US Southern Colonies Project Location Preferences

Date: [unknown] to 4 Jul 1776
Location: [unknown]

US Southern Colonies Project | Project Maintenance Categories Page By Team | Needs Location Research Page Location Preferences

Contents 1 Purpose 2 General Guidance 3 Country & Colony Preferences 3.1 Country Name Preferences 3.2 Colony Name Preferences 3.3 Summary Table 4 Colony-Specific Preferences 4.1 Jamestown Colony 4.2 Colony of Virginia 4.3 Province of Maryland 4.4 Province of Carolina 4.5 Province of North Carolina 4.6 Province of South Carolina 4.7 Province of Georgia 5 Needs Location Research Maintenance Category 6 Data Doctors and WikiTree+ Suggestions 7 Location Resources 7.1 General 7.2 Outside USA 7.3 USA 7.4 US Southern Colonies (all) 7.5 Jamestown Colony 7.6 Colony of Virginia 7.7 Province of Maryland 7.8 Province of Carolina 7.9 Province of North Carolina 7.10 Province of South Carolina 7.11 Province of Georgia 8 Footnotes & References

Purpose

The US Southern Colonies Project works on profiles of those born or settled in the colonies of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia prior to 4 July 1776.

This page provides preferences for locations appearing in US Southern Colonists' profiles:

• birth, death, and marriage location fields
• regional categories
• person profiles
• associated free-space profiles (pages)

General Guidance

WikiTree's guiding principle for location names is the same as the one for Name Fields: "use their conventions instead of ours."

Applied to locations, this means using place names in native languages and using the names that people at the time used, even if they now no longer exist.

Include the words Parish, County, District, etc., if known, in the location field. For example, these are different locations, or the same location at different times:

• St. Anne's Parish, Albemarle County, Colony of Virginia (county and parish created in 1744)
• St. Anne's Parish, Essex County, Colony of Virginia (different parish created in 1704)
• St. Anne's Parish, Caroline County, Colony of Virginia (Caroline Co. created in 1727, formed from Essex Co. and others)
• Albemarle Parish, Surry County, Colony of Virginia (parish created in 1738)
• Albemarle Parish, Sussex County, Colony of Virginia (Sussex Co. created in 1753, formed from Surry Co.)

For a discussion of why these words should be included, please see "Locations in 'Place' Datafields" in the March 2021 update of the project's News Page.

Additional project-specific preferences are discussed in WikiTree's Location Field Guidelines, the project's Editing Guidance, and elsewhere.

Country & Colony Preferences

Country Name Preferences

Before 4 July 1776:

The preference of the US Southern Colonies Project is to not list a country, as the locations within the scope of the project were individual colonies, geographically on land that would become the United States of America, but which was not yet a country. However, "America" is also acceptable when a specific colony is not known.

• [nothing] (preference)
• America (acceptable when a specific colony is not known)

See the footnotes^[1][2] for discussion of alternatives that should not be used.

After 4 July 1776:

The three options, in order of project preference, are:

• United States (first preference; used interchangeably with "United States of America" in the Constitution; format used in place name suggestions)
• United States of America (second preference; longer compared to first preference)
• USA (third preference; abbreviations discouraged)

See the footnotes^[1][2] for discussion of alternatives that should not be used.

Note: The United States of America began on 4 July 1776, for the purposes of US Southern Colonies Project scope, WikiTree categorization, and Data Doctors location errors.

Colony Name Preferences

Each of the colonies within the scope of the US Southern Colonies Project has a variety of acceptable names. However, since one of the goals of the project is to standardize names to improve results when searching by location, please use the following:

• Jamestown, Colony of Virginia^[3]
• Colony of Virginia^[4]
• Province of Maryland^[5]
• Province of Carolina^[6]
• Province of North Carolina^[7]
• Province of South Carolina^[8]
• Province of Georgia^[9]

See WikiTree's United States Historical Place Names (Google Sheets) for a useful table of the states and commonwealths of the USA, including a historical timeline and their predecessors.

Summary Table

Country	Location Fields	Regional Categories	Person Profiles Free-Space Pages Text
(1607–1776)[10]	[none]	[none]	[none]
(1776– )[11]	USA (preference) United States of America	United States of America	USA (preference) United States of America
Colony	Location Fields	Regional Categories	Person Profiles Free-Space Pages Text
Jamestown (1607–1624/25)[3]	Jamestown, Colony of Virginia	Jamestown, Virginia Colony	tbs
Virginia (1607–1776)[4]	Colony of Virginia	Virginia Colony	tbs
Maryland (1632–1776)[5]	Province of Maryland	Province of Maryland	tbs
Carolina (1663–1712)[6]	Province of Carolina	Province of Carolina	tbs
North Carolina (1712–1776)[7]	Province of North Carolina	Province of North Carolina	tbs
South Carolina (1712–1776)[8]	Province of South Carolina	Province of South Carolina	tbs
Georgia (1732–1776)[9]	Province of Georgia	Province of Georgia	tbs

Colony-Specific Preferences

Jamestown Colony

Jamestown Colonists include the first settlers in 1607 through those present at the Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/25.^[12]

Four original Incorporations were created in 1617. Eight original Shires, immediately referred to as Counties, were created in 1634. Prior to 1634, Virginia locations should not name an Incorporation or County.

Colony of Virginia

For example, the following are appropriate:

• Jamestown, James City County, Colony of Virginia (after 1634)

Province of Maryland

(none)

Province of Carolina

(none)

Province of North Carolina

(none)

Province of South Carolina

(none)

Province of Georgia

(none)

Needs Location Research Maintenance Category

Profiles in the US Southern Colonies Project Needs Location Research category need to be reviewed to verify locations existed at the time the person was living, are consistent with the family's known locations, and use the naming conventions of their time instead of ours.

