[APG Public List] Entering place names

[DESloan at aol.com]

I had not really considered this issue before. One I can think  of is my 
Great Great Aunt. She was born in 1807 in Dearborn County, Indiana (no  towns 
anywhere in the area). Where she was born is now Richmond, Wayne County,  
IN. The area was founded in 1806, Wayne County became a county in 1810, the  
first streets in what became Richmond were laid out in 1816, and Richmond  
incorporated in 1818. 
   I have the location of her birth entered as: Dearborn Co. [now  
Richmond, Wayne Co., IN], IN. 
 
Would this be the right way to enter it? 
 
Thanks
Dave  Sloan
Grandkids Ancestors LLC
Specializing in East central IN, West  central Ohio, Quaker Records, and 
Brethren Records.
"The world is my country,  and my religion is to do right" David Hoover 
1781-1866  

 
In a message dated 10/24/2010 8:07:05 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
laboswell at rogers.com writes:

 
Place the Polish name in brackets for the English speaking audience as a  
future English researcher will then have the Polish  name too.  Not as 
necessary to put the English translation in brackets  when presenting it to a 
Polish audience as it probably isn't  necessary for any future research by 
Polish researchers (though I  suppose if someone they looked at research 
previously done by an  English speaking researcher it might be useful).
 
For me the more pressing issue is whether to use modern place names or  the 
original period name.  Problem with modern names is that they  continue to 
change and evolve constantly, with municipal amalgamations  for example, so 
at some point the 'modern name' chosen will appear to a future  researcher 
to be a old version of the future 'modern name'.  In one case  here a city 
used to be in a county along with half a dozen other cities.   Now they're all 
in one new city.  The county is now in just one part of  the city (rather 
than the original city of the same name being just part of  the county!).  
Municipal names weren't static in the past, nor are the  modern versions.  The 
real question maybe is how to deal with  change.
I use the period name with the current modern jurisdictional name in  
brackets. Even then the jurisdiction name used also varies by type  of record.
 
This is a whole area of genealogy that probably will never be  
satisfactorily defined as to what's right and wrong.
 
There's a good article on this latter question (period name or modern  one) 
that I've been planning to start a discussion about on another  list.
 
Larry


----- Original Message ----- 
From:  _Stephen Danko_ (mailto:stephen at stephendanko.com)  
To: _Rolgeiger at aol.com_ (mailto:Rolgeiger at aol.com)  ; 
_apgmembersonlylist at apgen.org_ (mailto:apgmembersonlylist at apgen.org)   ; 
_apgpubliclist at apgen.org_ (mailto:apgpubliclist at apgen.org)  
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2010 4:02  AM
Subject: Re: [APG Members] [APG Public  List] translate place names



I have been struggling with this same issue with place names in  Poland.  I 
have decided that the language in which I will spell place  names depends 
on the target audience.  If I am writing for an English  speaking audience, I 
translate place names into English.  If I am  writing for a Polish speaking 
audience, I use Polish language place  names.  (By audience, I don't mean 
just the audience at a lecture, but  also the readers of my written work.)  
Language differences don't exist  for all place names, however.  Warszawa in 
Polish is spelled Warsaw in  English.  However, Nowa Wieś in Polish is never 
translated as New  Village in English (although the kreska "s" ś is not 
used in English).
 
Best regards,
Stephen J. Danko
_http://www.stephendanko.com/_ (http://www.stephendanko.com/) 
 
 
  
____________________________________
 From: "Rolgeiger at aol.com"  <Rolgeiger at aol.com>
To: apgmembersonlylist at apgen.org;  apgpubliclist at apgen.org
Sent: Sun, October 24, 2010 12:01:59  AM
Subject: [APG Public  List] translate place names

Hello, 
 
I wonder whether it make sense to translate place names from the origin  
language into my own. 
 
Like German Koeln into Cologne or Niedersachsen into Lower Saxony. Or  
Bavaria which originally is Bayern.
 
I think it leads into trouble once I have to do with orignal documents  
from that area for they will not have translated their names into any other  
language. 
 
I realize that Cologne is about the way an English speaking person  would 
pronounce the German sound "Koeln". But doing research about emigrants  in 
upstate New York, I don't translate for example "Perkinsville, New York"  into 
"Perkinsweiler, Neu York". Would not make sense for no records exist  with 
"Perkinsweiler" but all with "Perkinsville".
 
Same with names having a "sch" which are pretty much often transformed  
into the common Englisch "sh".
 
Mit freundlichen Gruessen
 
Roland Geiger, St. Wendel, Deutschland (= Germany)
 
PS: Sorry, I just got up and had had no coffee yet. Otherwise I may not  
have asked that question. 





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