Country of birth

Hi Sarah,

I fill in Colonial America in the country field before 1776.

For England, Scotland and Northern Ireland before 1808, if you put them in the country field, geni automatically appends (United Kingdom) (the modern designation, and some people object. I don’t know how to solve it.

Many thanks, Erica, both for responding and for following that convention. I know that Geni automatically appends (United Kingdom) which should resolve any conflict people feel. I wish everyone agreed. It seems Ben Angel is the curator of many of the profiles that leave the country field blank. I will write him to see if he can be convinced to change that approach.

Hi again, Erica.

I decided to go through all my ancestor profiles with early US or UK country of birth in the wrong field and, so far, have discovered that you are the curator for most of them. I'm not clear if that means you entered the data, but don't know who else to ask to fix them. This is the first batch and I'm afraid there are a lot. I would fix them myself if I could be don't know who else to ask. Please let me know if you are able to fix them and, if not, what I can do. Thanks!

William Sandford, of Askham
John Shelley, of Michelgrove
Sir Thomas Curwen
Margery Horne
William Mullins, "Mayflower" Passenger
Robert Dunster
Robert Strange, mayor of Bristol
Sir Piers de Legh, of Lyme
Elizabeth Strange
Elizabeth Mainwaring
Isabella Holland
Matilda “Maud” de Norley
Agnes Sherman
Lyon Logie of that Ilk
William Mullins, "Mayflower" Passenger
Janet Halyburton
Grace Ballard
Margery Horne
William Mullins, "Mayflower" Passenger
Lydia Minot
Alexandra Stephens
Frances Newell
Percival Legh, of Lyme
Elizabeth Whale
Grace Nowell
Sarah Warren
William Hill
Anne Curwen
Anne Curwen
Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington
Agnes Holland
Isabel Dunster
Joan Wheler
William Leslie, 3rd Earl of Rothes
Anne Gill
Samuel Carter
Sir Piers de Legh, of Lyme
Henry Fulford, II
Joyce Barker
Joanna Davis
Lyon Logie of that Ilk
Christian Mure
Robert Dunster
Robert Strange, mayor of Bristol
Elizabeth Strange
Elizabeth Mainwaring

Sarah

I’ll work on them if locked. In the old days there was so much controversy about USA vs Colonial America I avoided confrontation by leaving blank. But your point about statistics is really important.

Sarah Farnsworth Hunnewell you can change them if they are not locked. :)

for pre-1776 America, I tend to put Colonial State - not America (Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, et.al. - except for Quebec)

Re Keri's comment: They are all locked. Otherwise, I would do it. Marvin, I think you must be the only one who puts that in the County field since I've never come across it. I wish you wouldn't since "Colonial State" is not a country. Obviously Colonial America isn't either, but it serves as a good catchall. Erica, many thanks! I'll continue making my list. More profiles to change coming, I'm afraid.

I put the Colonial State in the State line and Colonial America in the country. Not sure it really is the best option, but at least it gives a more precise location.

Sarah Farnsworth Hunnewell I’m trying to think of query parameters so Geni can automate this, but so far I’m failing. It’s the only way it will get done anytime soon. I do fix as I go along.

Maybe state field equals = (names of the 13 colonies)

Erica Howton Susanne Floyd Keri Denise Jackson, ♊ Twin "A" Marvin Loyd Welborn for some reason Sarah Farnsworth Hunnewell won't tag for me.

FYI.. I forget exactly where, but when I joined GENI, the location instructions were to use current locations. This is different from WikiTree, which specifically wants the historical location. That is because GENI has a mapping feature, but you need current locations. That way if you want to visit those locations, you can and you can map over time.

If you are instead using the historical location, you run into problems with the colonies and provinces that changed names and boundaries during a person's life,,, so someone could be born in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, get married in the Dominion of New England, have kids in what we now call the State of Maine, yet die in Norfolk County, Province of Massachusetts Bay and have lived in the exact same house the entire time. Same with most Colonies, Provinces, and later States,, and their initial Counties. Indiana, for example had Union County covering all of the territory not Indian Land, and then in the early 1800s was partitioned into smaller counties with expansion. To find "official" source docs, you have to go to the courthouse of the county then covering the location that the town was in at the time. Same with Texas, where Bexar County, and San Antonio has all the records for most of west texas prior to creation of those counties.

