FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Maine Town Clerk Information

Current Wiki Projects Maine Town Clerk Information

Purpose
Adding Town Clerk information to Maine town pages.

Contact
Jane Colmenares

Task List Page
Task List

Instructions
Newest Version of Video Instructions, 11/18/2015 Video Instructions to project Additional instruction about adding websites starts at 15.45

1. Go to the Maine Town Clerk Task List page and choose a county by typing your name next to it on the chart.

2. Use the county link on the Task List page to get to the county wiki page you signed up for. When you go to that county page on the wiki, you will find a listing for all of the towns in that county. This lists all the towns you will need to add the town clerk information. Note: you will add town clerk information for the cities as well, however, it may require some searching of the website below to find what you need to fill out the information.

3. From this county wiki page, click on your first town name which will take you to that page in the wiki. Make sure there is not already information for the Town Clerk listed on the page. If it is, go to the next town. If it is not listed, go on to Step 4.

4. Using Public Records Directory Maine Cities and Towns website, find the information for the town you are working on. At the top of the page, you will see the alphabet. Click on the correct letter for the town you are working on. Then scroll down to the town name on the page.



5. Go back to the town wiki page and go to wikitext. Then, add the "Town Clerk" heading at the very top of the page above the "Brief History" heading on the town page. You can copy the following wikitext and paste it on the wiki page:


 * === Town Clerk ===

6. Under the Town Clerk heading, add the name of the town and "Town Clerk" and put three quotation marks around it to bold it. Example: Albany Town Clerk

7. Going back to the Maine town clerk website, find the address information for the town found under the heading: Town Marriage Licenses, Birth, Death and Marriage Records, Election Information and Tax Sales. See the second red arrow.



8. Copy the information and paste it onto the wiki directly under the town office name in wikitext. To make it display properly, use the following instructions. After the first line of the address, add. The hit the "delete" key to bring up the next line of the address to be directly behind the  you added. Add another  after the line and again, hit the "delete" key on your keyboard. That will bring the last address line up to the same line. Again, add a. The Wikitext should look like this:



Abbot Town Clerk 133 Main Road, Abbot, ME 04406 Telephone: (207)876-3340

9. There is usually a website also listed under the town information. Click on the website link to see if it works and goes to the official town page.



10. If the website URL goes to the correct page, add the link to the wiki page. To get the correct website URL, you will need to use the following instructions:


 * a. Click on the "website" link found under the listing for the town. (See number 9 above for example.)


 * b. In the right hand corner of the screen, click on, "Remove Frame." This will open the town clerk website in a new tab.




 * c. Copy the URL in the webite address field.


 * d. Return to the wiki, and paste the website URL directly below the Telephone number.


 * e. Put one square bracket in front of the URL.


 * f. After the URL put a space and then type, Website.


 * g. After the word, Website, add one closing bracket. You can use the following wikitext example:


 * Abbot Town Clerk 133 Main Road, Abbot, ME 04406 Telephone: (207)876-3340 Website

11. If the website does not work, you search Google for the correct town clerk page. Try using the keywords with the name of the town: "Maine town clerk." For example, if you are looking for the Abbot town clerk, Google the words, "Abbot Maine town clerk." If you find the official town clerk page, use this website URL instead. If you can't find one, leave off the word Website and go to step 12 to complete the task.

12. E-mail addresses are usually not listed with the other contact information, but patrons find this information very helpful. Try searching the town clerk website for an e-mail address. If you find one, make the e-mail address into a clickable link by using the following wikitext example and placing it after the telephone number and before the Website link:


 * [mailto:clerks@Abbotmaine.gov clerks@abbotmaine.gov]

The full wikitext entry should look like:


 * Abbot Town Clerk 133 Main Road Abbot, ME 04406 Telephone: (207) 876-3340 E-mail: [mailto:clerks@abbotmaine.gov clerks@abbotmaine.gov] Website

13. Enter “added town clerk info” in the edit summary box and save your work.

14. Check the page to make sure the information is correctly displayed including the website link. If it looks correct, move on to the next town. Repeat the above steps above for each town. (see example below)

Example of complete town clerk:

14. Once you have completed an entire county, go back to the Task List and enter the completed date beside your name. You can now sign up for another county.