FamilySearch Wiki talk:WikiProject County Page Template

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 * General recommendation: It may be prudent not to simply come up with only one vanilla template for all 50 states.  It would be better if a template was created that accounted for each state's differences as consistently as possible.  For example, in Ohio, birth and death records were kept solely at the county level until 1908, when the state kept these records centrally, making the county courthouse irrelevant for these types of records from 1908 onward.  Cemetery records in Ohio were predominantly kept at a township level in early settlement, as one of the township's functions was to administrate them--however, in states in the Southeast, such as North Carolina, there are no contiguous units of government beyond the county level, whereas in Ohio and many locations in the Northeast and Midwest, counties are ALWAYS broken into townships, some of which in whole or part have become villages or cities.  Also, modern records often neglect to record township boundaries, relying mostly on modern ZIP codes, but older records most certainly require attentiveness to townships, including the U.S. Census.  Also, in Maryland and Virginia, for example, some parts were divided into hundreds, which are now no longer used, but relevant in locating specific parts of a county.  It would be wise to have experienced researchers from each state converse as to differences which would require a statewide divergence for one state, or a group of states, to use a slightly different template that accounts for the state's governmental structure and record keeping structure, making it much easier to know where blanks need to be filled in.  It therefore stands to reason that a template for North Carolina might be a bit simpler than one for Ohio or Pennsylvania, albeit not exactly the same, as some sections would not be applicable in other states. - Lee T Hawkins 22:30, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree that each state is going to have significant diferences. The idea of a template is to encompass the common elements so that gets done for all fifty places in one shot. All the peculiarities would then be added to the page to make it specific for the state. The great place to have a template with the state peculiarities will be with the county pages in each state. Darris G. Williams 05:14, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
 * What you say sounds to be on the same plane. (BTW I wrote the original comment above, I forgot to sign it :-/ ) I think it's of prime importance to keep every state as closely similar as possible, albeit not so rigidly as to force conformity where it simply cannot exist. I just discovered this wiki recently, so I am working to flesh out all the information on a county I am very familiar with here in Ohio in order to determine what a good structure would be, while taking some time to look at how other county articles have been developed to find good ideas on how to improve as I go. I intend on reviewing as many county articles that have been nominated to be featured as I can to see what some others' ideas are, so I can use anything good that I see. I will report back with any findings and to request feedback/comments/issues. My goal is to come up with a more robust template and at least one county article worthy of feature, though of course this will take some time and collaboration! Should be fun! - Lee T Hawkins 07:02, 13 August 2011 (UTC)