Marblehead board to hear island name change proposal

MARBLEHEAD – Gene Record will have a chance to make his case for the proper name of a five-acre Little Harbor island next month.Selectmen are inviting Record to their March 11 meeting to discuss his request to support an island name change.Record, a relative of the Crowninshield family, wrote to the selectmen asking them to help him formally change the name of Brown’s Island to Crowninshield Island nearly two months ago.Selectmen referred the request to the Historical Commission for a recommendation. They received a letter from the commission earlier this month stating that commission members are “neutral” on the name change.They also have a letter from Town Historian Betty Hunt opposing the name change.Townspeople call the island Brown’s Island, after the Marblehead family that owned it from 1797-1918. The Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations call it Crowninshield Island in honor of Louise duPont Crowninshield. The Crowninshields bought the island from the Browns for $1 in 1918 and donated it to the trustees in 1955.However, in order for the name change to become official it has to be approved by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Board on Geographic Names and that board only acts on name change requests from local government officials.