Index of Cumberland County Birth, Wedding, Divorce & Obituary Newspaper Records - 2003
This index runs from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003.
What's in a Name? Enola
Local legend reported that a lone caller for the telegraph tower which stood in the area, across the river from Harrisburg, made the suggestion that "Alone" might be an apt name. In reverse, this is "Enola" and this could well have been the derivation of the town's name, but, further research into the matter, revealed that Enola is named after a little girl called Enola Miller.
In 1861 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, a popular novel entitled "Dangers of Darkness" was read by Amanda Gingrich Underwood and her husband. A character in the story was called "Enola," a name which delighted the Underwoods so much that they named their daughter Enola Underwood. A cousin of Mrs. Underwood, the former Fanny Longsdorf, married to Wesley G. Miller, a farmer in the area between Marysville and West Fairview, decided that their baby daughter would also be named Enola. Enola Miller was born in 1884. Wesley Miller, meanwhile, purchased the homestead of his former in -laws, the Longsdorfs.
Although just a small community of a few homes and farms, the people of the area petitioned the Northern Central Railroad for a passenger station and freight siding to be built on Wesley Miller's property, the old Longsdorf farm. The railroad purchased the land, and Wesley Miller was invited to name the new station. The first name submitted was Wesley, but this was rejected, as a station with that name already existed. Longsdorf was proposed next, but again it was discovered that an existing station had that name. Miller then suggested the name Enola, in honor of his four year old daughter, Enola Miller. This was accepted, and the surrounding area came to be known by the same name as the station, Enola. When the Pennsylvania Railroad, successor to the Northern Central, established its railroad yards in the area in 1903, it too, adopted the name Enola.
But what about Enola, Arkansas? Was it named after Enola, Pennsylvania, as one story down there in Faulkner County would have us believe? "How Enola Got Its Name, Another Version" by W. E. Bailey, was published in the quarterly journal of Faulkner County Historical Society, Conway, Arkansas, Fall issue, 1967. Bailey submitted a version of how Enola, Arkansas was named. He writes of a conversation with his grandmother, Barbara Bailey, who, living in the area when the community began, remembered how a man working for the Grange came into the area in the 1870's. At the town saloon, the largest building in town at the time, people got excited about the prospect of a Grange and a store. This led to discussion about a post office also and a post office would need a name. The unnamed Grange organizer told them about a Grange he had helped set up in the north, in a little town called Enola. The residents of the community liked the name, and so an application for a post office was made to Washington. This was approved May 19, 1879.
Those discerning readers will immediately notice the discrepancy of the dates. Enola Miller was born in 1884, so Enola, Arkansas predates her. It is much more likely that a previous issue of the Faulkner County Historical Society's journal had the correct story in an article called "Enola and Cross Roads Communities," written by R. Sam Shipley. This story concurs with local legend about a man passing through town and stopping over. He carved the word "alone" on a board which he placed on a large oak tree where the roads met at Enola. Presumably, the word was reversed and the town came to be called Enola.