User talk:Omnedon/2012

Inquiry about Warren Republican
I noticed on edits that you made to the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad (Indiana Division) that you used articles from the Warren Republican newspaper as a source. I've been researching my genealogy, and came across a murder in the family between two twin brothers that happened in Warren County. I'm looking for more details, and I was guessing that I would find them in the Warren Republican. How did you gain access to the the newspaper archives? I can't find them in any online.

Thank you for your help.

Innocentbystander1963 (talk) 01:15, 5 January 2012 (UTC)


 * They were on microfilm; I used a reader at the courthouse where they are stored. That was some years ago, but I doubt they have yet been digitized. If you can give me a range of dates, I might be able to go and look into this for you at some point. Omnedon (talk) 01:22, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

January 2012 Newsletter for WikiProject United States and supported projects
--Kumi-Taskbot (talk) 18:26, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Westchester Township
Thank you so much for your helpful feedback. I am looking into resolving the issue by acquiring a creative commons license for not only the material on the page already, but for future edits as well. You were correct to note that the material was copyrighted, which I was not aware (I copied the material from a document given to by the library, not the website.)I was given permission to use it on Wikipedia, though now I see that I will have to go even further and get them to issue the content under a creative content license. My job as an intern is to present research on Wikipedia which has been already carried out and summarized by the library. This is for the public benefit and I just need to make sure that they are aware of the type of licensing that entails. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jiddins (talk • contribs) 16:38, 26 January 2012 (UTC)


 * No problem -- I'm glad to help if I can. I think the easiest solution here is simply to write up a history summary yourself, in your own words and with citations -- then there is no problem. Omnedon (talk) 16:43, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

USRD WikiProject Newsletter, Winter 2012

 * —  Imzadi 1979  →   22:11, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Main page appearance: Warren County, Indiana
This is a note to let the main editors of Warren County, Indiana know that the article will be appearing as today's featured article on March 1, 2012. You can view the TFA blurb at Today's featured article/March 1, 2012. If you prefer that the article appear as TFA on a different date, or not at all, please ask featured article director or his delegate, or start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests. If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you might change it—following the instructions at Today's featured article/requests/instructions. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. The blurb as it stands now is below:



Warren County, Indiana, is located in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana, between the Illinois border and the Wabash River. Before the arrival of non-indigenous settlers in the early 1800s, the area was inhabited by several Native American tribes, especially the Miami, Kickapoo and Potawatomi. The county was officially established on March 1, 1827. It covers an area of 366 sqmi with a population of about 8,500 people and is one of the most rural counties in the state. It has some of the state’s most productive farmland, with a 2009 corn harvest of over 17 million bushels. To the north and west, the land consists largely of open prairie, whereas the land along the river in the south and east is more hilly and wooded. The state's highest waterfall is located in the county seat of Williamsport. (more...) UcuchaBot (talk) 23:01, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations!
Congratulations on the Warren County, Indiana FA and FA of the Day! I'm so impressed! If you ever wanted to come out to The Children's Museum of Indianapolis and learn about what we've been up to with Wikipedia, let me know. I'd be happy to host you. We're quite proud of our Broad Ripple Park Carousel FA, which was the result of a collaboration with an Illinois Wikipedian. Not an easy task, to say the least! Do stay in touch. LoriLee (talk) 18:50, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I would be interested in visiting the museum at some point; I'll be in touch about that. Good job on your featured article too! Omnedon (talk) 19:48, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Nice job! I've not yet been able to get to Warren County (or Fountain or Vermillion), but I'm hoping to take a detour through there next time I'm returning from Lafayette to Bloomington.  You'll note that National Register of Historic Places listings in Warren County, Indiana is mostly unillustrated; I'll try to get photos for those sites.  Nyttend (talk) 02:11, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you! As for the photos, I can get those, though I know you have provided many such photos -- nice work. Omnedon (talk) 13:19, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks in turn. No complaints if you want to get them, but that won't stop me coming through :-)  I try to get my own photos of all sites for personal interest, even if someone's already uploaded a better picture; for that reason I'm stopping at a few spots in Hamilton County on my way up to Kokomo later this morning.  I've not checked; are you responsible for many of the photos on the Warren County article?  Nyttend (talk) 13:42, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Yeah, nice work on the FA, but especially nice mapping --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 20:19, 1 March 2012 (UTC)(one who can appreciate it)


