my Cali pride takes a hit

I think I might be a snob. Or maybe I’m just really proud. I’m really proud of being from California. So much so that when people ask me if I’m from here, my initial, unintentional reaction is shock (I know, I know, I feel bad but can’t help it). Then I follow it up with a polite, “Oh no, I’m from California.”

A couple of years ago, when Jesse first told me that his parents are from Orange County, VA, I was shocked. I understand that there is an Orange County, FL. But an OC in VA? That’s absurd. Why do I think so? Well, because I assumed oranges had to be involved in order to be an official Orange County. Silly? Yes. I never said I make sense. Oranges come from Florida. When OC, CA was originally founded, the area had tons of orange groves. So there you go. Two real Orange Counties. The one in VA is a wannabe OC.

Because I try to blog as truthfully as possible, I did some research to get dates for my last post. The last thing I wanna do is give you peeps some false information. How could you all trust me again? I looked up the founding of the City of Orange, CA in Wikipedia. What I read there turned my world upside down. It dispelled all my beliefs in Orange County. I have now begun to question everything I thought I knew about the OC.

Directly from the Wiki’s mouth: In 1869, Los Angeles attorneys Alfred Chapman and Andrew Glassell received as payment for legal services 1,385 acres (6 km²) of land from Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, which they quickly subdivided into a one-square-mile town with numerous ten acre (40,000 m²) farm lots surrounding it. Originally the community was named Richland, but the town’s application for a post office was denied in 1873 due to the fact that there was already a Richland in Sacramento County. According to California from the Conquistadores to the Legends of Laguna by Roeger W. Jones, Alfred Chapman (who wanted the name "Lemon"), Andrew Glassell (who favored "Orange"), and two other gentlemen (who pressed for "Olive" and "Walnut") played a hand of poker and whoever won the game would get to rename the town. Glassell, whose birthplace was Orange County, Virginia won the game, and in January of 1875 Richland was renamed Orange.

So, the reason why the county seat of the OC, the City of Orange, was named “Orange” was because some guy from Orange County, VA won a poker game?

Say it ain’t so, Wiki. Say it ain’t so.