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I have been running into alot of half names that I have been given hints about. They are confussing. Is it possible when individuals post info on a person that they use the full given name, and full location where the event happened. I have tried to connect up some events into my tree, and they did not link up because the system did not like the name of the location given. For example my Great-Grandmother was born in Granny Creek, Braxton County, West Virginia that small location now has a 4 lane highway going right through it. It is no longer around. When it was around it had around 15 to 20 homes tops.
I have come across Cather for Catherine Isa for Isabell Eva for Eveline, but these same shortened names can be for other names as well. Geor what is that for George, or Georgia.
There is also some locations given. Here in New York State we have a city called Rochester, NY, and a very small town called Rochester,NY. The two locations are more than 100 miles apart. The city is in Monroe County, the other is in Orange, or Ulsters County along the Hudson River area. The city is half way between Buffalo, and Syrcause. ,
I have also come across some towns that carry the same name as the county they are in. So, if for example I wrote my mothers death location as Cortland, New York (where she died) am I saying the city of Cortland, or Cortland County. When I put the post up I wrote Cortland, Cortland, New York, United States. That is easier on someone who will be going back looking into the records a hundred years from now. If you do not know an area you would be guessing what these half locations mean. Also on the subject There can be a number of cemeteries in one town. I have had the names of some cemeteries take off because it was not known to the computer system. Like small family grave yards on property that was once owned by a member of family, or many still be owned by family members.
Some Find-A-Grave locations that I have added to the tree have given me a different location for the cemetery than has been listed. Some times when I personal have been to a given graveyard I know which location is correct, but sometimes it is a guess in the dark when the two towns given are next to each other, and the graveyard is close to the line.
That is another issue. Towns, and cities change there boundiers all the time, for political reasons, and for economic reasons. This should be included in the information given because of looking for historical records.
in the early 1800's most of New York state was listed as Ontario County covering from Syrcause to Buffalo. It was to big of an area, and after the Erie Canal went in the population of New York City feared that Ontario County would pull the power they had in the state away from them so they wanted Ontario County to be broken up. The county seat for that county was in Canandaigua Ontario County, and is still a county with. A lot of the history in the early years is still kept by the Ontario County Historical Society.
David ☺️
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Welcome to the world of family history RESEARCH. What you describe is what we do.
History is messy. Records are messy. Past data recording systems are messy. Humans are messy.
Genealogy: Greek - genea (generation) + Greek - logia (study of) = the STUDY of generations.
The goal of Family Tree is to take all the messy original information out there and all the messy research of the past genealogists then research and study all of it and try to organize and record it the best we can so that our great-grandchildren can shake their heads over the messy job we did.
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It's not quite clear to me what you're describing with your name abbreviation examples, or what you would like to happen about them. Yes, people often abbreviated things, including names -- sometimes to nothing but an initial -- and this can make research more difficult. However, none of us have access to a time machine to go exhort those clerks to write things out in full. The best we can do is to learn about their habits and usages: that Jas is James (not Jason, a largely-unknown and -unused name before the mid-20th century), Thos is Thomas, Jno is John (not Jonathan).
If a place is missing from FamilySearch's database, you can suggest its addition using the Places page's Suggest A New Place button. While the suggestion wends its way through the system, you can enter the full placename as it was at the time of the event into Family Tree, and associate it with ("standardize" it to, in FS parlance) the closest match currently in the system, such as the next level of jurisdiction: Braxton county for Granny Creek.
Speaking of levels of jurisdiction: "Cortland, New York, United States" is the county, because that's the level below state in the U.S. "Cortland, Cortland, New York, United States" is the town. (It can get a little bit complicated with independent cities that aren't in a county, especially when there's also a county by that name; usually, the database adds "city" to the name of the city in such cases to help clarify things.)
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You bring up a couple of issues - most dealing with how/where information was recorded in historical records (abbreviations, locations, etc) versus how conclusions should be entered in Family Tree.
Family Tree is flexible with whatever level of entry/explanation you want to give when attaching historical records. If the record index is uneditable for correction (or in the future potential notation addition) - you can add Reason to Attach/Notes to explain your reasoning or explanatory information. Abbreviated names can be entered as alternates or nicknames, places have freeform entry or you can select a corresponding standard place attached to a certain timeframe. If the place selection does not exist and you know it's correct location - you can suggest corrections/additions to FamilySearch Places database.
If you wish to correct other databases - not FamilySearch - most will have a method to submit corrections.
As you point out - many abbreviations/locations change over time. I have found in my research that past generations were generally more creative in spelling - whereas our education may dispose us to be more stringent/less forgiving. Thus if you are going to make large leap conclusions from original documents - it is best to include your reasoning so that anyone interested can understand.
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As far as Granny Creek, Braxton, West Virginia - there is a Granny Creek Church within Braxton County, West Virginia in the FamilySearch Places database. If you want to enter it as a place or suggest some corrections you can (That there was a church of the same name seems to imply it was a place name at some point).
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mod note - @David A Parrish Your original post was edited for your privacy to remove your contact information. Please see the Code of Conduct for more details.
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