Failure to recognize date of county formation
Here is an example:
Bedford County was created in 1753
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It's probably referring to the "United States" part of that place designation — but you're right that the message is unclear and often basically wrong.
The time periods in the Places database very seldom correspond to name changes; most of them are actually for changes in jurisdiction, so saying it "wasn't called that" can be especially jarring. And the message completely skips over the fact that there are multiple valid reasons for choosing an anachronistic place label. For example, on the other big genealogy sites, you have to use modern placenames if you want to utilize their mapping functions reliably, so for many people, it doesn't make sense to complicate matters with old placenames on FS. Another reason for mismatched dates is that FS's database is incomplete and not always correct. And sometimes, the "edges" of time periods are fuzzy because of deliberate simplification in the database. (I think the rule of thumb is that if a change lasted less than five years, it's not assigned its own time period.)
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When entering place names, you do get the prompt of which name the system expects you to use:
Then, of course, you have to get into the debate of exactly what the section North America that contained Virginia was actually called prior to 1776.
Since the Data Quality routine only looks at the standardized version of a place, you can, most of the time, enter the place name you want and link it to the standard the data quality routine expects to see. If this doesn't work or if the standards list does not have a usable name or has an incorrect entry, you can go to the Places database at https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/ and request an addition or correction.
This does raise for me a concern that some feature of the data quality checker will be quite discouraging for users if when they have correct data on a profile they feel required to correct a bunch of indexed records that were mis-transcribed, send in several requests to the Places Authority people to fix the Places database, request that a set of records be indexed, and dismiss a bunch of flags that can not be fixed any other way.
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I've tried repeatedly with the Place Name People to explain that Mason County is not a part of Sussex County or Fairfax County. Yes, the other two are valid counties, but Mason County is not part of them, nor does Sussex have a village or place called Mason. ( I didn't check Fairfax.)
I've corrected or dismissed a lot of places like this so can't be sure of finding more nor do I want to search any more for them.
Recently on the Quality Score it has said that Kanawha was not a legitimate name until about 1804 or 5, It was a County jn 1788. It said that Hampshire County was not legitimate until sometime in the 1780's. It was a county in 1753. Likewise Bedford County. It said that Mason County, Virginia and Mason County ,West Virginia were 98 miles apart. Both were/are counties, not towns. Mason County Virginia was larger than Mason County West Virginia because two counties were taken out of it - Jackson in 1831 and Putnam in 1848, both from Mason and two other counties in each case, but the central part and county seat of Mason remained the same. The County Seat of Mason County is NOT Mason, a tiny village which did not exist before 1868 and should not be a "standardized place" of Mason County. Because it tends to appear first if one starts to enter Mason, it undoubtedly confuses a lot of people who don't know much about the County.
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Here is an example of the County error. Hampshire was formed in1753.
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Often times going to the Places database reveals what is going on. Here is the entry for Hampshire: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=396171
There are three time periods for Hampshire county, 1754 to 1776, 1776 to 1863, and 1863 to today.
What the Data Quality Checker is pointing out is that there was no such place as the United States in 1768.
(The time periods can only contain a year so it looks like they rounded up from the county's creation date of 13 December 1753 to 1754.)
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To take a different type of example, the Wikipedia article attached to Kanawha https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=396153 agrees that the county was established on October 5, 1789, as do a number of other websites about its history. Have you clicked on the Improve This Place link and reported this so it can be fixed?
