Hi Ron I think what matters is what it means to the individual whose tree it is , I would be highly surprised if there are no similar mistakes in my tree, but as its my tree I know what it means and if I find an error along the way I will change it when I find it I really wish I had known better when I started off, to record the source and more fully at that, several times I have had to go over the same ground again to check I had the right data But there again in so doing I have often found additional data I missed the first time round so perhaps its a worthy cause :-) Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 07/06/2012 22:59, Ron Mitchell wrote: > Perhaps dumb is a strong word in this usage. In my case, years of > putting United States in a record before 1777 was certainly an avoidable > mistake had I been thinking. It has been rectified in all my records. > Those records for people prior to 1777 have generally British America, > but not all. Really no different in using Wisconsin before 1848 since > Wisconsin didn't exist before that or Hawaii or Alaska prior to 1959. > Territory yes, state, no. > Ron > Submarine Vet.