FamilySearch Wiki talk:Help wanted on the Arkansas pages

Completed tasks
These have been removed from the help wanted page and posted here to track progress.

Wanted Pages

 * Tombigbee and Arkansas River Trail
 * Arkansas Voting Registers
 * Great Osage Indian Trail
 * Natchitoches Trace
 * Tombigbee and Arkansas River Trail
 * Trail of Tears
 * Frisco Railway (Posted to talk page 7/21/2014 these were done previously)

Wiki Content Team To Do's
Priority 1 tasks are assigned to the Wiki Content Team. Our first purpose is to get the most important information into the Wiki for each state and its counties. To do this, our focus is on one state at a time to discover patterns that can be easily adapted to other states.

NOTE: The pattern concept was proven to work by Ruth2Jones in July, 2014. She adapted the pattern used in the Illinois Births before 1877. It took days to create the Illinois page, and took her mere minutes to adapt it to Arkansas -- two states with vastly different records.

The tasks are posted on the talk page.


 * If you wish to join the team, please leave a comment on my talk page. AdkinsWH 16:49, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Leftovers and other states

 * Illinois Online Birth, Marriage, Death Records article incorporate into Illinois Vital Records article, then the Online Birth, Marriage, Death records….. article can be deletedRuth J. Jones 17:50, 22 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Wilma and Ruth will discuss and work on this and have others review to be sure we are on the mark.
 * When finished, change the links on the Illinois home page and be sure the links are correct from the How to find Illinois birth records page.
 * Once we have the pattern, we can skip the step of creating the Online BMD page.


 * Template:Census Online (state) Break it up in segments; before 1850; 1850-1870; 1880-1940 to work better with the How to Find Birth Records before [date???]
 * This should be done for every state as the How to Find Birth records page is updated. Joy started this for every state July 16, 2014.

Arkansas state pages

 * Create the Arkansas Home page in sandbox. Claimed by AdkinsWH 01:29, 19 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Have Yammer/Community review


 * How to Find Arkansas Birth Records Update the years before births were recorded using the pattern on Illinois How to find... page.
 * fix the chart in 'How to find AR Birth Records'; so far a 1st draft has been developed from the IL model (15 July 2014) - this may be easier once the VR page is finished Ruth Jones is working on this AdkinsWH 22:49, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
 * To help users, this needs to be done for every state. (Not by Wiki Content Team as this time, however. Getting the pattern down for 3-4 states, then it can become a good project.AdkinsWH 22:51, 25 June 2014 (UTC))


 * Create the page Arkansas Online Birth, Marriage, Death Records and copy information from the page Arkansas Online Genealogy Records Claimed by Ruth J. Jones 17:56, 22 July 2014 (UTC) Ruth placed an Arkansas Online Birth, Marriage, Death Records page 23 July 2014, and notified Wilma for review.
 * Clarify the links, see pattern: Illinois Online Birth, Marriage, Death Records


 * Update the AR Vital Records page. Note: Wilma and Ruth will discuss this and have the others review to see if we are on the mark.
 * The need: So the links from the "how to find birth information before (date birth records were begun for that state)" will give the users not just the links, but easy to understand information.
 * the How to find AR Birth Records, How to Find AR Marriage Records, How to Find AR Death records will remain. Birth, marriage, and death links should be well clarified, then added AR Vital Records page.


 * State topic list
 * Add "Arkansas" to the state topic list
 * add topic "Social Networking Groups". Link to Arkansas Genealogy Local Resources


 * Create a page Arkansas Genealogy Local Resources from the "shell" page User:AdkinsWH/Sandbox Local Resources shell
 * Copy the information to appropriate sections from Arkansas Archives and Libraries, Arkansas Societies societies, museums, FHCenters. This will likely require attention, as it may not be a simple cut and paste.
 * We decided to keep websites as a separate page.

State Completed Tasks

 * Template:Census Online Arkansas Break it up in segments; before 1850; 1850-1870; 1880-1940 to work better with the How to Find Birth Records before [date???]
 * Done AdkinsWH 22:11, 25 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Update Arkansas County Creation Dates and Parent Counties. Joy has updated this page for every state except LA with links to details of Boundary Changes. Done by end of June 2014

Prep for community/yammer review

 * New format for County page
 * Records page
 * record categories
 * Breadcrumb trail

Prep for Excel copying

 * Prep so the pages can be done in Exel
 * Get sandbox pages acceptable
 * Refine intro paragraphs for each record topic
 * Create the "shell" page in Excel. Protect it, so we don't accidentally write over it.
 * Topic list, add the word "County" to the county topic lists
 * Link to the County Records and Information page
 * Create Intro templates for each category. Thought these could be adapted from WA, but could not find them. Adapt, therefore, from WA county pages. Claimed AdkinsWH 01:38, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

Pages to create/complete
Sandbox pages (requires Yammer and Community critique)
 * Create a county home page Claimed by AdkinsWH 20:44, 18 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Create a Courthouse and Local Resources page which also combines Courthouse, library, societies, museums, FHCentersRuth J. Jones 17:53, 22 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Create a separate page with only County Genealogy Records and Information (Accidentally started page in actual space, not a sandbox.)
 * Make sure there is an intro template for each topic
 * Decrease the heading levels by 1 less "=" They start at level 4, decrease to level 3
 * Be sure to get links to the new pages


 * Update the Websites page with tabs claimed by AdkinsWH 20:44, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Add information to topics

 * Cemeteries
 * Wilma needs to refine this so it is easy to do from county to county.
 * We are not looking for more to add to any county. The ones listed are enough for now.


 * Vital Records
 * Team: discover at a glance pattern. There are certainly complicated patterns, such as our early work with Salt Lake County, Utah


 * FHL (WorldCat? ACPL?) links in these sections: Cemeteries, Church History AND Church Records, History, Obituaries, Probate Records, Vital Records
 * Wilma, Ruth, team: refine format. Perhaps Carol or Sister Heaston would enjoy this


 * Glean from Internet sites:
 * Ancestry.com (done already by BO and Joy for AR)
 * Archives.net???
 * Others, so long as they actually have databases
 * Not from Linkpendium and CyndisList. They certainly are wonderful sites, but they make their living and reputation from gleaning the Internet. They don't maintain their own databases of information, therefore, if we glean from them, we are essentially bypassing them. And we want to encourage all they do.

County completed tasks

 * Glean from Internet sites
 * Ancestry.com completed by Bo and Joy, probably in May 2014


 * Historical Timelines
 * Bo completed several counties before we realized this should be a community assignment. Bo's work helped to establish the pattern others can follow.