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Re: Where Do You Say You Live? (217813)

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Posted by Paul Matus on Sat May 5 10:27:41 2001, in response to Re: Where Do You Say You Live?,
posted by American Pig on Fri May 4 20:53:04 2001.

I'm not sure about "Greenfield." My guess is yes, but that's only a guess.

The problem in routing out old names is that the incorporated political subdivisions (in NY, cities and villages) and the statutory ones (if that's the correct term--counties, towns) are easy to trace, because they have legal boundries and clear documentation. So you'll have no trouble going to, say, the Brooklyn or NY Public Libraries and tracing the exact borders of Brooklyn City, Flatbush Town, Flatbush Village, Flatlands Town, etc., etc. at different times.

When you get to names like "South Greenfield" you need to know whether there was a Greenfield to be south of, was this Greenfield a neighborhood, or maybe a little settlement, or even a real estate name.

And these change over time. Railroad stations pin down names, but they don't necessarily have legal significance. The LIRR renamed its Babylon station "Seaside" for a couple of years in the 19th century, but this was neither a legal name change nor did it last. But you'll find pictures of "Seaside" station.

So you need not one map, but possibly many to do anything like an exhaustive study.


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