We’re excited to announce that Rosa Parks was the winning profile in last month’s “Connection Combat.” Thank you to Doug Lockwood and the other Connectors for adding his genealogy as part of this month’s Connection Combat: Martin Luther King Jr. vs Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks  was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.” She is best known for her refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, which spurred on a citywide boycott and helped launch nationwide efforts to end segregation of public facilities.

Each time there is a new winner they are featured in our Connection Finder.  This means you can check your connection with Rosa Parks here.

Follow the tag connection_combat to know when a new competition starts.

Changes to Surname Index Pages

We just released a round of changes to surname index pages. For example:

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/ADAMS
https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/SMITH

The initial impetus for the changes was to make WikiTree more mobile-friendly, but you’ll notice that a lot of things have been changed regardless of how you’re viewing the page.

The first thing you may notice is that it’s now a list rather than a table with columns for name, birth date, etc. This conforms the appearance with search results. Some members probably prefer the table format, so that is still an option.

In addition to improving things for mobile users, a list enabled us to create a second column for the extras, e.g. the images, tagged G2G questions, and free-space profiles. By having them on the right there’s less clutter on top.

We’re also utilizing the right column to provide a detailed list of the options for resorting and viewing other surname-related pages.

If you want to know more about the technical “whys” for these changes, see this G2G post.

View Error Reports by Surname

Family History Photo of the Week Nominee

You can get error reports for surnames that interest you.

For example:

• http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebName/errors.htm?Name=JONES&MaxErrors=100
• http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebName/errors.htm?Name=SMITH&MaxErrors=100
• http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebName/errors.htm?Name=JOHNSON&MaxErrors=100
• http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebName/errors.htm?Name=VAN_DAM&MaxErrors=100
• http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebName/errors.htm?Name=O_REILLY&MaxErrors=100

A WikiTreer is never bored, right?!

These are now linked from:

1. Your personalized Surname Navigation Page. Click “Surnames” on the “My WikiTree” pull-down menu.
2. The surname pull-down menu on surname index pages and other surname-related pages. It’s linked as “Error Report” like with the one on profile-related pages.
3. The member quick links and the detailed sidebar links on surname index pages.

Automatic Suggestions for Place Names

We just implemented a long-awaited feature: automatic suggestions for place names. This is currently only available when editing profiles. When it seems to be working pretty well there we’ll add it elsewhere.

This utilizes FamilySearch Place Names database (thank you, FamilySearch!) and includes a cool research feature. You will see a little pin icon next to suggestions. If you click the pin you’ll go to FamilySearch place names research tool, e.g. https://familysearch.org/research/places/place/10564035.

WikiTree+ Merge Comparison Reports

On merge comparison pages and Browse Matches (Find > Pending Merges on the pull-down menu)  you’ll now see links that say “see the comparison report on WikiTree+”.

These lead you to pages like this http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebDuplicates/Compare.htm?UserID1=2533386&UserID2=8767375

These reports may be overwhelming for the average member, but they might be very useful for Arborists and other advanced members.

Question of the Week

Family History Photo of the Week Nominee

Have you participated in the Question of the Week yet? Every Monday a genealogy related question is posed to community members in our G2G Forum.   You can join in the fun and share a little about yourself and learn about your fellow WikiTreers! Just follow the tag “question_of_the_week” to get the new question each week.

We recently asked “If you had a time machine, where and when would you go?”

