Hello WikiTreers!
WikiTree Challenge #10 is now complete. We spent a fun and collaborative week working together to build up an impressive list of ancestors based on the seven starting people chosen by the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA). We were challenged with finding ancestors from not only South Africa, but also Australia, Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, and many more locations. Once again, our group of researchers did a fantastic job of tracking down family members and documenting them on WikiTree.
The week seemed to fly by, but WikiTree members managed to add or connect more than 59,655 relatives within seven degrees for the seven starting people! All of the seven lines were connected in unique ways to the global tree, with some being connected through multiple branches.
Altogether, more than 69 WikiTreers made 11,366 edits to connected profiles. Groups were quickly formed to tackle the more difficult lines, with emphasis on vital records. We had people readily available for translations from Afrikaans to obtain all details from those records.
MVP: Paul Snook
Top Bounty Hunter: Heather Jenkinson
Team Captain: Donna Baumann
All contributors ● Scoring explanation ● Research resources ● Connections to all contributors
Our seven starting profiles:
- Johannes August Heese (1907-1990) is the primary author of the first few volumes of South African Genealogies" aka Heese & Lombard. His final CC7 was 9,310.
- Roelof Theunis Johannes Lombard (1931-2011) is the lead editor of the first few volumes of South African Genealogies" aka Heese & Lombard. His final CC7 was 11,285.
- Edward John Morse Jones (1889-1969) published Roll of the British Settlers in South Africa in 1969 and numerous extracts from contemporary accounts as the Albany Chronicles. His final CC7 was 446.
- Colin Graham Botha (1883-1973) was head of the Cape Archives for 32 years, and published The French Refugees on the Huguenot families in 1919. His final CC7 was 20,769.
- Margaret Constance (Twentyman-Jones) Cairns (1912- 2009) published widely on the social history of the Cape community. Her final CC7 was 1,127.
- Floris Albertus van Jaarsveld (1922-1995) was an influential historian, educator and genealogist, and published numerous books and school texts. His final CC7 was 9,440.
- Marjorie Diane "Dee" (Murray) Nash (1928-2010) published the authoritative The Settler Handbook: A New List of the 1820 Settlers in 1987. Her final CC7 was 7,278.