Profile Accuracy Theme of the Week: Great

Question

This week's theme: Great.

To participate, simply:

1. Choose a profile that fits this week's theme.
2. Review and improve the accuracy of the profile.
3. Reply with an answer below to let us know which profile you chose.

Also see: Photo Sharing Theme of the Week: Animals

Answer 1

For this week's challenge I added a little to the profile of Alexina Great https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Great-54

Comments

That's Great!  Alexina the Great! Perfect choice Anne!

Answer 2

This week I will work on the profile of George Wilburn Sidner. He was killed in The Great War. He was an orphan, so I adopted him. He is unconnected, and hopefully I will have him connected this week. Also, I will work on his profile for accuracy.

Comments

Nice job on Private Sidner Alexis!

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Thank you Scott. I have been using your background 43 on several profiles. It looks GREAT!

Answer 3

This week I had to think a little longer about the topic. Great can have different meanings in German.
When I thought back to my childhood, I remembered that for me my maternal grandmother, Herta Martha Auguste Beumer, nee Grabow, who at that time lived in the Westphalian Münsterland on the outskirts of the Baumberge, was always a great person to spend vacations with.

That's why I'm going to work on her profile this week.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Grabow-86

Comments

Always Dieter!...staying at grandma's house always came with a lot of benefits, especially my grandma's canned apricots!  Nice profile!

Answer 4

I thought a lot about this theme. Great can be so many things, a name, a great grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. They could be a great example, a great love, or a great story. I am choosing a combination of these, and a great lesson as well. This photo has a story behind it, but I don't know it and I can't find any living relatives that do. Is this how she dressed for a job, what kind of job would a woman have that required this attire and hammer? Was this some kind of costume party, halloween maybe? Go to your older family get out there photos and find out the stories. This is my 2x great aunt, Maudie Mae Shockey/Rhoads (Shockey-806), 1902-1967. She is the aunt of Dola Ruth Huffman who I chose for the photo profile this week. I will always wonder about the story behind this great photo, and I will continue to try to find the answer. Oh and this is also a great example of My Heritages' colorization proses. 

Comments

That is a great photo! Nice job on the colorization also. The handle reminds me of a hoe, but the tool at the end doesn't quite look like a hoe. Thanks for sharing.

Answer 5

It was a great struggle, since I encountered the FamilySearch change in how they present records

Merrill LaRue Baldridge was an orphaned (unsourced) profile who died in Great Falls, Montana. Not a great choice, but one improved profile.

Comments

Cool choice!  Great Falls, Montana!

Answer 6

Great things tend to happen when you dig into a box full of stuff. Check out the details here: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2021/04/52-ancestors-week-14-great.html I have found great things concerning my great-grandparents, Vincenzo and Maria AND found things about grandpa Marco and grandma Ollie.

Comments

Nice job on that blog Chris!

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Thanks!

Answer 7

This week I improved the profile for my great-great grandfather, Henry "Joseph" Griggs who left behind the greatest 1911 census return that answered any questions I may have had about it him.

He put a year of marriage and a church at the top, had the most exact birthplaces for his children (literally listing the house they were born in) and signed his name as Joseph first before crossing it out and putting Henry (his parents only ever called him Joseph so I would have been tracking nothing if I tried searching for a Henry on the 1891 or 1901 census). 

Henry Griggs - The Man who Solved his own Brickwall

Comments

Nice work on the Griggs family David!

Answer 8

For this week's theme I have chosen to create a profile for , Jean Francois Gravelet aka Charles Blondin, one of the greatest tightrope walkers of all time. He was particularly famous for crossing the 1,100 foot Niagara Gorge several times, on one occasion stopping to cook an omelette in the middle. His granddaughter taught my husband at St George's School, Windsor and was still living nearby when my son attended the school in the 1990s. He married three times and had eight children so that should keep me busy.

Comments

Nice work Gillian!  Very interesting...I guess Jean was walking a tightrope even when he wasn't working?

Answer 9

Word association from Great, ended up with Big, which became Bigg.

I was able to improve the accuracy of the profile of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bigg-206  and his wife  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spasshatt-1

Also found an (unsourced) profile for one of their sons, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bigg-194 and daughter in law https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bowman-10689 - created the connection and added additional detail and sources for both profiles.

Comments

And...Big became Better!

Answer 10

I took the German word for big (Groß) as starting point. There were on WikiTree+ quite a few suggestions with towns involving the name part "Groß-...". First I thought I'll correct the location of a couple that lived in a town which is today a part of a town where my family lives still today. But then I saw several suggestions involving a woman "mother too young". I saw, when I correct her birthdate at least to a more realistic estimate (in case I don't find a birth certificate, which could happen with the common surname Groß), that will help loads.

So I started with Anna Catharina (Groß) Pfeiffer. I looked for certificates but found them only for the marriages of her children. Ok, but that tells me at least that the birthdates of her children are correct. So now I have a foundation for an estimate. On MyHeritage I found several trees suggesting a certain birthyear. So I took that as an {{Estimated Date}}. But then the system complained "Her father is too young!" So I estimated arbitrarily a date for both of her parents. (End of the line, thanks God).

