Master location list and what to call the United States before it was united.
Here's an idiot question: What do you call the United States before it was called the United States in your Master Location List?
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JL Beeken, We do not have idiot questions. We only have idiot politicians. I refer to The American Colonies as a group when needed. More specifically I use Colonial New Jersey, Colonial Virginia, etc. Hope that helps
ReplyDeleteThis question could add some to do items to my long list for Legacy. Funny, never considered this one, and I know better. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not an idiot question. I've been struggling with that one and looking for an answer since I started genealogy several years ago. Elizabeth, with your method, are you simply not listing a country at all? Colonial New Jersey would still be at the state level, I assume, or would that be considered on the country level? I found one suggestion to use British Colonies as the country, or British American Colonies (obviously you would need to alter that for the areas which didn't start as British colonies). I decided those were too long for my taste, and am currently simply using America to distinguish pre-USA from post-USA. I look forward to seeing what other suggestions are made. On a related topic - what date should be used as the cut-off/beginning point? I've been using 1776 (Declaration of Independence), mainly because it's the date I know best, and what I think of as the actual beginning of the United States. But other dates could certainly be argued. Thanks for raising the question!
ReplyDeleteDiana Mullin, I do not use a country. At the time there was none only a colony designation.
ReplyDeleteColonial .... sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI use what ever was the official designation of the "State" ie, Province of New Jersey, Province of Pennsylvania, Colony and Dominion of Virginia, followed by Great Britain. Technically correct but you will have to go manually place the "pin" on the location map.
ReplyDeleteI am using Diana's method. "America" reminds me that on that occasion and that time, the United States had not been born. I also use 1776 as the demarcation line for America versus United States of America. I am one of those who is continuing to use Adams County, Hancock County, etc. If I added Province of Jersey and others, my locations would be a mile long.
ReplyDeleteYou can't use "colony" alone because other countries had colonies too. It should be Virginia Colony, Kingdom of Great Britain (which was the name of the UK at the time). You can search the history of any country to find out what it was called during a specific time period. I try to be really specific. Illinois was once part of Virginia. St. Louis, Missouri was once part of Illinois Country belonging to France, then Spain, then France again. It gets complicated, but I think it's important to be precise. Those colonists on the east coast were not Americans. They were British citizens. It is also helpful when thinking of places to find records.
ReplyDeleteLeslie Rigsby Oh, yes I can. Technically you're right, of course, but right now I'm just trying to separate locations from "United States".
ReplyDeleteI wonder what words the emigrants used who came from England, Ireland, Germany, etc. to describe the area that was to become the United States of America. Where did they think they were going on that ship?
ReplyDeleteYou may want to at least say whose colony it was to help you find records in the future. Not all of the colonial records are in the US.
ReplyDelete