Would the "powers" consider a change in verbiage?

Question

If you look at the profile for my g-g-g-grandfather Adam Campbell, it appears that he died IN Smith Lake.  Not so.  He died AT Smith Lake (his homestead borders what became Smith Lake).  Would y'all cosider reformatting the wording on the profiles from "in" to "at"?

Comments

I learned to water-ski at Smith Lake, and I can say it is a rather new lake.  It was started in 1957 and finished in 1961.  Maybe you can say Adam Campbell died in or near the area that would later become Smith Lake .

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Is the location stated correctly? In other words, is "Smith Lake" a civil jurisdication, or is it a lake? (At least I suspect civil jurisdication are the typical use of the location references in this context.)

The preposition "in" is used commonly to refer to locations of birth, marriage and death. For example, the first several articles from the July 2014 New England Historic & Genealogical Register used the prepositin that way (when prepositions were used at all.)

Hope this helps. --GeneJ

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It's just a lake, a huge lake with 500 miles of shoreline and 500 feet deep, but only a lake.  He can better be said to have died in Walker County (which only borders Smith Lake by the way)

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Vincent -  

Your second comment intrigues me most and is probably the best solution.  The PM on this profile is Clint Norwood, whom I've written to on other shared ancestors.  I'll check with him and what I asked and the answers/comments received.

BTW - the Smith in the name is also in my tree so hearing about you learning to ski there put a big smile on my face.  I tried to learn to ski (in Kentucky Lake) but was a dismal failure!!!

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OK, Vincent and Elizabeth, you made me look!  I live in AL and looked up where Smith Lake is.  I found that it's only about 50 miles from me, so it is on my list of places to go see.

Seven years ago, my husband and I made 3 major life changes simultaneously.  We both retired, got married, and moved to a rural area not far from Huntsville, AL and we're still learning all about the area.  THANX for this new place to explore!

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Best visited in a boat, not much to see from the roads, fabulous houses!

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Gaile -

You live in a beautiful part of our country now - yea!!!  I'll agree with Vincent's last post that Smith Lake is best enjoyed by boat.  But I'll add I've heard it has some of the best crappie fishing anywhere.  (For those of you not from the South or familiar with this wonderul little fish, it is pronounced "crop - e", not as it looks!)

You also write some great questions and replys - - I've noticed!

Answer 1

Adam Campbell's profile is open, go ahead and change it.  If he lived in a town named Smith Lake, and died there, it isn't wrong, but could still be changed.

Comments

Sorry, Tom, but the "in" can't be changed by editing.  Elizabeth can enter date and place of death, but WikiTree software formats the display of those two fields on the profile page by inserting "in" between them.

Elizabeth - I have an idea how you can fix the problem.  Suppose you enter "the town of Smith Lake" in the death place field?

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My error.....Sorry.

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Tom and Gaile - Thanks to both of you for helping me get this in my head clearly!

Answer 2

I can see your problem, Elizabeth, but it must be a fairly unusual one.  The conventional way of things is to use 'in' rather than 'at'.

'He died in England' sounds a lot better than 'He died at England'.  I would not be happy to see this changed globally.

Great question (and great profile by the way) , but I have to disagree with you.

Perhaps 'Birth/marriage/death place' would be a solution that would fit most, but there again, someone might find it didn't fit their particular circumstances.

Margaret

Comments

Died in sea?

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Good point, Sir William, however ...

I realize that "died at sea" is a commonly seen phrase, but that could be solved by entering the death place more specifically, i.e., "transit between A and B", "the middle of a cruise", "the X ocean" (if drowned), etc.  Perhaps the died at sea cases might sound awkward, but the number of people this would affect is miniscule by comparison to those who died on land (note the use of yet another word to link death with location).

If we really want to allow for all the different possible words, there could be an additional field for selection of "in, at, whatever" next to each location, but my personal opinion is that it would be much more trouble to do than it is worth.

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Thank you, Margaret.  I'll get your complement to the PM's attention (Clint Norwood at Norwood-203).