Regarding "It said that Mason County, Virginia and Mason County ,West Virginia were 98 miles apart." Could it be that the Mason County, Virginia, triggering the flag is the Mason County, Virginia, that became part of Kentucky rather than the one that became part of West Virginia? The counties in West Virgina and Kentucky are, looking at Google maps, 138 miles apart by road so could be 98 miles apart as the crow flies. If that is what is going on, then the quality checker is being helpful in pointing out that the wrong Mason County was entered and that the correct Mason County should be put in. This can be hard to do when two places have exactly the same name. One way to be sure one is entering the right place is to go to the Places database to find the ID number for the place desired. The ID number for the Mason County, Virginia, that was moved to West Virginia is 393605:
Here are the two Mason counties in the Places database:
Mason County, Virginia, later West Virginia: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=393605
Mason County, Virginia, later Kentucky: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=394366
I don't know enough about Virginia to comment otherwise, but would encourage you to keep sending concerns to the Places Authority people either through the group here in Community ( https://community.familysearch.org/en/group/68-familysearch-places ) or through the Places database.
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The Mason from 1804-1863 should not be labeled West Virginia, but Virginia. I've never used the earlier Mason. Before 1804 it was Kanawha County. Because they insist on presenting Mason, Mason, first and then Mason in a variety of other states, I frequently have to type in Mason, Virginia, United States and then it will pop up the correct one. Mason, Mason should be removed as a standardized place.
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People with no connection to the people or the counties frequently enter information and so they often enter things with the later place, State or United States as opposed to Brit. Col Amer. I don't always correct them. There are more important things to do.
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Quoth @Mormor192: "The Mason from 1804-1863 should not be labeled West Virginia, but Virginia."
That's exactly how it is labeled: 1804-1863 is "Mason, Virginia, United States", while 1863-Today is "Mason, West Virginia, United States".
Ditto for the town of Mason within the (West) Virginia county of Mason: it is labeled "Mason, Mason, Virginia, United States" for the period 1800-1863, and as "Mason, Mason, West Virginia, United States" for the period 1863-Today. It is an actual, correct place, and absolutely should NOT be removed from the database.
What's confusing you and generating the perplexing data quality messages is that there is another Places database entry which is also labeled "Mason, Virginia, United States": the early period (1789-1792) of what is now Mason county in Kentucky. The center of this county is right around 100 miles (as the crow flies) west of the center of the West Virginia county, so it is doubtless what the quality score is talking about. At least one conclusion on the profile you were looking at has been incorrectly standardized as this county instead of the correct one.
If you don't want to type so much of the placename to get the correct one to show up on the list, you can type the full text once in a text editor and copy and paste from there, or you can do the same thing with the Place ID. (You can get the IDs from the Places tool.)
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Is this image, I am showing that the Mason county in West Virginia has two time periods.
This display of the place name has two tabs, 1804 to 1863 and 1863 to today. The blue underline shows which tab is active. If you click on the 1804 to 1863 date, when in the database, that makes that tab active and the name changes to Mason, Virginia, United States. You should go to the database via the links I posted above and play around a bit.
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Technically, Mason county was not called Kanawha county before 1804. Before 1804 it did not exist. It was created in 1804 from a portion of Kanawha county. Such distinctions are important.
You do have a fairly difficult situation to deal with because there is just no way around the fact that there were two Mason counties in Virginia at somewhat different times. But as long as you remember history you can tell them apart when entering in the name by paying attention to the dates.
When I type in Mason, Virginia, the drop down menu shows:
I know by the dates that the top one is the one currently in West Virginia and the bottom one is the one currently in Kentucky. I just have to be careful to click on the right one.
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People with no connection to the people or the counties frequently enter information and so they often enter things with the later place, State or United States as opposed to Brit. Col Amer. I don't always correct them. There are more important things to do.
I agree completely. And in that case one would just let the data quality score complain about a data conflict and just ignore it. Leave it there for someone who has nothing better to do to find one day and fix.
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I am well aware that Mason County was created from a portion of Kanawha County. I just didn't go into detail to explain that to you.
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I am not confuse by Mason in Kentucky. I have never seen that pop up and know the dates are not relevant to my Mason. The VILLAGE of Mason did not exist until 1856 and should not show up as the first option as it often does and should not be entered by the computer as the standardized place and appear in the formal display of census entries for farm residents as the place when it very definitely was not.
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