The Notables Challenge - May 2023 (TV Moms)

+24 votes
1.5k views
This month, the Notables team is initiating a new Profile Enhancement Project, designed to help us elevate our existing notable profiles to a higher standard of excellence, while also helping to grow the greater WikiTree.

Each month we will be selecting a group of "notables" who all share a common theme. Together, we will then work to improve upon these profiles in every way we can. To do this, we will need Bio Builders, Categorizers, Connectors, Data Doctors, Formatters, Photo Finders, Profile Improvers, Proofreaders, Sourcerers, and any other WikiTreers looking to have a good time upgrading our notable profiles. For those who prefer researching family lines over developing profiles, we'll also be working on increasing each notable's CC7, so your help is certainly needed as well.

In honor of Mother's Day, we begin our new venture by honoring 40 beloved TV Moms. Follow the link here to see the complete list of Moms and to learn more about what needs to be done. Then jump in wherever you think you'll have the most fun. Just be sure to drop us a note here to let us know what you're working on and to periodically update us on your progress.

Remember that we are still in experimental mode, so please let us know what works for you and what doesn't, along with any suggestions you may have for us going forward. We've seen what WikiTreers can do when they pull their efforts together and are excited to see what we can accomplish over the next 31 days!
WikiTree profile: Space:TV_Moms
in The Tree House by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
edited by David Randall
Why are they all North American from American shows?

I anticipated I'd be getting this question, and the simple answer is that American television is all I know. Some of my future themes are likely to be more international. Additionally, I'd be happy to put together a list of notable profiles from a particular country or region, if someone has a suggestion and might perhaps be willing to help put the list together.  

For those interested in international profiles, you may want to check out the 15 Nation's Global Tour where we do basically this same thing with a focus on notables from around the world. We select a new nation of focus every three weeks, build the profiles of fifteen notables and their families, and try to get them connected to the big tree. Right now, we are working on a list of Malaysian notables. It's quite challenging, but we are having a blast!

I have a "short list" of people who made an impression on me - but I have no idea if they have WT profiles.
Some are Australian, some are English, my top pick is Welsh, and there's a German in the mix!

Oh, David, you can pretty much always expect it from me.  cheeky

I've just created a profile for one of Australia's best loved TV Mums, Magge Beare, played by Ruth Cracknell.  She's not on your list, but I / we will be working on her family lines to see if I /we can get her Connected by Mother's Day.  In 1998, the National Trust of Australia named her one of "100 National Living Treasures".

If you've never seen the show "Mother and Son", you should look it up on YouTube, as it is a classic.  Co-star Garry McDonald (currently listed as a National Living Treasure) was brilliant as the put-upon son-at-home.  

I would add that there is nothing to stop people from improving the profiles of notables who are not on this list (we have about 60,000 to choose from!). If the subject is a TV mom, keep us updated here. If not, head over to the main Notables thread and let us know what you're up to.

Ruth Cracknell should show as Connected by tomorrow.  smiley

My thanks to the members of the Australia Project who dove right in to see if we could do it before Mother's Day.

Congratulations!
I read that as TV Space Moms and was thinking of moms in space! Which may be a cool theme in another year.
At first I thought "how silly". But the more I thought about it, the more "Space Moms" I came up with. Who knows, maybe we have a theme here for a future pop-up challenge!
(In the U.S.)  Famous Space Mom category: June Lockhart as Mrs. Robinson (no not that Mrs. Robinson, that was Anne Bankcroft) in the TV show Lost in Space... Remember the (much repeated) famous line uttered by robot, whose arms were always flailing about, "Danger Will Robinson, Danger!".

12 Answers

+19 votes

I truly love the idea behind this novel idea / project, which works well for myself as one that is interested in both profile improvement as well as researching and trying to enhance family lines! I think taking on an absolutely phenomenal and groundbreaking legend, Lucille Desiree Ball, would be both fun and challenging for myself. So I will try my best I promise:)

by Brian Quesnell G2G6 Pilot (112k points)
reshown by Brian Quesnell
I love Lucy!

I know, what a cool classic....

+15 votes
Is this list only for "TV Moms" who are NOT Connected? I assume that is what the N/C refers to?

Otherwise I was wondering why Olivia Walton (Michael Learned) is not listed. But she is connected.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Learned-201
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Actually, only 15 or the 40 TV Moms are unconnected from the Big Tee. Michael Learned would certainly have been at the top of my list, but she is still living. Due to the limited access members have to the profiles of living notables, only deceased individuals have been included.

DUH silly me. 

Gotcha!!  

