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Friday, May 23, 2008

WITH A NAME LIKE THAT, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE COUNTY SEAT

Like most everywhere else in the USA, Massachusetts once
had many smaller towns or villages that were absorbed into
larger towns. I learned of one of them shortly after the family
moved out of Boston down here to Abington. We had visited
our cousins in a neighboring town and on the drive home as
we went through a small intersection, Dad announced that
we were in "Ass-i-nippi!'


Mom thought he was kidding but a few days later when we
went through the same area during the daylight hours Dad
pointed out a sign on a building that read "Assinippi General
Store."


Assinippi Village is now part of Hanover, Ma. and got its
name from an Indian word meaning "rocky water". I suspect
its proper pronunciation might be "Ah-sin-ippi".


But in our family it's always been pronounced as Dad did, and
so, alas, Assinippi has been the...(cough)... butt of many
family jokes.

1 comment:

Thomas MacEntee said...

I forgot about Assinippi! Bill - have you posted about how Massachusetts has had some counties abolish their forms of government - I believe it was back in 1999? How has this impacted county records and genealogy?

Right now many people in Chicagoland are ready to abolish Cook County government - especially with our 10.25% sales tax!