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Archiver > TMG > 2005-09 > 1127432289


From: "DeAnna Burghart" <>
Subject: RE: [TMG] Pre-USA country designations revisited
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:38:09 -0700
In-Reply-To: <433324C0.5030806@ix.netcom.com>


>>Boy, what a slew of answers, but I didn't spot one that was definitive.<<

<grins> This list is many things, Bill, but because of the myriad of
opinions, the vast number of (perfectly valid) different approaches, and the
innate flexibility of TMG itself, "definitive" is rarely among them. :D

I'm not sure what my two pence is worth, but for my money you're still okay
leaving the country blank, or just using "America" if it suits your desired
output. The main thing is to be consistent. Whether you decide to record
place names based on geographic considerations, postal considerations,
political considerations, or phases of the moon, just be sure that you
record them that way consistently. Some people may regard it as a sin
against data integrity to record a 1670 Roxbury birth as occuring in
"Massachusetts, America", but in my opnion it's a far worse sin to record
several different contemporaneous events as "MA, USA", "Massachusetts, New
England", and "Mass., English colonies", if only because you're going to
have oddly inconsistent *output*.

Which, when it comes right down to it, is the real test of what you want to
input.

DeAnna

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DeAnna Burghart
TMG Shortcuts, Variables and Report Cheat Sheets (Word and PDF)
http://members.cox.net/danieleb765/genealogy/


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