You also see it with the Census, where Virginia first extended to the Mississippi River, and included parts of Tenn and KY... so someone would say they were born in Virginia in the first couple of Census, but switch to KY or TN later on. Same with the Carolinas, Maine/Mass, New Hampshire, NY/VT,, any area that went back and forth.
And many Alsatian immigrants in the early 1840s, in later Census they would switch back and forth from France to Germany to Holland as the "country of birth" depending on which country controlled that land at the time they were asked. You can see it in the responses as you track families.

That's why a lot of research using Census from early to middle 1800s can get confusing because you don't know if they were referring to the time when the birth occurred or the time when the Census was taken.

And in the southeast Chicago suburbs, where the Eastern/Central time zones meet,, when you do current chain of title for deeds, you have to know the County and the Time Zone,,, because you can record a sale at 1:00 pm in one county, drive 30 minutes and then sell the same property to someone else at 12:30 pm.... (1:30 pm in the first county), so just matching time stamps won't help.

Dean Richard Hobart, yep and yep. Big issues for me - Marion County, South Carolina, once Liberty District, once Craven County (part of it anyway), and until the early 1900s included most of Dillon County and Florence County, SC.

So when you post census records or any court records for someone living in Marion County in 1860, but really it is Dillon County of today, it gets confusing. A lot of people don't know the history.

Then there is the issue of not adding "County" to the name in the field. A nice curator pointed out I needed to do that and I understand why. Columbus, NC is not Columbus County, NC. They are geographically across the state and a lot of mistakes about people have been made because of that error of understanding geography. Columbus, NC is really Columbus, Polk County, NC and located in western NC far away from Columbus County, NC near the coast.

Yes, someday we will have (then) and (now) location fields - with date boundaries. There’s actually a start to that project with the auto append of (United Kingdom) to England etc. in the country field. Geni uses the google maps API and they don’t have good historical names. That’s why I prefer to look up and hand code for my direct line. I want to know how “They” experienced where they lived and what “they” called it. If we have the record ...

After I find documents I always look up the areas as well, because I enjoy reading about where they lived to get a feel of how they lived and where in England, Ireland, and Scotland. I lived in the UK for a while, so I understand the distance between the regions and villages.

Also, I want to look up the area to be sure I have the correct documentation for the person. we may see Kent England - oh wow I fount it, no, just Kent doesn't do it because his or her family were from Kent- the region and village, or city, where the family lineage is from is very important as well, then all has to tie together perfectly The Probated Will, Birth Records, Marriage, etc. Families used certain parishes, certain churches, etc. Then we have to remember how close Kent is to London. The UK is not America, for me, it was like I was living in a small state. I would drive from Nottingham to Leicester in about 40 min., I guess by horseback or carriage it would take longer.

The boundaries changed over time, but if we write previously such and such county it's messy, so what do we write the new county or region in Europe?

Confusing enough when driving on the East Coast, one moment you're in KY, then TN, then back in KY, then back in TN, on the same expressway going in the same direction. I had one great-grandfather whose land was in two different states and counties- Bourbon, Kentucky, USA, Culpeper, Virginia - was Henry Field- research was interesting, I didn't believe it when I first saw it, spent months trying to disprove,

I wouldn't want to be a Realtor in Chicago

Sarah Farnsworth Hunnewell List is done.

Thank you, Erica!!! I realized, after I sent you that list, that it contained a few duplicates (because Geni kept resorting the profiles!). I'm sorry. I'm continuing to go through all my ancestors that lack a Country of birth field and am sorting them by curator (from an alphabetized list of profiles to avoid duplicates!). I will send you the full list when I am done. The majority of profiles "belong" to you or Ben Angel. I'm sorry to do this to you and would make the corrections myself happily if I could. :)