Global Gloucester
by Russell Grant
Back in the days when people took off to the new colonies they would pack up a memory of where they live along with their goods and chattels. We all want to belong to somewhere so clinging on to the familiar and what is safe and sound is human nature. What better way to settle down in a strange land than to take something with you that weighs nothing but means everything – your home town name. Although many immigrants exited the British Isles fleeing religious persecution or convicted to be banished to the colonies there were many folks who set out to find fame and fortune of their own volition.
In Gloucester 's case it is fascinating to see how the name was transplanted. Some towns were named in honour of whoever held the title Duke of Gloucester at the time; perhaps they had been given a charter by him and wanted to show their appreciation because they knew which side their bread was buttered! Some Gloucesters are direct transplants of the city or county name from the mother country – one was even named from one American colony to another. It is easy to forget that the United States didn't exist until 1776 so before then all the colonies (states) were separate and independent of one another.
See how some of the Gloucester spellings have been changed to make it easier to pronounce; some are spelt as they sound whilst others stick to the traditional way.
Those Gloucester places where I couldn't find how it was named, despite lots of research, means I would be very happy to hear from you in my pursuit of perfection.
AUSTRALIA
Gloucester , New South Wales.
The Gloucester district was first visited by Robert Dawson, Chief Agent for the Australian Agricultural Company in 1826. Settlement occurred in the 1830's. It was not until 1855 that the township of Gloucester was established. The land was first used for raising sheep but it soon became clear that climatic conditions were inclement. Today cattle, dairy farming, timber and tourism have become the major industries.
Gloucester Island , Queensland
The island was declared a National Park in 1993. Just off the Queensland mainland between Airlie Beach and Bowen lays Gloucester Islands National Park , a scenic group of inshore continental islands. Gloucester Island , the largest, is home to a colony of endangered Proserpine rock-wallabies. Sandy and coral rubble beaches, rainforest and seclusion are some of this park's main attractions. The islands and surrounding waters are part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and are protected.
CANADA
Gloucester, Ontario was named after Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (14 November 1743 - 25 August 1805) a grandson of Hanoverian King George II and a younger brother of King George III . Gloucester was a city in eastern Ontario on the Ottawa River and is now a suburb of the Canadian capital, Ottawa . Gloucester Township was established in 1792. It was incorporated as a township in 1850 and became a city in 1981. Gloucester was one of the 11 municipalities that merged in 2001 to form the ‘new' city of Ottawa .
Gloucester , Ontario has its own flag -
Gloucester County , New Brunswick is located in the north-eastern corner of the maritime province and formed in 1826 from part of Northumberland County . It capital is Bathurst . The eastern section of the county is known for its Acadian culture The Acadians are the descendants of the original French settlers scattered throughout parts of the northeastern region of North America. Although Acadians and Quebecers are both French Canadians, Acadia was founded four years prior to the founding of Quebec and in a totally geographically separate area. Furthermore, Acadians to a great extent hail from different parts of France than do Quebecers. Consequently, the two have formed distinct cultures. In the Great Expulsion of 1755, Acadians were uprooted by the British; many later resettled in Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns.
Gloucester Junction, Bathurst , New Brunswick
A separate community to the south of the city of Bathurst on the right side of the Nepisiguit River .
USA
Gloster , Georgia was established complete with post office in 1893. It was a flag station on the Seaboard Railroad, five miles west of Lawrenceville, and named for an official of the railroad.
Gloster , Louisiana it is in De Soto County .
New Gloucester, Maine was incorporated in 1774 as the 29th town in what was then a part of Massachusetts and only thirty-nine years after sixty inhabitants of Gloucester , Massachusetts petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a tract of land six miles square above North Yarmouth . This was granted in 1737 and that same year John Millett was sent to cut a road from Cousin's River in North Yarmouth to the centre of the town.
The name New Gloucester was chosen in the hope the town would be to the new settlers what the Town of Gloucester, Massachusetts had been to their fathers.
