Ever consider the possibility that the place name simply changed instead of something moving?
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Ever consider the possibility that the place name simply changed instead of something moving?
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Greatgrandpa's saloon and hotel/Greatgrandma's restaurant “went under the lake” in Idaho. A little hard to research there today.
I consider I have a reasonable command of the English language – so saying, I cannot grasp what this Tip of the Day is trying to convey.
I can't recall this happening before as I find the advice to be quite clear, concise and very helpful.
This one perhaps was a little too short and actually the “draft” went out instead of the actual tip. The intent was something like this:
“Have you considered the possibility that the place name changed when you can find a reference to it in 1850, but it is nowhere to be found in 1860, 1870, etc.? Don't assume the place became abandoned or a ghost town. It may still exist in the exact same spot and never have moved, but may be simply hiding under a different name.”
Another thought — sometimes small (unincorporated) comunities get swallowed up when a larger city grows up around them.
I use wikipedia.com for place names. Type in the Place, County, State [County] in the browser. Then all the possible combinations will come up… usually… wiki has the best info. Including: History of the Location, Dates, People, Etc. And links for additional research… I will follow out a “lead” sometimes for hours. Saving a Link to the desktop, then creating a Folder for later reference.
My folder for Wallingford Castle in England includes: Wallingford Castle – Wikipedia, List of Lords of Wallingford Castle – Wikipedia, List of prisoners at Wallingford Castle – Wikipedia. Sometimes I rename the link and/or folder to include [dates, names of ancestors, etc]