Thanks David!!!  laugh

These days, considering the focus on CC7, you might post the CC7 for all of them, and then at the end, and see how they had been either connected or improved their CC7. Just a thought.
D'OH - you got there already... LOL!
+15 votes
This sounds fun! I'm always happy and encouraged to see women be the focus of a WikiTree event. Maternal lines are sometimes harder, but just as rewarding when connected.
by Judi Stutz G2G6 Pilot (387k points)
+15 votes

Great idea!

June Lockhart is best known for her roles as TV mothers including in Lassie. I see that the images on her profile no longer work.  I will see if I can fix those images. 

by Russell Butler G2G6 Pilot (201k points)
edited by Russell Butler

If the images were uploaded to her profile, they will not be visible.  Add them to my space page and they should show up.
 

Thanks Melanie.  I can see them and assumed others could see them as well.

Open and green lock pages /profiles will allow images to be seen.  Any of the yellow locks or higher won't -- and that includes member profiles — or Living Notables.  Hence the space pages No Double Vision, and Images 4 G2G.

Much appreciated!  I fixed some and have a few more to fix when I have the chance.
+14 votes

Jan Clayton and Peggy Singleton are connected.

Peggy’s first husband profile was interesting and a learning moment.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Singleton-5010 (see very last sentence in sources)

by S Stevenson G2G6 Pilot (282k points)
Hurray! The project is now officially a success.

Very tragic story about Lawrence Singleton. Creating profiles for these lost servicemen could be an interesting project for someone.
Wilma Flintstone is connected
Barbara Geddes is connected
I love seeing these legendary actresses connected. Keep up the great work!
+15 votes

I added some sources to Jean Hagen's bio and created a profile for her husband [[Seidel-989]]

We quote her all the time at our house .. "I kent stan it!" from Singing in the Rain

by Donna Henley G2G6 Mach 3 (31.3k points)

I'm too young to remember Make Room for Daddy, but I recognized Jean Hagen from another "Mom" role, that of Tommy Kirk's mom in Disney's The Shaggy Dog

Jean Hagen should be connected tonight when the links update. Her mother's profile was out there all along, but just needed to be connected.
Great job Scott!
+12 votes

Project Update: 

With Mother's Day just around the corner, we still have ten TV Moms who need to be connected to the Big Tree:

Jean Hagen, Make Room for Daddy

Gloria Henry, Dennis the Menace

Ann Sothern, My Mother the Car

Kaye Ballard, The Mothers-in-law

Esther Rolle, Good Times

Nancy Walker, Rhoda

Bonnie Franklin, One Day at a Time

Mabel King, What's Happening!

Estelle Getty, The Golden Girls

Estelle Harris, Seinfeld

To date we increased the combined CC7s of our 40 TV Moms by 1750 profiles in just one week. That's pretty amazing!

by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
edited by David Randall
I've been working on the family of Esther Rolle. I "think" I've about doubled her CC7 of about 10 profiles to over 20. No connection in sight, but a couple of possibilities to pursue. She has many recent British West Indies immigrants in her line that really dead-end prior to immigration, but I have found a few lines that go through areas in the deep south that have potential. In either case, I suspect I could easily add another 40-50 profiles to her CC7 and not come close to a connection, but we'll see how things turn out.
Connecting profiles is a great goal, but not always feasible. By building the CC7 you increase the number of opportunities for someone else to come along with a connection down the road. Besides, you never know what you'll find hiding where you least expect it.
Ann Sothern and Nancy Walker are connected.

it is fascinating to see how big Ann Sothern’s 8th degree is by seeing how much bigger the cc7 of her second husband is to her’s and then to see his second wife’s cc7 how much bigger than that of his, so her 9th degree is approx 2,800.
Estelle Getty is connected
Only 5 more Moms left to connect!
+13 votes
since the USBH sprint this weekend is all about military stickers, which isn't my strong suit, I'm going to work on the cc7s for our four moms under the USBH umbrella. I know we've tried to connect 3 of them already, but if we keep chipping away at it, we'll get there!
by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
I might have a connection for Esther Rolle, but it's going to take a lot of work and research to figure it out. I just entered her brother, Alvin and there's strong evidence that he married a white German woman and had two daughters with her. One of those daughters has an Ancestry account and corroborates the story. There are divorce records as well, so there had to be a marriage, but it was prior to the interracial marriage laws in the US, so it becomes more curious as to how that all worked out. But even if we accept that they found a way (which seems extremely likely), the connection would run through their daughter, who is still living, and her husband, who is white and still living, and then to a fairly large tree where there are many possibilities for a connection. Not sure if I have the time to do the very in-depth research needed to validate most of these lightly sourced "family Bible" type relationships, but there's enough solid evidence to back much of it on that I have no doubt it is accurate. I just want to make sure it's also backed up with enough sources that there are no questions later. I might attempt to reach out to the daughter, and see if she is willing to offer additional insight as I'm fascinated how they got around those laws, and how much in the way of challenges they faced. Interestingly enough, her mother remarried to another African American man a few years after their divorce, and it's conceivable he may be living still as I can find no death information on him at this time.
Never mind - that was Blanche Rolle's husband who passed in 2020.
I just connected Diahann Carroll.
Okay, Emma had an Emma moment. Diahann was already connected. But I've now connected her in a new way and will go work on someone who actually needs connection!
I did break down a brick wall for the Jones family though, so it wasn't a waste of time
@Scott, I read about Esther's daughter's marriage. It sounded to me like they were married in Europe. Otherwise, there were several states in the US where it was legal to marry.
OK - so one avenue of connection for the Rolle family would be through The Whatley line, as they are married to into Esther's line through her niece.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whatley-1428

