Editing What Cheer, Iowa (section)

==Naming==
What Cheer was founded in 1865 as Petersburg, named after Peter Britton, its founder. This name was rejected by the [[United States Post Office|Post Office]], forcing a change of name.  Joseph Andrews, a major and veteran of the [[American Civil War]], suggested the name "What Cheer," and the town was officially renamed on December 1, 1879.<ref name=vogel>Virgil J. Vogel, ''Iowa Place Names of Indian Origin'', University of Iowa Press, 1983.</ref><ref name=savage>Tom Savage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DxagLIZHNv4C&lpg=PA236&pg=PA236 A Dictionary of Iowa Place Names], University of Iowa Press, 2007; pages 236-237.</ref>

Sources differ as to why the name What Cheer was chosen.  The phrase ''what cheer with you'' is an ancient English greeting dating back at least to the 15th century.<ref>Gary Martin, [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/wotcher.html Wotcher], in [http://www.phrases.org.uk/ the Phrase Finder] web site.</ref>  One theory of the name is that a Scottish miner exclaimed ''What cheer!'' on discovering a coal seam near town.<ref name=savage /><ref>Anonymous, attributed to William H. Stennett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=62kqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA138 A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected With the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways], Chicago, 1908; page 138.</ref>

A more elaborate theory suggests that Joseph Andrews chose the name because of one of the founding myths of his native town of [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. According to the story, when  [[Roger Williams]] arrived at the site that would become Providence in 1636, he was greeted by [[Narragansett people]] with "What Cheer, ''Netop''". ''Netop'' was the Narragansett word for ''friend'', and the Narragansetts had picked up the ''what cheer'' greeting from English settlers.<ref name=vogel/><ref>Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, [https://books.google.com/books?id=My76xBkl6vAC&lpg=PA514&pg=PA514 Iowa, A guide to the Hawkeye State], Viking Press, 1938 (reprinted as the WPA Guide to 1930's Iowa by the University of Iowa Press, 1986); page 514.</ref> It is possible that the connection between What Cheer, Iowa and What Cheer, the [[shibboleth]] of Rhode Island, was merely coincidental - the entries for these subjects are adjacent but not connected in the 1908 edition of the [[Encyclopedia Americana]].<ref>Fredrick C. Beach and George E. Rines, eds., What Cheer (2 articles), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lOUXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PT688 The Americana: a universal reference library, Vol. 16], Scientific American, New York, 1907; page 688.</ref>

What Cheer has frequently been noted on lists of [[Place names considered unusual|unusual place names]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29zh3dIgmv8C&pg=PA192 | title=Welcome to Horneytown, North Carolina, Population: 15: An insider's guide to 201 of the world's weirdest and wildest places | publisher=Adams Media | author=Parker, Quentin | year=2010 | pages=192| isbn=9781440507397 }}</ref>