Categorization structure for Prussia (in present-day Poland only)

Profile managers: Skye Sonczalla [send private message], Tina Kobus [send private message], Maggie N. [send private message], and Steve Thomas [send private message]

Proposal for Prussia submitted to G2G 10 Dec 2022.

Voting for finalized plan for categorizing villages in Prussia submitted to G2G 17 Dec 2022.

Approved Rule for categorizing villages in Prussia sumitted to G2G 23 Dec 2022.

Part of the Poland Project

Background

First and foremost, Prussia categories are created ONLY for areas within present-day Poland. The Germany Project uses present-day locations for any location within Germany at any point in history, which is why the region within Germany is excluded.

The intention behind the Prussia categorization structure is to provide a bridge between Polish village names and it's historical German name. This is important because Wikitree users may not be geographically savvy on the issue of border changes, and it affects potentially tens of thousands of Wikitree profiles who may have migrated before the borders changed.

Prussia has a total of 13 provinces by 1900, with each having various inception dates. Wikitree will use year (+/-10 years) 1900 as a baseline for the creation of categories; however Wikitree profiles should always reflect the true location name at the time of the event.

How to Find the Correct Name, County and Province

Finding information about a particular village can be a challenge in this region as many had a German name v. Polish name. Lists of villages within a province are not always available to find. Often times it requires careful review of maps.

1. Kartenmeister.com (Search Polish or German location names, DO NOT use Polish alphabet characters as they are not recognized.)

2. Gov.Genealogy.net (Historical Gazetteer, search Polish or German location names, can use Polish alphabet.)

3. MeyersGazetteer.org (Online version of MeyersGazetteer includes historical and modern location maps. Search only German location names)

Information For Each Province Within Poland

Note: The content under this heading may be edited at any time after approval.

• Category: Brandenburg, Preußen = (Germany, Poland)
  • Brandenburg, Wikipedia.org
  • Brandenburg, FamilySearch.org

• Category: Ostpreußen, Preußen = (Poland, Russia, Lithuania)
  • Ostpreußen, JewishGen.org
  • Ostpreußen, Wikipedia.org
  • Ostpreußen, FamilySearch.org

• Category: Pommern, Preußen = (Germany, Poland)
  • Pommern, Wikipedia.org
  • Pommern, FamilySearch.org

• Category: Posen, Preußen = (Poland)
  • Posen, JewishGen.org
  • Posen, Wikipedia.org
  • Posen, FamilySearch.org

• Category: Schlesien, Preußen = (Germany, Czech, Poland)
  • Schlesien, Wikipedia.org
  • Schlesien, FamilySearch.org

• Category: Westpreußen, Preußen = (Poland)
  • Westpreußen, Wikipedia.org
  • Westpreußen, FamilySearch.org

Formal Tier in Category Structure

Prussian category structure for counties and villages are ONLY in the German language (de). (Kreis = County for clarification)

• Category: Preußen and Category: Prussia = country
  • Category: Posen, Preußen and Category: Posen, Prussia = province, country (parent & parent1)
    • Category: Meseritz (Kreis), Posen = county name (Kreis), province
      • Category: Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen = town, county, province

Please note that all provinces and kreis/counties have already been created. You will ONLY need to create at the village level and then connect to the county via the CIB (below).

How to Categorize a Village/City

1. Creation of a village begins at the Wikitree profile level. For example: Carl Wilhelm Ernst Bormann

2. Add the village category above the ==Biography== header in the Wikitree profile: [[Category: Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen]] and accept. Bypass the warning that a "category has not been created."

