More about Standard Place Names in FamilySearch Family Tree

If you have entered any data at all into the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, you have experienced the suggestion of a "Standard Place" or "Standard Date." Here is a screenshot showing the program's suggestion for a standard place:

The purpose for entering dates and places in a "standardized" fashion is explained in a Help Center document entitled, "Entering standardized dates and places." (Please be aware that Help Center documents and my links to them may change at any time. If you find that a link to a Help Center document no longer works, try going to the Help Center and searching for specific terms or phrases in the document you wish to find).

When you enter dates and places, Family Tree helps you select a standardized date or place. Using standardized dates and places helps clarify the information that you enter. It also helps the system locate people with the Find feature. 

Note: FamilySearch recommends you use the name of the place at the time of the event. This matches with sources and facilitates hinting. FamilySearch is working to connect historic names of places with their modern names.

In reality, you can enter a non-standard date or place and the program will record it. The problem, as pointed out by the quote, is that unless a date format or place name is standard, the Search function of the Family Tree will have difficulty finding it or using it to find other information. One common problem with using non-standard dates is that the children in a family do not get sorted chronologically. Let's suppose you enter the date as follows:

4/5/99

This date has some problems. First of all is it 1899, 1799 or 1999? In addition, is it April 5th or May 4th? For this reason, the standardized dates now require this format:

5 April 1899

The name of the month should be completely spelled out. If you use an abbreviation for the month, it is too easily confused with the many different languages used by the people using the program around the world.

Now what about places? As the Help Center articles states, we need to be recording the places as they were called at the time the event occurred. I have used this before, but it is still a good example. Here are the changes in place name where my Tanner family originally settled in Arizona:

• Allen's Camp, Yavapai, Arizona Territory, United States
• St. Joseph, Yavapai, Arizona Territory, United States
• St. Joseph, Apache, Arizona Territory, United States
• St. Joseph, Navajo, Arizona Territory, United States
• St. Joseph, Navajo, Arizona, United States

The physical location did not change (maybe a little) but the changes in governmental jurisdictions and names are important for locating records about the people during the different times the records were created. Can I enter all these variations, when appropriate? Yes, certainly. There is a detailed explanation of how to do this in the Help Center document. Click here for the full explanation. Here a quote with most of the pertinent information:

1. Begin typing the date or place. If Family Tree can identify the date or place that you mean, a list of standardized dates and places appears.
    

   
   
   Note: The standard format for entering BC (Before Christ) dates is 0120 BC and 0045 BC.
    
2. Click the correct option: The standardized date and place appears beneath the field. If the Family Tree can apply a standard, it does so, even if you did not choose an option from the list.
   • If you want the system to use only the standardized date or place, click the standard date or place in the list. The standard replaces what you entered.  If you do not know the exact date, you can use "about," "before," or "after" with a year for a standardized date.
   • If you want the system to keep exactly what you enter, click None of the Above. This option appears at the bottom of the list of standard dates or places.
   • Standardized dates and places show a green banner with the date or place. Nonstandardized dates and places show a yellowish banner and the words "No Standard Selected.  Click here to select a date" (or "place").  Click the message, and then click a standardized date or place.

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3. To include extra information that does not appear in the standardized place, such as the name of a hospital, cemetery, or church where the event took place, use the steps below: 
   1. Begin typing the place as you want it to appear. As you type, the system displays the closest matches in the list of standardized places.
       

      
       
   2. After the part you want to add (cemetery in the example), type the final part of the place as it appears in the standardized place. If you are typing an old historical place, type the place, and then type the modern place to connect the old name for the place with the standardized name.
       

      
       
      The system now displays the place you typed and the standardized place.
       
   3. Instead of clicking the standardized place, click somewhere else on the screen. The system leaves the place as you type it but connects the place with the standardized place.

Tip: 

• Use Step 3 to put in old historical places with different modern names. Following this step preserves the old name but connects it with the modern name. Connecting with the standardized place makes it easier for other people who use the Find feature to find this person. If they look for a name and a place, the system can match the place they enter with the standardized place.
• When you edit a date or place, click the date or place; then press the down arrow on the keyboard to see the standardized date or place.