Now I turned to her husband. For him I didn't find a realistic birthdate in any trees, so I made him a bit older than his wife. And again the system complained: "His father cannot be the father if he wasn't yet born!" And again, an arbitrary birthdate for his parents and thanks goodness, end of the line.

Comments

I enjoyed your account of your search for accuracy. Things can get complicated. For example, the town may have different names depending on what year it was. Or "mother too young" may mean "wrong mother." I've had a lot of those puzzles. I have solved "the man who didn't know how old he was" and "did Aunt Matilda marry a bigamist?" and "the twin who never was." But that's what makes this hobby fun. Thanks for sharing.

Answer 11

I've revised and updated the profile of my Great Grandmother Alice (Ryan) Hogan.

Answer 12

For this week I have chosen my Great Grand Aunt Etta B. Smith and her husband my Great Grand Uncle Sampson David Cox also known as "Samp & Pat". They were married by Sampson's father and my 2x Great Grandfather Rev. Nathan Wade Cox in 1923. I added pictures I took of their grave marker to Etta's profile along with more sources and have now created Sampson's profile.  I plan to add more sources to Samp's profile along with profiles for two of their three children (their daughter, my Grandfather's double first cousin is still alive).

Answer 13

A great Dane is a breed of large dog. (You knew that.)  What is it called in Denmark? The Danish word for "great" is "store"; the word for "Dane" is "Dansker." But in Denmark, the big dog is not a "store Dansker," but a "grand Danois," which is French for "great Dane."

And if you think the great Dane originated in Denmark, think again. It originated in Germany, where it is known as "Deutscher dogge," which is German for "German mastiff."

Why am I talking about dogs? This question is about accuracy. But in order to be accurate, you have to be alert for inaccuracies. It is easy to be inaccurate if you are not thinking about the words.

Pennsylvania Dutch people are not Dutch, but German. . . New South Wales is not part of Wales. . . The Louisiana territory is not the same as the modern-day state of Louisiana. . . there were French settlers in the German Coast of Louisiana. . .

Perhaps you have thought "this family name is the same as mine. We must be related." Or "this name is spelled a bit differently. We are not related."

As you work on your family mysteries, imagine a great Dane reminding you to be careful with names.

Comments

Great points Joyce!

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Thanks for reading this. I was tempted to create a profile for Just Nuisance, who has a Wikipedia entry, thus qualifying him as a Notable.

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Two thumbs up Joyce!

Answer 14

For this week's theme, I've decided to improve the profile for Louis Jean Guilbert, a great great great great grandfather.

Comments

Merci beaucoup from Granpa Louie!  Nice work Joyce!

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Thanks Scott!

Answer 15

I will improve my maternal great grandfather's profile by changing the bio from an outline to a complete biography.  Also bring the references up to WikiTree standards.  I am selecting John James Heath because he died suddenly at 39 changing the course of our family history.  Before he died my grandmother was to marry the preacher's son, but that didn't happen and what came after is the reason that I am alive!  That's great for me!

Comments

Great profile!

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Great comment!

Answer 16

Being a "newbie" this will be my first challenge! With a computer coming in a day or two I'll be a little late, but I can finally copy & paste (yea!) and I've been working on my Great Grandfather Littleberry Champion Buckelew, poor guy was actually in with the 'Orphans'! I'll try to finish that one. Hope I can keep up now that I'll be rid of this little tablet!

Comments

Try this: Copy the profile information from the browser bar  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Buckelew-67  

Then, when you make an answer, click on the little chain link (about midway, 3rd line), put the copied profile address in the bottom box, and put his name in the "display" box.  Then save, and you'll have a working link.

Welcome to WikiTree.  Hope you can get back to working on Littleberry.

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Thank you so much! Perfect instructions and my laptop came today! Copy & Paste here I come!

Thanks again!

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Great job on Littleberry Robyn!  One good way to learn how to create good profiles is to look at a few that others have done by going to the profile and if it is open which most are, click on edit and look at how that profile was made, especially referencing sources. That is how I discovered how to do things.  Clicking on edit on any open profile doesn't change anything if you just look at it and then close it out afterwards.  Welcome to WikiTree!

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That's great! I wouldn't have thought of that. Looks like somebody did some work on him already, but I think his family has "issues" so I'll just go ahead and fix him up! Thanks so much for the great tip!

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I guess I'm too late for the challenge, but I have a lot of learning to do! I took your advice about looking at how sources are listed . I've looked in all the wrong places and can't find a page that has the html-type codes. IS there such a page, or a tutorial of some kind? I used to know html but this is totally different. I really want to learn the right way to list sources. There has to be a better way than trial & error..isn't there?? Appreciate any help!

