FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Adding Information to Probate Records Section of County Pages

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Purpose
To add Image-only and Database links from the FamilySearch Catalog to the Probate Records section on U.S. county pages.

Contact Person
Beverly Repouille, 402-215-5340 (before 8 pm Mountain time)

Task Lists
Iowa Task List Montana Task List Nevada Task List North Dakota Task List South Dakota Task List Wyoming Task List

Set Up

 * 1) Make sure you are logged in to FamilySearch and the FamilySearch Wiki.
 * 2) Sign up for a county on one of the Task Lists listed above - making sure you are on the Probate tab.
 * 3) To get to the county, click on the name of the county, then the link which pops up.
 * 4) Some of these entries may already be on the page.  If so, please make sure that the link goes where it is supposed to and that it is formatted correctly.
 * 5) Scroll down to the Websites area and open the FamilySearch Catalog link in another tab.  It should be the last listing under Websites.  If this link does not go to the desired county, please let Beverly know!
 * 6) Select the Probate Records section.
 * If there ARE NO records under the section:
 * Go back to the Task List and add No Records under the heading Comments
 * Go to the next County.
 * If there ARE records under the Probate Records section, proceed with the Catalog Instructions below.

Adding Image-Only Catalog Links Instructions
1. Click on the Probate Records Catalog entry link to display the records listings.

2. Select the first record.

3. Scroll down to the Film/Digital Notes section and look for a camera icon on the right of the note.
 * There may or may not be a key over the camera icon. We will use them both.
 * DO NOT CLICK ON THE CAMERA ICON. All the information we use will be from the top of the page, not from the Film/Digital Notes section.

4. First copy the template to the Probate Records section of the County page:


 * * DATE-DATE (*); ADD NAME OF COURT HERE at FamilySearch Catalog — images

5. Add the dates. Copy them exactly from the title. It is not necessary to look for dates if they are not in the title. Delete the date coding, if that is the case.
 * Sometimes there will be two sets of dates such as "Probate Records 1857-1952; Index, 1857-1965"
 * In the first date slot place the earliest date (DATE-DATE). So 1857 would go in the first slot (1857-DATE)
 * In the second date slot place the latest date (1857-1965) even if it is from the second date

EXAMPLE:
 * (with dates) * 1907-1924 (*); ADD NAME OF COURT HERE at FamilySearch Catalog — images
 * (without dates) * (*); ADD NAME OF COURT HERE at FamilySearch Catalog — images

6. Next add the title #.
 * The title number is obtained from the URL line. As you read across the URL, it will start off with familysearch.org/search/catalog/######? plus more characters.
 * The title number is the number immediately after the word catalog/ and before the ?
 * Copy just the number from the URL line and place it where it says title #

EXAMPLE:
 * * 1907-1924 (*); ADD NAME OF COURT HERE at FamilySearch Catalog — images

7. Leave the item part as-is.

5. After the disp=, place the title of the film exactly as written except capitalize the first letters in the title. No need to add author or anything else.

EXAMPLE:
 * * 1907-1924 (*); ADD NAME OF COURT HERE at FamilySearch Catalog — images

8. It is important that the users know which court authored the information.
 * You only need to add the Main Author which should be the line immediately after or under the title line.
 * You DO NOT need to add the county or state.
 * Just add the Court information.
 * Replace ADD NAME OF COURT HERE with the actual name of the court after the semicolon.

EXAMPLE:
 * * 1907-1924 (*); Clerk of the District Court at FamilySearch Catalog — images

9. If the word Index is in the title, please change the "— images" at the end of the line to say "— index & images."

10. And it should look like this when previewed:

EXAMPLE:
 * 1907-1924 (*); Clerk of the District Court at FamilySearch Catalog — index & images

11. If there are NO other entries in the Catalog, go to the last section.

12. If there ARE other Probate Record Entries in the Catalog, please go back to the start and enter each one.

Adding Database Catalog Links Instructions
THIS SET OF INSTRUCTIONS TELL YOU HOW TO ADD DATABASE LINKS.

1. After opening a Catalog entry, you may find a line of red text in the Notes section that states: ''' To view digital images of. . . ''' There may be other wording indicating that this is a database. The goal is to get to the search page of the database.

2. First copy the template to the Probate Records section of the County page (please note this template is different from the one for Image-only items):


 * * DATE-DATE (*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

3. Add the dates. Copy them straight from the title. It is not necessary to look for dates if they are not in the title. Delete the date coding, if that is the case.

EXAMPLE:
 * (with dates) * 1850-1954 (*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * (without dates) * (*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

4. Leave the {{RecordSearch| as-is.

5. Next add the title #.
 * The title number is obtained from the URL line. As you read across the URL, it will start off with familysearch.org/search/catalog/#######.
 * The title number is the number immediately after the word catalog/
 * Copy just the number from the URL line and place it where it says title #

EXAMPLE:
 * * 1850-1954 {{RecordSearch|2211980|Title name}}(*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

6. Place the title of the film exactly as written from the record except capitalize the first letters in the title. Please make sure you copy from the beginning of the title to the end of the title plus any dates that may be part of the title. No need to add author or anything else.

EXAMPLE:
 * * 1850-1954 {{RecordSearch|2211980|Iowa, Poweshiek County Probate, School, and Court Records: COLLECTION RECORD, 1850-1954}}(*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

7. Add the name of the Historical Records Page.
 * While in the database page, select the link that says How to Use this Collection
 * Once on that page, copy the title of the article (not the URL) including the words FamilySearch Historical Records
 * Paste that where it says Name of Historical Records Page in the template

EXAMPLE:
 * 1850-1954 {{RecordSearch|2211980|Iowa, Poweshiek County Probate, School, and Court Records, 1850-1954}}(*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; images

8. Add what type of record it is - Index & Images, Index only, or Images only

9. And it should look like this when previewed:

EXAMPLE:
 * 1850-1954 {{RecordSearch|2211980|Iowa, Poweshiek County Probate, School, and Court Records, 1850-1954}}(*) at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; images

10. If there are NO other entries in the Catalog, go to the next section.

11. If there ARE other Probate Record Entries in the Catalog, please go back to the start and enter each one.

Before You Leave the Page

 * If there is more than one item under the Probate Records heading, please place them by date order first. If there are no dates, then they go alphabetical under the date-ordered entries.
 * Do a Show preview before saving to make sure it looks like it is supposed to.
 * Before you save the page, please enter Adding FS Catalog entries project to the Summary line.
 * Don't forget to go back to the Task List above for the state you are working in and put a date on your part when you are done.

Thank You!