Not really meant for Rookies? Frustration. Confusion. Mentors?

Question

EDITED 12/29/15 @ 1417***** Geez - I guess I found a tag that gets attention. I apologize if I ruffled feathers. Just trying to get a handle on this site. Tami

 

I have been on here for a couple of months and I guess I am just not "doing this right".

I was a web designer for years, so I get the whole structuring of profiles and such, but what I am running into is:

• Unless you know someone on here - you are really SOL.
• No one really replies to requests. Even in a very common surname group like Jones or Hutchins (like me). 

I guess this is just a post of frustration on my part. I do not know another Hutchins to talk to or work with and would really like to find one.

It appears that once an experienced genealogist has made their connections, they really don't care to help us rookies.

Maybe I just don't know where to look. Is there a mentorship program? Are there such things as mentors within large surname projects?

I have made a few posts and made requests for help to individuals but no one is willing to help.

I periodically check for people needing help and I have helped one lady find her lost adopted step brother and another lady I helped to connect an ancestor that she was searching for since 1982. So, I know how to do thorough research  - I guess I am wondering where are all the other wikitree helpers??

.Frustrated.

Comments

I just started on wikitree, but I have Jones and Hutchins too. Let's try to collaborate our trees and see if we can help each other.

Sherry

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I just found out recently I am from a Hutchins line and would love to help you as I am also learning about my Hutchins family. My line went from Mass to Conn. Let me know and I will help you all I can.

Answer 1

Hey T.

I am a WikiTree Mentor, what can I do to help?

The Mentors are listed in the help menus top right of every page. We also have a project page you can look over (sounds like you should join us) and G2G is a great place to get someones attention.

As for having project specific Mentors, we do have projects who loan-out members to the Mentors project when a WikiTreer is struggling with a project specific problem. Since you are talking about a One Name Study, you might try going to the One Name Study Project Page and shoot Doug or Alison a note. I have worked with both and find them incredibly helpful.

Mags

Comments

If you work with Mags...you are working with the best! Don't get discouraged...I have had more connections on WikiTree than all other sites combined. All the best.

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Aww Brett you make me blush! Mags

Answer 2

I have been on this site for 3 years  and have found that most people are willing to go out of there way to help. I will reply to all comments made on my profiles, but I may not get to you for a few days or a week. I do wish that newcomers would read the comments, biography and sources because most of the time what I know is on the profile. I share any finds I have with others and hope they will do the same for me. So far most are very cordial. There are a few people who may not reply. In that case just ask for someone else to help you. If my name is on a profile and your are a member on WikiTree I will try and help. Good Luck, Sheri Havens

Comments

Thank you so much for your replying! I think I may need to go back to the drawing board and sort of start over.

Lots of replies now! LOL!

Tami

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I will also add that the category tags on G2G posts are critical for getting your post to the right people.  There is *so* much here, that unless you are following a particular tag, it is easy to miss G2G conversations.  If you aren't getting responses, try changing the tags to catch the attention of a different group.

I'm guessing the magic "Mentors" tag is why this post is getting more responses :)

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Wow - I think so! I think I rattled a snakes cage.....

Answer 3

Hi T,

I'm so sorry that you have had a frustrating experience trying to connect to others here.  I joined WikiTree a year ago and am also a seasoned web designer, but had absolutely zero knowledge or experience in genealogy or research.  My experience here was the opposite of yours - I found many people here, with highly developed skills across a wide range of activities related to genealogy, who were falling all over themselves offering me help, support, and an incredibly valuable education that I am still continuing to gratefully receive.

Perhaps not too many people respond to posts within smaller groups, such as surname projects.  I didn't even know anything about surname projects when I joined, so I started out by posting questions here, in the G2G forum, and received amazing responses - and amazingly fast, too. Although I still often come here with questions, I answer questions equally often, trying to give back a teensy bit of what has so generously been given to me here.

I certainly hope that this represents a turning point for you and you now begin to form friendships, as well as collaborative associations with the rest of us here.

Lest I forget, WELCOME to WikiTree!

Comments

So, I think I failed to realize there are already established surname projects. I don't know where to look. I was really speaking generally, as in "we are all working on our surnames independently", not collectively. If there is one, where do I go to find it? I would LOVE to join a few.

I wish there were a GUI driven tutorial - I think wikitree is so incredibly text heavy that it can be daunting.

I use to love to read but as I age, I find myself really drawn to simple layouts.

Is there a tutorial that you know of?

Thank you so much for your reply.

Tami

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Tami, THANX for answering!

There are a bunch of video tutorials that are listed on this page.  By the way, I got that page by clicking "Help" in the menu at top right, then selecting "Help Index", then clicking "V" and finally "Videos".  There doesn't appear to be on for One Name Studies, which I don't know anything about, other than that we also have One Place Studies here.

As I said, I don't know much about the genealogy end of things, so I can't be of much help to you on this stuff, but I am sure someone else will provide good info for you real soon.  You can always write to Mags, who gave you the first and best answer here or, if you just click the tiny "reply" link below her answer, you can ask here and she'll get email notifying her of your addition to her answer.  If you prefer, you can send her a private message by clicking her name to go to her profile to get that link. The vast extent of her knowledge is truly amazing!

