What happened to the Birstall Parish in FamilySearch places?

Jeana A

I have been working on preserving my grandmother's paper research electronically on FamilySearch. A year ago when standardizing christening places in Birstall, Yorkshire, England, I could choose Birstall, Yorkshire, England parish from the drop down list once I started typing. Now the only choices are for a village of Birstall. When will we have that choice restored? It really is a place!

Thanks!

Graham Buckell

You can always click on one of those names and click on Improve this place to give feedback

Jill 2021

Hi Jeana,

Whilst don't know what the rationale is behind the standardisation of place names, you can input information in the notes on the person page. I have done this with some of my ancestors where I've known their full address or Parish.

You can improve that information by clicking on the 'Improve this place' and adding it there.

How do I correct or edit a place in FamilySearch Places?

Thank you for taking the time to improve our place information. We value your submission and will review it carefully.

1. Begin at FamilySearch Places.
2. In the search box, enter the place that interests you.
3. Click the appropriate search result.
4. On the right-hand side of the screen, below the map, click Improve This Place.
   • To see the link for Improve This Place, make sure that you are signed in.
5. A box appears with the title "Suggest an Improvement."
   1. Use the drop-down menu to identify what is incorrect or incomplete with the current entry.
   2. Enter a brief description of what needs to be changed or added.
   3. If possible, enter the URL of a website that can be used to validate the new information.
   4. Enter your email, in case more information is needed.
6. Click Submit.

This information was found in this knowledge article:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-correct-or-edit-a-place-in-familysearch-places

In the meantime, perhaps this may help in searching for Parish records, including Bishops Transcript information:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/english-parish-records-how-to-access-use-and-interpret-them

Another good resource is the FamilySearch Wiki. The Research Wiki contains thousands of resources to help you find your ancestors.

Search by place: The best approach is to search the Wiki for a place your ancestor was born, married, died, or lived. For example, you can search for a town, county, state, or country. Use the search field to type in a place to make a search.

Navigate to a page: On the main page of the Wiki, click List of all Localities. Find lists of online databases and other resources available for a location.

Search by topic: Enter a type of record into the search field to find Wiki pages about the subject. For example, England Census. Learn what the record is, what information it contains, and how to find and use the records.

Steps

1. Go to the FamilySearch Research Wiki website.
2. Use the search box to type in a place or topic. You see article titles as you type.
3. You can also click List of all Localities to navigate to Wiki pages. After you click the button, click a place name.
4. For more help click Find Search Tips above the map.

Related articles

What is the Research Wiki?

How do I search the FamilySearch Research Wiki?

How to report an error in the FamilySearch Research Wiki

I hope some of this can help you to find and rectify information about your relatives. Thank you for the time and effort you give to make your research more complete. I hope you overcome the frustrations we all experience at times, and that you can continue to have joy in this work.

Jill

Ronald H. Olson

@Jeana A

As to your specific question, “When will we have that choice restored?”, I don’t have an answer. However, (1) Wikipedia has a short article titled “Birstall, West Yorkshire” that begins with “Birstall is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England.”; and, (2) FamilySearch has a short article titled “Birstall, Yorkshire Genealogy” that begins with “Birstal (St. Peter), a parish, partly in the union of Bradford, and partly in that of Dewsbury, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York,……”. Hopefully, these articles will provide some insight to your questions about researching Birstall.

Good Hunting!

Ronald H. Olson

Jeana A

Thank you for your insight! I just read the article you mentioned on FamilySearch entitled "Birstall, Yorkshire Genealogy." Pretty sure I had read it previously. I am frustrated, because the christenings, marriages, and burials that took place in that parish can not be properly documented due to FamilySearch's random change in standardizing places. Today it may just be a village, but in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries there was a parish and parish registers for Birstall and other chapelries. Does anyone know how to reach someone at FamilySearch who can explain their place standardization methodology?

Graham Buckell

If you go to

https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/

and enter Birstall, you will see the following

Regards

Graham Buckell

Jeana A

I have seen that and know that none of those is a parish. They are all villages.

Jeana A

Thank you everyone for your help. I especially thank Jill and Graham for teaching me about Improve this place.

Paul W

@Jeana A

I share your frustration here. I add placenames (for locations in England) to go against IDs in Family Tree practically every day of the year. I see your issue all the time. For some locations, there are numerous alternatives (e.g. parish, village, civil registration district, poor law union - even things like "inhabited place"), whereas others (perhaps a place quite nearby) really do have limited options.

My thoughts are based on the question, "Does it really matter?" I would say, "no", in most cases, as unless it affects the standardization process (which it appears not to), why bother on whether to select the place as a "village" or "parish"? Provided the format is appropriate for the time period in question, nobody would be able to tell which you had chosen from the drop-down.

In fact, I would like to see far less options, if the appearance (once on the person page) is no different. I'd even go further and say drop the "United Kingdom" suffix from post-1800 events. Does anyone record their address to include (say) both "England" and "United Kingdom". it might be administratively correct to use this format, but I've never received a letter including both country names.

In summary, I find consistency to be the problem here, not actual lack of a choice - especially when the option chosen is not displayed / apparent anywhere, once you've added it!

Jeana A

I have been doing what you suggest. I am trying to be consistent with it, but find it is difficult for the same reason you give.