FW: Why does Wikipedia have 1825 for "spelling bee"?

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

A few ads-l members received the message below from Barry Popik, and I now share it with the entire list.  The entry Barry refers to is on his website barrypopik.com -- a true labor of love containing some 8900 items.
Gerald Cohen
________________________________________
From: Barry Popik [bapopik at aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 11:53 PM
Subject: Why does Wikipedia have 1825 for "spelling bee"?

FYI, I did a "spelling bee" entry.
I know Wikipedia has its problems (the "Uncle Sam" entry IS STILL
WRONG), but what's this?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_bee
The earliest evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates back to
1825, although the contests had apparently been held before that
year.[citation needed]

It appears that the term comes from England, not the U.S. Has anyone
checked the British Periodicals/Newspapers databases?

<snip>
Barry Popik
Austin, TX
www,barrypopik.com

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