Profile Biographies

Question

So, I'm thinkn' that I might need a wheel alignment ...

Over the last couple of weeks folks have been adding "Biographies" (note the quotes) to some of my profiles.  All well and good ... but, to my way of thinking, they are not biographies.  They are simply a re-hash of what is in the header data ... name, birth date, parents, spouse, children, death ... all in nice header formats with footnote links ... some footnotes duplicating what's in the source section already.  I'm sure these folks mean well but ...

To me the biography section should be a narative of what that person did in their life.  It could be as simple as: George was a blacksmith in Rowley, Massachusetts.   Most often it should be empty because we know nothing about what they did.

How far off base am I?

Comments

comment converted to answer

Answer 1

Hi Bob,

I have mixed feeling about your profile biographies comment.

I am one of the persons who, when I find a profile with NO biography, or a 'Biography' heading with NO information below it, or sources (some excellent, some not so great), but with no Biography, I try my best to honor the profile by creating a biography and add existing sources inline, or search for one or two sources.

There have been several instances where there has only been a baptismal certificate, parent's names and, maybe, a death record. If this is the case, then the profile Biography that I create is as you describe...it is a re-hash of the information above; however, it also includes in-line sourcing. If there is information on where they were born, I add a sticker 'born in' to personalize it. If the profile is from Cornwall, in particular, I try to find information about the parish in the OPC and get permission to use a photo of the parish, which is usually given. I also try to find other information about the profile in the given online OPC. There are times when there is only the information as you describe. My belief is that it is better than NO biography.

In some cases, there might be a census record or two. If that is the case, I add information about the family, including the children, where they were born, if/who they married, the father's occupation (if listed). Again, I do all inline sourcing for these.

They may not be the most exciting biographical write ups, but they are better than little to nothing, which is what I find as I add to my tree.

I believe one of the relatives by marriage might have been a Jewett. The name is familiar. If this is one of the relatives you came across and it was as droll a biography as you describe, it was one for which I created a 'Biography' as you describe and with inline sourcing as I described, and perhaps sticker and photo. Again, these might be profiles by marriage or very distant relatives.

It troubles me, though, when I find NO biography, or little information, or sources but no formal biography; therefore, I do the basics to honor the person and hope that a nearer relative will add further to the biography and personalize it with their family information or notes, or photos.

In future, should I find that I come across a distant family member with your surname, or for which you are PM, I will leave it be so that you can develop a proper 'Biography'.

I apologize for any dissatisfaction you experienced with the "Biographies" to any profiles I might have added to in the last couple of weeks. I more than meant well, but...I was trying to honor the person(s) with no biographies/sourcing.

In future, I will write up and connect my direct ancestors. If there are children with marriages and these marriages have profiles without biographies, I will leave them. This will provide me more time to stay with my direct lines.

Answer 2

Biographies can be different things to different people. Do those adding to ‘your’ profiles also consider them ‘their’ profiles? If so maybe a little private messaging could sort it all out.

Answer 3

With the profiles I'm managing - I prefer to have a minimal biography (i.e. noting name, possible birth date & other known information) than NO information in that section.  It summarises what is known and the person's life events are easier to see at a glance.  Headings also help when looking for specific information.   And inline references show us were specific information comes from (e.g. a difference source for birth date and marriage details - or maybe from the same source or from two different sources - all useful information)  - rather than a more general sources list. I am aware that different country projects or or other relevant projects may have a preferred way of doing biographies, which would be worth checking out as well.

Answer 4

Sometimes they are so far back that you cannot find out anything about their life.

Consider a woman born in 1703 England.  Censuses do not appear until 1841 (ones useful to genealogists, anyway), so she's hardly likely to appear aged 138.  All there is to know about her is that she was born, got married, had x number of children, and died.  Unless she did something worthy of being put in a paper, you will never know whether or not she was a lacemaker, or a charwoman, or stayed at home and raised her family.

Putting these facts down in the Biography means you can use inline sourcing, so you can add a source to each sentence.  You can't add sources to the data fields up top.

Comments

If we could add sources to the data fields, this problem wouldn't arise. A biography would be a biography, not just a redundant repository for sources.

When WikiTree was invented, this should have been a priority.

Answer 5

Here is what the WikiTree Help Pages say about biographies...

"At its most basic, the purpose of the text is to tell the story of your ancestor by providing more detail about the vital statistics, including explanations and information about where you got the information (Sources).

It can also be used to describe anything else you think would help a reader understand the person or that would help someone else who may be researching the same family or a family with similar characteristics (Research Notes)."

And this is what the same page says about collaborating on biographies...

"Profiles of people born over 150 years ago or who died over 100 years ago must be Open and can be edited by any member of the WikiTree community who has signed the Honor Code. To edit "younger" profiles, you need to be on the Trusted List for that profile.

