I try to adhere to the Legacy City, County, State, Country format. I add County (not Co.) or Parish to avoid confusion by others. Although I may never publish, someone, several generations from now, may inherit my database and today's conventions may not apply. I spell out the state name rather than use abbreviations. Common abbreviations change over time. I use USA for country but spell out all other countries. In the first position (City), I enter the town/village/city and leave out the township if the subjects lived in an incorporated municipality, or the township if they lived in the country. I add "Township" spelled out.
Then, if I think about it, I enter the short form location name. For incorporated areas I enter just city and state (and country if not US). I use the standard postal code for state names. I specify short location names for screen views and most reports. Examples: Long: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA Short: Chicago, IL Long: Honey Creek Township, Delaware County, Iowa, USA Short: Honey Creek Twp, Delaware Co, IA [WARNING: Members who don't do US research may be bored to tears by the following] I have lived in California all of my 70 years, except for some job assignments. I didn't know what a township was until I started on genealogy. Turns out California does have townships. Look at California census images for 1900-1930. Townships are identified. These may be only for census purposes and maybe land identification purposes. I have never seen California townships used elsewhere. Other variations on the township/county include: New York state. In my research in western NY counties, I find they have towns, rather than townships. In Yates County, NY, there are 9 or 10 towns, e.g. Town of Middlesex. In each town there are villages. I think the villages are the incorporated municipalities and the towns are equivalent to townships in the midwest. Some New England states may have a similar system, but I haven't done enough research there to be sure. San Francisco. The city of SF is co-terminus with the county of SF and the city and county governments are combined. I believe the legal governmental entity is "The City and County of San Francisco." The normal format would read "San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, USA." I have entered it as "San Francisco, City and County, California, USA." This reads rather awkwardly and screws up the sort in the Master Location List. New York City. (I'm working from memory here--always chancy with me. I'm sure some New Yorker on this group will point out any ignorant statements.) The city incorporates five boroughs, also called counties. Thus, Manhattan is "New York City, New York County, New York, USA." Staten Island is "New York City, Richmond County, New York, USA," etc. Add to all this changes in city, county and state boundaries and names over the years and you have almost as big a nightmare as the Brits do in identifying geographic and governmental entities at a given time in history. One more thing: Don't abbreviate in your long form location names. For the above reasons and for clarity. "Co." can be interpreted as "Company" or "Colorado" WA is Washington state to some and Western Australia to others. CA can be California or Canada. Even standardized US postal codes are often misused by Americans. I have seen AR (Arkansas) used when the state was Arizona (AZ). AL--Alaska or Alabama? MI--Michigan or Mississippi or Missouri? MS--Mississippi or Missouri or Massachusetts? If Americans get confused, pity the rest of the world. I apologize to all for running on so long. Once I get started its hard to turn off. John S. Adams Hermosa Beach, CA -------------------------------------------------- From: "Brian L. Lightfoot" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2010 3:19 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Legacy and County Names > And just to take this thread on a little side trip.....to my knowledge all > states in the US have townships except for California and Louisiana. ... Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
