[APG Public List] [APG Members] place names

Debra Mieszala debfamhist at sbcglobal.net
Wed Oct 27 10:26:21 MDT 2010

Some places and things move. Some move geologically, such as after a powerful earthquake. Others pick up and physically and politically move to an entirely new location, such as after a natural disaster, because of the construction of a dam or railroad line, removal of an entire cemetery (or was it simply the stones that were moved?), etc.

I lived in a house that was moved due to construction of a highway ramp. It was planted miles away, near the site of an early settler's long-gone home, but the house had nothing to do with him. Descendants of the family that did live in the house before it moved could be erroneously led to think it was always in its present location, if anybody knew the house by sight alone and jotted down GPS coordinates for it's current place on the globe. Certainly the building is there, but to obtain GPS coordinates of the place where it was when the people who built it lived in it would require wandering in a highway ramp with a very old codger who might recall where it once stood. What matters is where somebody or something was when. Unless the present location is relevant, what is needed is the actual (old) location, and that is where I feel accuracy can be an issue. Like any other piece of information, how certain are you about what you record? Certainty does not
 equate accuracy.

GPS technology is fun and amazing. Using it in a personal work is a nice addition, depending on the circumstances of the use. But should people who may not understand the technology and any possible limitations (an example is the intricacy of how to denote a larger location like a township) use it as a resource for others? Especially beyond giving something simple like the GPS coordinates of a gravestone?

Debbie Mieszala, CG(sm)
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