See the category companion page for more detail.

Data Doctors and WikiTree+ Suggestions

Data Doctors and WikiTree+ suggestion reports include location-related suggestions.

• Warnings caused when a birth location is abbreviated or ambiguous, or a separator issue if a comma is missing between place and country.
  • Warning 618: Birth Location Country not preferred by project
  • Warning 648: Death Location Country not preferred by project
  • Warning 678: Marriage Location Country not preferred by project
• USA too early in location (before 4 July 1776)
  • Error 603: USA too early in birth location
  • Error 633: USA too early in death location
  • Error 663: USA too early in marriage location

Location Resources

General

• Category:Regions

• Help:Biographies
• Help:Free-Space Profile
• Help:Location Fields
• Help:Name Fields
• Help:Uncertain Locations

• Space:Location Field Guidelines
• Space:North American Place Names

Outside USA

• NGA GeoNames WMS Viewer displays even obscure place names.

USA

• USGS Geographic Names Information System.
• "Should British Colonial America be used as a location?", G2G, 6 January 2017.
• WikiTree+, United States Countries (table)

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States
• See WikiTree's United States Historical Place Names (Google Sheets) for a useful table of the states and commonwealths of the USA, including a historical timeline and their predecessors. WikiTree's North American Place Names discusses this table as well.

US Southern Colonies (all)

• USGS Geographic Names Information System.

• Category:US Southern Colonies Project Needs Location Research

• Space:US Southern Colonies Categories
• Space:US Southern Colonies Project Editing Guidance
• Space:US Southern Colonies Project Needs Location Research
• Space:US Southern Colonies Sources and Resources Directory

• "Locations in 'Place' Datafields", US Southern Colonies News Page, March 2021.

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States
• See WikiTree's United States Historical Place Names (Google Sheets) for a useful table of the states and commonwealths of the USA, including a historical timeline and their predecessors. WikiTree's North American Place Names discusses this table as well.

Jamestown Colony

• Jamestown Team

• Category:Virginia Colony

• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes
• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes, Virginia Counties (table)
• Space:Virginia Place Names

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, Virginia
• History of County Formations in Virginia 1617–1995 (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• Freddie Spradlin's "Parishes of Virginia"
• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes, Virginia Counties (table)
• Space:Virginia Place Names

Colony of Virginia

• Colony of Virginia Team

• Category:Independent Cities, Virginia
• Category:Virginia
• Category:Virginia Colony
• Category:Virginia Parishes

• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes
• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes, Virginia Counties (table)
• Space:Virginia Place Names

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, Virginia
• History of County Formations in Virginia 1617–1995 (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• Freddie Spradlin's "Parishes of Virginia"
• Wikipedia, List of cities and counties in Virginia
• Space:Virginia Counties and Parishes, Virginia Counties (table)
• Space:Virginia Place Names

Province of Maryland

• Province of Maryland Team

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, Maryland
• History of County Formations in Maryland 1637–1997 (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• Maryland County Formation Maps: 1680, 1730, 1790

Province of Carolina

• Province of Carolina Team

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, North Carolina
• History of County Formations in North Carolina 1664–1965 (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• North Carolina County Formation Maps (also similar to link directly two above, but a little different)
• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, South Carolina
• (South Carolina) County Formations Map (similar to link directly above, but a little different)

Province of North Carolina

• Province of North Carolina Team

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, North Carolina
• History of County Formations in North Carolina 1664–1965 (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• North Carolina County Formation Maps (also similar to link directly two above, but a little different)

Province of South Carolina

• Province of South Carolina Team

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, South Carolina
• (South Carolina) County Formations Map (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• Parishes, Districts, and Counties in Early South Carolina

Province of Georgia

• Province of Georgia Team

Location Formation & Timeline

• Historical Atlases and Maps of U.S. and States, Georgia
• Georgia County Formation Maps (similar to link directly above, but a little different)
• Marion Hemperley, Georgia Parishs, 1773-1777 (1979) (Georgia divided into eight parishes in 1758, see above sites for more information)
• Kenneth K. Krakow, Georgia Place-Names, 3rd Edition (Macon, Georgia: Winship Press, 1975). Note the selected bibliography of city and county histories at the end.

Footnotes & References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Before 4 July 1776: A number of other country names have been proposed, many of which are not preferred or are unacceptable.
   • WikiTree's North American Place Names discusses the terms British North America, British Colonial America, and Colonial North America.
   • The WikiTree G2G Q&A "Should British Colonial America be used as a location?" discusses this topic at length.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} After 4 July 1776: A number of other country names have been proposed, many of which are not preferred or are unacceptable.
   • WikiTree+, United States Countries (table) lists alternatives as USA, United States of America, and United States.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Jamestown: 14 May 1607 (land selected) – 1624/25 Muster.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Colony of Virginia: 14 May 1607 (Jamestown land selected) – 3 July 1776.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Province of Maryland: 20 June 1632 (charter) – 3 July 1776.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Province of Carolina: 24 March 1663 (charter) – 23 January 1712 (partition).
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Province of North Carolina: 24 January 1712 (partition) – 3 July 1776.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Province of South Carolina: 24 January 1712 (partition) – 3 July 1776.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Province of Georgia: 21 April 1732 (charter) – 3 July 1776.
10. ↑ Colonies: 14 May 1607 (Jamestown land selected) – 3 July 1776.
11. ↑ USA: 4 July 1776 – present.
12. ↑ John Camden Hotten, “Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/5,” The Original Lists of Persons of Quality … (London: John Camden Hotten, 1874), pp200-265; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/originallistsofp00hottuoft/page/213/mode/1up).

Last reviewed 4 Jan 2023 by the Categories Team.