User:Sabwoo/Sandbox

My User Page My Talk Page United States Page has links to any State Page The following are links to counties that are listed as Extinct or Renamed Arizona Counties, but were discontinued. Pah-Ute· Rio Virgin The following are links to counties that are listed as Extinct or Renamed Arizona Counties, but never were. They were really New Mexico counties. Bernalillo· Doña Ana· Rio Arriba· Santa Ana· Socorro· Taos· Valencia The following are links to counties that are listed as Extinct or Renamed Arizona Counties, but never were. They were really proposed counties, that were rejected. Castle Dome· Ewell· Mesilla

Extinct or Renamed Counties of Arizona
There are seven articles for counties listed in the "Extinct or Renamed Counties" of Arizona - Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Rio Arriba, Santa Ana, Socorro, Taos, and Valencia. Those seven articles are your creation, and you have continued to support them by making changes.

But I have a disagreement with those seven articles. They are listed in the article for Arizona, indicating that they are counties of Arizona. The titles of those seven articles state very clearly that they are counties of Arizona. At first I edited those articles to show that none of them were counties of Arizona. I believe the facts show this. Then I thought the problem is the title of the articles. Finally I realized the basic premiss of the articles is faulty, they were never counties of Arizona, they were counties of New Mexico.

Suppose that you had an ancestor living on the land that would one day become Arizona, that is before 1863. He would have lived in New Mexico Territory in one of those seven counties, but it would have been a New Mexico county. Any records that he would have generated, would be sent to the county offices of that New Mexico county.

Then in 1863, everything changed. Arizona Territory was created from the western half of New Mexico Territory. All counties that had existed before on that land were discontinued. Soon Arizona created four new counties for this new territory - Mohave, Yavapai, Yuma, and Pima.

Your hypothetical ancestor would have lived in one of those four Arizona counties. Any records that he generated would be sent to the county offices of that Arizona county. None of those four Arizona counties have been discontinued, but over the years have been divided up until Arizona now has 15 counties. Only one county has been discontinued - Pah-Ute.

For me, the purpose of the Family Search Wiki is to identify the location of where records may be found, so that those who don't know may be led to the right location. I don't believe those seven articles above help do this.

The information those seven articles have is good information, but it really belongs in the New Mexico county articles. I propose to transfer that information, then remove those seven Arizona articles. But I didn't want to proceed with this, without giving you a chance to explain your side of things. Please let me know.

I also see that you are a big contributor for three other articles in the "Extinct or Renamed Counties" of Arizona - Castle Dome, Ewell, and Mesilla.

Since those three counties never existed, those articles do not lead to finding any records. They are not helpful. I propose to remove those three articles. But again, I ask for your side of the story, before I proceed. Please let me know.

In the end, I intend to have only two articles listed - Pah-Ute and Rio Virgin. The only reason Rio Virgin will be listed, is that it incorrectly contained land in Arizona and therefore might have some records of Arizona. For me the reason for doing all this is to make things clear and helpful for those just starting out in genealogy. Sabwoo 19:52, 7 October 2012 (UTC)