I have often seen the phrase "of Anytown" used in U.S. land or marriage records. It appears to refer to the place of residence at the time the document was recorded. However, it could also refer to a former residence or the place of birth. Sometimes, as in the IGI, it might mean, "these people were married on this date, no location recorded; but they were in Anytown in the census immediately after (and/or before)the marriage." For me, this is too vague to record as fact and probably best addressed in notes. It at least gives a clue.
John S. Adams Hermosa Beach, CA -------------------------------------------------- From: "Mike Fry" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 3:20 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Questionable Locations > On 2010/11/11 11:52, Jenny M Benson wrote: > >> On 11/11/2010 04:47, RICHARD SCHULTHIES wrote: >>> I don't. For some people I use England, or Illinois, or USA or a >>> county, if that is the smallest location I am sure of. I put the >>> 'correct' commas in, since reports can remove the extras. This way >>> all my 'incompletes' end up clumped at the front of each >>> country/state/county, and I rarely work on more than one area at a >>> time. I feel that it is more clear to family members, than the coded >>> words of, near, by or around. Personal choice. > >> I'm with Rich on this one, except that I don't use the comma >> placeholders. I record whatever a Source says for each event unless it >> is as vague as "of Anytown." In my experience so far, this "of Anytown" >> tends to be in IGI Patron Submissions or "pedigrees" given me by other >> people. If I can't establish exactly what "of" means - where they were >> born? where they lived as an adult? - I don't record it as a "fact" but >> will make a note of it and use it as the basis for further research. > > I absolutely hate the 'of <placename>' usage. To me it smacks of people > trying > to prove a link back to mediaeval times when surnames didn't exist, and > people > tended to be referred to as John de Placename. Translated from Norman > French, > you get 'of Placename', which then gets mis-read as a location rather than > the > earlier recording of a name. > > -- > Regards, > Mike Fry > Johannesburg 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
