The Word "Hoosier"

Abstract

I presume that most of the readers of the Quarterly have some interest in the question of the origin of the word "Hoosier"; and I have been having some experiences, in connection with it, that illustrate, in a small way, the difficulty of exhausting the sources of history. After a prolonged study of the question, in 1907, I published the results of my investigations in one of the pamphlets of the Indiana Historical Society. One of the theories of the origin of the word was that it was a family name, and I took the ground that I had eliminated this theory by examination of the directories of a number of Southern cities, and by inquiries of Southern congressman, and others, without finding any trace of such a name.