permission to edit Category: 1st Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey Militia, American Revolution

Question

I would like to add the following information related to the 1st Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey Militia, American Revolution: However, I do not have edit permission.

"The service record for Captain Benjamin Laing of the First Essex Militia shows that he was present at the events listed below. Additional research is needed to determine which members of his militia were also present at each these events.

• Battle of Short Hills, June 26, 1777
• Commanded his company of 55 men in service at Elizabethtown under Colonel Samuel Potter, October 1, 1777
• commanded his company of 98 men in service at Elizabethtown under Major Jacob Crane, December 1, 1777
• commanded his company of 64 men in service at Elizabethtown and Tremley's Point under Brigadier General William Winds and Colonel Silvanus Seely, May 23, 1778
• Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778
• In service at alarm in Essex County, July 2, 1778
• In service at alarm, October 8, 1778
• In service at Tremley's Point, October 10, 1778
• Battle of Connecticut Farms, June 7, 1780
• Battle of Springfield, June 23, 1780
• In service at Springfield, June 26, 1780
• In service December 3, 1780, to January 1, 1781

<ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/175573?availability=Family%20History%20Library Revolutionary war index : a compilation of Revolutionary war slips and documented materials from other sources], FamilySearch Catalog with access restricted to FamilySearch Center (formerly Family History Center) or FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Original data: New Jersey State Archives. Dept: Genealogical Society. Rec: Revolutionary War Index.</ref>

Is this the appropriate place to document this information? If so, how to I get edit permission?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You might consider developing a free-space page for this information. As it is specific to Benjamin Laing, it is already present in his profile (although I prefer the formatting you show above).

Here is more information about the text on a category page:

The text on a category page should "describe the purpose of the category. It should not contain unique content. Instead, you can link to a free-space profile or Wikipedia page for more information." 

Category Help: Purpose of the Category

You should be able to edit a category by simply clicking on the [edit] link. It's best to request permission from the category manager before making any changes to an existing category.

Comments

Thank you for your feedback! I'm planning to create a free-space page and use the example from R North (below) as a model.

I'm interested in researching the people who served under Captain Laing. I've managed to locate a few Muster rolls plus people who received pensions.

Do you think it's too going too far to create a Category called "Benjamin Laing Company" or something similar?

Thanks for your input!

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Sounds like you have a good plan for creating a space page for "Benjamin Laing's Company." Documenting those who served in his company would be good information to have.

We are creating categories only to the regiment level for the American Revolution categories. There are a few exceptions; for example, independent companies.

Your space page should connect to Benjamin Laing's profile, and if you are able to develop significant information about his company and the men who served, we can create an information link to it in the 1st Regiment, Essex County Militia category. How does that sound?

Betty

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Sounds like a plan!

And one more question... I don't see a category for State Troops, which were different from the Continental Line and Militia. Here's a link to Stryker's and State Troops: https://archive.org/details/officialregister00newjuoft/page/318/mode/2up?view=theater&q=%22State+troops%22

As you can see, Stryker views this as a different type of enlistment. Should there be a category for this or should I just mention it in the profile and not add a category for this type of service?

Thank you again for your help in getting me up to speed with this and I intend to make it worth your while :)

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A category for New Jersey State Troops has not yet been created. Do you have one or more profiles with service that should be categorized as state troops? If so, please give me a list. For the present, you should categorize them under Category: New Jersey, American Revolution.

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The profiles I'm most likely to come across are those who also served in the First Regiment of the Essex County Militia. So I'll just leave them in those categories. When I did a search in Stryker's for "State Troops," it seems that they all had other service either in a Militia or the Continental Army.

I'm still in the process of figuring out who on the rosters of the First Essex Militia has a WikiTree profile and who doesn't. Once I have that figured out, I can let you know if I see that any of them were also State Troops.

I'm not particularly interested in the State Troops, but thought that while I was adding or improving profiles I wouldn't mind adding the category while I was at it. Someone who was interested in researching the State Troops might find it helpful.

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On your free space page add
[[:Category: 1st Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey Militia, American Revolution|1st Regiment, Essex County Militia, New Jersey Militia, American Revolution category]]
somewhere to attach your page to the category page.

Answer 2

1. I agree with what Betty Norman says in her answer.

2. You should always listen to what Betty Norman says.

3. To elaborate, there are some differences in the "Categorization" object and the "Free-space page" object which makes the Free-space page more suitable for this kind of information. It is easier to edit and to tag references.  An example is the Category https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Josiah_Smith_Regiment_of_Nassau_Island_%281776%29%2C_New_York_Militia%2C_American_Revolution and free-space page [[Space:Josiah_Smith_Regiment_of_Nassau_Island_(1776)|Josiah Smith Regiment of Nassau Island (1776)]]

These are by no means perfect. The category may have too much information, and the free-space page would probably benefit from some more formating, but you can see where the freespace page is more suitable for carrying the kind of detail you are talking about.

Comments

I'm glad to know that Betty Norman is a good person to get advice from :)

Thank you for sharing this example. It gives me a good model to follow in building the page. Also, that's a good point about references on a free-space page.

If you'd like to add your opinion on the question in my response to Betty Norman, please do!