Logan: This may be the best answer of all. I like it. I, too, will rethink how I'm recording place names given your response to me.
On Sun, Aug 4, 2019 at 12:39 PM Logan Garth Swanger via LegacyUserGroup < legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com> wrote: > I’ve been lurking on this conversation for some time as I too have been > frustrated with how to enter place names, particularly those of > Pennsylvania (where I and most of my ancestor have lived). For my two > cents, here is how I have handled it. > > > > I do a great deal of courthouse research and most documents deal with > legally incorporated geographical entities in Pennsylvania such as cities, > boroughs, townships, and counties. I do several things > > > > 1. I use place names as they were AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT which helps > greatly with research. > 2. I organize my places as (township, or city, or borough), county, > state, country. > 3. If an event occurred in a village, as they are unincorporated in > Pennsylvania, I use the incorporated township in which the village is > located and notate the village name in the description. (I do the same with > cemeteries.) > > > > So, Scott, with reference to your illustration from Lycoming County, an > event which happened in Muncy Township would have a different organization > than one that occurred in Muncy, the borough. They would successively be: > > Muncy Township, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States > > Muncy, Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States > > > > I realize this doesn’t totally solve the issues we have with entry into > Legacy, but for me it does pretty much what I want it to. The suggestions > and ideas on this thread are really helpful. I may have to rethink things. > > > > Logan > > > > *From: *Scott Hall <seh0...@gmail.com> > *Sent: *Sunday, August 4, 2019 10:53 AM > *To: *Legacy User Group <legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com> > *Subject: *Re: [LegacyUG] Location names for Pennsylvania > > > > I wanted to chime into this conversation because I find entering place > names to be a challenge as well, and Pennsylvania is a perfect example. > > > > First, I concur with those who say enter the place name as it was at the > time of the event. Those who enter the modern address and add the historic > address in the notes have an interesting alternative, but it's not the > preferred method as place names (even modern ones) can change. > > > > But, that's not really what I wanted to talk about. Early on I discovered > a challenge when more than one "root name" exists within a larger > administrative division. For example, in Lycoming County, there is both > Muncy Township, and Muncy, a borough. Muncy, the borough, is part of Muncy > Creek Township, not Muncy Township. This is far from an isolated case -- > numerous counties in Pennsylvania have a township and a borough with the > same name that are separate administrative divisions and where the borough > is not located within the township. > > > > Now, the commonly accepted place recording convention, as far as I > understand it, is that descriptors like village, town, county, etc. are not > recorded unless officially part of the name. Even New York City should be > recorded as "New York" with the appropriate county (New York, Bronx, > Richmond, etc.) recorded--but that's a different discussion. > > > > Back to Pennsylvania....when you come across a record that simply says > "Muncy", which Muncy is it? Let's say you can figure it out...you know > it's the Township. Now, generally you'd record it as Muncy, Lycoming, > Pennsylvania, USA -- but if you do, when you (or someone else) comes back > to it -- which Muncy did you mean? > > > > So, to solve this problem, I've started to include the word "Township" in > the record -- "Muncy Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, USA". And, > of course, that means I also have to use "Borough" -- "Muncy Borough, > Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, USA". But what if Muncy was a city? Would > I enter "Muncy City, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania"? Or perhaps, "Muncy > (city), Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, USA"? I'd prefer not. > > > > Perhaps only Townships should get that designation, as generally I found > that they are the one entity that tends to bear the same name as another > administrative division. But in much of the northeast, like New York, > there are no townships, only towns, which often have villages or cities > bearing the same name contained within them (e.g. Canandaigua is a city > wholly contained with the Town of Canandaigua). While in places like > Pennsylvania, Michigan, or much of the midwest people may refer to a > township by saying the word "township", in New York they certainly don't. > No one says Canandaigua town, nor Canandaigua city. So, same problem. > > > > This latter issue is less significant than the Pennsylvania problem, > though, as at least one entity is contained with another. But, in > Pennsylvania, as I pointed out, they do not always bear this relationship. > > > > Thoughts? > > > > On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 5:47 PM Connie Laubach <bluecorab...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Trying to decide how to input the location names – I have townships that > are made up of villages and boroughs. How are others handling it? > > I have thought of the following: > > Village, township, county, state, United States > > or > > township-village, country, state, United States (I like this as all > villages within the township would be listed together) > > > > Thank you, Connie. > > > > > > Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for > Windows 10 > > > > -- > > LegacyUserGroup mailing list > LegacyUserGroup@legacyusers.com > To manage your subscription and unsubscribe > http://legacyusers.com/mailman/listinfo/legacyusergroup_legacyusers.com > Archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ > > > -- > > LegacyUserGroup mailing list > LegacyUserGroup@legacyusers.com > To manage your subscription and unsubscribe > http://legacyusers.com/mailman/listinfo/legacyusergroup_legacyusers.com > Archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ >
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