 * Just let me know when you might be interested in coming through Indy! LoriLee (talk) 22:19, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Warren County, Indiana
Hi Omnedon, as chief editor of this article, what do you think of this? Greetings,--Ratzer (talk) 07:28, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Hi again, I understand that civil townships and survey townships are two different things. However I find it interesting that in some cases, there is an exact match, as in Pine Township, Warren County, Indiana, as the historic map shows. With 36 sections of one square mile each, it is not surprising that the area of the township adds up to almost exactly 36 sq. mi. Do you consider this worth mentioning in the township article or elsewhere? I wonder how many such exact match cases there are across the United States. Upon the creation of the other townships, I think there must have been decisions about where and why to deviate from the survey townships. Greetings,--Ratzer (talk) 19:58, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

William M. Alexander & Alexander County, Illinois
Oh Great Countytician, I come with a query. ..

So, I'm looking tonight at Alexander County, Illinois, and I note that in the article it states that the county is named for one Speaker of the Illinois House, William M. Alexander. Seems plausible, sure, but given that Alexander did not ascend to the Speakership until 1822, some three years after the creation of the county in question, it seems less certain. Is there anywhere I can go online to definitively ascertain the source of county names?

I know I should ask the editor who added that tidbit, but I left a message for that very editor (on another matter) over a year ago, and s/he has not responded. Delving further tonight, I discovered that said editor has not edited in nearly three years. So thus I come to you. HuskyHuskie (talk) 02:26, 25 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I do happen to have a copy of "Place Names of Illinois" by Edward Callary, and on page 4 it does state that the county was "named for (and probably by) Dr. William M. Alexander, who was instrumental in the formation of the county." It says he had a practice at America, Illinois, which at the time was within Alexander County (as Pulaski County was formed out of Alexander County in 1843).  America was also the first county seat, though it was moved three times.  Does that help?  It could be that as a doctor with political ambitions he may have had quite a bit of influence, especially given that this was in the early 1800s.  In any case, I'd be glad to provide the direct reference in the article if you'd like. Omnedon (talk) 02:34, 25 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Oh, that's plenty good enough for me . . . as you know quite well, hundreds of places in the US have been named for their respective earliest denizens, whose egos were I'm sure well fed by the practice. In that event, it would appear (as you imply) that Dr. Alexander's political rise was perhaps even aided by this naming.  Given the fact that nearly everyone in the state in its first decade of existence lived in the southern extremities, this all comes together and makes perfect sense to me.  Thanks! HuskyHuskie (talk) 02:45, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Nicely done. You beat me to the punch, and did it better than I would have.  Thanks again. HuskyHuskie (talk) 02:47, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh, I don't know about that, but I happened to have the source handy, so I figured I would go ahead and do it. Glad you didn't mind. Hope all is well with you. Omnedon (talk) 02:48, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Photo request
Could you get photos for the Kent/Hitchens Houses in Williamsport and the Andrew Brier House in Carbondale? I finally got my own photos of all three sites at National Register of Historic Places listings in Warren County, Indiana, but it was yesterday during the height of the rain; I'd greatly appreciate it if the list had three blue-sky photos instead of one blue-sky and two rainstorm. Nyttend (talk) 12:45, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Blackford County Map
Omnedon, thank you for the 1876 Blackford County map. I have added it to the Blackford County, Indiana page. How did you get the "hookup" with Google Earth?TwoScars (talk) 16:41, 2 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Glad it was of use. The overlay process is described here. There are several steps, but it's not too difficult; the hardest part is getting the map lined up correctly. Let me know if you have any further questions. Omnedon (talk) 16:51, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Blackford County, Indiana
Omnedon, thank you for all of your help with Blackford County, Indiana. You deserve some credit for the Good Article rating. You made numerous edits which started the general cleanup, wrote the Government section, and contributed two maps (and I have probably omitted out some other contributions). In addition, your Warren County, Indiana Featured Article was the template for Blackford County's upgrade. Your work is appreciated.TwoScars (talk) 02:05, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
 * You're very kind! But as far as Blackford County goes, you were the heavy lifter.  Outstanding work!  Wikipedia needs more editors like you. Omnedon (talk) 01:52, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Creating county maps
I'd love to create a map template similar to Template:Location map USA Illinois Champaign County for Somerset County, New Jersey, so that a map can be displayed at the county level, rather than one that uses the entire state with a red pushpin that can't be located accurately. Any hints and tips will be greatly appreciated. Alansohn (talk) 23:05, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * If you would like, I'd be glad to create that map myself, as I have a procedure already in place to do so; it would take a few minutes. But if you would rather do it yourself, I'm glad to tell you how I approached it. Omnedon (talk) 23:20, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and created this map; hope that's OK. The map is on Commons and the template is at Template:Location map USA New Jersey Somerset County.  Let me know if you see any issues with it; it's easily adjustable. Omnedon (talk) 00:10, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * It's perfect. Thanks so much! I added the Somerset County map to the article for Clyde, New Jersey, which had previously used the New Jersey map. Now you can actually see where the place is within the county. I'd love to learn how to create maps and would appreciate any pointers on doing it on my own for New Jersey's 20 other counties. Thanks so much for taking care of this first map and for any further information about the process. Alansohn (talk) 04:19, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm glad you're pleased with it. I am not sure about the relevance of the caption, as within the infobox that text is pretty small.  Does the presence of interstate highways help or hinder, or should they be labeled?