You should not hesitate to improve upon a biography that someone else has started. Collaborative editing is what a wiki is all about. That said, it's a good idea to be sensitive to other contributors. Please see Communication Before Editing." 

Answer 6

It's difficult to put things in the biography when you have no sources for them.

Comments

If you have no sources for a person's life, how have you managed to create a profile at all?

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You can have sources for their children, which prove the parent existed, but have nothing for the person.

You can have sources for birth, death, or marriage, and nothing else.  If all you have is a marriage record, how can you write a "biography"?

It's difficult to put things IN the biography - make a story of the person's life - if you have nothing except one, two, or three basic facts. 

How can you write a "biography" if all you know is that the person was born? You can't find a marriage record.  You can't find a death record.  Every instinct says the person died at, or soon after birth, but you can't prove it because there are no records.  How do you write a biography on instinct?  It's easier to write a basic biography based on a death record. 

Saying "it's difficult to put things in a biography if you have no sources for them" doesn't mean you have no sources at all.  It's just saying you cannot give "flesh" to the bio without something more than basic information.

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What she said.

Answer 7

When I look at a profile, I check to see if there is a burial location listed.  If not, then I’ll search Find a Grave to see if the person may be found there.  If found, then I’ll add an inline citation and add a cemetery category tag.

Answer 8

I disagree, with your notion that a biography should not rehash the information in the data section. I think that it needs to include the information in the data section, so that you can "Hang" (ie inline citations) the proper sources to the data. It is not always obvious what sources go with what data points. In addition there is sometimes conflicting information that should be mentioned.

I also agree that the narrative should tell what a person did in their life if you happen to have that information although, as you mentioned, we frequently don't have that information.

If you were to write a general biography on say Abraham Lincoln, wouldn't you include information on his birth, parents and death. They are an integral part of his life and should be included in his narrative. Certainly his presidency is fascinating material, and could be a book on its own, but his humble beginnings and famous death are equally important. "Tom, Dick and Harry" deserve as much also.

Comments

I thought about my answer and would like to add that I don't think that every profile "needs" to have a formal narrative written. Many are based on fairly straight data points with very clear sources for that data. Obviously if the only thing you know about a person is their birth or death based on a birth certificate, or gravestone, a blank biography with the sources listed is sufficient.

But even though it doesn't need the narrative, I think it's fine to add one.

Answer 9

You're totally on base with me, Bob

I sometimes question the need for a universal "biography" section.  What calamity would befall the site if someone deleted the "biography" header and simply listed all the sources under "Sources"?

eg:

BIRTH - name of source

MARRIAGE - name of source

DEATH - name of source

It's what there is on most profiles now anywayhow, so why call it "Biography"?

Comments

No calamity at all, and it would be a vast improvement on so many of the profiles that have no sources at all or only a list of sources with no indication what exactly they are sourcing.

On the other hand, though,some of us prefer to write a brief narrative—even if its only the basic facts—and add inline sources. What's calamitous about that?

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All profiles are a work in progress. Why do you assume that someone with additional information will never come along and add it? Perhaps a clue in a bio provides a useful piece of the puzzle for someone else who has different information to add. Many BDM records contain more than the contents of the fields at the top of the profile, and it can be quite revealing, as well as providing further clues about additional places to search for information.

Often we can look at the social history of the time to place our ancestors' lives in context and understand why they did what they did. To the best of my knowledge, my gg-grandparents didn't leave any written information to indicate why they emigrated. Looking beyond BDMs I know my gg-grandfather was a carpet weaver in Kidderminster, at the beginning of the industrial revolution. There is a great deal of information out there about the many jobs that were lost, the industrial strife, and government assistance to relocate unemployed weavers elsewhere, including overseas. Odds are, my gg-grandfather was one of those people facing a bleak future.

If you take the time to dig into those records, you will find many errors made by those who research only by indexes. I'm cleaning up a gedcom at the moment where the original "researcher" has sourced census records that have images attached, but it is apparent by some of the errors I'm finding that this person didn't read the images!

I don't wish to be limited by the lack of interest and research ability of others by having this site reduced to catering for only the lowest common denominator. The biography section is a blank canvas waiting to be painted by someone who has a greater interest in genealogy than simply collecting names.

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And some of us prefer to write long historical biographies.

But then, when we wish to do so, it would be the work of a moment to add a Biography header.

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Considering the number of profiles that don't have a Biography heading now, I wouldn't assume it would always be added. Those new to Wikitree may not realise it needs to be added, or that adding one is encouraged.

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Currently, it doesn't need to be added.  It's the default, along with the Sources/references header.

I just don't think most newer members would realize it could be deleted.

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Despite it being a current default, there are a lot of profiles without it. I've added 30+ Biography headings in the last couple of days alone.

