Populated Place vs. Lutheran Parish
In familySearch, in standardized places, often I can see the same name as a populated place as well as a Lutheran Parish. Does it matter which I choose? For example Singö, Stockholm, Sweden is both the name of an island, as well as the name of the parish on that island. Why would I choose one over the other?
Answers
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In FamilySearch in standardized places, if you see also a Lutheran Parish and Populated place, I recommend that you choose that Lutheran Parish.
In this case of Singö, Stockholm, Sweden, you are given:
Singö, Stockholm, Sweden, Lutheran Parish (1)
Singö, Stockholm, Sweden, Populated Place (2)
Singö, Stockholm, Sweden, Populated Place (3)
Singö, Österåker, Stockholm, Sweden, Populated Place (4)
I added those numbers. Populated Place (2) is referring to same place as (1) Lutheran Parish, but Populated Place (3) is referring to populated place (4) in Österåker.
By only looking the given Standardized places list you cannot know where the place is actually referring if you are given more than one place name with wholly SAME name.
'Populated Place' as a place type with Sweden place names very often means that they are not yet correctly standardized. Those places were just collected from some other databases and often they are missing the actual parish/municipality like that (3). Thus avoid using populated place with only three places like Singö, Stockholm, Sweden but with four places like Singö, Österåker, Stockholm, Sweden places should be fairly correct.
If you are given place types like 'village' / 'farm' / 'hamlet' instead of 'populated place' then you can be fairly sure that you have a correct standardized place. Lutheran Parish is also already correct.
I am a volunteer worker with standardizing place names in Finland so I know what I am talking. I also sometimes help with places in Sweden. Work with standardizing places is till going.
If you are uncertain with your place names, you can look those places if you want to, what kind of places you are offered: https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/
If you want to have some place names standardized you can post your request on FamilySearch Places -community group.
(I will correct those Singö places at some time during this week.)
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Thank you -most helpful. I had a case a couple of weeks ago where the place I wanted to enter Signilsberg, Håtuna, Uppsala, Sweden, was not listed as a standardized place (it is now). But what I eventually discovered was that Signildsberg, Håtuna, Uppsala, Sweden (with a d in Signildsberg) was on the list. The spelling without the d was listed as a place in the parish on Research Wiki, and was consistent with what I read in the record I was looking at. What was frustrating to me was that when I typed without the d, the software did not suggest the spelling with a d as an option. I eventually found it by finding somewhere other than research Wiki (probably the page you pointed me to) that listed standardized places in the parish. In the perfect world, it would be nice if there were a feature that suggested alternate spellings for the same name (Väddö and Wäddö come to mind). Again, thanks for your answer.
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If there are Alternate names (alternate spellings, abbreviations, old names etc.) added into the Place names database, then the system will suggest you the correct place.
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The Places database can be very helpful in understanding how the place standards work.
Your example is found here:
https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=10956286&text=Signildsberg
As you scroll down the information, you will see a section titled "Alternate Names." Entering any of these spellings will bring up the same place. The spelling of the standardized value is shown here as the Display Name. This is not to be confused with the displayed name in Family Tree which is the value you enter which may or may not be the same as it. The displayed name in FamilyTree needs to link to the standardized Display Name, however.
FamilySearch has a huge project on its hands to get all places in the world and all the various possible spellings into this database. When you say "the software" didn't suggest the spelling, keep in mind that the software only works with data that someone has typed in. It looks like the spelling you used was not on the list the first time you tried, but was added to the list by someone sitting down and adding it manually to the database before the next time you tried.
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Yes I submitted a request for the alternate spelling before I found the other spelling. Thanks for your response
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I should mention that there are large areas of Sweden and Norway for which the places database is very incomplete. As you are researching your family, when you run across place names or alternate spellings of place names that are missing from the database and which you need to use, you can request they be added to the database at:
https://community.familysearch.org/s/group/0F93A000000DIHfSAO/familysearch-places
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Since you work with standardized places I will mention that this week I came across a relative's record in Danderyd Parish. There does not appear to be a standardized place for that parish, but there are 4 apparently identical places listed as Danderyd, Stockholm, Sweden - Tract (whatever that is)
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Ok, now there is only Danderyd, Stockholm, Sweden - Municipality and Danderyd, Stockholm, Sweden - Lutheran Parish
Track is just some area, and the type was not defined more closely. Those places were most likely drawn from different databases creating multiple entries.
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