Robyn

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Here's a page on formatting.  Another thing you can do is take a look at some of the other's profiles and then click on edit if the profile is not locked and look at how they made their page.  Also how to set up writing a biography.  Also Robyn, check out all the icons here in the text comment box, click on them and see what they are for.  That would be a great start.  Each profile page when edit is selected, in the right column, you can find a few formatting tips.  Finally, post your question on G2G like you did here.  Also review the Help Index page and the Wikitree Help page.  Join up with some challenges and look at how other's create profiles.  Good Luck, repetitio mater studiorum!  That's right, trial and error!  One more thing...I would recommend taking the PIP Voyage led by Debi Hoag.  Your voyage will be led by a experienced WikiTree member.  I took the voyage and it helped me tremendously!  Just click on the PIP Voyage link above and read all about it!  

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Here's a little jewel for you to use in the future on your profiles when you cite Find A Grave.  {{FindAGrave | put the memorial number in here after the pipe}}  That is between {{ and }} add FindAGrave plus a pipe then the memorial number.  Also, at the bottom of each memorial page on Find A Grave you can copy the complete citation for the source and add it to the profile.  You are going to enjoy WikiTree Robyn, I know it!

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You've all given me such great tips that I've added a Tip Jar to my email folders! I'm keeping them until I've 'got it', then I can share them with my daughter who just joined. It should be a bit easier for her, she doesn't have html tangled up in her head!

Again, Thanks SO much,  Robyn

Answer 17

After reading all the great examples already posted, I decided to adopt an orphan.  At first I looked for orphaned profiles with the surname of Great.  Finding one, I started looking for sources and couldn't find anything except for the census already present.  Upon getting more creative, I found that the surname Great should have been Groat.  

Next, I decided to find an orphan whose last name was Bigger.  (not great, just bigger - I know you were thinking it too)  I worked on Pleasant Hart Bigger and created profiles for his two other wives, added a mess of children for him and his third wife (prior to her marriage to Pleasant, she had two other husbands).  I was able to find Pleasant's parents (already on WikiTree) and one of his third wife's children already on WikiTree.  Connections made, profiles improved and hopefully, someone will be able to find their ancestors.

Comments

Not just Bigger but Bigger and better!  Nice job!

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Thanks!

Answer 18

My great is Charles the Great. Charlemagne.https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carolingian-77  Karl der Grosse.  Carolus Magnus.  Big Chuck.  I descend from him, and chances are you do too.  He was born in 748.  His descendants were generally recorded because of their lineage at a time when the majority of the population wouldn’t be.  So if you can get that far back you probably have royal or noble lineage.  The serfs with no surnames didn’t get into the books. The nobles married each other.  Class system and what not.

There is a book from NEHGS about New Englanders with verified royal ancestries.  I have several of these gateway ancestors.  The one I chose to focus on was Thomas Trowbridge, who has multiple descents from Charlemagne. I had already entered my direct descendants of TT on wikitree, including one named Josiah Jackson, who was present at the Lexington Alarm, which started the Revolution, and the Battle of Bennington.  

My improvement was to add his brother, Edward. Findagrave had his wife as Jemima Unknown. Some research quickly showed that she was actually Jemima Trowbridge.  I kept digging and found Jemima and Edward were 2nd cousins, four different ways. Certainly adds to the number of ways their offspring can claim descent from Charlemagne  

The moral of the story is that not much changed in 1000 years.  Endogamy has been rife among Chuck’s descendants for more than a millennium.   Charles himself may not have been great, but great is the number of his progeny.

Comments

Carolyn!  Your inline links as added above are incorrect with regard to anyone trying to go to those profiles.  Just edit your comment and highlight the name of the person in your comment and then click on the link icon (looks like a chain link) above in the text box and enter the url of that person's profile.  Charlemagne Carolingian. Try it!

Answer 19

I improved the profile of my Great-Grandfather John Wesley Bogue (1890-1923) this week. His father, William Garner Bogue, a traveling Methodist minister, named his first son after a great man, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. He was one of nine siblings.

He married Lydia Stoelting in 1913. She was the granddaughter of German immigrants to Indiana. They had five children. It was a great loss when his youngest child, John Wesley Jr., died at one year of age.

John worked a great variety of jobs; I revised his profile to list the ones I could find documentation of: farmer, plumber, trash man (employed by Vandalia Railroad), cabinet maker. He worked for the railroad in 1917, and perhaps regularly after that. Railroad work took him away from Indiana to western Iowa. And the greatest tragedy of his life is his early death, while in Nebraska. It left his family stranded in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in poverty (my grandfather and his siblings lived in a poor farm orphanage until my great-grandmother could save enough money to cover funeral expenses and arrange for a return to the family farm in Indiana... and then just a few years later, the Great Depression began.

Comments

Great job on both John and Lydia's profiles Katherine!  Lydia is a darling!  Beautiful couple I'd say!

Answer 20

I wasn't able to do much to improve the profile of my great-great grandfather William A. Stephens, but I fleshed it out a little: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stevens-10551

My weekly blog post: https://rhymeschemesanddaydreams.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/52ancestors-great-genealogy/