I have mentioned this before, but with the recent celebrations around Wayne County’s 200 Year celebration I thought a bit of reflection was necessary.

Wayne County is named after General ‘Mad Anthony" Wayne, a somewhat famous Revolutionary War hero. In doing my research of the General, I discovered major flaws in his character that would today eliminate him from ever having an entire New York State County enamoured with his name.

To be fair, not only did our county founding fathers like and honor the General with gracing his name upon our lands, but so too did 14 other counties across the nation.

Of course, that county to the west, Monroe County, named after old statesman James Monroe, has Wayne beat with no fewer that 17 counties spread across the lands.

Yeah, it was much easier to keep naming western expansion places after eastern lands. In the State of Wisconsin, there is a County of Wayne with a nearby Geneva Lake, and towns of Palmyra and Walworth! 

Our Wayne County, a quasi-backwoods place, was carved from offshoots of other surrounding, established counties and in 1823, became what it is today. But just to be sure Ontario County had Barge/Erie Canal access, Port Gibson juts like a knife into the belly of our dearest Wayne.

Now, let’s get back to the naming of Wayne County. In my mind, I see a bunch of guys tossing names about.  Of course, famed Revolutionary War General Benedict Arnold all but ruined his chances in the newly formed nation by turning Redcoat in the end. Luckily, we never became Arnold County. That would have been just weird. 

Okay, all the good leftover Indian names, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga were already taken and Monroe was already usurped by our western neighbors.

Pondering county names, I guess the ever so popular General Wayne and his auspicious military accomplishments must have come into play.

After all, he did shine in that Stoney Brook, NY battle and had a few successes and less publicized failures along the way. 

After the Revolutionary War, he settled back into his estate in Pennsylvania and in Georgia, eventually became a five-slave holder and failed miserably. He was a philanderer, and a questionable politician with a less that stellar record for paying his bills.

Luckily, General Wayne was called back into service to fight off the last of the Western British holdings and some nasty, land grabbing Indians. It became Wayne’s goal in life to make western settlers safe from those savage invaders (?)

Okay, perhaps a bit brutal with his men and wiping out entire Indian villages, including women and children, "Mad Anthony" Wayne has a few be speckled nastier moments.

At one point in his life he even insisted on becoming the only U.S. general asking to have himself court marshaled for some of his conduct. He actually did this to quasi-clear his name and George Washington and his fellow generals obliged and, not surprisingly, found him innocent of any allegations.

Wayne went on to establish Fort Wayne, Indiana, and he eventually dies and was buried there. This upset his son, who mounted his horse and rode from Pennsylvania, got the Indiana folks to allow him to dig up dear old dead dad, boil his remains, rebury the bones and load the gruesome remains (goo) into his saddlebags, and ride back to Pennsylvania for a Part II burial. 

Okay, so Wayne County, NY was named after a quasi-successful War General who cheated on his wife, kept slaves, wiped out Indian Villages, was a very questionable politician accused of cheating and...

We all have a tendency to overlook the nasty side of our heroes. Mickey Mantel was a drunk, President Kennedy was a known philanderer, even Martin Luther King had a questionable background. The list of foibles in heroes is imaginable, but somewhat secondary to what we build them up to be.

Wayne County, along with the other 14 counties, school districts, cities, etc. with the same name are proud reminders of what we accept as history. We celebrate a county that is 200 years old and has developed into a pretty nice place to raise a family. Plus, the one syllable name is easy to say and spell.