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.
What to add
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."
- 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.
A History in Timeline format
Putting the history in Timeline format has many advantages. It is easy for users to scan to the years that affected their ancestors. It is also easy for writers to insert events they just learned about between years already in the timeline.
Please include events that affected the 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. How did that affect records and record-keeping?
- 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.)
- County buildings where officers created and stored the records. What did they use before a courthouse was built? Did that effect the creation or the storage of records?
- Fires, floods, and other natural disasters that destroyed the records or affected where they were stored.
- Crop damage or mining incidents that led to booms, busts, and ghost settlements.
- Whatever is interesting and will help users know what happened, especially as it affected migrations, records, and record-keeping.
- Please keep event descriptions very short. The computer screen is not like reading pages of an article or book.
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.
Where to find information
There are published histories for many counties. These would be found in the local public library the Family History Library. Utah State Historical Society, the DUP or SUP libraries and others may also have copies.
Search the Internet also. Some sites will have a history of the county.
Ask around. Check with the local librarian or an historical or genealogical society in the area.
Timeline Prototype:
[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: Facts above are fictitious and given as a formatting example only.)
For examples, see {___ or ___ 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
Iron — San Juan Counties
| County | Volunteer | Date Completed | Remarks |
| Iron | . | . | . |
| Juab | . | . | . |
| Kane | . | . | . |
| Millard | . | . | . |
| Morgan | . | . | . |
| Piute | . | . | . |
| Rich | . | . | . |
| Salt Lake | . | . | . |
| San Juan | . | . | . This county is not organized the same as other counties. Resolved by PXH before 7/13/11 |
Sanpete — Weber Counties
| County | Volunteer | Date Completed | Remarks |
| Sanpete | . | . | . |
| Sevier | . | . | . |
| Summitt | . | . | . |
| Tooele | . | . | . |
| Uintah | . | . | . |
| Utah | . | . | . |
| Wasatch | . | . | . |
| Washington | .--Utahnancy 03:11, 20 June 2011 (UTC) | . | . |
| Wayne | . | . | . |
| Weber | . | . | . |