What brought you to WikiTree?
My brick wall family is the reason I came to WikiTree because sources are required here. The other online family tree websites do not require sources, and sometimes people tend to post whatever and whoever, all without sources. I took it personally when they did this to my Page family line. It was as if they didn’t care about the truth, they just wanted to link a family, because someone else linked a family, etc.
What do you spend the most time doing on WikiTree?
I spend most of my time sourcing and creating plantations and profiles for those who were enslaved, working with the US Black Heritage Project. I also recently joined the Southern Colonies project as well since they often overlap with the plantations I work on. In Southern Colonies, I edit and update profiles that have no sources, and take at least 1 day a week to work on something from their project list.
How can others help those projects?
Both projects that I work with are always looking for volunteers. US Black Heritage Project has a small skill-building training called PATH. This training helps volunteers learn to properly record African-American profiles and those who were enslaved. I went through the PATH training and have been working on Plantations for the last 6 months. We have hundreds of enslaved persons on these plantations who need profiles created. And there are hundreds of plantations that need plantation pages created with the USBH Plantations project standards.
What inspires you to contribute so much of yourself to WikiTree's mission?
I remember when I first started working on my own family history, how excited I got when I found a document or was able to connect a new person to my family tree. When I realized how very difficult it is for African-Americans to research their family history I wanted to help. Working for US Black Heritage, recording the enslaved and their families, gives more people the opportunity to trace their own heritage.
What is your favorite feature or function on WikiTree?
I love sources, real sources, with real links to real documents. WikiTree and WikiTree Sourcer app makes my research and family stories real because I can easily attach sources.
Do you have a story about how someone was helped through your participation on WikiTree?
Through my work of recording plantations, I have had someone find their ancestor on a plantation I had recorded. Helping someone connect is the ultimate prize!
Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get more involved in our community?
If you are looking for more information on things that interest you on WikiTree, join the G2G email list, adding tags for those things that interest you, e.g.: Slavery, Black_Heritage, South_Carolina, American_Revolutionary_War etc. You will start getting emails that include those categories. Then don’t be shy. You will find a new community of friends who enjoy working on the same things as you do.
What could we do to inspire more people to participate in our mission?
I was drawn into the communities on WikiTree by the Challenges that are offered each month. At that time I had no idea so much was going on at WikiTree. The first Challenge was really fun, and it created a desire to see what else was on at WikiTree besides my own family tree.
