Standardized Places

MrsLCJ

I would like to put in a standardized place:

Official Native American Reservation places

United States Territories before statehoods.

ketherin - c

Standardized places are used across all FamilySearch features. Instructions to suggest new places is availalble through this Help and Learning article: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-request-a-new-place-in-the-database-of-standardized-places

Gordon Collett

@MrsLCJ

Re: Territories, see: https://www.familysearch.org/en/standards/admin/place-reports/?region=70&country=1

where it states: "States of the US and their counterpart territories will be described in a single historical period, with alternate names helping users find the correct rep. For example, rather than Wyoming (1890-Today) and Wyoming Territory (1868-1890), FS Places will simply describe Wyoming (1868-Today)."

The report does list a few exceptions. This article: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/when-did-familysearch-combine-us-states-and-their-historic-territories-in-familysearch-places explains their rational. Based on this, I would say it is highly doubtful the decision will be reversed.

If you wish to include Territory in a place name, just do so. It will still standardize just fine. The following example shows how to correctly do this and shows that the place name is standardized correctly:

Here is the detail page:

Here is the data pop-up view:

Here is the editing box view:

In all of these you can see that the program is perfectly happy with the way the place is entered and that it is correctly standardized.

If this were not standardized, this is what you would see:

You enter the place name correctly by typing out the full name as you wish to see it then clicking on your version which will be first on the dropdown menu:

The second place on this list will be the default standard. If that is not the correct standard, click on the standard where it appears under the text entry box to reopen a dropdown menu and choose a better standard.

Do be aware that some people will view adding Territory as going against standard practice in which genealogists drop descriptive terms. That is, they write Weber, not Weber County, and Utah, not The State of Utah.

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If I go to the Places database and search within the United States for Reservation place type, I get 605 results:

Which ones are missing? You can request they be added through the link given in the first answer to your post. You can also request alternate names be added if those are needed to make them easier to find.

If you are having trouble finding a specific reservation, you can go to the Places database at https://www.familysearch.org/en/research/places/ , click Filter even before putting anything in the search box to bring up a pop up where you can enter multiple search criteria such as finding reservations in one particular state like this:

You probably don't want to search in anything small than a state since I see that not all reservations are listed under a county. I would assume that is because they are viewed as independent from any county or because they are located in more than one county.

Once you have found the reservation you are looking for, you can actually copy the ID number of the place and past that number into any place field in Family Tree to quickly enter it:

Here is the URL that will bring up the search showing all 605 reservations for you »» https://www.familysearch.org/en/research/places/#filters=%255B%257B%2522type%2522%253A%2522search-within%2522%252C%2522reqParents%2522%253A1%252C%2522primaryText%2522%253A%2522United%2520States%2522%252C%2522directChildrenOnly%2522%253Afalse%252C%2522selected%2522%253Atrue%257D%252C%257B%2522type%2522%253A%2522type%2522%252C%2522placeType%2522%253A%257B%2522primaryText%2522%253A%2522Reservation%2520or%2520Reserve%2522%252C%2522secondaryText%2522%253A%2522An%2520administrative%2520tract%2520of%2520land%2520reserved%2520for%2520the%2520use%2520and%2520benefit%2520of%2520specified%2520group%2520of%2520people%252C%2520such%2520as%2520an%2520indigenous%2520people%2520or%2520tribe.%2522%252C%2522key%2522%253A%2522344-placeType%2522%252C%2522id%2522%253A344%252C%2522type%2522%253A%257B%2522id%2522%253A344%252C%2522code%2522%253A%2522RESERVATION%2522%252C%2522published%2522%253Atrue%252C%2522link%2522%253A%257B%2522href%2522%253A%2522https%253A%252F%252Fwww.familysearch.org%252Fservice%252Fstandards%252Fplace%252Fws-ui%252Fplaces%252Fplace-types%252F344%2522%252C%2522rel%2522%253A%2522self%2522%257D%252C%2522localizedName%2522%253A%255B%257B%2522locale%2522%253A%2522en%2522%252C%2522name%2522%253A%2522Reservation%2520or%2520Reserve%2522%252C%2522desc%2522%253A%2522An%2520administrative%2520tract%2520of%2520land%2520reserved%2520for%2520the%2520use%2520and%2520benefit%2520of%2520specified%2520group%2520of%2520people%252C%2520such%2520as%2520an%2520indigenous%2520people%2520or%2520tribe.%2522%257D%255D%257D%257D%252C%2522selected%2522%253Atrue%257D%255D

MrsLCJ

It is not there and when I do to "suggest a place name," it won't take it. See images.

Gordon Collett

There are three visible problems in your request to add a place name as marked by all the red warning notices.

First of all, although we enter multiple levels of place names, technically that is a series of individual place names that have, as the terminology goes, a set of child and parent relationship. Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, Duchesne, Utah, United States is four place names, not one. 1) Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation which has the parent place 2) Duchesne which has the parent place 3) Utah which has the parent 4) United States. When entering a place name request we only enter the one place name we want added in the first box. That is why commas are invalid characters in that box.

The second problem is that a child place will always be within the parent place. You cannot enter "near Ft. Duchesne." It's in that place or it is not.

The third problem is that you spelled Duchesne wrong in the second box. This is very easy to do. Way back in elementary school when we were learning Utah's counties, my teacher told us for spelling purposes to pronounce it as "Due Chess Knee" instead of its actual pronunciation of /duːˈʃeɪn/ or doo-SHAYN (as copied from Wikipedia).

Regarding your second image, you are running in to a quirk of the search routine for Places. For some reason, some places only show up if too little or if too much of their name has been entered but will not be there if what seems to be just right has been. Sort of a Goldilocks problem in reverse. And then sometimes the search when used with filters is just weird.

If I don't use filters and just enter Uintah I get:

If I add the filter for Reservation I get:

If I then add the filter for the United States, for some unexplainable reason, they vanish:

Family Tree has its own quirks.

If you enter just Uintah, the place is there but you have to scroll down the drop down menu a ways:

If you type anything more it vanishes from the list:

until you get all the way to the Y in Ouray:

and you still have to scroll down a bit to find it.

On a separate note and one of the things that might be hiding the place name from you, is that it only appears with parents of Uintah and Wasatch. It does not have a parent of Duchesne. Again checking Wikipedia, I see that the reservation actually includes parts of Uintah, Duchesne, Wasatch, Grand, Carbon, Utah, and Emery counties. This raises the question of whether it should just have the parent of Utah state, as some reservations in other states are entered, rather than having a county parent. Or should it be included in the database seven times, each version having a different county as parent. That you will have to discuss directly with the Places Authority team by e-mailing them at placefeedback@familysearch .org