Anna, you will find Geo Database Locator offers two options for Great Britain and Northern Island on a great many locations. Using your example, "Antrim", it is shown as a "State" with "Northern Ireland" as the "Country". It is also shown as "County" with "Northern Ireland" in the State field, and "United Kingdom" in the Country field. You can choose either option.
As for selecting a method of entering locations that is entirely your choice. All you need is consistency. Whichever way you choose, make sure you adhere to that selection as your standard. It may not be what someone else does, but it is your record you are working with. Provided a location is entered clearly and concisely so as to leave no doubt as to where it actually is, as far as you have been able to determine, then you have done your part. The change of country names is not confined to Northern Ireland. It affects many other places. I choose in my records to use the country name as we now commonly know it, regardless of its "non-existence" at the time of the event. So in the case you quoted, I would enter "United Kingdom" as the Country. The rest of the other fields "spell out" exactly where the place is located, while the "country" field gives a present day location for the place. In my records, this applies to Germany, Switzerland and many of my Australian records. Another reason I do this is that locations can become "messy" if a place shuffles between the "state" field and the "country" field just to be in accordance with the time frame. For example, Australia became a nation in 1901, yet most people would enter that as the country regardless of the time frame. Queensland, where I live, became a state in 1859. Before that it was part of New South Wales, which the whole east coast of Australia was then known as. Do I then enter "New South Wales" as the "country" in some records, and as the state in others? Do I enter "Queensland" as a country from 1859 until 1901? You can see that it is a situation which can become very frustrating if you let it. Rather than have "messy" locations for sorting, as I said, I enter the present day "country" as a guide in those cases, and the other fields as accurately as possible. Many will disagree with that method and I am quite comfortable with that. Anyone who reads my records would have no doubt as to where a place is located, if I have found the full details. Hope his helps. Lance Got Outlook? Get NEO and have instantly organized email... http://www.caelo.com/a/rl.php3?i=GKM65 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anna Beavers Sent: Sunday, 4 January 2004 6:38 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [LegacyUG] Geo Database Locator Question - Northern Ireland - County/States I've just branched into Northern Ireland in my data locations listings. In the Geo Database Locator, I have found Antrim in Northern Ireland - it shows up as a state although by my limited knowledge it is "County Antrim". I have found a map which shows County Antrim to have 78 Civil Parishes so I am assuming that Northern Ireland is divided into cities, parishes, counties and for that reason the county shows up in the state field. My question is why are the parishes I found not in the county field in the Geo Database Locator for Northern Ireland? The county fields for Northern Ireland are empty. Is something missing in the Geo Database Locator or am I "Ireland" impaired?? Secondly, what is the appropriate way to list the location for Northern Ireland in the 16th and 17th century? My imported sources read Antrim or County Antrim, Ireland. Antrim is only in Northern Ireland in the Geo Database Locator. I want to clean up the Location List before merging data into my own file, but at the same time I don't want to alter the information. Because of the time period do I leave it to read Ireland? Any advise from others of Irish descent as to how they handle this in their location lists? Thanks for any help, Anna Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
