{"id":8674,"date":"2014-10-27T15:55:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=8674"},"modified":"2014-10-27T15:55:25","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:55:25","slug":"how-to-standardize-your-geographic-locations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/how-to-standardize-your-geographic-locations.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Standardize Your Geographic Locations"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve been working on your family history for years and have gathered a lot of information.<\/p>\n

You keep careful notes and are consistent in putting down full bibliographic citations so that others may quickly know where you found each of your facts.<\/p>\n

But\u2014how are you adding the places of birth, marriage or death for your ancestors?<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo: View of Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, looking south. Source: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s a tip: write out the complete geographic location for each event.<\/p>\n

Instead of writing:
\nManchester, NH<\/p>\n

You want to render it as:
\nManchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, United States<\/p>\n

Also acceptable:
\nManchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n
Enter Last Name
\n <\/td>\n		<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \n <\/p>\n<\/form>\n

What you want to avoid are abbreviations, because they can often be misunderstood.<\/p>\n

For example: which state has the abbreviation AR?
\nIs that Arizona? Arkansas? No, it can\u2019t be Arkansas\u2014isn\u2019t that AK?<\/p>\n

Actually, Arizona is AZ, Arkansas is AR and Alaska is AK.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to know if you use those geo location abbreviations often, but when we don\u2019t we often have to look the abbreviation up to get it right.<\/p>\n

Over the history of the United States, abbreviations have not always been consistent. People used any abbreviation that seemed correct to them. Newspapers often used an unconventional abbreviation, such as Con for Connecticut. We\u2019re not accustomed to that today\u2014but it must have been acceptable over a century ago.<\/p>\n

The accepted style for writing geographic locations is to not use abbreviations and to include the name of the county and of the country. Use the corresponding geographical jurisdictions when documenting places in other countries.<\/p>\n

You never want to simply enter the name of the town.<\/p>\n

For example, don\u2019t just use: Haverhill.<\/p>\n

You understand where that is.
\nMany of your family lived there\u2014but will other relatives know where that is?
\nWhat if your relative now lives across the country\u2014will they recognize where Haverhill is?<\/p>\n

Is that Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts, United States\u2014or, not far away, Haverhill, Grafton, New Hampshire, United States?<\/p>\n

Why include the name of the country?
\nNow that genealogy has gone global, it is customary to include the name of the country to make the entries more precise.<\/p>\n

When genealogists are less familiar with the geography, having it spelled out is helpful.<\/p>\n

For example:
\nSydney (or)
\nSydney, Cumberland, New South Wales<\/p>\n

Most of us would instantly recognize this is in Australia, but could it be misunderstood as somehow being part of Wales?<\/p>\n

Enter it as:
\nSydney, Cumberland, New South Wales, Australia\u2014then there is no misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

Make your family history crystal clear.<\/p>\n

Use the town, county, state and country to describe all of the localities in your family history.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be consistent in all of our records and leave a clear record that everyone will easily understand.<\/p>\n

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