CANTON

A short history of Canton

The name of Canton was officially designated on its incorporation in 1806. While assisting with the town's organization, its name was given by Ephraim Mills, ancestor of Lewis S. Mills. There are two competing theories for Mills' source of the name, however.

According to William Edgar Simonds, husband of Ephraim Mills' great-granddaughter, and Sylvester Barbour in his book Reminisces, Canton's name derives from canton, a Swiss administrative division. Simonds wrote that Canton "... is derived from a supposed likeness to a Swiss canton, the meaning of the word being to divide or set off, and the partition from Simsbury made the name appropriate." Barbour instead noted that "it came from Mr. Mills' interest in the Swiss people and their ardent patriotism, and was suggested to his mind by their territorial divisions into cantons. The name appealed to him, partly because of its pleasant sound, and its being so easy to read and write."

In an article within a 1903 issue of The Connecticut Magazine, Joel N. Eno claimed without a source that Canton's name derived from Canton, an archaic name for Guangzhou, China. This claim has since been repeated by others, such as The Register Citizen, a Connecticut newspaper.

It separated from Simsbury in 1806. At the Collins ax factory in Collinsville, Elisha Root invented the important industrial technique of die casting.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Canton, Connecticut, revision 1374263505 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.