Two for one: Help connect jazz great Miles Davis and actress Cicely Tyson to the tree

Question

Jazz great Miles Davis and actress Cicely Tyson were married in the 1980s, and neither of them is connected to the global tree. If you want to collaborate on building their trees and connections, we can use this post to share research, brick walls, or profiles who need more profiles created from them.

Comments

WikiTree+ updated - this cluster is now tree151 and shows with 222 profiles in that system. As you pointed out Isabelle, it's still not "current", but at least I'm glad to see it's closer. Big jump though from tree2543 to tree151, so it's obvious we're making good progress. :)

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Isabelle quote> about the number of profiles in the tree, I don't use WikiTree+ (which only updates once a week) but something different. The tree size is 247 per this count (updated daily, so not exactly current).

Can you please tell me how to see this daily kind of tree size ? Thanks

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Unfortunately, no, I can't. I'm not free to share it, sorry. (Edited to add: it's a glutton for resources and has to be used sparingly, so, we can't share it).

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Isabelle, you're such a tease! (just kidding with you...)

But seriously, the "count" of profiles is fun to look at, but has little bearing on the actual connection. I'll try to restrain myself.

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I think we've got a connection! The existing profile I hit (William Zigrang) is about 22 steps from Miles Davis (whew!) but if everything goes well, it should populate in the connector by tomorrow.

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Awesome news! Fingers crossed for tonight's connection update.

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“Tutu” by Miles Davis was one of the first DNA-saved files to be added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Archive in 2017.

https://www.seeker.com/health/biotech/music-was-just-encoded-on-dna-and-retrieved-for-the-first-time

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Erin - I think you did it! 

At least the profiles I was working on appear to be connected today, so I can only assume that Miles and Cicely are both connected as well. Great job!

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Miles is definitely connected, and it's a LONG distance connection, but it's there.

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On the upside, having a long connection like that means many different names and families, so more people have a chance of easily finding their own connection point if they're new to WikiTree or creating new profiles! And plenty of potential for it to get filled in and bring people more tightly together.

Answer 1

Rhoda Brock Spencer, born 1909 in California, needs her parents and siblings added: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brock-6468

Answer 2

Exciting news! I may have found two paths to connection to the tree, we just have to verify them:

1. Mamie Chance Hassan: Her father was Linus Chance, and according to this Ancestry Tree, he was descended from Zilpha Doty/Doughty Chance (who is already in WikiTree). I don't feel confident tracing records in Louisiana, is there someone who wants to verify this?

2. Ella Nehrt Ullmann : According to Family Search Trees, she's related to both Esther Nehrt Goecker (cousin, common ancestor in this Family Search Tree is Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Nehrt) and Helena Brinkman Boelling (niece, common ancestor is Hermann Heinrich Brinkmann in this FS tree.) Honestly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the German naming conventions, but someone who is familiar could make quick work of this.

Comments

I'm afraid this needs a separate post aimed at the Germany project since both connections via Ella Nehrt need to go back to Germany.

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For Mamie Chance, this is complicated by her parents not being married. She is living with her mother and a "lodger" listed as William Chancy (not Linus) in 1920, then in 1925 her mother marries Isham Tappins.

(Her mother's parentage looks very difficult to trace, though that is not of immediate interest for this connection).

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That's what I was thinking re: Ella, you just never know where there's overlap between members of different projects!

Answer 3

I think we've got a connection! The existing profile I hit (William Zigrang) is about 22 steps from Miles Davis (whew!) but if everything goes well, it should populate in the connector by tomorrow.

Comments

Great news! and that connects a cluster of roughly 340 profiles to the tree.

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Whoa, we really did do quite the job creating new profiles!