—The origin of this term, as applied to the United States, is given in a recent number of the Norwich Courier. The editor says it was communicated by a gentleman now upwards of eighty years of age, who was an active participator in the scenes of the revolution. The story is as follows:
"When General Washington, after being appointed commander of the army of the revolutionary war, came to Massachusetts to organize it, and make preparations for the defence of the country, he found a great want of ammunition and other means necessary to meet the powerful foe he had to contend with, and great difficulty to obtain them. If attacked in such condition, the cause at once might be hopeless. On one occasion at that anxious period a consultation of the officers and others was had, when it seemed no way could be devised to make such preparations as were necessary. His Excellency Jonathan Trumbull the elder was then governor of the State of Connecticut, on whose judgment and aid the general placed the greatest reliance, and remarked, 'We must consult Brother Jonathan on the subject.' The general did so, and the governor was successful in supplying many of the wants of the army. When difficulties afterwards arose, and the army was spread over the country, it became a by-word, 'We must consult Brother Jonathan.' The term Yankee is still applied to a portion, but 'Brother Jonathan' has now become a designation of the whole country, as John Bull has for England."—Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett, 1849.
H. J.
Cromwell's Grants of Land in Monaghan (Vol. iv., p. 87.).
—E. A. asks whether there are any grants of land in the county of Monaghan recorded as made by Cromwell, and where such records are preserved? I fear I can give but a negative answer to the question: but among the stores of the State Paper Office are many books of orders, letters, &c. during the Commonwealth. Among them are two bundles dated in 1653, which relate to the lands granted by lot, to the adventurers who had advanced money for the army, in the different provinces of Ireland. Monaghan is not mentioned.
SPEC.
Stanedge Pole (Vol. iii., p. 391.).
—In answer to your correspondent A. N., I beg to state that Stanedge Pole is between six and seven miles from Sheffield, on the boundary line between Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on a long causeway which was in former times the road from Yorkshire to Manchester. Its only antiquity consists in having been for centuries one of the meers marking the boundaries of Hallamshire. In Harrison's Survey of the Manor of Sheffield, 1637, appears an account of the boundaries as viewed and seen the 6th of August, 1574, from which the following is an extract:—
"Item. From the said Hurkling Edge so forward after the Rock to Stannedge, which is a meer between the said Lordshipps (of Hallamshire and Hathersedge).
"Item. From Stannedge after the same rock to a place called the Broad Rake, which is also a meer between the said Lordshipps of Hallamshire and Hathersedge."