Hi Karla! Somerset is the same as Somersetshire. The conventions with regard to the naming of English counties can be quite confusing. Some, such as Cornwall, Northumberland and Rutland never have the suffix "shire". Some always do eg Cheshire. Dorset and Somerset are, perhaps more often used without the "shire" nowadays but either version is correct. Finally, to add to your confusion, one or two have an abbreviated form which, for historical resaons is not formed by merely dropping the "shire" eg Hants is the short version of Hampshire and Shropshire has an abbreviated form "Salop". I'm beginning to wish I hadn't started this :-) Cheers Paul Alternative Address: mountpleasant@goginan.fsbusiness.co.uk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Staudt" <staudt@cptelco.net> To: <WESSEX-PLUS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 4:03 PM Subject: [WSX] Where is Somersetshire? > Hello, > > I am trying to locate my g.g.grandparents place of origin. Their > tombstones, and several documents, say they came to the U.S.A. from > "Somersetshire, England". Is this in Somerset county or somewhere else? I > have been unable to find it on any map that I have had access to. > > I would greatly appreciate any help you can offer! > > Karla > staudt@cptelco.net > > > ==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== > Can't find the mail list you need - try John Fuller's page at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-unk.html > or Rootsweb's own pages from http://lists.rootsweb.com/ > >