Just reviewed the watch section for the New York Methodist church records (havent' done this in a long while) and saw that someone had thought the Minister service list was a birth list. Please see attached. This particular type of list names the minister, and all known places and dates where he served for the church. On the attached, it would be keyed as:
Deens James L Pitts(Pittsburgh) 1846: Meaning that James L Deens was a minister in the city of Pittsburgh in 1846, Barnsville in 47 (1847), Chartiers 48, 9 would be 1848 and 1849 and so on. Occasionally at the end of these sections it may list when the man died. As the country moved west, so did the ministers. Or they may have been assigned to circuits, covering several small towns at the same time.
The reason I know about this type of record is that my great grandfather was a Methodist minister and I've spent some time in a Methodist archives following his career.
I've been keying these as name lists, keying in the name, followed by the first place listed as residence since that is where the man would have been living for the first date named.
Just trying to clear up the confusion on this and to help other keyers. Perhaps a change or note should be made of this in the watch section for these records.
Kathie