US Southern Colonies Project | Categories Page | US Southern Colonies | Migration Categorization Hierarchy

Migration Categorization Hierarchy

Click here for the existing US Southern Colonists hierarchy. Links to the Colony-level hierarchies and examples of migration categories following the WikiTree hierarchy are in the table (below). The US Southern Colonies Project also has colony-to-colony categories for migration between colonies (see below).

WikiTree's Migration Category Structure is based on people moving between countries and has separate hierarchies for Immigrants and Emigrants. This page primarily describes how that works for profiles within the scope of the US Southern Colonies Project.

See FAQs (below) for additional information.

In addition to Colonial America, Immigrants, the Colony-level "Immigrants" and "Emigrants" categories are categorized under the appropriate Colony-level location and Colonists categories.

For example:

The three parent categories also serve to ensure that the Migration categories are easily found by those using categories to look for their ancestors. The Colony-level Immigrants categories are mid-level container categories^[1] for "Immigrants from..." categories, which are mid-level container categories for the "Migrants from... to..." categories. The Colony-level Emigrants categories are also mid-level container categories (see more below).

FAQs

Question: What does mid-level category, landing-level category, etc. mean?
Answer: See the Categorization Project's glossary, but in a nutshell:

Question: Is it ok/correct to have both Immigrant and Emigrant categories on a profile? For example, someone arrives in Virginia from Kent – the two migration categories would be Category: Colony of Virginia, Immigrants from England and Category: Kent, Emigrants.
Answer: If you know both locations, use the "Migrants from... to..." category. For example:
Category: Migrants from Kent to Colony of Virginia.

Question: Where can I find existing categories?
Answer: Click the [Navigate] links in the table above.

Question: If a category does not exist, can I create one?
Answer: Yes. If you're not comfortable creating the category, post a comment to this page with the WikiTree ID of the person who needs the category and the from/to information (that information should also be supported in the profile's biography, but we need it in the comment just to ensure we create the correct category for you!).

The Categorization Project has a tool to make creating a landing-level category easy: http://mcg.harrislineage.com/index2.html
Just put in the country and the "Admin Entity" in the boxes. The "Immigration Details" would be Colonial America for the "Country" and the Colony-level location (see the first column in the table above) for the "Admin Entity". For example:

The page that opens will show the correct Emigration and Immigration paths. The example shows the following Immigration Path:

The page also includes a "CategoryInfoBox Migration" button that provides a template you can use to create the category. For this example, it was

See Migration Category Structure for more information.

Colony-to-Colony Migration

WikiTree's Migration Category Structure covers migration between countries, with the "Migration from... to..." categories using a more specific "from" location than a country.

The Project's Colony-level Emigrants categories - for Maryland, Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia - are intended to categorize migration of colonists among those four colonies, with subcategories showing movement between colonies (rather than a more specific location for the "from"). Those subcategories are [will be] found under the Colony-level Emigrants categories. Currently, the plan is to have North and South Carolina included in the Carolina categories, to make the categories easier to use.^[2]

The Colony-to-Colony Migration categories can (and should) be used in conjunction with location categories and Colonists categories. The Colonists categories allow the project to categorize profiles within its scope by where an immigrant first settled or where the colonist was born. However, colonists frequently did not confine themselves to just one colony, and the Project's "Emigrants" hierarchy allows for further categorization:

• [Category: Province of Maryland, Emigrants]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Maryland to Colony of Virginia]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Maryland to Province of Carolina]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Maryland to Province of Georgia]
• [Category: Colony of Virginia, Emigrants]
  • [Category: Migrants from Colony of Virginia to Province of Maryland]
  • [Category: Migrants from Colony of Virginia to Province of Carolina]
  • [Category: Migrants from Colony of Virginia to Province of Georgia]
• [Category: Province of Carolina, Emigrants]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Carolina to Province of Maryland]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Carolina to Colony of Virginia]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Carolina to Province of Georgia]
• [Category: Province of Georgia, Emigrants]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Georgia to Province of Maryland]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Georgia to Colony of Virginia]
  • [Category: Migrants from Province of Georgia to Province of Carolina]

Use of Stickers with Colonists, Ship, Migration, and Location Categories

Colonists categories should be chosen based on where the person was born or where the immigrant first settled (not where the ship landed). A profile should only have one Colonists category, which can be added using the project sticker, such as the following:

Ship categories should be added as appropriate. See Category: Southern Colony Ships Category: Chesapeake Colony Ships, and Category: Jamestown Colony Ships.

Migration categories can be used to further categorize colonists of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia:

• the Immigrants hierarchy to categorize colonists by colony and country, or by a more specific country location
• the Emigrants hierarchy to categorize a colonist by subsequent migration between those colonies.

Location categories should be used to cover where the person lived and died and was born and married. And while location categories should be used for all relevant locations, it is usually more helpful to include the Ship category instead of the ship's landing location.

Note: Help: Stickers advises no more that five stickers, and says that three is better. If you need to reduce the number of stickers, look at the importance of what the sticker is highlighting and which stickers best illustrate the text.

Remember that it is the categories that the Project's Colonial Teams use to help them identify profiles for people within their scope - primarily the Colony-level Colonists categories, which are added by the project sticker when a colony switch is used. If you remove a project sticker that uses a switch, be sure to add the corresponding category.

For example, if you remove {{US Southern Colonist Sticker|North Carolina}}, add [[Category: North Carolina Colonists]].

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} See FAQs (above) for quick definitions.
2. ↑ Although the Province of Carolina was not officially divided into North and South Carolina until 1712, the terms were used prior to that date.

Last reviewed 19 Nov 2021 by the Categories Team.