I am a glutton for the Census, so I cannot resist sharing the following gem from the U.S. Census Bureau. I find that it answers many of my questions about U.S. Census geography and thus about how I might enter a location.
Geographic Areas Reference Manual, https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/garm.html. For instance, reinforcing what Brian in CA found out, Chapter 4 tells us: "For most States, counties are the primary administrative divisions. There are exceptions, however; Louisiana has parishes, while Alaska has boroughs for the organized portion of its territory. Because a large part of Alaska is not in any organized borough, the State and the Census Bureau cooperatively have subdivided the unorganized portion of Alaska into census areas for the purposes of presenting statistical data." Barbara From: Brian L. Lightfoot <br...@the-lightfoots.com> To: legacyusergroup@LegacyUsers.com Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2015 3:07 PM Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] And a US Census Area be considered a county? I'm a glutton for punishment and this topic of a county name for Gustavus was bothering me. So, I picked up the phone and called Gustavus City Hall. The wonderful clerk there reminded me that Alaska does not have counties but rather "boroughs" similar to Louisiana's "parishes". However, Alaska is still unique in that not all of Alaska is organized into boroughs. Currently there are 19 organized boroughs and one legal entity called the "Unorganized borough". This Unorganized Borough is administered by the state and still takes up the vast majority of the land in Alaska. Gustavus resides in the Unorganized Borough. Technically, you could enter "Unorganized borough" for the county name but that would probably just confuse people other than Alaskans. The city clerk of Gustavus says she normally leaves that blank on any paperwork that asks for a county/borough name but when the form requires something to be entered, she uses the name of the closest borough just to keep the paperwork happy. This concludes today's lesson in Geography. Brian in CA -----Original Message----- From: Chris Summers [mailto:genealog...@summerscs.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 10:32 AM To: legacyusergroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: [LegacyUG] And a US Census Area be considered a county? When I add a USA based location for birth, death or marriage events I usually list the city, county, state and USA in the location field. However my son married his wife in a small town in Alaska near Glacier Bay National Park that does not belong to any county. The town, Gustavus is a part of what is known as the "Hoonah-Angoon Census Area". Of course when I enter that Legacy tells me no such county in Alaska exists. Would it still be appropriate to enter that in the County field or should it just be left blank? Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
