Why must the township show up on most villages, cities, and hamlets?

Bruce Feinauer

It is a nightmare to send feedback now on FamilySearch.

Recently the township has been added to hamlets, cities, towns and other entities which used to be entities of themselves. It is a nuesense when you don't want the unnecessary addition jurisdiction on your place name.

You also have numerous places which changed counties over the year but have no provision to show that data when it was different than the current place.

How do we make feedback when we are concerned. It is currently a nightmare. Bruce Feinauer

ruth e whitehill

He's right.

Sanra

Many users are concerned about placing their ancestors correctly. They want the map to show precisely where they once lived. Others, such as yourself, do not want that additional information. Opinions differ.

• Tips for places:
  • The database of standard places is not yet complete. The standards will improve over time.
  • If possible, enter the place-name as it existed when the event happened.
  • You have the option to enter places in your native language or the native language of that place.
  • If the correct standard is not available, type the place as you want it to be recorded, type a space, and then type a version of the place-name that can be standardized. This place-name can be the modern-day place-name or the name of the county, state, province, or country where it is currently located. 
• To select no standard, click the mouse somewhere else on the screen. This is the complete article:
• https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-enter-dates-and-places-into-family-tree

We hope this information will ease your frustration.

dontiknowyou

So many early villages had the same names, sometimes even in the same county, that I am grateful for the township name. To work out which village is the correct one I use Wikipedia. If that doesn't settle it I go to federal gazetteers.

When working with rare surnames this level of precision may not matter, but it matters a great deal when sorting out a common surname. Villages with the same names rather often were settled by families with the same names.

Paul W

@Bruce Feinauer

I would suggest you join the "Places" group at https://community.familysearch.org/en/group/68-familysearch-places to request the addition of places in the format that suits a particular place at a particular time period.

With regards to your issue with townships, you can omit these from the display name. However, as suggested, it can be a good idea for them to be added, in order to differentiate between different places with the exact same name. Much of my research involves Yorkshire, England and there are a number of locations there that share the same name (e.g. Normanby). By each being clearly identified (by adding a parish name after the hamlet name or, say, a name in the format of "Normanby by Whitby"), I know I am selecting the correct one from the drop-down "standards" list.