I was checking the City of Marfa’s website (it appears to be originally from 2023) and saw this: “Reportedly, the wife of railroad executive suggested the name Marfa from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, which she was reading at the time.” No! I proved that was NOT TRUE 20 years ago! Since no one seems to believe me, please find an 1882 Dostoyevsky/Texas “Marfa” citation to back this up — and take $1,000 of my money!
There is a “contact” form on the city’s website, and I filled it out and said this was wrong. No one replied. I emailed the city’s tourism person. Again, no one replied. I emailed Mafa’s mayor. Again, no one replied!
About 20 years ago, I moved from New York City to Texas (Austin-area). I began to compile a Lone Star State Dictionary, similar to the Big Apple Dictionary that I had done for New York. The name of “Marfa” couldn’t possibly be from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, because the first major English translation, by Constance Garnett, wasn’t until 1912. (There had been another English translation in 1905.)
I searched online databases, and found this in the Galveston Daily News of December 17, 1882: “The nearest station is at Marfa, so named after one of the characters in the play of Michael Strogoff, and two or three other stations derive their name from Jules Verne’s story.” BINGO! Jules Verne’s novel Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar (1876) was popular at this time, especially in its version for the stage.
I then found the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, October 1944: “Named by the wife of the Chief Engineer of the Southern Pacific Ry. on a tour of inspection in 1881 as railroad construction reached this spot, from the heroine of the Russian novel ‘Michael Strogoff’ which she was reading at the time.’” BINGO AGAIN! CASE SOLVED! Someone added this information to the “Marfa” Wikipedia page (where it has been for many years), but that citation perhaps could be clearer.
In January 2023, “How Marfa, Texas came by its Russian name” was published here, by Peter A. Fischer. Mary Cantrell wrote this introduction: “No one can say with total certainty how the Far West Texas town of Marfa, established in 1883 as a water stop along the newly-extended Southern Pacific Railroad, got its name.” It became obvious that neither Cantrell nor Fischer had done even the most basic thing –– to go to Marfa’s Wikipedia page, to read the link to my work, and to contact me!
Dr. Fischer believes that the name of “Marfa, Texas” comes from the 19th century novel Marfa Posadnitsa by Nikolai Karamazin. Yes, “Marfa” is a Russian name, and the name has appeared in other works. Is there any documentary evidence for this, at any time? No evidence was shown, and I couldn’t find any evidence for this theory, at any time. Fischer just liked this idea better, but that’s not good enough! I couldn’t even find an English edition of Marfa Posadnitsa that would have been available in 1881 or 1882.
In addition, Dr. Fischer says that Marfa was named by Ms. Crocker, the wife of railroad owner Charles Crocker. There is no evidence for this, either. Marfa was almost surely named by Hannah Maria Strobridge (1843-1891), the wife of railroad engineer James Harvey Strobridge (1827-1921), and who was known to travel with her husband. Although Fischer’s article in The Big Bend Sentinel is bad and should be read (at best) with disclaimers, it appears at the top of many Google searches for Marfa’s name.
I replied to Dr. Fischer in March 2023, but first, I rechecked the databases. I found ANOTHER explanation, even earlier, in the Philadelphia Times of September 11, 1882: “Marfa, with numerous stations along the ‘Texas and Pacific,’ is named after a character in ‘Michael Strogoff.'” Dr. Fischer, in April 2023, acknowledged that this is good evidence, but said he still stuck by his opinion. He misspelled my name “Popick,” which was never corrected.
In 2011, I had to leave Texas and return to New York after I was hospitalized with Crohn’s Disease. You would think I would get a kind word from Marfa after two decades, maybe an “honorary Texan” designation, maybe some pay-it-forward help with New York City and the “Big Apple,” but I guess not. No one even returns an email!
Go ahead, Marfa and your official city website, please take my $1,000! Show me that Dostoyevsky evidence in 1882! Or 1883, or 1884, or 1885! Or, after all these many years, can I get some simple kindness?
Editors note: The Sentinel article by Fischer was published on January 19, 2023. The Sentinel then ran a letter to the editor from Popik outlining most of what he presents here. See www.bigbendsentinel.com/marfaorigin to see both pieces.
