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Incorrect classification of entry

SarahSquire2
SarahSquire2 ✭
August 29, 2024 edited February 5 in Search

The following is one of a recent spate of incorrectly classified/indexed records I have encountered:

"England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991", , 

FamilySearch

 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J8R5-293 : Thu Jul 18 15:52:43 UTC 2024), Entry for Ellenor Pratt and John Pratt, 1 Dec 1713.

The record clearly states that the death place/burial was

Chester Le Street, Durham, England

yet in 'find' it has been grouped under United States or America, West Virginia, Mononongalia. I know that this is partly a historical problem, but any chance that some more effort is directed to cleansing the database, geography wise, rather than on redesigning the look of family trees?

2

Answers

  • Áine Ní Donnghaile
    Áine Ní Donnghaile ✭✭✭✭✭
    August 29, 2024 edited September 27, 2024

    Without seeing your search results, I would have to guess this is what we've been calling "on-the-fly" results. When I searched for a death for Ellenor Pratt, my search results correctly showed Durham, England as the place.

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    2
  • Adrian Bruce1
    Adrian Bruce1 ✭✭✭✭✭
    August 30, 2024

    I can't make it go wrong for either Ellenor (the principal here) or her father (who is presumably mentioned on the record).

    However, I suspect I might know why it's gone pear-shaped.

    According to the record detail, the father has a birthplace of "The Flatts". (I shall raise a Spock-like eyebrow at that, as I am mildly sceptical about any burial record of a child recording the father's birthplace - maybe it's his residence? But put that to one side…)

    If I try to put "The Flatts" into the FamilySearch Placename database, it gives me 4 places, of which the first is:

    The Flatts, Monongalia, West Virginia, United States

    Presumably this explains the Monongalia in the OP's original post.

    However, when I try and search, as I say, I can't see anything other than "The Flatts" - no US data at all, indeed no higher level names at all after "The Flatts".

    I've tried it using Search from Ellenor's profile, and Search / Records - in both cases using a browser running under Windows. Has @SarahSquire2 used something else? (Perfectly possible, of course!). Whatever it is, it looks like an inappropriate placename standardisation.

    2
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