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Seacat-28

I may get back to these later. If you follow the maternal line all the way back to the 1700's, there is a sibling there that can establish a connection to the global tree. But there might be a closer connection.
Found my first connection, but can't make it because the profile is yellow-locked. I've put a request to be on the Trusted List, so I guess I'll look for another. The user has not made any changes since 2021, so I'm not hopeful I'll get a quick response.
Esther should be connected in the morning. Yet another merge proposed, but in this case I was able to marry up both profiles to the correct husband. Her CC7 currently says "60", but there might be a few stragglers that will update it to a few more beyond that. We'll see in the morning.
Yay! Thanks for your persistence, Scott! I've got a start on Mabel.
BEE updated the degrees and I'm around 22 degrees now from Esther. Not a bad connection at all. And it updated her to 61 connections, which might bump up slightly if the merge goes through. It might bump a little more if I get on that TL. So I'm fairly pleased with that one.

Now time for bed. I'll pick another one tomorrow if I have time between church and mother's day...
+11 votes

Project Update: Well, here we are at the halfway point of May - which also just happens to be Mother's Day - and we have just 5 more TV Moms to connect. You can view the list in my post from last week (scroll up). 

I deliberately left the objective of this mini-project open-ended to see where our members would choose to take it, and to leave the opportunities open for those of varying interests. Connecting is always popular, and expending CC7 is becoming a new trend. Ten of our original 15 unconnected Moms are now connected, and we've increased the total CC7s of our 40 TV Moms by 3,750 profiles. Not too shabby!

I've also noticed that several members have taken steps to fix up the actual profiles which is really important responsibility of our project. Many non-members are brought to our site after Googling a particular notable of interest. If they discover a beautifully developed profile full of wonderful (and unique) biographical information - all fully sourced - they are much more likely to stick around and explore the site, return again in the future, and perhaps even recommend us to their friends and associates. On the other hand, if all they find is a skeletal profile with little more than a name, birth date, and a sticker that says "this person was famous" They're probably not going to hang out very long. 

Great job everybody!

by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
Gloria Henry should show up as connected tomorrow.
+11 votes

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
+6 votes

With just a few days left in the month, this mini-project has well surpassed my expectations! I'll post some final numbers on June 1st, and will also be presenting a second Notables mini-project, so stay tuned!

We still have four TV Moms who remain disconnected from the Big Tree:

Kaye Ballard (Italian)

Bonnie Franklin (Russian/Romanian)

Mabel King (African American)

Estelle Harris (Polish)

Some of our Moms could also use a boost in their CC7s while others need a good bio make-over.

by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
edited by David Randall
+6 votes
With just one day left in May, comedic actress Kaye Ballard has now been connected to the Big Tree. This was far from an easy one. Kaye never married, nor did she have any children. Her parents were both Italian immigrants. Her two oldest siblings both married Italians. Her youngest sister married a man whose grandparents immigrated from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. However, her sister's husband had a brother who married a woman named Smith, and she has deep American roots. It turns out her third-great-grandfather, Nicholas Dietrich, immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1742, and it was he who had a connected WikiTree profile.
by David Randall G2G6 Pilot (473k points)
Well, it looks like I goofed. Thanks to the keen eye of a fellow WikiTreer, I see that the Nicholas Dietrich referred to above is not the Nicholas Dietrich from whom Martha Smith descended. Thus, Kaye Ballard is no longer connected to the Big Tree. My mission now is to find another connection before the day is up,
Problem solved! Turns out the correct Nicholas was also already on WikiTree so Kaye is once again connected.

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