 * As for the process of creating them, the more I think about it, the more I think it would be easier for me to just make them myself. It's not a question of being proprietary about the process; but the infrastructure is already in place and involves PHP MapScript code that I developed over a period of years specifically to create maps for Wikipedia.  It downloads the census map data, produces the layers, calculates the edges of the map for the template, auto-generates the template itself...  I could have them all done in fairly short order.  Is that acceptable to you?  I would want to make sure that the maps were tweaked to be as good and useful as possible, so I am open to any suggestions before proceeding.


 * Having said all that -- what I used was the PHP MapScript component of the open-source Mapserver system. With it, one can write code that will analyze map data and produce graphical and/or textual results; for example, code can determine what township(s) a city occupies and output that that as a sentence, or generate a completed infobox ready to insert into an article that has none.  There are several excellent geographical information systems out there, and they can produce excellent results; but the process tends to require a lot of interaction.  With this type of code it can be automated, so that one simply clicks on a link and the map (or text) appears, already finished and ready to use. Omnedon (talk) 12:45, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I'll work with the Somerset County map for now. The borders and highways help tremendously to provide context. As part of my general cleanup to New Jersey articles in the wake of the release of data from the 2010 United States Census, I am updating articles for all 566 municipalities in the state and also creating and expanding articles for the many new census-designated places that have been created. Clyde, New Jersey is an example of one of the dozen or so CDPs located within Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, and serves as a perfect example of how the map you created helps tremendously over the previous state-level map and provides a taste of how additional maps could help. Any thoughts and assistance will be greatly appreciated in addition to my thanks for the help you've provided so far. Alansohn (talk) 14:17, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I appreciate the input. For now I will hold off and you can see how things go with this map, and if any thoughts for improvement occur. When you need more I can create them very easily. Omnedon (talk) 14:55, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I want to thank you again for creating and improving the Somerset County map, which looks great and is infinitely more helpful than using an unlabeled map of the entire state. Would it be possible to use this same model to create maps for New Jersey's 20 other counties and would it be possible to integrate an inset map of the county's location within New Jersey as part of the map so that a second state-level map is not required? Thanks again for all of your efforts! Alansohn (talk) 14:52, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
 * No problem -- I'm glad to be able to contribute. I've uploaded a new version of the Somerset County map which includes a state-level inset. That's a good idea; thanks for suggesting it. Does it look OK to you in the present form? Omnedon (talk) 15:39, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Perfect! That was exactly what I was looking for; It allows readers to get a feel for the location of the place within the county and of the county within the state. Alansohn (talk) 16:35, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I saw the Atlantic County map and I seem to be adding it to articles in parallel with your own additions. These maps are going to be extremely helpful. Alansohn (talk) 22:29, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm glad you're happy with them. I noticed that you had added it to some of the unincorporated places in the county, and that some others had no infoboxes; and I have code to generate infoboxes, so I went ahead and put those in.  Hope I didn't interfere with anything you were doing. Omnedon (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Warren County, New Jersey map