The Shakers came to New Gloucester in 1782/3 led by Elder John Barnes, and the first meeting was held in the home of Gowan Wilson Senior. The Shaker Village was organised in 1791 and the meeting house was built and ready for use on Christmas Day in 1794 and still stands with its original paint gleaming as brightly as it did then. Other buildings soon followed and the community reached its peak in the 1800's. The Shaker community is still active although the number of members has declined through the years.
The Shakers is an offshoot of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers ) which originated in Manchester, Great Britain in the late eighteenth century (1772). Strict believers in celibacy, Shakers maintained their numbers through conversion and adoption.
Gloucester , Massachusetts
Gloucester is America 's oldest fishing port. Founded in 1606 and christened Le Beauport by Samuel de Champlain due to its beautiful harbour. The local Indians called it Wingaersheek. Some years later, in 1614, Captain John Smith travelled from Monhegan Island down the coast ending his journey at Cape Cod . Prior to that, whilst passing the cape of land where Gloucester is now, he named it "Tragabigzanda" in honour of an Ottoman lass who had befriended him when imprisoned in what we now call Turkey . Captain Smith presented a map of the eastern coast to the son of King James I/VI, Prince Charles would later become King Charles I. Charles called it Cape Anne after his mother, Anne of Denmark. The name eventually was changed to Cape "Ann".
In 1623, men from Dorchester, Dorset County , Great Britain were sent to establish a fishing and trade plantation. The Dorseters established the first permanent settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The men anchored their ship in the harbour and set up fish fish-drying platforms on "Fishermen's' Field". In 1626, they were recalled to Great Britain after three hard, unsuccessful years. Four of the men stayed and were led down the road by Roger Conant to Salem and Beverly . But by 1642, other settlers had arrived at Gloucester . The settlement was formerly incorporated that year and called Gloucester due to the large number of settlers from Gloucester , Great Britain and became a city in 1873.
In the American War of Independence, Gloucester sent nearly 300 men to fight against their ain folk – most of who fought at the famous battle of Bunker Hill .
There is separate village called Gloucester Harbor situated in a glorious location on the south side of Cape Ann .
Gloucester competes with the home city in the UK in having a movie career. In Gloucester , UK Harry Potter was filmed at the cathedral and in Gloucester , MA the town was at the heart of The Perfect Storm starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. The movie, based on the best-selling book by Sebastian Junger, traces the last trip of the local sword fishing boat the Andrea Gail, which was lost at sea during the infamous no-name storm of October 1991.
Gloster, Maplewood , Minnesota . The history of Maplewood goes back about 150 years. Before settlers arrived the land in Maplewood was inhabited by the Dakota Indians. In 1886, the Wisconsin Central Railroad built a line that intersected with the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad. A new town was planned at the junction of these two railroads that was predicted to “rival St. Paul .” William and Mary Dawson laid out a town and decided to name the place “ Gladstone ” after William Gladstone, a popular British statesman of the time. Dawson planned to relocate his plough work business there and was able to entice The St. Paul and Duluth Railroad to put its shops in Gladstone . For a time, the little village prospered. In the 1890's the town employed 1,000 workers. It had a post office, a hotel, at least two saloons, a brothel and a population of about 150.
Gladstone suffered a series of misfortunes that was its demise. First, a fire destroyed the Plough Works. Then the founder of the town, William Dawson filed for bankruptcy. The last straw was when the railroad shut down the shops sometime around 1917. Gladstone became a ghost town with many people leaving or burning their houses for insurance. Trains still remained an everyday sight in Gladstone for many years after. The depot stayed in service through 1950's but the railroad changed the name to Gloster in 1910 to avoid confusion with Gladstone Michigan .
Gloster , Mississippi
Gloster is a town in Amite County. T. T. Martin, an evangelist and one of the most prominent figures in the anti-evolution movement in the 1920's is buried here.
Gloucester City , New Jersey is part of the Camden Philadelphia metro area.
Gloucester Furnace, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey is now a ghost town. It was a village that supported a bog iron furnace, typical of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. It started around 1813, and closed down around 1848 or soon after. In its heyday there were only about 25 houses there for the workers. Very few people, even local area residents, have ever heard of the place now. The Post Office was in operation 1827-1855. Furnace started by a cousin of the owner of Weymouth Ironworks, who was also a son of the owner of Batsto Ironworks. There are now just 3 houses in the area. The site is located along a dirt/sand road off County 624 in the northern (mostly uninhabited) part of Egg Harbor City . There are very few, if any but you may pick up bits of slag and bog iron ore.
