FamilySearchWiki:WikiProject: Updating Societies Pages for 2021 and Caribbean Countries

Gazetteers Project for United States
Project Leader: Heather Mecham Examples: Angola Gazetteers page example Iran Gazetteers page example Malta Gazetteers page example Moldova Gazetteers page example Purpose: To update/standardize the gazetteers pages for each state. You will use a lot of your best judgement to make these pages better. Some of these pages won't have much information and some may have an incredible amount of information. Therefore, we may have to modify the template in the future. Please reach out anytime you have questions or have difficulties knowing where to place information.

Task List
Task List Please complete the gazetteers pages in the following order:
 * 1) Emerging Homelands
 * 2) Maturing Homelands
 * 3) United States

Project Instructions
Step 1: Go to the list and choose a state from the United States tab. Please finish all countries on the Emerging Homelands tab and the Maturing Homelands Tab before moving on to United States.  Put your name under 'completed by' to claim it. Step 2: Create a sandbox for this page.

Step 3: Drop this Wikicode onto the page:

Why Use Gazetteers
A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a state with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteer Contents
Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:


 * Different religious denominations
 * Schools, colleges, and universities
 * Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
 * The population size.
 * Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
 * Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
 * Longitude and latitude.
 * Distances and direction from other from cities.
 * Schools, colleges, and universities.
 * Denominations and number of churches.
 * Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)

Step 4: Replace XX with the state's two letter abbreviation. This will create the sidebar. Step 5: Replace STATE with the full name of your state. (This will create the state breadcrumbs.)

Step 6: Finding online and print only gazetteers
When you search, you might have to search by a state's colonial or alternative name. Check the following places to find a gazetteer: Step 6: Use what is already on the page. If the sources on the page aren't digitally available online, then place them under Print Only Gazetteers. Step 7: At the very top of the page, add a link for FamilySearch Places. Go here and search for your state. Then, copy the URL and add it to the page. Paste the following on the page: *[URL FamilySearch Places] Step 8: Go to the FamilySearch Catalog. Add publishing information. If the sources on the page aren't digitally available online, then place them under Print Only Gazetteers. *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, TITLE, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR Step 9: Search "STATE Gazetteer" at archive.org *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR Step 10: Go to this website. Add state in the search bar. *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR

Step 11: Automatically link to these websites: * World Gazetteers at Archive.org Step 13: General Google Search. (Avoid gazetteers that aren't helpful like animal or weather gazetteers. A Wikipedia list of places might be helpful.) Step 14: Select Save changes. Step 15: Double-check the page to make sure it looks alright. Make sure that the links under Online Gazetteers are actually digitally available online. All other sources should be under Print Only Gazetteers. Step 16: Go back to the task list and add the finished date and the link to the page you created in your sandbox.