyton or Ely? (where Elyton would be Ely town)
thats a good point. i never thought about that, i will definately look it up though. i need to do some research and try to get a family tree.
According to “History of Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama” written by John Witherspoon DuBose in 1887, Elyton was named after a man with the last name of Ely (no first name given). He was a Federal land agent who moved to Alabama from Connecticut.
Supposedly, he was a great help to the settlers of the area. When Jefferson County was formed in the 1930s, the county seat was named Elyton in his honor.
The book doesn’t say why the name Birmingham was chosen, but since the new city was formed in part to attract heavy industry to the area, naming it after the English city seems logical.
The book has biographies of prominent early citizens and none are named Birmingham.
Birmingham is also a crater on the moon…and I know that because I come from near Birmingham, England, so I naturally remembered it when I saw it. Which Birmingham that is named after, I have no idea (and if your Birmingham is named after my Birmingham, then it doesn’t matter if the moon one is after yours, since it all comes back to the source). I now live near London…if anyone was planning on visiting or having a UK/Europe Dopefest…
maybe my ancestor was the Ely guy? i have no idea but i would like to find out. my name is Eli so it would be interesting to know that my name could have been Eli Ely if it werent for a few marriages or something ;D
The 'Ham in Alabama is named after Birmingham, England. I live in a suburb of Birmingham, Ala., and local sources confirm this.
Birmingham, Ala., was also nicknamed at one time “the Pittsburg of the South” because of its steel industry. Not really sure why the locals would tout that, though.
Semi-hijack: I grew up in Childersburg, Alabama, about 45 minutes away from the 'Ham. When C’burg was incorporated, local legend says it was supposed to be named Oak Grove. The guy they sent to register that name at the Federal Place to Register Town Names (or whatever) didn’t like “Oak Grove,” so he arbitrarily changed it. His name? John Childers.
Probably not true, but it oughta be.
Celyn, I believe that any ole schmoe could start up a post office. In fact, if you started up a post office (and I would imagine that there would have to be current population of a certain size), the government would build roads to it.
Wow, do I take that back. Certainly not a blanket statement. The USPS would routinely refuse service if roads were in terrible shape. Here’s a site:
http://www.usps.gov/history/his2.htm#ROLE
Pretty interesting little history.
However, the reason I had posted the above post was because at Notre Dame, they say that the founding priest built the post office to force the government to build roads to it. Even now, when you mail something to someone at Notre Dame, its not sent to South Bend, its sent to Notre Dame, Indiana.
Yes, but, as you say, Connor, there has to be a reasonable sized population around already - didn’t they feel a need for a town name at some point before the arrival of this old schmoe. Look, they would have debated town names to pass the time while waiting for the post office to open in the next 10 years.