Comments on Migration Category Structure

Question

Edited based on feedback (removing British North America).

On 24 Jan 2023 Brian Nash wrote on Migration Category Structure:

I am wanting to add a Migration Category from Newfound Land when it was still a British Colony (pre 1949) wondering what I would put for the from country and from entity

I've been using the current structure of:

[[Category:Canada, Immigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Immigrants]]

[[Category:Canada, Emigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Emigrants]]

but using the four time period divisions:

* Newfoundland Colony 1610-1907
* Dominion of Newfoundland 1907-1949
* Newfoundland (province) 1949-2001
* Newfoundland and Labrador (province) 2001-Present

this expands to (as needed):

[[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants from England]]
        [[Category:Migrants from Dorset to Newfoundland Colony]]
        ...
    [[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants from Ireland]]
        [[Category:Migrants from County Waterford to Newfoundland Colony]]
        ...
    ...
[[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Emigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Emigrants to United States]]
        [[Category: Migrants from Newfoundland Colony to Maine]]
        ...
    ...
[[Category: Dominion of Newfoundland, Immigrants]]
    [[Category: Dominion of Newfoundland, Immigrants from England]]
        [[Category:Migrants from Dorset to Dominion of Newfoundland]]
        ...
    ...
[[Category: Dominion of Newfoundland, Emigrants]]
    [[Category: Dominion of Newfoundland, Emigrants to United States]]
        [[Category: Migrants from Dominion of Newfoundland to Maine]]
        ...
[[Category:Canada, Immigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Immigrants]]
        [[Category: Newfoundland, Immigrants from England]]
            [[Category:Migrants from Dorset to Newfoundland]]
            ...
    [[Category: Newfoundland and Labrador Immigrants]]
        ...
[[Category:Canada, Emigrants]]
    [[Category: Newfoundland Emigrants]]
        [[Category:Newfoundland, Emigrants to United States]]
        ...
    [[Category: Newfoundland and Labrador Emigrants]]
        [[Category:Newfoundland and Labrador, Emigrants to United States]]
            ...

 Thoughts, suggestions, directions?

Comments

British North America never existed.  British North America is an incorrect term used primarily by Family Search.

Prior to the American Revolution, War of Independence, the name of the area was the Province of Quebec.  In 1763 the French ceded it's northern colonial holdings to Spain and Great Britain. The British subsequently named their territory the Province of Quebec in 1763.

From 1791 to 1841 the area was known as Upper Canada and Lower Canada, from 1841 to 1867 as the province of Canada with Canada East and West, though Upper and Lower Canada continued to be employed interchangeably. The unified Dominion of Canada was made official by the British North America Act of 1867.

The Act of Parliament that created the country of Canada was called the British North America Act,  the place itself has never been called British North America.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:North_American_Place_Names#British_North_America.2C_British_Colonial_America.2C_Colonial_North_America_-_Why_Not_To_Use_Them

Answer 1

I support what you have been doing so far.

I do not think it is a good idea to aim for historic accuracy with the categories. The umbrella name "Newfoundland" is easy to understand and use for the period between 1610 and 2001. I have only found less than 50 wikitree profiles in [[Category: Newfoundland Immigrants]] and the subcategories. There are already some sub-categories with 0 profiles in them.

Rather than creating more subdivisions (and empty categories), I recommend that you add explanatory notes to each of the migration categories to describe the different time periods.

Comments

I add an example that has different government structures over time.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Migrants_from_Duchy_of_Nassau_to_New_South_Wales

The migration category structure is only historically correct for the years 1815 to 1816. Other periods are described in the notes.

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The modern category is Newfoundland and Labrador.  It's actually desirable to break down location categories by era, makes for more manageable size to search through.

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The empty categories (at the time of your viewing) are misleading. It is not for a lack of profiles which could be added to the various subcategories.

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Hi Danielle,

I know nothing about Canada. Nevertheless, I am involved in similar category discussions about the regions of the German Confederation to present day Germany.

One break I agree with is between 'Newfoundland' and 'Newfoundland and Labrador' in 2001.

Regarding  "break down location categories by era, makes for more manageable size to search through". I agree when a category has many hundreds of profiles. That is different to small migration categories (<100?). In my view,  breaking down migration categories by era can make it harder to find connected families.

I am happy to see very small location categories and keep large migration categories.

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Steve, Newfoundland only joined Canada in 1949, so forcibly there needs to be differentiation.  And just because the migration categories haven't been filled doesn't mean there were no migrants.  Not sure how many in Canada project actually work on that part of the country.

Answer 2

British North America is definitely a misnomer, Newfoundland also had French colony of Plaisance up to the time of the English conquest in 1759/1760. 

Basically the location category structure for Newfoundland needs work.  

Comments

Thank you for taking this on Kimberley.  I suggest you add the tag Acadian Project, as the French colony of Plaisance (pre-English conquest) is mostly addressed by them.  I see references to it occasionally in Canada New France records, but nothing consistent.  There is definitely a French presence on the island back in those days, very often just fishing off the Grand Banks, but there were people living there also. 

Answer 3

I support using the structure for historical place names for migration categories, like you outlined above. And to create new categories as needed.

I think it's probably most important to distinguish between pre-1949 and post-1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada. It seems really inaccurate to imply someone to pre-1949 Newfoundland was also an immigrant to Canada. (The distinction between colonial Newfoundland, and the Dominion is maybe more academic). At minimum, I think, we'd need a [[Category: Newfoundland Immigrants]] and a [[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants]].

I take Steven's point about the size of migration categories, we shouldn't be creating a bunch of empty categories in anticipation that we might use them, for sure. And categories with just one or two people aren't really super useful. We can easily use  [[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants from England]] for regions like Oxfordshire or Norfolk, where there are only one or two people, and then create the subcategories as needed. For instance, [[Category:Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants from Dorset]] will have hundreds of members, right away. 

I think the sweet spot for creating a new category is 10-20 people, but we can figure it out.
 

(You've done a great job tackling this! Thanks.)

Comments

Well written Brad!

You have taken my point that a collection of empty or sparsely populated categories is not helpful. I was trying to keep the number of divisions to a minimum. Also the dividing lines need to be clear. I do not know much Canadian history. However, The division between Newfoundland pre-1949 and post-1949 is still perfectly clear to me.

I like your example of a big collection bucket "[[Category: Newfoundland Colony, Immigrants from England]]" then create new categories when they reach a critical size. 

The critical size for a category serves to connect members of a family, so I consider 6 is a good number for location categories. Migration categories are different; they help identify groups of families that are emigrating together. I prefer large categories, however your guide 10-20 looks OK to me.

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Steve, it's not just families that migrated, there are lots of individuals who migrated by themselves.

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Yes, that is true. My point was that it is useful to have a migration category that is large enough to collate two families that are travelling together.