3. Scroll to the bottom of the Wikitree profile to see the new category link in red. Click on it and add a Category Information Box (CIB):

{{CategoryInfoBox Location
|lang=de
|Name= Preußen
|Aka=
|parent=
|project=Poland
|team=Prussia
|coordinate=
|wikidataID=
|profiles=yes
|spacepage=
|webpage=
|webpagetext=Kartenmeister
}}
*'''Das Polen-Projekt verwendet NUR die Zeit um 1900 als Grundlage für die Erstellung der Dorfkategorien in Preußen. Bitte verwenden Sie diese Kategorie, wenn Ihr Vorfahre in diesem Dorf zu irgendeiner Zeit unter Preußen gelebt hat. Um diese Kategorie hinzuzufügen, kopieren/einfügen Sie: <nowiki>[[Category: Adelnau, Adelnau, Posen]]</nowiki>
*'''The Poland Project ONLY uses circa 1900 as the basis for creation of village categories in Prussia. Please use this category if your ancestor lived in this village anytime under Prussia. To add this category, copy/paste: <nowiki> [[Category: Adelnau, Adelnau, Posen]]</nowiki>

• name = full name of the historical location (in German)
• aka = full name of the present day location in Polish NOTE: LEAVE THIS BLANK IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ALSO CREATE THE POLISH VILLAGE COUNTERPART. This is how the Poland Project keeps track of any new village categories created. Thank you!
• parent = the county or Kreis. Please look under the province to find the county/kreis. Copy/paste accordingly.
• project = Poland
• coordinate = is found on Wikipedia on the top right of a page, click on it and you will want to copy/paste the "decimal coordinate" that looks like this: 53.8875, 18.349167
• Wikipedia ID = is found on Wikipedia page, in the left column and usually called Wikipedia Item. Click on the link. The ID will look like this: Q894316
• Profiles = yes. Means yes Wikitree profiles can be categorized into this category.
• spacepage = (leave blank). Used for Free Space Pages or One Place Study Pages
• webpage = URL link to specific Kartenmeister page on the village where you obtained your information.
• webpagetext = name of webpage listed

Integration of Poland Categories

Again, it is not mandatory for you to create the Polish village categories. If you DO NOT create them, you must leave the "aka" in the Prussian CIB blank (as stated above). As the Poland Project runs reports, this is how we locate any new categories created and we will create the Polish counterpart for you.

The categorization structure for Poland can be found here: Space:Categorization_structure_for_Poland

"Poland has an extremely long and complex history of border changes throughout the centuries. The purpose of this categorization structure is to allow any page, cemetery, project, Wikitree profile, etc. be categorized under the present day category regardless of historical time period. Wikitree profiles must always reflect the correct language in the birth/marriage/death location fields. The present day location serves as an index to anything that is connected to it."

In the case of Category: Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen, it is situated in present day Poland (Category: Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubusz, Poland). Village categories in Poland are in the English and Polish language parallels. Open either Poland category to copy the parallel language wording and add the parallel category language to the newly created Meseritz category, changing the ending from "en" (English) to "de" (Deutsch):

• From: {{Aka|Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubusz, Poland|en}}
  • note the "en"
• To: {{Aka|Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubusz, Poland|de}}
  • note the "de"

Placement of the new parallel category should be above the CIB:

{{Aka|Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubusz, Poland|de}}
{{CategoryInfoBox Location
|Name=Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen, Preußen
|Aka=Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubuskie, Polska (Use Polish name)
|parent=Meseritz (Kreis), Posen
|project=Poland
|team=Prussia
|coordinate= 52.448333, 15.588333
|wikidataID= Q639241
|profiles=yes
|spacepage=
}}

The parallel language provides a "bridge" across all three categories:

• Category: Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen,
• Category: Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubusz, Poland
• Category: Międzyrzecz, Międzyrzecz, Lubuskie, Polska

Any Wikitree profiles showing under the above 3 categories will appear nested together across all three categories. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO ADD ALL THREE CATEGORIES TO WIKITREE PROFILES TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL. Parallel categories between Prussia and Poland are ONLY used at the village level.

If you have created the parallel villages in Poland, both "en" and "pl" AKA will be the German spelling of the Prussian village. In this case: Meseritz, Meseritz, Posen, Preußen