Hello everyone,
I have looked recently at many of the county GenWeb pages here in
Washington, and wanted to mention a few things regarding links to other
parts of the US GenWeb Project. I know Celia mentioned some of this
recently but it appears not everyone heard her, so I'll give it a try,
along with mentioning a few other things.
The following are correct addresses for various US GenWeb Project pages.
Please check your addresses and change to these as soon as possible. (Note,
a few counties on RootsWeb may use relative pathnames rather than absolute
pathnames to other RootsWeb pages. These begin "../" rather than
"http://".
This is perfectly fine, as long as the last parts of the address are
correct.) Please do not merely click on a link and think it is ok as long
as it "goes somewhere". Many go to the wrong place.
US GenWeb Project
http://www.usgenweb.org/
US GenWeb Archives
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/
Washington GenWeb Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wagenweb/
Washington GenWeb Archives
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/wa/wafiles.htm
The above four links must be on every county site's main page, and also on
the links page if you use one. The following links are strongly
recommended, and should appear in the same places as the above four.
US GenWeb Archives Search Engine
http://searches.rootsweb.com/usgwarch.html
US GenWeb Census Project
http://www.usgenweb.org/census/
US GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/
Washington Census Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/wa/wacensus.htm
Washington Cemetery Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/wa/wacem.htm
I have also noted that there are still some counties showing "No
databases" in the Database section of their main county page. This simply
isn't true. Every single Washington county has data online. It is
naturally expected that the County Coordinator will know what files are
available for that county, and provide links to them. Every Washington
county has a table of contents page in the Archives showing all files
pertaining specifically to that county. You may either link directly to
the individual files in the Archives, or to your county's table of contents
page, or any combination.
Most counties with a number of files will link to the table of contents
page, and perhaps a few files of importance, such as Federal Census files.
The Url for a county table of contents page, using Thurston County as an
example, would be
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/wa/thurston/thurston.htm
Please substitute your own county name for both of the "thurstons". If
your county has a long or two word name you may need to go via the
Washington Archives page to find your exact address.
If you have any questions about any of the above, and particularly about
either the state or national Archives, Census Project or Tombstone
Transcription Projects, please feel free to contact me at any time. I hope
all county pages can be brought current as soon as possible.
Thank you for your help,
Kevin Fraley (Swimref(a)cmc.net)
Washington Manager, US GenWeb Archives
Assistant National Coordinator, USGW Census Project
WA Coordinator, USGW Tombstone Transcription Project
Douglas County Coordinator
Grant County Coordinator
San Juan County Coordinator