Talk:List of cemeteries in Sonoma County, California

Suggestion for referencing
Find a Grave cemetery is a useful template for linking. The diligent WP editor types to get the link they want. That's it. And then future edits to the citation will be easier.. – S. Rich (talk) 02:10, 21 January 2021 (UTC)


 * I'll take a look at that. Thanks.  MikeVdP (talk) 23:53, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Remove Cemeteries?
On Articles for deletion/Sonoma County Historical Society list of landmarks it has been suggested that cemeteries which cannot be located, have few graves or are of recent origin should be removed because they are not notable.

I'm bringing that discussion here: "3. For cemeteries, should not cemeteries which have been "lost" not remain?  Many NHL, NR, CHL and local landmarks have "general site of" or "site location confidential" designations.  The fact that the specific site is not know does not eliminate its importance. The primary references for cemeteries are, indeed, Find-A-Grave and the Nichols book. I'll add this comment to the cemeteries talk, too.MikeVdP (talk) 23:34, 27 January 2021 (UTC)"

This List of cemeteries in Sonoma County, California should be comprehensive.

1. A few cemeteries might meet the "unknown location," "too small," or "too new" criteria, but eliminating those would only slightly shorten the list and would make the list far less useful.

2. "Unknown location" cemeteries are among the most important in the County. For example, the Mark West location is only generally known, but Mr. West and his family were important pioneers in the community. Many National Historic Landmarks, sites on the National Register, California Historical Landmarks and other landmarks are in unknown locations, general locations or secret (protected) locations. Even the National Park Service has created the De Soto National Memorial at a site De Soto probably never visited: https://www.nps.gov/deso/index.htm

3. "Too small" does not mean the cemetery is not important in the County or in the local community.

4. "Too new" also does not mean it is not important. In fact, one of the smallest and one of the newest is the newly-created cemetery for Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr., one of the most important people in California wine history (California produces 90% of the USA wine.)

Let's leave this article as truly comprehensive.MikeVdP (talk) 23:53, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Listing Criteria
Each listing has either a GNIS reference or a properly documented Find a Grave cemetery page. Almost all GNIS refs are taken from a State - County - Cemetery search criteria. The Find a Grave pages have photos that clearly show the place is a cemetery. (Some Find a Grave listings simply say "Sonoma County Cemetery Book transcribed in the mid 1930's" Those listing pages are NOT included in this article.) – S. Rich (talk) 23:54, 28 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Should cemeteries such as the Young Family Cemetery -- full report on file at the Sonoma County Library -- and the Mark West Cemetery -- important early settlers for which the cemetery location is only generally known -- be included? Have editors reviewed the Nichols book?MikeVdP (talk) 03:51, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I note the GNIS lists 58 cemeteries. The comprehensive (to date of publication) work by Nichols has 116 cemeteries.  Shouldn't the Wikipedia article lean toward the larger list?MikeVdP (talk) 03:57, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

notable people
The intro says this includes notable people. Yet, that column seems to have been removed. How should this be handled?MikeVdP (talk) 03:52, 14 February 2021 (UTC)

emaciation of article
While the moving of this list from the List of cemeteries in California to this article may certainly be a good one, what the editor failed to tell us is that in doing so, about 45 cemeteries were eliminated. The concept of including all cemeteries so that this can be a useful reference has been discussed in the original talk page and on this talk page. Secretly stripping out 1/3 of the cemetery information for the County makes this Wikipedia article just about useless. I had been promoting Wikipedia as the go-to place for research on County cemeteries and landmarks, but it seems Wikipedia editors do not want this online encyclopedia to be comprehensive. The elimination of the Healdsburg Designated Historic Structures list article leaves a real hole for anyone looking for historic landmarks in the County -- the formal establishment of the sites by the City of Healdsburg has been there since the article was first started. The Wikipedia editors' ripping out Sonoma County landmarks 178 to 192 further makes Wikipedia almost useless. See Sonoma County Historic Landmarks and Districts. When this article was started, it began with the California Historical Landmarks and then was expanded and built over time. The full list could be developed, photos could be added, newspaper articles could be linked, language such as "most-important" could be refined to the actual words from the City -- "historically-significant." What happened to that collegiality? Wikipedia has great features such as the internal links and referencing which should make Wikipedia partners with local historical communities. It seems Wikipedia editors want those interested in comprehensive list articles to get off Wikipedia. I'll turn my attention to learning WIX and avoiding Wikipedia.MikeVdP (talk) 21:55, 16 February 2021 (UTC)