FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Gazetteers

Gazetteers Project for Emerging and Maturing Homelands (Not Canada or US)
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 country. 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

Part 1: Choose a Country and Prepare a Sandbox
Step 1: Go to the list and choose a country from the Emerging Homelands and Caribbean 2021 tab. All countries on other tabs are completed. Put your name under 'completed by' to claim it. Step 2: Create a sandbox for this page.

Step 3: Copy and paste the code below into your sandbox:

Online Gazetteers

 * [URL FamilySearch Places]
 * World Gazetteers at Archive.org

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

Part 2: Check Resources on the Existing Page
Step 1. Go to the existing gazetteers page for the country. If there isn't one, go to Part 3. Step 2. Click on each link. Any broken links don't need to be added to your sandbox. Step 3. Copy any links that assist with understanding the geography or jurisdictions of your country into your sandbox under the "online gazetteers" or "print only gazetteers" depending on the type of resource.

Part 3: Find online and print only gazetteers
'''When you search, you might have to search by a country's colonial or alternative name. Also, try finding gazetteers by searching the country's continent.'''

Part 3A: Add FamilySearch Places Link
Step 1. Go to FamilySearch Places and search for your country.

Step 2. Select the search result you want.

Step 3. Copy the URL for the search result you selected in step 2.

Step 4. In your sandbox, find the "online gazetteers" heading and then the code for FamilySearch Places. See example below for the code.

*[URL FamilySearch Places]

Step 5. Replace "URL" with the URL you copied in step 3.

Part 3B: Search the FamilySearch Catalog
Step 1. Go to the FamilySearch Catalog.

Step 2. Do a place name search for your country and find the gazetteers in the search results.

Step 3. Review the search results and decide which heading they go under. For example, books and microfilm go under the "print only..." heading. Anything digitized go under the "online..." heading.

Step 4. Copy the code below into your sandbox.

*[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR

Step 5. Add the URL from the catalog and then the title, book, author, publisher informaton and publication year from the catalog entry.

Part 3C: Search Archive.org
Step 1. Go to Archive.org.

Step 2. Search for your country's (or territory's) name with the work gazetteer

Step 3. When you find a helpful gazetteer in the search results, click on it to open the entry for it.

Step 4. Copy the code below into your sandbox to add the gazetteer entry.

*[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR

Step 5. Go back to the archive.org page you opened in step 3 and Copy the URL for that page.

Step 6.Return to your sandbox and add the information about the item you selected from Archive.org.

Step 10: Go to this website. Add country in the search bar. *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR

Part 3D: Try the National Archive
Step 1. Use Wikipedia's list of national archives to find the archive for your country. Step 2. Search the archive for gazetteers. You might have to translate "gazetteer" into that nation's language. Step 3. Use the code belwo to add gazetteers from the archive. *[URL BOOK TITLE] AUTHOR, PUBLISHER INFORMATION, YEAR

Part 3E: Search Google for Gazetteers
Step 1. Google Search for the name of your country and online gazetteers. (Avoid gazetteers that aren't helpful like animal or weather gazetteers. A Wikipedia list of places might be helpful.) Step 2: Use the code below to add gazetteers you find: *[URL TITLE] at WEBSITE NAME Step 3. Replace all elements in all caps in the code above.

Part 4: Check Your Work and Save
Step 1. Select show preview. Step 2. 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 3. Click save. Step 4. Go back to the task list and add the finished date and the link to the page you created in your sandbox.

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: Under the heading online gazetteers, 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 13: Google Search for the name of your state and online gazetteer. (Avoid gazetteers that aren't helpful like animal or weather gazetteers. A Wikipedia list of places might be helpful.) Step 11: Select Save changes. Step 12: 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 13: Go back to the task list and add the finished date and the link to the page you created in your sandbox.

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: Copy and paste this Wikicode into your sandbox:

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. Search for your province. Go to the gazetteers entry in the list of search results. Search results are in alphabetical order. Click on the word gazetteers to see the catalog entries. Right-clik on each one to open it in a new tab to collect the URL for the catalog entry. 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 this website by copying and pasting the code below: * 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. Red links are ok in the sidebar, but any red links in the page or for the category at the very bottom of the page are a sign there's a problem that needs to be fixed. Step 11: Go back to the task list and add the finished date and the link to the page you created in your sandbox.