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From: Darrell Martin <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Proper Terminology
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 09:54:20 -0500 (GMT-05:00)


** my Web mail client sets "reply to" against my will, sorry **

Hi, Kevin:

In the terminology of the time, "Germany" probably was correct. Political and cultural units do not always have equivalents, and even when they do, boundaries do not always coincide. From the Dark Ages until 1870, I think, the only meaning for "Germany" that made sense was cultural rather than national. There wasn't a sovereign nation that used that name (and I don't think any nation/state used "Deutchland" either).

Ask someone from Ulster if he or she is "from Ireland" or "Irish", and the answer will depend (perhaps rather emphatically) on whether you are understood to mean the island or the republic, and with which cultural group said person identifies....

Faced with a situation of that kind, I put in the Tag Place the actual location of the event, using the **current** place name and geopolitical setup. *However*, where that differs significantly from the situation at the time of the event, I may (if I think it relevant and/or interesting) put an appropriate mention in the Tag Memo and include that in the sentence. I *always* quote the wording of the original record, verbatim, in the Citation Detail, insofar as it applies to the conclusion supported. For example, an ancestor born in Rockingham, Cumberland County, New York before the Revolution will always be recorded as born in Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont. However, if a supporting contemporary record from New York is found, I will put in the CD "called in the record 'Rockingham, Cumberland Co.' " if that is what the original says.

I do not consider it my responsibility to provide lessons in historical geography as part of my genealogy. On the other hand, I do my best to be unambiguous.

Darrell

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Sholder <>
Sent: Aug 31, 2005 8:31 PM

All,

I'm curious as to how other people handle the fact that in the US census
records (1850, 1860, 1870) so often it shows the country or birth as
Germany. When in fact this is incorrect. Obviously to record the census
information accurately, this is used. But for the actual birth place, if
you don't actually know, I would rather not use "Germany." What do you do
in this case to indicate that they came from somewhere in a German speaking
part of Europe?

Thank you for your time,
Kevin L. Sholder





Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter in exile in Illinois


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