FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Courthouse Disasters

Main Project Page

Purpose
To record information concerning record losses in courthouses.

Contact
Jane Colmenares

Task List
Task List

Instructions
Video Webex instructions

Go to the Task List and sign out a state to work on. There will be a corresponding Google Doc that will list any courthouse disasters in your counties.

Step 1
1. You will need to check each county page on your list. Under the heading Record Loss, there will be one of three cases:


 * There is no information for courthouse disasters (either because there were no courthouse disasters, or they have not yet been added).
 * There will be accurate information describing the record loss.
 * There will be a statement telling the user to go to an external link for courthouse disaster information

2.  If there is a statement directing the user to an external link, remove that statement.

3. If there is no information listed, check the Google Doc to see if there was a courthouse loss for that county. See instructions in Step 2 for how to update.


 * a. If there is no history of record loss in that county (or state) found on the Google doc, copy and paste the following under the heading: There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

4. If there is accurate information describing the loss, do nothing to this county and move on to the next county on the list.

Step 2
1. Go to the Google doc to find the necessary information about record loss in this county. Depending on the information listed, describe the record loss using one of these examples:


 * 1876 The courthouse at Baxter burned 7 September 1876. Most county records were lost. Some deed books survived.

Or, if you only have limited information such as date and fire, you can enter:


 * 1876 Fire burned courthouse

Step 3
1. If you have edited the page, place "updated courthouse disaster information" in the Edit Summary Box and go on to the next county.

2. Once you have completed checking the state, go back to the Task List and enter the date you completed the work. You can then sign out another state.