What is the best format for place names

[Maz]

My grandmother's BC has her place of birth as Pensoraig, District of North Snizort, County of Inverness. I know Pensoraig was/is in Uig.

My question is when inputting such information into modern Genealogy Software such as Legacy, which I got from Santa this Christmas, which gives you the option of City, County, State/Prov, Country do I just put:

1. Uig, Inverness, Scotland
(which the software loves and can pinpoint on Google Earth )

or

2. Pensoraig, North Snizort, Inverness, Scotland
(which doesn't exist according to Legacy and upsets Google Earth )

I tend to want to use the last version (I'm just a rebel at heart who doesn't like being told what to do by my computer) and I know you can add places to the Master List but just wondering what other people do/have done?

Any ideas greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Anne H]

Hi Maz,

I'd love to know what others using Legacy do also. I've been using your first option but would prefer to use the latter.

So please, all you experienced ones out there...what do you do?

Regards,
Anne H

[Ina]

Hi,

I use whatever it says on the birth certificate. For instance my relatives were born in Greenock, Renfrewshire. It is now known as Greenock, Inverclyde. I make note of the change in the notes area.

Ina

[StewL]

I use Legacy Deluxe and like Ina I usually put in what is on the certificates, somehow I dont think utilities like google can cope with older placenames or such, but then that is only my thoughts on this
I think putting in the original names etc gives a better historical emphasis on the records, but of course adding notes etc outlining any new names may be of use too.

[Anne H]

Hi again,

I actually enter exactly what's on the certificate also, but in some cases there's also a specific area to differentiate the particular area of the district.

For instance, an MC will have...

Marriages in the Middle District of Old Monkland in the County of Lanark.

In that case I enter... Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland
but in the usual residence section it will also have a specific area such as Langloan, etc.

Would you then enter Langloan, Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland or just stick with what it says in the heading?

Regards,
Anne H

[Maz]

I was inclined to type in exactly what was on the certificate, which I agree does show the historical perspective better, but was just wondering what others did as this seems to make the Legacy place finding thingy a bit obsolete.

Anne - I have another ancestor whose place of birth is listed as Undercliff, Tarbet, Kilcalmonell, Scotland. I know that Tarbet is the town so am assuming that Undercliff was a house or hospital of some sort. At present I have that information in the birth address section.

Sometimes I tend to be a bit too much of a perfectionist as I don't want to leave anything out. My family will attest to that.

[LesleyB]

Hi Maz
The free Legacy tutorials online http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Videos.asp
suggest that you should use the placename and county as it was at the time of the event.

Any further address can be put in the wee drop down list at the end of the address box, or I often use the "Events" to list things like that, so you can see the places at a glance when you open someone's Individual Information dialog box.

I've never used the facilites of the software for map tying-up because I think Legacy, although good, is very USA-centric. For the same reason, I never use the "research guidance" part of Lagacy as despite the places clearly being in Scotland, again it always seems to think all my folk are USA based. Maybe the reason these things don't worlk for me is that it's me, and I'm not "playing by the rules"...but hey, did I ever???

I know, even after about 7 years of using Legacy, that there area whole load of features I probably don't use proprerly 'cos I got into bad habits at the beginning(!) and a whole load of other features that I do not really make the most of... e.g. if I was really organised, I'd be following this advice which I found recently with regard to tying your paperwork up with Legacy:
Organise paper work
http://www.fileyourpapers.com/legacy/legacy30.html
...but instead, I'm just so overawed that anyone could actually be that organised that the result is complete inaction....

Best wishes
Lesley

[Rockford]

Hi Maz,

I use Family Tree Maker, rather than Legacy - it came free with a Sunday paper and being a true East Coaster.........

An example of how I record it [which I appreciate might not be much help!] is:

My great grandfather was born in 1890 at Braidhurst Pit Rows in Motherwell, and this is recorded on the birth certificate as Braidhurst No 1. In the birthplace box on FTM I have recorded

"Braidhurst Pit, Motherwell"

The 'official' bit of the certificate records the birth as taking place in the Parish of Dalziel in the County of Lanark. In FTM there is a 'Sources' section which you can link the Birthplace/Marriage/Death information to, so I have created a source for my great grandfather's birth:

"1890 Births in the Parish of Dalziel, County of Lanark"

and noted the SP parish/county reference after it so anyone else using my information could find it and to differentiate it from any other birth I have recorded in the same year and place.

I don't know if Legacy uses sources in the same way.

Like you, I find that the Parish/County info isn't specific enough for the actual birthplace and I quite like to see the names of the pits/farms/etc listed through the generations. It's also much easier when printing out trees and reports, as FTM can add the full source information as footnotes, which cluttering individual boxes with the full blurb.

FTM can also pinpoint locations on a map - but I've never used it, so have never felt the need to be map-specific with my references.

Best wishes

Brian

[HeatherH]

hi Maz,
I think how you record things as well as who or what you record would be a personal thing. I also use Legacy. ( Tried all the freebies and always come back) I guess it comes down to what your purpose in doing your family research is. Some want to see how far back they can go. Some want to see how many names they can get. Some have set a goal so there will be an actual end ( rather than trying to find Adam and Eve) I'm trying to find out as much as I can about the people themselves. So this means I want to record my info as acurately as possible. I enter place names as they appear and use the note section to keep track of modern day spellings or change of boundry lines ( as well as many other things) I admit I paid for my Legacy way back before I found out it was availlable for free . But I keep a copy of family Tree Maker on my puter as well as I like the charts and printouts.
Happy Hunting,
Heather