Exploring a Namesake

Several years ago during a family vacation, I had the opportunity to visit Leamington, Utah. Having the last name of Leaming, which I might add is uncommon, led me to be curious when I spotted this town earlier on a Utah map. As we finally found time to go see it, I had no real idea of what kind of place I was approaching.

Sure, I had my visions of what it could be. It would be nice for the town that shares your name to be "the city." On the map, I could see it was located near a national forest, plus it did have a reservoir close by. This allowed me to assume the possibility that this could be a location that would draw people and there would be activity there or nearby. What we ended up seeing was a different story.

In order to get to Leamington, you have to drive through the open range. There were places where livestock was grazing right next to the road. The town ended up being a small community with the one business being the Leamington Country Store. It was for sale and looked as though it could soon close. The Post Office appeared to be a small modular building that could easily be moved to a new location if needed. Railroad tracks went through the place, but it was obvious trains no longer stopped. One did come through while we were there and it didn't even seem to acknowledge the town as it roared on by.

We did try to see if there were any possible distant relatives in town, and asked if anyone knew the origin of the name, but we came up empty. After that, I almost felt lonely. Here we were in a place that was connected to us by name, with no clue to how it happened, plus it seemed the place was dying. As I look at the experience, a person might say I was disappointed, but not really. I was glad to have some of the curiosity fulfilled. People need to do that in life. If they are curious about something, they need to strive to find the answers. Never stop learning.

And as for that small, dwindling community on the open range of Utah, I didn't give up that curiosity of finding out more about it. With the Internet, it is amazing what you can dig up and find out. In later searches, I discovered the naming of the town had nothing to do with my family. There is a town with the same name in England, and the founder of the Utah version liked it and chose it for his new development. So, this led our visit to the place to simply be us as outsiders looking over another small American town. But as I recall the trip, it was still a wonderful adventure of learning.