FamilySearch Wiki:U.S. County Page

United States County Pages

The following should be on each US county page and should not be changed:

Statesidebar code
Breadcrumb trail
Table of Contents
Template:Infobox U.S. County 2016
Headings as found on this example county page: Franklin County, Indiana Genealogy
Category for: [County]; [State] Counties (example, California Counties)

All subject/topic headers are standardized and can be found here: List of Record Type Headers
Intro Template: A header template may be found under each header. These templates are only to be edited by Wiki Administration.
Record Type info: The only description under the header should be information specific to the records in the county. Information about the record type, what it contains, and why it is used should be located on the state or United States topic pages. Include a link to the state topic page when applicable.

County only specific links.
County records grouped by state: These include databases of county records that are grouped together by state. If "county" is in the title of the database, the link may be added to the county page.
Contain a link back to the State and/or United States topic page where more databases will be located to control the length of the county pages. This will be put in the state intro under each heading.
Regional collections: If a database covers only a portion of a U.S. state, the collection will be put on the corresponding counties if known. The regional collection will also be put on the state topic page. Example, naturalization records by regional courts.

Exceptions:

Vital Records Heading and Social Security Application Heading Because Vital Records (births, marriages, and deaths) are the most sought for information on a county page and States often have state-wide vital record databases, state-wide databases will be listed under births, marriages, and deaths headings in addition to any county databases.

Description: Short description where the county is located and when the place was established. Lines up to 4.
County Courthouse: Lists courthouse information, county website, and any information about where the records might be located.
Record Dates: Lists dates records begin in the county.
Record Loss: List any known record loss for the county.
Boundary Changes: Lists general boundary changes to the county and the county seat. Contains links to county chronologies and Historical borders map on Newberry Library website.
Populated Places: Use the template to list known places in the county. Add links to the Wikipedia page for more information.

Resources and Respective Jurisdictions

Bible Records: Town jurisdiction
Biographies: Town/county jurisdiction; state biography compilations must go on state biography page.
Business, Commerce, and Occupations: Town/county jurisdiction only.
Cemeteries:

Use links that can be manipulated to display only county results. No general searches.
Remove Tombstone transcriptions in Print section; Add town/county FS Catalog entries.
Add lists of cemeteries for county to the original database link.
List any collections for the county.
Include FamilySearch Cemeteries template

Census Records: Only county collections/indexes should be listed.
Church Records: Town jurisdictions; allow state or countrywide collections
Court Records: County jurisdictions; no federal or state level courts allowed
Directories: Town/county jurisdictions;
Emigration and Immigration: Only list collections that are in the county. Do not list large ports unless it is in the county.
Funeral Homes: Town jurisdiction; list names of funeral homes and collections that include the town/county.
Genealogies: County/Town jurisdictions; don't list books that cover the whole state or country
Guardianship: County only. No courts run by Federal or state.
Land and Property: County only. No land records under Federal or State jurisdiction.
Local Histories: List only local histories (county or town); no statewide histories
Maps and Gazetteers: Links to county/town; any large database link must go to county/town
Migration: Migration information for the county town; no state information
Military Records: Records by county or town; no state or Federal jurisdictions
Naturalization and Citizenship: Only list collections containing county/town jurisdiction pages. If the large collection has both jurisdictions, include under heading.
Newspapers:

Town/county jurisdiction;
do not try to list newspapers in large newspaper databases;
list names of known newspapers;
link to large collection if it can be narrowed down to the county/city. No general searches.
Do not include obituary collections.

Obituaries: Only list obituary collections. Do not include death notices or other extractions of vital information from newspapers.
Periodicals: Periodicals only covering town or county
Probate Records: Town/county jurisdictions; no state or Federal records
Public Records: Only list county/town jurisdictions; no state or Federal records
School Records: Only town/county collections; yearbooks are allowed;
Social Security Records: Even though SSA is at the federal level, add to county page to assist in locating birth and death information
Tax Records: Only town/county jurisdiction; no country/statewide taxrecords
Vital Records: All statewide and county collections
Voting Records: Only include records created/maintained by the county/town jurisdictions

Research Facilities

Only list local town or county facilities; regional facilities are allowed but no statewide or countrywide.

Societies

FamilySearch centers and affiliate libraries in the vicinity of the county will be listed under the heading FamilySearch Centers.
Archives, libraries, and museums should only be for the county or the region (encompassing several counties) - not statewide.
Exception: if the statewide archive, library or museum resides in the county, it should be listed on the county page.

Links found in this section should be reputable websites that link to databases and information, not aggregator websites.
Websites should contain more than one record type. If it is for a specific record type, it belongs in the header.