Here are just a few of the answers we received:

• “Back to 1921 to prevent the fire that destroyed the 1890 census. ” – Doug Lockwood

• “I don’t know that I would want to go back. If I did I would not be searching as ardently as I am. I really like figuring out where people go in my family. And as exasperating as it is, it is a journey like no other. Exciting yet disappointing, exhilarating yet crushing. So no I think I would have to pass the time machine to someone else.” – Elsie Dietamann

• “I wish I could go back in time and find out what happened to one of my Rev War New Hampshire patriots — he served as a teenager, then left for Nova Scotia, and then returned.  Grandmother never said more than, “This family has the right to wear Nova Scotia plaid!”  But she left a chart behind, and the rest is history.” – Janine Barber

• “I’d want to go back to my ancestor who first set foot on the North American continent, Dirck Volckertszen, and visit in a couple of time periods. First, I’d like to visit him before he took the journey (maybe around 1628) and find out what motivated him to go to the new world, who his parents and grandparents were, brothers and sisters, and find out all about his past.Then, I’d want to skip ahead through the journey to when he set foot in New Amsterdam around 1632 and watch a few moments in his life that were recorded – rumor has it he was a hard drinking man, a bit of a gambler, and had a terrible temper. He paid his debts, both good and bad. Took a fence post to an unruly landlord who dragged his wife out of their rented house by her hair. I wonder if I might like the guy.” – Scott Fulkerson

Who’s New

We’re thrilled to announce two new WikiTree Leaders!

Ronel Olivier: Ronel been with us since November 2014.  She is quite actively involved in many projects including our Dutch Cape Colony Project and South African Roots Project. In her own words here’s what she aspires to: “My goals are to help build a global tree with as many South African profiles as possible. Giving each and every profile a place in the sun, to commemorate there joy and sorrows. Adding as many private sources to WikiTree as possible for future generations.”

Susan de Bruyn: Susan joined us in February 2014.  She, too, is very engaged in our Dutch Cape Colony and South African Roots Projects.  The comment posted when she was awarded a Super Star shows why she’s a valued member of our community: “Susanna is meticulous in the sheer amount of primary validation of profiles she does every week – not only searching for the primary baptismal, marriage or death records or the transcriptions thereof, but also citing the sources properly. She’s not shy to state her own conclusions and choices based on persistent actual hard research.”

Tree-Tips

• 

  Family History Photo of the Week Nominee

  Do you have an issue, concern or problem with another member? If so, start here: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Problems_with_Members.

• We often get questions about the costs of joining WikiTree. See here for our pledge to keep WikiTree 100% free!

• Are you new to family history? Check out our Getting Started with Genealogy help page for useful tips.

• We respect privacy. We privacy-protect anything we think our family members might not want public. If that’s not enough for someone, we delete their personal information. To learn more about our privacy settings, see this help page.

Community Accomplishments

Top 10 contributors for last month: 

• Gregory Rose
• Catherine V
• Kirsty Ward
• Elizabeth Winter
• Esmé van der Westhuizen
• Vincent Piazza
• Serge Langlois
• Ronnie Halford
• Anonymous Brickland
• Austin Pérez

Super Star recipients (recognized by a Leader for extraordinary contributions that go far beyond what is normally seen on WikiTree): 

Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication:Loretta Leger!

Project Updates

New Projects

• Palatine Migration, a sub-project of the German Roots project, coordinated by Dave Rutherford
• Descendants of The Adam Lodge arrived Sydney 13 Jul 1837, coordinated by Michael Tait and Brian Boggs

One Name Studies

Don’t Miss These!

SOURCERERS CHALLENGE:  Far too many profiles on WikiTree don’t have any sources. This challenge is about correcting that with census data, BMD records/index references, family bible references, military documents, land documents, wills, etc. Each month we’ll post in G2G to start up the month’s challenge. To participate, go to this G2G post.

CONNECTORS CHALLENGE: The goal of the Connectors Challenge is to see how many individuals you can connect to our global family tree. Last month Carol Keeling was the winner, connecting 13 new branches to our tree!  To join in the December Challenge, go here.

FAMILY HISTORY PHOTO OF THE WEEK: If you love old photos or if you have photos in your own family collection that you love, you can share them in our Family History Photo of the Week Facebook group so they are nominated for our Family History Photo of the Week Contest!  See also Criteria for Selection and Disqualification. See previous winners here.

Thanks for all you do WikiTreers. You’re the best.

Sincerely, The WikiTree Team and Leaders