All Over The Map: How Jefferson, King and Kitsap counties were named
Apr 23, 2021, 11:13 AM
It鈥檚 time for the sixth installment of County Countdown, 成人X站 Radio鈥檚 seemingly neverending 13-part series about the origins of county names and county seat names in the Evergreen State. That鈥檚 right, we are nearly 鈥� but not quite 鈥� half way through, and our three counties for this episode are Jefferson, King and Kitsap.
Unless you鈥檙e driving while reading this story, please follow along on your commemorative Washington map, copies of which are available on jars of Sunny Jim Peanut Butter and bags of . Just be sure and check the 鈥淏est By鈥� dates on the packaging of these phantom local products.
Jefferson County
Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula was created from Thurston County in December 1852, and was named for President Thomas Jefferson, who gets credit for sending Lewis & Clark to explore what鈥檚 now the Pacific Northwest. The legislation that created Jefferson County was adopted not by the Washington Territorial Legislature, but instead by the Oregon Territorial Legislature; December 1852 was still a few months before the creation of Washington Territory.
The county seat is Port Townsend. That name 鈥� with a silent 鈥渉鈥� in the second syllable 鈥� was first applied to the adjacent body of water by Captain Vancouver in May 1792 in honor of the or, as his friends likely called him, 鈥淕eorge.鈥� In the United Kingdom鈥檚 peerage system of hereditary titles, 鈥渕arquess鈥� is considered below a duke but above an earl. Townshend had fought for Great Britain in the French & Indian Wars in what鈥檚 now Canada.
It was near 鈥淧ort Townshend鈥� where Captain Vancouver and members of his expedition came into contact with Indigenous people who had been living in that area for thousands of years. The non-native settlement of Port Townsend name wasn鈥檛 created until the 1850s. The first land claim was filed by Alfred Plummer on April 24, 1851; the post office was assigned to Plummer鈥檚 cabin in September 1852 鈥� just a few months before Port Townsend became the county seat.
King County
King County was created at the same time as Jefferson County in December 1852, and was also carved from the previously very large Thurston County. King County was originally named for newly elected American vice-president and longtime former Alabama Senator William Rufus de Vane King. By the time of the presidential election of 1852 that saw King鈥檚 running mate Franklin Pierce win the race, King was not feeling very well. He traveled to Cuba to try to recuperate, and was inaugurated there in March 1853. Not long after, Vice President King returned to the United States, and died in Mobile, Alabama, on April 18, 1853. Incidentally, prior to statehood, American residents of Oregon Territory were not allowed to vote in the presidential election.
The namesake of King County was legally changed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2005 after a nearly two-decade effort, though the civil rights leader, who was assassinated in 1968, was honored here in the 1980s through the renaming of what had been Empire Way.
Vice President King owned enslaved people, and even his contemporary colleagues seemed to have mixed feelings about him as a politician. In his official , it鈥檚 written that he was 鈥渇ar from a genius and he had little talent as an orator.鈥� The biography continues, 鈥淥ne scholar of the period, mindful of King’s practice of wearing a wig long after such coverings had gone out of fashion, dismissed him as a 鈥榯all, prim, wigtopped mediocrity.鈥欌��
Seattle 鈥� named for the Indigenous leader who was instrumental in the city鈥檚 early success, but who didn鈥檛 want the burdensome 鈥渉onor鈥� of being the city鈥檚 namesake 聽鈥� was the original county seat of King County, though there wasn鈥檛 much to the town in December 1852. The post office had been secured for Seattle just a few months earlier, in October 1852.
Kitsap County
Kitsap County was formed from portions of Jefferson County and King County 鈥� yes, King County once stretched all the way to the Pacific Ocean 鈥� in January 1857. It was originally known as Slaughter County, named for Lt. William Slaughter of the U.S. Army who died in the Treaty War in 1855. What鈥檚 now the King County community of Auburn was also originally named for Slaughter 鈥� but both the county and the community shed the name, likely for its somewhat unsettling meaning.
County and peninsula was a respected Indigenous leader in the late 18th century and early 19th century, though there has been some confusion among various sources over another Indigenous leader with the same (or a similar) name who was involved in the Treaty Wars of the 1850s.
The county seat was originally at Port Madison 鈥� a lumber mill community on the bay, named in 1841 by the U.S. Navy鈥檚 Charles Wilkes for President Madison 鈥� from 1857 to the early 1890s. The county seat was moved to Sidney 鈥� named by developer Sidney Stephens after himself 鈥� which in 1903 was renamed Port Orchard after the body of water north of there that was named in 1792 for H.M. Orchard. Orchard was, you guessed it, a member of Captain Vancouver鈥檚 crew who, according to various sources, was either first to spot Port Orchard or first to determine that it was a passage and not merely a bay.
Check out earlier episodes of 成人X站 Radio鈥檚 All Over The Map: County Countdown!
County Countdown Episode Three
Get your souvenir maps ready for the next installment in May: Kittitas, Klickitat, and Lewis!
You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle鈥檚 Morning News, read more from him鈥�here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast聽here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks鈥�here.
