Fort Worth -To- Tulsa

[swake]

What really gets me is when people call it Tulsey Town.  I know the accepted history is that is what Tulsa once was called, but to be honest, I have found not a single shred of historical evidence to back it up, and I have looked.  But that is a whole other can of worms.

That's because Tulsey is incorrect. It's correctly Tallasi which is a creek town name from Alabama pre relocation. Tallasi became Tulsee which became Tulsa

http://www.tulsalibrary.org/tulsahistory/communities.php

[custosnox]

That's because Tulsey is incorrect. It's correctly Tallasi which is a creek town name from Alabama pre relocation. Tallasi became Tulsee which became Tulsa

http://www.tulsalibrary.org/tulsahistory/communities.php

The name " Tulsa" (originally spelled Tulsey or Tulsee) is a shortened pronunciation of Tallasi, which is almost certainly a contraction of Tullahassee or Tallahassee, meaning "Old Town"("Tulwa," meaning town, and "ahassee," meaning something old) in the Creek language.

that is what is on the library site, which mentions Tulsey and Tulsee as well.  Problem is, this is all speculation and passing on from one person to a next.  Even the history books that I have poored over trying to find the source of this doesn't say.  I think that is why it irritates me so much is because I can't find evidence of this, but it's constantly passed on as being so without anything supporting the claim.  Even the Tallasi is speculation, and actual historians that I have read on the subject will generally say something along the lines of "it is believed to originated from". 

Sorry, I just like going to the source for things before saying that it's true.  I've caught myself too many times in the past passing along a story about this or that because that is what everyone believed to be true, only to find out it wasn't. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

Probably the biggest reason no official mention is made of Tulsey is because it is slang.  Maybe someone in 1887 called it that in serious discussion, but for the last 90 years, the useage is just casual and slang.  So is T-town.

I have been hearing both for over 55 years.  And nowhere in official documents.

[custosnox]

As posted from the library, it is put around as being originating as Tulsey or Tulsee from Tallasi.  But as I said, i can't find anything, even from 1887 or anywhere near then, that refers to it as such.  Often it's said that Tulsa is listed as one of these other names on maps originally, but again I have turned up nothing.  Just saying it gets me when people pass these on as "historical facts" without anything that backs it up.  But it's just one of my personal pet peeve. 

/thread highjack (hopefully)

[heironymouspasparagus]

Sometimes very difficult to trace down true origins for this kind of stuff.  Like all slang, it just seems to appear and either hang around, or not.

1887 is just a number I pulled out of my backside.  The origins go back before the late 1920's, since that is when my family started hanging around Tulsa area and they heard it in that time frame.  Before that, half the family was doing the "land grab" thing over to the west, while the other half were getting their land grabbed.