I've hit the 1700 wall, I have more entries, and I don't want to join a project

Question

I'm working off info from FamilySearch, and I reached the 1700 line and don't know how to proceed. I do not want to join a project right now. I'm happy to take some guidance here.

Addendum: Thank you everyone who answered. I get it. I will slow down and do it right. I will check in with a couple of you who gave particularly helpful answers until I feel more confident.

Comments

Good for you, Jack!  I can almost hear people cheering you!

Answer 1

The key is that you need to add Sources to the profiles that you created.  Saying 'records from family search' doesn't state what source you were looking at.  

On Family Search, the Sources are found by selecting the Search and Records tabs, then information about the person you are looking for, or using the Rootsearch Link that is on the right side of 'open' profiles and selecting the Family Search option.

To work on Pre-1700, you should know how to find and add sources properly.  Any form of family trees is not a valid source on the Pre-1700 profiles.

Comments

To add to Linda: there are no locations on the profiles, which makes it very hard to locate the profiles and compare them to others. WikiTree is a worldwide tree, locations are critical.

I wonder why you do not want to join a project. The project can help you learn how to work on the profiles correctly.

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Some of your profiles have 'JB Book and research', but that doesn't help someone else who has the same ancestors as you do or they think they might, so they want to review the sources that you used to create the profile.  

Many of the profiles that were created have only a year with no location, which makes it hard to determine if someone is an ancestor of someone else.  Are those people in United States, England, Russia, Africa, Australia, etc.?

I know you didn't create all the profiles linked from the profile you mentioned above, but that is part of the collaboration of wikitree.  Find sources and help update a profile with information. Just remember that there are frequently multiple people with the same name in the same location, so you have to be sure that the person to be updated is the correct one for the family.  Checking with a PM is always a good thing to make sure when there is limited information on a profile, also.

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Very helpful, Linda and Michel. Thank you.

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Jack, G2G on wikitree is a very helpful place to get some answers.  Glad it has helped.

Answer 2

Jack,

I added a "See also:" section to Mordacai's profile.

It includes four different links to Mordacai's profile on FamilySearch.

You can cut and paste these links to each of the profiles that have known profiles on FamilySearch. All you have to do is replace the FamilySearch profile ID with the appropriate ID for the profile you are working on.

Comments

In England we do not link to individuals in a Family Trees we link to the source of information for an individual.

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Yes, that is the correct thing to do when you are using it as a source in the profile.

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The biggest problem with linking to another site's family tree as a source is that you may have viewed it at one time and it may have contained the information you brought over, but the minute you completed your copy it could have changed. Someone could completely alter the data and when you return it could even be merged away and no longer available. I've seen it happen to me as well. It's not a bad secondary source to note that you brought most of your information over (I use Family Search frequently as do many others around here), but I try to bring over the sources and not rely on the tree record.

I do like the way you've laid out the profiles I've seen and it's obvious you've put some thought into how to link to the various sites and pages you reference. But as I mentioned, I'd be worried that someone could come behind me and pull the tree record out or change it, while if I link to the actual sources, then typically those remain much more stable.

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I am not to worried about the three sites that I link to:

Ancestry.com: I control my own tree which I have made public for view with sources.

FamilySearch: They have for each profile a notification feature (aka a follow option) that can be turned on to notify members if the profile has been tampered with.

Find A Grave: WikiTree does a weekly check for differences in profiles.

So, I link with confidence.

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The England Project does not use family trees as sources and the members are taught how to research properly.

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If someone can't take a little effort to record a full citation on Wikitree after signing an Honor Code agreeing to source, why should other users feel confident that the PM actually has notifications turned on and will respond promptly to notifications of changes in the Family Search tree?

Wikitree specifically discourages using subscription sites when the information can be found on a free site.

When good quality sources are used, that contain enough information for others to find the original records, no further work is needed to continually monitor for changes elsewhere, or correct errors when someone alters the information on other sites. If, for some reason, the PM becomes inactive, such a system comes crashing down in a heap.

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Tommy, re your comment above:  I also provide information about my Ancestry tree, note the FamilySearch profile numbers (if I know them), and link FindAGrave memorials to profiles I work on.  I think it's always useful for someone interested in a person to know where else the person is represented.  Just one quibble with what you said--when someone edits a FamilySearch profile, I wouldn't call it "tampering" any more than I would call every WT edit tampering.  People do actually add correct information sometimes, and it is a shared tree!

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Outstanding responses, thank you. Examples on how to do it correctly are most helpful. I did read the rules and take the self-quiz, but obviously there were gaps in my grasp. I will proceed cautiously.

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This whole thread is great. Thank you.

Answer 3

If you're using Family Search records, they will contain locations. Why are you not including them in the profiles? Names without locations are of no use to anyone else except you, and Wikitree is a shared tree.

Answer 4

If you join the England Project you will be guided initially which should help you research and source your family. We work on orphaned profiles so we do not have a profile manager who wants things done a particular way.

Many project members find the collaboration helpful.

Comments

Jack, if you are just getting started and you have ancestors in England or Scotland, I would recommend joining one of those projects and they can help guide you, with an individual person, through the Orphan Trail in England or Tartan Trail in Scotland. They help you learni about wikitree, how to source, as well as where to source in those areas.

Answer 5

I have added the marriage date, location, and source to show you how easy it is.  Once you have added the data - including location, which is essential - the source from FamilySearch is merely a copy-and-paste job.  And it's free, so that others can take a look as well.

Answer 6

The issues of accurate citation  are discussed elsewhere on this thread.  Whether you join a project or not and I do urge you to join the England project, you should follow wikitree  and project guidelines on the use of sources and citation. The England project has a great course to help you learn to do this.

In the meantime,  a  guide drawn up by the project will help you to assess whether the sources of evidence you are using are reliable https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:England_Project_Reliable_Sources

Thete are also  pages that have links to a variety of sources for each county e.g. 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Lincolnshire_Resources

 One thing worth pointing out about the sources cited on the family Search tree for Mordacai  is that they are all to indexes rather than  images of the original parish register. (unless you have access to the FS films). Indexes can help you  find theoriginal.  Sometimes images of these are not available  anywhere online. In that case if we can't visit the archive then we have to make do with indexes or  transcriptions. Sometimes, this can be problematic. For example, attatched to his FS tree are 3 indexes to the parish register entry for Mordacai's marriage in 1730 in Washingborourgh, Lincolnshire. The transcription of the brides name differs. (Tarmence, Farmoric and Farmerie.

Fortunately  Lincolnshire parish registers are available freely online.  This link is to the Washingborough register for that period.

 https://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=548022&iid=188672

Answer 7

You have already received a lot of good information and advice. In order to work on Pre-1700 profiles, you must agree to follow the guidelines for Pre-1700 profiles, including sourcing.

Please look over this help page on Pre-1700 Profiles. It explains that you must never create a Pre-1700 profile using any user-generated tree.

While joining a project would be beneficial to you, it is a choice. Following the guidelines for creating and editing Pre-1700 profiles, however, is not.