Counties

[Linda D 0]

I'm sure this is a pretty dumb question......

 

What about counties which change names? Do you post the county name as it is exists at the time of an event tag?

 

I've got a Wicomico County which formed from two counties in 1867. I've got someone who was born and died in the same town, but that part of the county was Somerset when she was born and Wicomico when she died. I'm guessing I put the birth place as Somerset and the death place as Wicomico, right?

 

(told you it was a dumb question. lol)

 

 

Linda

[GenerationGoneBy 0]

I use the name as it would have been known by my ancestor. You can use the start and stop date for the place to help remind you if a place is out of range for a tag.

[Excalibur 0]

In my book, Teresa has it right on. I work with a lot of Eastern Shore material and people and it can become daunting to keep track of some of the changes. BUT... if you put a person in Wicomico County when Wicomico County didn't exist would be wrong and confusing. On the same token, if you put a person in Somerset County when it was actually Wicomico County it would be wrong and confusing. By using Somerset County as the birth place and Wicomico County as the place of death, with no apparent movement of the individual, you are showing the correct county, the correct information, and the fact that the county lines did change.

[Linda D 0]

Thanks Teresa and Tom,

 

Guess I was on the right track. I was working in Dorchester County mostly, and didn't have that problem. Then today I started a data set for someone in Wicomico County and remembered the county change. It gets worse with Salisbury, Maryland because at one time half of it was in one county and the other half was in another. Sheesh!

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

Linda

 

P.S. Enjoyed your Eastern Shore web site

[GenerationGoneBy 0]

Linda,

I actually have a tag I use when the county moved but the person didn't. It shows in the PV which helps me, and can print which helps my reader understand why a man who was born in Somerset County and died in Wicomico County, despite the fact that he was born and died in the same house. Now if he lived in Somerset County but the records are now held by Wicomico County, then you'd want to make sure your source notes contain that information as well. Few of our readers are professional genealogist with knowledge of the county we are researching. We need to be sure we are clear enough that even our most clueless relative understands the situation.

[Linda D 0]

Teresa,

 

Hey, that's a great idea.

It can get confusing here, with one county formed out of two, so that might make sense to do that.

It could keep people (including me) from scratching their heads. lol

 

Thanks!

 

 

Linda

[JanisR 0]

Linda,

 

Eastern Shore Maryland, right? I record the county at the time of the event, primarily for accuracy but also for research purposes. That is because many counties keep all the records for their counties, at whatever stage. Makes sense, how would you break up a will or deed book and cart off just the relevant pieces to the new county! So the record, if any, of the birth or more likely the marriage, deed or will, will be in the parent county's (Somerset) records it the vent happened in that county, not in the spin-off county's (Wicomico) records. I believe this is true for most states, counties, cities, etc. I have a couple of lines on the Eastern Shore, also, and while that strategy paid off for some marriages and wills, checking all three counties in that neck of Maryland is critical. My folks had land that straddled Worcester and Somerset and even into Delaware. Born in Somerset, will in Delaware (and fortunately recorded in Somerset, too), marriage in Worcester and their spouse died in Wicomico years later. I don't think they really moved much either.

 

I am slowly trying to document such place changes in the comment field in the Master Place List. This would be much easier to do if I could just double click on the place in the tag and go to the Master Place List (like you can with Tag Type button to get to the Master Tag Type List. (WISH LIST ITEM) What I plan to do is add that info to the comment/memo field of the place on the MPL which has just the county, state, and country, no city or detail info. I have done this for cities, too. Then, when I generate the Place index in SS, the description about when the county/city was formed and from what other places will be in the place index. For the few I have done, I have attached postcards/photos of the county, city, etc. I don't believe this method works in TMG because the place comment doesn't print.

 

You could also do this with a timeline or a History tag. I tried the latter a few times but didn't keep it up... You had to attach sooooo many people as witnesses... Also, correct positioning in the narrative of each person was awkward.

 

I know some people put the current place information L9 or L10 and then compose sentences which refer to that place element, i.e. "X died in Salisbury, Somerset County, Maryland. Salisbury is currently located in Wicomico County which was formed in 18____ from parts of Somerset and Worcester Counties." But that's a lot of info for a place field.

 

I have tried that approach for several and may go that way with one sentence per place per person since I could easily control where it printed in the narrative with sort dates.

 

The options are practically limitless... What I love about TMG.

 

Jan

 

Janis Parkison Rodriguez

VP Arlington RUG

A TMG Users Group

 

P.S. All this brainstorming has made me think of another option currently unavailable in TMG. A tag with TWO places. It would work for this scenario and for emigration/immigration and migration tags, etc. Then both places would be in legit place fields and searchable/reportable! Probably impossible to implement, but oh so handy!

[Guest Michael Dietz]

The way I handle this problem for counties as well as states forming from other states and/or territories is to enter the place as:

 

Somerset (now Wicomico) County

 

One simple entry which places the relevant data in the field as well as in the Master Location list so it is easy to use over and over. This also helps in comparing the actual spot on old maps against modern maps.

 

In your example the birth county would be as above and the death county would be just Wicomico County.

[Linda D 0]

Thanks Jan and Michael!

 

All interesting solutions. It gives me something to work on. Gosh, there's so much to learn and try.

Yes, it is Eastern Shore Maryland and it can get confusing, mostly for those who look at the info and don't know the area that well.

So it's good for me to know how to present it.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Linda

[GenerationGoneBy 0]

As requested on TMG-L

 

When the county name changes but his location doesn't.

 

 

[:CR:][:TAB:][RF:Resident] lived in <[M1]>. <In [D],> <parts of [M2]> became <[M3]>. He and his family probably did not move. After that date, he would have been living < [L]>. <[M4]>

 

 

M1 would be the county name as it was. Most of the time, M2 is the same county. M3 would be the new county name (or names). L would be the county name now. M4 would be my explanation of the situation.

 

Would print John lived in Rutherford County, TN. In 1812, parts of Rutherford County became Bedford, Davidson and Giles County, TN. He and his family probably did not move. After that date, he would have been living in Davidson County, TN. This is made up information and is not correct, but I was too lazy to look up the right dates and counties for this example.

[Linda D 0]

lol Teresa,

 

Thanks, I will give that a whirl. Happily only one of my two data sets has this issue... for now. lol

So thanks!

 

 

Linda