Glouster Landing , New Jersey is near the coast in Atlantic County .
Gloucester Township , New Jersey
The present Township of Gloucester was one of the original townships that comprised Old Gloucester County . It became the county's first political subdivision in 1685. The boundaries of the county extended from the Delaware River to the Atlantic Ocean until 1683, when it was divided into two townships; Egg Harbour Township and Gloucester Township . Gloucester Township , which took its name from the home country's cathedral city of Gloucester , was further subdivided into four smaller townships, and on June 1, 1695 became one of the first New Jersey municipalities to be incorporated. In 1884, the township became part of the newly-formed County of Camden .
Gloucester County , New Jersey
Gloucester County was founded in 1686. During the 1700s, Gloucester County included territory now part of Camden and Atlantic Counties . Woodbury founded in 1683 is the oldest town in the county. National Park was the site of the Revolutionary War Battle of Red Bank (now included in a county park) where Fort Mercer once stood. Here you can see the remains of the British ship Augusta (stored in a shed in the park) which sank during the battle. During the colonial era Gloucester County 's main economic activity was agriculture. In Woodbury (even then the main town) was located the county courthouse, the county jail, a Quaker meeting house (still in existence), and an inn, on the current location of Woodbury Crossings. Smugglers were rife because of the county's many creeks leading to the Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Gloucester , North Carolina . The first land-grants of the Gloucester-Straits community is recorded as 1713 and 1714. It is listed by the Carteret County Historical Research Association as being the fourth oldest settlement in the county. It is younger than Merimon Township , Beaufort and Harlowe by only six, four, and one years!
Its first settlers moved to unclaimed property along navigable waters. Carteret's early springs and excellent farmland attracted families from other colonies as well as immigrants from Europe . Farming and seafaring provided livelihoods for the majority of families. At one time tobacco was widely cultivated. Commerce never was heavy in the Straits, though Captain Joe Pigott sailed his three-masted “Charmer I” and smaller “Charmer II” to the West Indies and New England for years of coastwise trade early in this century.
In 1910, the section of Straits Township known as Up Straits (although it was down east from Straits Post Office) was granted a post office and another name had to be chosen to avoid confusion between the two. Captain Pigott, who had visited and admired Gloucester , Massachusetts many times in his sailing days, used his influence to have the community named Gloucester .
Glouster , Ohio
Glouster is a village in the Athens metro area and named after Gloucester in Great Britain .
Glocester, Rhode Island
Glocester (originally "Gloucester") was established in 1639 just three years after Roger Williams came from Massachusetts due to a battle of religious ideals and founded Rhode Island's first settlement at Providence based on his own more lenient tenets. A number of books of the time records the town's settlement as 1700.
Glocester's coat of arms appears with three red arrowheads divided by three red chevrons upon a golden shield. This device is based on the arms of Gloucester , Great Britain , which uses three red chevrons. The arms of the ancient family of Clare, who were Earls of Gloucester, made the distinction by the addition of ten torteaux ["roundels" or half-circles]. In Glocester's arms the torteaux have been changed to three arrowheads to signify that Glocester, Rhode Island is in America but whose origins are linked to Gloucester in the mother country
On March 16 1730 the Town of Glocester was separated from Providence and organised as the Town of Glocester . It derived its name Frederick Lewis, Duke of Gloucester, who was the son of King George II of Great Britain . On April 16, 1806, Old Glocester was divided in half, with the southern half retaining the original name and the northern half called Burrillville.
Gloucester County , Virginia
T he history of Gloucester County began soon after the settlement of Jamestown in 1607. Though the county would not be formed until 1651, many events came to pass on these lands that were instrumental to the colony's survival. Some say the county was named for Henry, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I others say it was called after Gloucester in Great Britain. Gloucester is pronounced GLOSS-ter in New England, but in Virginia it is GLAW-ster in the British tradition. When British settlers arrived at Jamestown in 1607 the Indian stronghold of Chief Powhatan was located on the north side of the river actual in Gloucester . It was here that Powhatan built his home Werowocomoco. According to legend his daughter, the Princess Pocahontas, saved the gallant Captain John Smith from a tragic death at the hands of the Indians, and thus, entered the pages of Virginia 's history.