I've already done a thorough run through of the articles in Atlantic County that would benefit from the new map, in addition to the changes you made, and the map is a major improvement. I have started creating articles for census-designated places in Warren County, New Jersey (such as Lopatcong Overlook, New Jersey), which would benefit greatly from a map. Let me know if you would be able to create a map that could be used for these articles. Thanks so much for creating the maps and for devoting the time to work on the associated articles. Alansohn (talk) 13:16, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
 * The Warren County map is now available; more coming soon. Omnedon (talk) 20:37, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Union, Sussex, Salem, Passaic, Ocean, Morris, Monmouth, Middlesex, Mercer and Hunterdon are also complete. Omnedon (talk) 23:45, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
 * All 21 New Jersey county location maps are now completed. Omnedon (talk) 22:05, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Geography Barnstar
Thank you very much! I enjoy this sort of work for its own sake, but I have to say the barnstar is pretty gratifying. :-) Omnedon (talk) 23:11, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Maps in NJ
Hey, I noticed you adding maps to several places in NJ. Great work, for one thing. I was wondering if you could help out implementing maps on some other locations such as Beacon Hill, New Jersey, Carrs Corner, New Jersey, Columbus, New Jersey, and other pages that do not contain an info box. Thanks for your help Tinton5 (talk) 21:50, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Sure, I'd be glad to. I will take a look at those articles, and we can talk about what would work best. Omnedon (talk) 23:11, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I'll be creating the maps for the rest of the New Jersey counties, and as I do that I will add infoboxes to these articles when they have none. Hopefully this will all be done during the coming week. Omnedon (talk) 23:23, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help, Om. Tinton5 (talk) 21:19, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

You can see that I'm not the only one, but I wanted to extend my thanks for completing all 21 county maps. There are still several hundred articles pointing to the state map, and I hope to use AWB over the weekend to clean up and improve these other articles. The articles you have created and maps you have added have improved a significant percentage of the articles for places in New Jersey. Thanks again for all of your time and effort in making this tremendous improvement to the state's articles. Alansohn (talk) 16:25, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * No problem -- it was an enjoyable project. I'll be doing more of these in Indiana soon.  Thanks for the feedback, and for the opportunity! Omnedon (talk) 16:48, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Climate and weather for Sussex County, New Jersey
I noticed you added a new template and some information in the Sussex County, New Jersey article regarding climate and weather--and then removed it a few moments later noticing there was already a climate section. I liked the new template (much better than the other one) and the information and look to incorporate it in the article section that already exists. I would like to take the NOAA data for Sussex borough, and put another template side by side with the Newton data you provided (considering Newton and Sussex are about 30 minutes from each other. I restored the info you put in, and incorporated it into the current climate section and will copyedit it to make it smoother in the next day or two.  I appreciate your contribution. --ColonelHenry (talk) 00:05, 15 October 2012 (UTC)