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If I'm interpreting this WikiTree help page correctly, the "Biography" heading should never be deleted, and should be added to a profile if it does not have one:

Text Sections

Required: Biography and Sources

All profiles should have these sections:

== Biography ==
== Sources ==
<references />

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But did you add biographies?

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Oh, sure, that's what they SAY. But what harmful consequences of deleting it?

Not that I do so. Biography is my thing. But it seems to bother a lot of people to see "Biography" without a biography.

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What are the harmful consequences of having a biography heading without a biography? If it bothers people so much, perhaps they could channel their energy into writing the biography. If we want to encourage a particular activity then one of the best ways to do that is to provide examples. Inline sourcing of BDM facts is a start. I think there are far more serious problems here than the absence of biographies.

Answer 10

Like Carol I have mixed feelings. Although I will just add a collection of sources when I find some existing unsourced (or undated) profile, I generally prefer a biography. Not only do the inline citations link the source to the fact, but the biography can gather much information about their life even from a small collection of sources. This, of course, depends on the time and place. In the US the census has so much information that infers when the family moved (e.g., where were the children born) what family members lived in the household or nearby, and so on.

Just yesterday I was able to untangle a collection of children from the 1910 census clue that he was M3 and she was M1 so even without creating profiles for his 1st and 2nd wives his biography could describe when/where he married and so on. Another example was the 6 year old who died. There really wouldn't be much to write about him, but what a tragedy for his family that both he and his similar aged cousin died from burns in a house fire. I am now working on a family that was in a County History, and am using inline citations to show which items are from that source.

Answer 11

The profiles you manage, apart from your own, are not "your" profiles. Ancestors may be shared by many people. Profiles may be improved in stages, and by more than one person.

Answer 12

Sorry to be answering so late.  I had not seen this thread before, until it resurfaced today.

I completely disagree that a profile should ever be empty.  

First, because many people find it easier to read a narrative than to try and patch together, in their minds, a series of data points (birth, marriage, etc.).  

Second, you can always add some historical perspective, should you take the trouble.  Where did the person live?  What was happening at the time?  Even if you are just speculating...for instance--not to suggest I am the best example--I wrote of one ancestor "Olive May was born on the eve of the Civil War..."  Absolutely true.  True as well that I can't say for certain how it affected her.  

But what are we doing here?  Why study our ancestors at all, if we don't try and understand their lives?

Comments

If it floats someone's boat to just create a profile, list at least one good solid source for each fact, and then move on to the next profile, that's great. It provides a framework for the next person to come along and create a narrative or add more biographical details. That's called collaboration, and it's my understanding that collaboration is the fundamental value that all WikiTreers are expected to embrace.

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Not sure I get your point, Stu.  WikiTree already provides a one-sentence bio when a profile is created.  It might take no more than a minute or two to expand it slightly.  Of course, I have also created profiles that I don't care much about--for example, to link two other profiles.  In that case, I don't create elaborate bios.  My points, though, were that I think even a brief bio is better than none, and more can usually be found, should a person care to try.

One of my main goals in writing is to make things easy on the reader.  If you want people to pay attention to what you say, don't make them labor through it, having to go back and forth and deduce things from the sources thrown on the page without explanation.

Answer 13

I use the biography heading for many different things.  Sometimes it is merely a narration of vital data.  Sometimes it is just a timeline of a handful of well documented dates and events.  Sometimes it is a place to put a list of children who do not all yet have profiles on Wikitree.  Sometimes it contains a genealogy comment about a confusing aspect of this particular person's history.  The biography section on Wikitree is very useful because it does not actually change the structure of the tree. It provides a space for researchers to collaborate and pool data to make the tree more accurate.

Answer 14

I’ve been doing quite a bit on the interrogators. Making profiles that need to be made.

I’ll put where they were born and date if it’s there. Their parents are already there anyways. I’ll look to see if I can find census and note what he or parents did for a living, where they moved to etc. kinda follow their lives from what I can find. If they have a find a grave I will take that info and put so and so passed on what ever day, was laid to rest at this place. If someone has put a bio on find a Grave I will include that and put that it came from there. I do what I can with ref tags cause I like the look and it seems to have a more personal touch. And... please don’t think I’m wired but I leave a flower for them. I just find it sad when no one does  this.

Maybe I’m wrong in doing it like this but I try and have something other than just a line of census with no idea of what in it. I like to know what they did for a living etc. it’s part of their history and it should be told.

Answer 15

I want to honour people, all people, with a story of their life, so I will always write a narrative, be it brief or full.  To me, just a list of the bdm data is no better than just being 'a number'.  Yes, that means that similar sentences or paragraphs will be applicable to more than one person in a family.  So, I just copy and paste, and then adjust as necessary.  Isn't this what genealogy is about?