Place names in FamilySearch and Ancestry Trees

[Pauline]

There seems to be some confusion at present with many place names at FamilySearch from recently released records. For example, some Gloucestershire events from BTs have the place shown as Wiltshire or sometimes Swindon, some Wiltshire events are shown as being in Hampshire (this one's been a problem for a while), and other places have just been confused as these examples show:

A marriage and a burial in Castle Combe, Wiltshire - moved to Combe by Amesbury (wherever that is!)
Name Stephen King
Age 77
Residence Place Castle Combe
Death or Burial Date 6 Jan 1837
Death or Burial Place Combe by Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
Death or Burial Place (Original) Combe Castle, Wiltshire, England
Birth Date 1760
Event Type Burial
Document Type Bishop's Transcripts

Name Elizabeth King
Residence Place Castle Combe
Spouse's Name William Gibbs
Spouse's Residence Place Marshfield Glre
Marriage Date 11 Jun 1781
Marriage Place Combe by Amesbury, Wiltshire, England
Marriage Place (Original) Combe Castle, Wiltshire, England
Event Type Marriage
Document Type Bishop's Transcripts

and a burial which actually took place in Tormarton, Gloucestershire (one of many)
Name Francis Bushell
Death or Burial Date 16 Mar 1745
Death or Burial Place Sutton Benger, Wiltshire, England
Relative's Name Isaac & Grace Bushell
Relative's Relationship to Principal Son of
Event Type Burial
Document Type Bishop's Transcripts

 

[peter]

FamilySearch suffer from gazetteer issues like other websites. In this case it could be the recording of the burial place as Combe Castle, rather than Castle Combe that has caused the problem.

However it's also worth noting that if you search the FamilySearch catalogue by place you find Castle-Combe and Sutton-Benger so it could be the hyphens that've caused the confusion.

 

[Pauline]

so it could be the hyphens that've caused the confusion.

My thought was likewise that the initial error in putting Combe Castle rather than Castle Combe had caused the issue there. However, I'm not sure how a hyphen may have caused burials in Tormarton, Gloucestershire to be relocated to Sutton Benger, Wiltshire!

 

[peter]

My thought was likewise that the initial error in putting Combe Castle rather than Castle Combe had caused the issue there. However, I'm not sure how a hyphen may have caused burials in Tormarton, Gloucestershire to be relocated to Sutton Benger, Wiltshire!

It says death or burial place. People aren't always buried in the place where they died, and these villages are only about 12 miles apart.

But if there are a lot of relocated entries, as you imply, it could simply be incorrect metadata. I'll leave it to you to research further.

 

[Pauline]

It says death or burial place. People aren't always buried in the place where they died, and these villages are only about 12 miles apart.

That's just a generic term, and it gives the event type as Burial. There are no dates or places of death given in the Tormarton register around that date, so there is no way of knowing where he died. However, as a very young child he would most likely have died where his parents were then living - in Tomarton.

It does seem to be all the Tormarton burial entries for that period that are amiss, not just the odd one or two, so Sutton Benger is definitely an error.

 

[peter]

It does seem to be all the Tormarton burial entries for that period that are amiss, not just the odd one or two, so Sutton Benger is definitely an error.

I'll leave it to you to investigate further. If it is incorrect metadata, as I suspect, other parishes could be affected and the errors might well have carried through to other websites that source data from FamilySearch.

 

[CeeJay]

moved to Combe by Amesbury (wherever that is!)

Amesbury is in Wiltshire, a mile or so east of Stonehenge, on the A303, and best avoided due to the traffic jams.

 

[Pauline]

Amesbury is in Wiltshire, a mile or so east of Stonehenge, on the A303, and best avoided due to the traffic jams.

Thanks! I am familiar with Amesbury (though less so with its traffic jams as I haven't been for a good many years), but wasn't so sure about Combe by Amesbury as it's not a parish, and although there are various places called Combe in some shape or form not too far away, which one are they referring to as Combe by Amesbury?

 

[Morris Dancer]

I'm not sure if it ever did, and for as long as I remember you haven't had to use the dropdown either when searching or in your tree.

If you don't use the dropdown when entering locations in your tree, Ancestry may make wildly wrong guesses at the place when showing it in a list of results, but if the place concerned isn't in the dropdown you don't have much choice.

If you don't use United Kingdom when Ancestry try to make a story out of what you have added they always assume that your ancestors are in USA so if you just put Birmingham it will be changed to Birmingham, Alabama etc.