FamilySearchWiki:WikiProject:Adding Alabama Archives Links to County Pages, Part 2

Part 1 Select a Province and Create a Sandbox
Step 1: Go to the list and choose a province from the Maturing Homelands tab. Please finish all countries on the Emerging Homelands tab before moving on to the Maturing Homelands Tab.  Put your name under 'completed by' to claim it. Step 2: Create a sandbox for this page by typing in User:USERNAME/sandboxSANDBOX NAME. Replace USERNAME with your username and SANDBOX NAME with what you want to name your sandbox. You will get a notification that

Step 3: Drop this Wikicode onto the page:

Online Gazetteers

 * Canadian Atlas Online
 * Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (CGNDB)

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 country 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 PROVINCE with the name of your province. (This will create the province sidebar template and breadcrumb.)

Part 2: Finding online and print only gazetteers
When you search, you might have to search by a province's colonial or alternative name. Also, try finding gazetteers by searching the province's country. Check the following places to find a gazetteer: Step 1: 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 2: Under the heading "Online Gazetteers" add a link for FamilySearch Places. Go here and search for your province. Then, copy the URL and add it to the page. Paste the following on the page: *[URL FamilySearch Places] Step 3: 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 4: Search "PROVINCE Gazetteer" at archive.org *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR Step 5: Go to this website. Add province in the search bar. *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR Step 6: Try that nation's archive website (you might have to translate "gazetteer" into that nation's language). *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR Step 7: Automatically link to these websites: * World Gazetteers at Archive.org Step 8: Google Search for your province and online gazetteers (Avoid gazetteers that aren't helpful like animal or weather gazetteers. A Wikipedia list of places might be helpful.) Step 9: Select Save changes. Step 10: 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 11: Go back to the task list and add the finished date and the link to the page you created in your sandbox.