* Old English Counties

[pwe]

Many of my ancestors were born/married/died in places such as Paddington or Kensington which at that time were in Middlesex, a county which no longer exists, or in St Neots which was in Hunts but is now in Cambs. You all must have examples where a place is now in a different county to what it was.
In my family tree, should I refer to a place as being in the county it was in at the time of the event, which may confuse later readers of my charts, or should I use the current county at the time of my compiling the tree? Which is the standard way of doing this please?

Peter E

ID:199

[IDgen]

As the recording of data is a personal thing I think that, providing you make it clear in your record keeping up front, you could take either approach. However logic would seem to dictate that if your decedents wish to revisit your research at a later date. It will be easier to follow if you recorded events, as was, at the time of the event. As an example I also have an ancestor who was born in Eaton Ford (St Neots) Bedfordshire in 1869. If anyone looks for this entry at that date, the county will always be correct for that date, whereas if you had the county recorded as it is today, the entry would not be found.
I hope this make sense Peter, as I have also been bothered by this problem myself.

[pwe]

Ian,
Thankyou. Your reasoning makes sense to me so I think I shall adopt this method.
With the London counties it is necessary to be careful as there have been several boundary changes. I have an ancestor who was born in Kensington Middlesex in the 1860s and was married in Kensington London after 1888.

Peter E