FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Utah Tasks County History

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Task Description

Add information to the History area, located under Quick Facts on each county page.

Where to find the information

Several sites are loaded with information about the history of Utah's counties. For this task, however, we will use only Wikipedia as the resource. (Otherwise, this task will mushroom out of proportion at the expense of completing other tasks.) Also, information in Wikipedia can be used without copyright issues in FamilySearch Research Wiki.

To use Wikipedia, simply do a Google search for the name of the county and select the Wikipedia article.

Before you begin your timeline:
1) copy the following paragraph and paste it to the county page:

NOTE: Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Wikipedia for

2) Add the name of the county with a link to the Wikipedia article for that county. (See Tooele County for an example.)

What to add

Click to jump to:

• A History in Timeline format
• An Interesting Fact
• Timeline example

A History in Timeline format

See Timeline Example below.

Putting the history in Timeline format lets users to scan for the years that affected their ancestors. It also makes it easy for writers to insert events between years.

Please keep event descriptions very short. The computer screen is not like reading a book or an article in a magazine.

In reality, it may never be "complete." Whatever you add will be a great improvement.

Please include events that affected records, or record-keeping, such as:

• Settlement and migration into or out of the county. This can include an influx of settlers from specific countries, such as Scandinavians, or religious groups.
• County formation and boundary changes. (This is given elsewhere for each county, but should also be in the timeline, since it is a great summary of major events over the years.)
• County buildings where officers created and stored the records. What did they use before a courthouse was built?
• Fires, floods, and other natural disasters that destroyed the records or changed where they were stored.
• Crop damage or mining incidents that led to booms, busts, and ghost settlements.
• Whatever you find that is interesting and will help users know what affected migrations, records, and record-keeping.

Books and Internet Sites for County History
If you find an internet site or a book you want to tell people about, please place them under Local Histories, which appears further down on the county page under the Resources heading.

An Interesting fact

Although you start by filling out a timeline history, you will likely find a fact or event that is unique to the county and interesting to users.

• For example, "Hole the Rock, the hideout of the famous gang of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is in this county."
  • Note: If you added an example like this, users would benefit if you included a link to the Internet for Hole in the Rock, Butch Cassidy, and Sundance Kid.

Timeline Example:

The timeline needs to be to the point and easy to scan (by users) and to insert events (by writers).

Please use a bulleted list arranged by date with the year first. Then type a brief description of the event, such as:

• 1849 October. The first Mormon settlers arrived in (add name of town or area)
• 1850. (name of county) was established as an original county in Utah Territory. It included the entire area west to the California border, which is now in Nevada.
• 1852. 85 families lived in the areas of (add names of places)
• 18__. Nevada Territory was formed, decreasing the size of this county.
• 18__. The first courthouse was built.

(NOTE: The above timeline is fictitious and given as a formatting example only.)

For an example, see Tooele County.

Assignment Chart

Volunteers are needed to check all 29 counties, adding items as appropriate. Please place four tildes (~~~~) in the "Volunteer" column next to the counties you choose for this assignment. This will automatically give your username and the date you signed up.

Beaver — Grand Counties

County	Volunteer	Date Completed	Remarks
Beaver	Loisfowles 15:23, 11 August 2011 (UTC)	. 8/11/11	.
Box Elder	. Loisfowles	.	. Wikipedia did not have history
Cache	. Loisfowles	.	. Wikipedia did not have history
Carbon	. Loisfowles	. 8/24/11	. Wikipedia did not have history
Daggett	. Loisfowles  18 Aug 2011	. 8/18/11	.
Davis	. Loisfowles 17:49, 18 August 2011 (UTC)	. 8/19/11	.
Duchesne	. Loisfowles	. 8/31/11	.Wikipedia did not have history
Emery	. Loisfowles 23:39, 31 August 2011 (UTC)Aug 31 2011	.	.
Garfield	. Solah 20:12, 8 November 2011 (UTC)	10 Nov 2011	.Can we put the Bryce Canyon image elsewhere? * Done! *
Grand	. Loisfowles	. 8/31/11	. Wikipedia did not have history

Iron — San Juan Counties

County	Volunteer	Date Completed	Remarks
Iron	. Loisfowles 21:55, 24 August 2011 (UTC)	. Aug 20, 2011	. Wikipedia did not have any history.
Juab	. MarkhamMJ 15:57, 27 July 2011 (UTC)	.	.
Kane	. Loisfowles 23:43, 31 August 2011 (UTC)	. 8/31/11	. Wikipedia did not have any history
Millard	. Loisfowles 23:46, 31 August 2011 (UTC)	. 8/31/11	. Wikipedia did not have any history
Morgan	. Loisfowles 23:56, 31 August 2011 (UTC)	. 8/31/11	.
Piute	. Loisfowles 00:00, 1 September 2011 (UTC)	. 8/31/11	. Wikipedia did not have any history
Rich	. Loisfowles	.	.
Salt Lake	.	.	.
San Juan	. Solah 18:26, 7 November 2011 (UTC)	8 Nov 2011	. This county is not organized the same as other counties. Resolved by PXH before 7/13/11 * Done! *

Sanpete — Weber Counties

County	Volunteer	Date Completed	Remarks
Sanpete	Familyjournals 19:04, 30 August 2011 (UTC)	21 Sept 2011	All done!
Sevier	Solah 22:01, 11 November 2011 (UTC)	.	.
Summitt	Solah 20:47, 11 November 2011 (UTC)	11 Nov 2011	DONE!
Tooele	. AdkinsWH 21:11, 21 July 2011 (UTC)	. 21 July 2011	First attempt. Took 3-4 hours
Uintah	Solah 19:48, 11 November 2011 (UTC)	11 Nov 2011	DONE!
Utah	. MarkhamMJ 15:57, 27 July 2011 (UTC)	.	.
Wasatch	. Solah 22:33, 10 November 2011 (UTC)	11 Nov 2011	DONE!
Washington	.--Utahnancy 03:11, 20 June 2011 (UTC)	.	.
Wayne	. Solah 19:31, 31 October 2011 (UTC)	10 Nov 2011	DONE!
Weber	.Familyjournals 19:04, 30 August 2011 (UTC)	21 Sept 2011	All done!