E arly land patents were granted in 1639, but it was not until after 1644 that Gloucester was considered safe for settlement. George Washington's great grandfather received a Gloucester County land patent in 1650. Gloucester County was formed from York County in 1651, and consisted of four parishes: Abingdon, Kingston , Petsworth and Ware. Kingston parish became Mathews County in 1791.
I n the 1600's and 1700's, Gloucester was a tobacco producing area, and many old plantation homes and magnificent private estates remain today in perfect condition. There are fine examples of Colonial architecture in the churches of Ware (1690) and Abingdon (1755), and some early buildings remain at the county seat on the Courthouse Green still actively serving the public.
F ollowing British settlement, Gloucester became home to many colonial leaders. Several other points of interest include Warner Hall, George Washington's maternal grandmother's home which is still lived in; Rosewell, where Thomas Jefferson spent many nights with his friend John Page; and both Washington and Jefferson worshipped (often at the same service) at Abingdon Episcopal Church. Other notable Gloucestrians include John Buckner, who brought the colony its first printing press in 1680; John Clayton, world renowned botanist and Dr. Walter Reed conqueror of yellow fever.
Gloucester 's role during the American Revolution was pivotal. The southern tip of the Gloucester County peninsula extends into the York River and is directly across from Yorktown itself. This finger of land, named Tyndall's Point for Captain John Smith's mapmaker, Robert Tyndall, became known as Gloucester Point at the time of the Revolution. A fortification existed here already, built to protect the waterways of Virginia . The British Army refortified the point in August 1781 and British forces occupied the point for much of the War. Gloucester Point is the site of the "Second Surrender" by General Charles Lord Cornwallis to General George Washington at Yorktown .
T he history of the daffodil in Gloucester County , Virginia is almost as old as the county itself. When Gloucester was formed in 1651 from part of York County the early settlers brought these floral reminders of British springtime as they established themselves in the area. The soil and weather conditions were ideal for the dafs. The bulbs were passed from neighbour to neighbour and spread from the gardens of the great houses to grow wild in the fields. Some, such as the hardy Trumpet Major variety, seemed to thrive on neglect. By the beginning of the 20th century daffodils grew at will in the untended fields of Gloucester . It is from this abundance of natural beauty that grew the extensive daffodil industry which earned the county the title "Daffodil Capital of America" in the 1930's and 40's.
One interesting area of Gloucester County is known as Guinea . Located near Gloucester Point, the area has historically been the center of the seafood industry of the county. Whilst the number of participants in this industry has declined over the years, it remains the cultural core of the community. These watermen are known locally as "Guineamen." This term is often used as such by residents residing in other parts of Gloucester County . Guineamen often speak a heavily-accented form of non-rhotic Southern Vernacular English, but not necessarily a distinct dialect. The name " Guinea " is of uncertain origin; however, a commonly held explanation is that this area of Gloucester County was named " Guinea " in an effort to deride the Tories (Loyalists) who quartered Hessian (German) mercenaries in service of the British Crown during the Revolutionary War these soldiers who were paid one Guinea per day. It is believed the Hessians were attached to General Charles Lord Cornwallis' (of Yorktown fame) army and either occupied lower Gloucester during the closing days of the Revolutionary War or deserted their service fighting for the British. What is known is Cornwallis sent British troops and cavalry (under the command of Colonel Banastre Tarleton) to occupy Gloucester in October 1781 and Hessians may have been a part of that contingency and were sent to secure lower Gloucester due to its strategic importance at the mouth of the York River .
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| Russell Grant interviews Susan Hamilton, to find out the facts about Gloucester Cathedral. Please feel free to download the audio files for your MP3 player or to listen to on your PC: |
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Russell interviews Greg Ward at Country House Hotel & Restaurant in Gloucester
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