Possible source for Xerxes
By: Richard Hedman 10/01/2007
I found the recent Camden News series “Behind the Victory Flagpole — street names” by Barbara Meyer Bistodeau to be very interesting. I’m sure that there are people who are interested in the history of our community, which was home to some of my ancestors dating back more than 100 years.
I also own Minnesota Geographic Names by Warren Upham and am familiar with its material which is based on thorough research. The street name articles used a source book that is very reliable. Upham has shown that the alphabetical streets were named for people of local, national or world renown, except for the last four letters which have very few family names in history.
There is one possible source name that has been overlooked for Xerxes Avenue. I’m a bit surprised that the usually meticulous Upham did not mention a possible connection with the ancient Persian Emperor, Xerxes (519? to 456 B.C.) cited in World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia (2001).
I’m a lifelong Camden resident; please continue to include articles of local historic interest.
Richard Hedman
Lind Bohanon