Do we count West Virginia's Magisterial Districts as location categories?

Question

West Virginia and Virginia both have magisterial districts within the counties that are, as defined by Wikipedia, " non-functioning subdivisions used for various purposes, such as conducting elections, apportioning county officials from different areas, recording land ownership, assessing property taxes, and collecting vital statistics. Magisterial districts possess no governmental organization or authority."  

The list for West Virginia is here, which included both current and historic for each county: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_magisterial_districts_in_West_Virginia

What I am asking is do we add these as location categories in our category stream, and if so, how do we name them? (At least one was created with the county in the category name, then someone renamed it without the county.) If they are going to be used, the names should be consistent. Bear in mind that for some counties, the Districts are numbered, so they would have to have the county included.

Answer 1

I honestly can not see a clear reason to have the Magisterial Districts.  It would become just too confusing with them.

Previously, I know that someone had requested a OPS for a Mag District in WV but that can get quite large and unwieldy.   And, too confusing if there were already a OPS for a town in that District (in my humble opinion).

Granted, those of us that heavily research these regions do know the Mag Districts (mostly because of the census records) but we do not refer to them much in our research or even when living in the district. 

For example:  My family is from Webster County, WV and in the Fork Lick District.  We know it but never say, "Hey, I live in Fork Lick".  We go by the town names and would say, "Hey, I live in Curtin".

Comments

Thanks, Sandy. I find them confusing as well and since they are non-functioning subdivisions, I don't really see a need. I'm checking census docs, which is where I see the districts in records. Still, that would be considered a census place and not an actual town, village, hamlet, or what have you.

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During my prior research in Wood County, I found myself wanting to see a map of Wood County showing districts with cemeteries marked with numbered push pins.  And then beneath the map the cemeteries listed by the number on the push pins.  But I didn't/don't have the skill to create such a map.  It surely would have been helpful!!