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Archiver > TMG > 2000-10 > 0970382296


From: Lee Hoffman/KY <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Place Levels and "villages"
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2000 02:38:16 -0400
References: <B0000424708@millenni-iom342.millennium20.com><3.0.5.32.20000929202236.007d0930@m2.sprynet.com><2d.1872497.2705f6a5@cs.com>
In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.20000930191147.007d1ba0@m2.sprynet.com>


Darrell A. Martin wrote:
>Nope, not combining, and at least 200 years old but still current. Saxtons
>River is a village located in Rockingham; so is Bellows Falls, the largest
>in fact. Rockingham is the town (elsewhere in the U.S. called a township,
>but in New England they are much more important governmentally and
>genealogically). There is also a village in Rockingham named Rockingham, not
>to mention Cambridgeport and Bartonsville. All vital records are kept at the
>town level, by the Town Clerk, whose office is located in the town's largest
>village Bellows Falls, not in the village of Rockingham. Still confused <big
>grin>??
>
>This is a common situation in New England, as I mentioned in previous posts.
>Note that the villages are often (though not always) formally defined
>places, sometimes incorporated. They frequently appear in U.S. Censuses as
>"inhabited places," and in many cases have their own US Post Offices and
>postal addresses.
>
>Help?

You took the word right out of my mouth. When I asked the question, I
kinda figured that something was going on. Hmm!! Then Rockingham operates
much like a county in the sense that the vital records are maintained there
for the villages located therein while another town may be in the same
county and the vital records for it are maintained there. I think I would
make entries as follows:
Detail:Gowdy Invalid Home, Saxtons River
City:Town of Rockingham
County:Windham County
State:Vermont
Short: Saxtons River, VT

An alternative is:
Detail:Gowdy Invalid Home
City:Saxtons River
County:Town of Rockingham, Windham County
State:Vermont
Short: Saxtons River, VT

On further thinking, I believe the alternative is probably better. This
indicates the county but shows the town. Thus, if someone went there to
research and went to the county offices for records only to be told they
were in the town, then the town would be right there for them to know and
go to.

Note that I added the "Town of" modifier to Rockingham based on your
explanation. If that is not the official designation, change it to
whatever is correct. Similarly, you might want the correct modifier for
Saxtons River (i.e., "Village of"?). The full names/modifiers can
certainly help eliminate questions here and in other even more confusing
place names. And if you are consistant in this, a future researcher
(including yourself years from now) should not have any problems.

Hope this helps -


----------
Lee Hoffman/KY
E-mail:
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A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)

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