Localities

In the Hamlet People database, place locations are given, from left to right, specific to the more general.  In the United States, I usually indicate a city-village-hamlet, followed by a county, followed by a state.  In the eastern United States, particularly New York and New England, towns are important units of government, and may be inserted between a village-hamlet and the county.  Towns often have the same name as a village-hamlet within the town, and the source record may be ambiguous.  For example, if the source references a place name as East Hampton, NY were they intending East Hampton (Town of), Suffolk, NY, or East Hampton (Village of), East Hampton (Town of), Suffolk, NY?  I assume the larger governmental unit (the Town) unless I know otherwise.

There are some genealogists who insist that localities should be given using the names used at the time of the event.  I prefer to to use the modern name wherever possible, as I think it more understandable to the modern reader.  I usually have therefore converted the original "old" name to the modern name.  I have created a Localities Table that gives the "also known as" references for many of the older names where I can identify them.  I also try to indicate the "old" name in a note.  While for the most part, I try to use the modern name in the Hamlet People database, in some cases the older or obsolete names have crept in  -- you also may be able to find their modern equivalents in the Localities Table.