Confusing standardized names in Northumberland?
I have ancestors that come from both Woodhouse, Thirlwall, Haltwhistle, Northumberland and Woodhouse, Lambley, Northumberland. Both are standardized to Woodhouse, Northumberland, England (with ", United Kingdom" depending on the date) and it looks like they came from the same village. Which of these does the standardized place represent? Can that be clarified somehow?
Similarly, does Whitley, Northumberland, England (, United Kingdom) refer to Whitley near Hexham or Whitley near North Shields? How can we know which?
Answers
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Re Whitley - go to the Standard Places facility on https://www.familysearch.org/research/places , do an enquiry and you will see the Wikipedia entry, and the map. Usually.
It shows you that it's the Hexham version. I'd imagine that the North Shields one is entered as Whitley Bay, which is the only name I see on current maps of the area.
That tells you which Whitley it's supposed to be. Whether everyone has used the right version to standardise, is another matter.
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