Rabbit Holes With Randy - Updating My Place Names and Adding Short Narrative Sketches to My Ancestral Families

 Hold the carrots and roughage, Randy is still digging in this genealogy bunny's Rabbit Hole!  I have two projects I'm working on simultaneously!

1)  The time has come for my family tree to reflect historical place names.  The Genealogical Standards recommend this because countries, states, provinces, districts, counties and towns changed names on a regular basis over centuries.  The thought is that place names should reflect the historical place names at the time of an event.  

I have over 73,000 person profiles in my RootsMagic family tree database, and until recently they have ALL used current historical place names.  You know, like Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States, even for events from the 1600s nd 1700s before the Revolutionary War.  Or Delhi, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada even for events from the 1800s before the Dominion of Canada was declared.  

I estimate that 30 to 40% of the profiles in my RootsMagic tree need historical place names to replace the current place names.  Some person profiles have 5 to 20 current place names that need to be changed.  

I figured out that it is not that easy to just modify the current place names in the Places file on RootsMagic because I have many place names that are historically correct.  So I can correct all of the place names that need to be historical (about 150 years of records), or correct all of the current place names that would be incorrect if I did (about 250 years of records)!  I chose the former.

For example, I'm replacing the current place name Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States with:

• After 1630 and before 1692:  Medfield, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America.
• After 1692 and before 1776:  Medfield, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America.
• Between 1776 and 1793:  Medfield, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States.
• Since 1793:  Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.

And that's the easy ones!  What about Old Norfolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony?  It encompassed what is now the northern towns of Essex County, Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire along the Merrimac River between 1643 and 1680.  In 1680, the New Hampshire Colony was formed, and the northern towns of Massachusetts along the Merrimac were added to Essex County.  

Note that the "new" Norfolk County in Massachusetts was formed from part of Suffolk County, Massachusetts in 1793.  Early records from Medfield and other Norfolk County towns have many records (especially land and probate records!) in Suffolk county, Massachusetts before 1793.

What about Maine?  Before 1651, the Maine settlements were part of the Province of Maine.  All of Maine was York County, Massachusetts Bay Colony from the 1650s until 1692. After 1692, it was the Maine District, Province of Massachusetts Bay.  After 1776, it was Maine District, Massachusetts.  Additional counties were added during the 1800s.  Luckily, I don't have many entries for Maine in my RootsMagic database.

Wikipedia seems to be the best resource for early New England town, county, colony, district, province  and state formation.  See Province of Massachusetts Bay Colony here.  

And then there are Plymouth Colony (1620-1691), Connecticut Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Province of New Hampshire, etc.  And Vermont before 1791 is a mess.  

Then there are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other colonial colonies.  

 2)  The second project is to add "short narrative sketches" (think of them as "my currect thinking") to the top of my Person Notes of my ancestral families in RootsMagic.  I need to use historical place names to create these sketches so that I don't have to do them over again.  Many of my Person Notes for ancestral families have  genealogical sketches and research notes already, so I don't want to exclude them.  In the process, I am also adding sources and citations to names, relationships and events that need them.  

Here is an example of one of my "short narrative sketches" that I have added to the top of the "Person Note" in the RootsMagic profile of George Wakeman (1740-1815).

1.  George Wakeman1–3, son of Samuel Wakeman and Elizabeth --?--,  was born before 1 Jun 1740 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, British Colonial America.4–5 He was christened on 1 Jun 1740 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, British Colonial America.6 He died before 2 Jan 1815 at the age of 74 in Wayne Township, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.7 George was buried before 2 Jan 1815 at Center Cemetery in Wayne, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.8 He had his estate probated on 2 Jan 1815 in Wayne, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.9  

George Wakeman and Sarah Hill were married on 17 Jun 1762 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, British Colonial America.10

Sarah Hill11, daughter of John Hill and Esther Bulkley, was born on 28 Apr 1742 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, British Colonial America.12–13 She appeared in the census on 15 Aug 1790 in Ballston, Saratoga, New York, United States.14 She appeared in the census on 1 Jun 1820 in Wayne, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.15 Sarah died on 6 Feb 1832 at the age of 89 in Wayne Township, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.16 She was buried after 6 Feb 1832 at Center Cemetery in Wayne Township, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.17 She was also known as Sarah Wakeman.18–19

George Wakeman and Sarah Hill had the following children:

+2 i Hannah Wakeman, born 6 Feb 1763, Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; married Thomas Partridge, 2 Oct 1785, New York, United States; died 28 Mar 1814, Wayne Township, Ashtabula, Ohio, United States.

3 ii Levina Wakeman was born about 1764 in Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. She died.

+4 iii Hill Wakeman, born 5 Apr 1766, Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.married Dorcas Dorothy Saunders, 12 Mar 1796, Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States; died Jan 1845.

+5 iv Samuel Wakeman, born 1772, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.; married Ruth Wright, 4 Dec 1797, Charleston, Montgomery, New York, United States; died 3 Oct 1852, Ohio, United States.

Followed by the Endnotes.  It is not perfect (for example, the months are not spelled out; the endnotes for the names and events of the children are not included; birth and death data of the spouses of children are not included, etc.), but it is the best I can do with RootsMagic.

3)  So those are the two major projects underway here at the Genea-Musings Memorial Cave.  I'm methodically going through my ancestral families and changing historical place names, adding sources and citations as required, creating the short narrative sketch, and copying it into the RootsMagic Person Note.  

The real benefit to all of this is that my family tree in RootsMagic will be improved, and can be used to write digital reports or books about my ancestry.  When I'm done (will I ever be done - I doubt it!), I will add my improved tree to a new Ancestry Member Tree and to a new MyHeritage tree for as long as they might exist.  

4)  I welcome your thoughts about all of this.  Have you attempted similar tasks with your family tree?  What was the most difficult part?  What made it easier for you?  

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