Add new place descriptors for the Confederate states during the Civil War
from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865, these would be more correct:
Confederate State of Alabama
Confederate State of Arkansas
Confederate State of Georgia
Confederate State of Louisiana
Confederate State of Mississippi
Confederate State of North Carolina
Confederate State of South Carolina
Confederate State of Texas
Confederate State of Virginia
but apparently, we're not allowed to suggest alternate state names?
Comments
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You can certainly suggest it - it just might not be accepted. Go to Places URL for the place (see example of Virginia in image below) > Improve this Place> Alternate Name - to make your suggestion.
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In the balance between precision and clarity, I don't think those four years and three months really need to be in the database, especially given that for many (most?) people, the technically-different designation made zero difference in their lives. (Also consider the speed of communication in the 1860s: do those same exact dates really apply to both Texas and Virginia?)
In any case, you can use "Confederate State of ___" as the displayed place without doing anything to the database.
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One of the guidelines that I have read about Places is that they don't put in places that existed for less than five years. For example, what I read stated they are not planning on doing anything with any boundary changes during World War II, only with the boundaries before and after.
This initial post here is a good illustration of why we will always need the ability to add free-form names and know how to like those the an appropriate standard.
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The CSA was never recognized by the US or internationally, so including such place names has little validity.
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Thanks to all responders for your suggestions. "Recognized by the US" has absolutely no logical bearing whatsoever on this issue. Of course the US didn't recognize it - that's why there was a Civil War! The fact is that the CSA did exist, and IMO, adding these locations provide perspective on the current environment at the time. And btw, I don't think the US recognized the British, French, or Dutch Colonies, or breakaway regions like the State of Franklin. Are those also invalid? Shall we ignore history?
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Place names are messy and they will never become clean. Never.
Making rules will help, but as long as umbrella relationships are allowed there will be bickering. I suspect there are many records that exist, created during the Confederate state of X, but do they mention a different country? I just looked at one Rappahannock County Virginia record I have that was created 13 March 1862, there is no mention of a Confederate country. There is no mention of a country period. So what would I put?
Standardizing will help as long as it's correct, but that has its own difficulties being correct. Standard historic names might be correct, but also might be confusing because they don't exist any more. Current names might communicate better, but are not correct. Example: historic German villages that once had German names in what was once the Russian Empire that were given Russian names in what was once the Soviet Union but are now located in the Ukraine. Mess.
Places that created records yet never existed is, thank goodness, very rare. I bet the State of Franklin is the only example in global history.
Bottom line, I like people who try to make place names better for us all to use. Keep going! I also like world peace, by the way, in case any of you want to work on that. I consider both of those endeavors equally solvable.
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moderator note - Code violations were removed. Please see the Code of Conduct for more details. https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/community-code-of-conduct
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