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Thank you very much. I will look to her for help and I think next time, I will not post a question with a "mentor" tag! Good gravy! LOL

Answer 4

Hi T.

My husband is a Jones and I would certainly read a question here on G2G if it were a Jones. His family, however, is from Alabama and Virginia and outside those 2 states I have very little to contribute.

I've added his DNA to his profile but so far we don't connect. You can see his family tree at: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-21365

Rosemary

Comments

Hi Rosemary! Thank you for replying!

I am a descendant of America Jones:

"When America JONES was born in 1778 in Granville County, North Carolina, his father, William, was 33 and his mother, Alsey, was 20. He married Levina Viney WHEELER on February 24, 1798, in Granville County, North Carolina. They had 14 children in 27 years. He died in August 1854 in Granville County, North Carolina, having lived a long life of 76 years."

Are we related? If so, you may be of big help! LOL

Thank you!

Tami

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No Tami. My husband's Jones family was never in North Carolina. They were in Virginia and then Alabama. And as far as I know there are no America Jones in his tree. There's a John "Hell Cat" Jones who fought in the revolution and his origins are murky.

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Hi Rosemary, I don't suppose he is related to the Jones family of Smyth County, Virginia?

One of my long standing brickwalls is John J. Jones who settled in Smyth County after the Civil war.  Although, after DNA testing, I'm not so sure he really was a "Jones" ...

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Andrea, I don't think so. At the moment I don't have Family Tree Maker on this computer but will have in the next few days. Meanwhile, if you have an Ancestry account (either free or a subscription) you might try looking at my public tree there. This is a link to his father (deceased).

http://person.ancestry.com/tree/75498486/person/42318845646/facts

I don't recall any Smyth County, Virginia but he has a Galliher marrying a Hughes in Smyth County, Tennessee in the Paperville area. The Gallihers were in Washington County and they eventually married into the Jones' family. PM me and I'll install FTM here and then have a look.

Rosemary

Answer 5

There can be quite a learning curve here on WikiTree.  One of the things you will learn is which posts on the G2G forum tend to get responses and which ones are hit and miss.

Comments

Thank you Kyle! I really appreciate your reply.

There is a lot to take in for sure! I just unlocked my profile. I had it locked, as I was considering leaving.

Thanks!

Tami

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Kyle's advice regarding G2G is very insightful.

It seems to me that this is generally not an effective venue for postings of the classic type of queries that used to be posted in genealogy journals by people who already had an abundance of information and were hoping for a bit more ("DOE/ROE: Looking for information on the family of Alonzo Doe and Mary Roe, settled in Dinkytown, New Hampshire in 1701; he died in 1723.").

There are, however, forum regulars ready to provide almost-instant general assistance on genealogy (for example, by using familysearch to help someone new to genealogy locate grandma's birth record or to fill in a 19th-century blank in the family tree that Aunt Mehitabel made) and using the Wikitree site. For more sophisticated questions, you need to remember that questions here tend to scroll out of view pretty fast, and that there aren't a lot of surname followers for most names. However, there are folks here who enjoy sharing their knowledge and resources for specific geographic areas and time periods and will engage in worthwhile discussion of topics like a particular culture's baptismal and naming customs or where to find records -- and who may provide specialized lookups. You're unlikely to find another active Wikitreer who is committed to researching your great-great-grandmother, but you may find people who are interested in aspects of her life story and will get satisfaction from participating with you in your quest. We're all collaborating on the same family tree here -- and Wikitree is at its best (in my opinion, at least) when several of us get inspired to search out information on the same topic and add our discoveries to the same profiles in real time.

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Exactly what I was thinking too - Its a news feed - if you don't see it when it posts, its gone unless you are hunting for it.

I guess I don't know where to begin when you are at a sticking point. I have referenced several forums in the past for some of my source information and it's info that can be built upon before committing to a profile which is sort of what I was hoping for.

Its almost as though this automated process of building individual profiles makes it more of an individual quest as opposed to the old days of collaborative efforts. I suppose I miss that atmosphere. I do not have a sounding board or someone to bounce stuff off of.

Thank you so much for your post. I think its just a process for me to not only learn wikitree but also learn where and whom to turn to for help.

I honestly didn't even know whether to post this in the TREE HOUSE or another category. I need a WikiTree 101 course! I will be going through all the tutorials starting tomorrow.

Tami

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At the same time, I think your message strikes a chord with many newbies to WikiTree as well, who often find the site frustrating and confusing for many reasons.  It's helpful for discussions like this to rise to the top so that: 1. Newbies feel they are not alone here (far from it, we have a ton of newbies and chances are good that a lot of them are feeling the same way you are), and 2. To show that there are actually plenty of veterans here and we're ready to help, but we are human, too and we will generally only respond if we have something useful to say and the time to say it.

One point: the G2G is mostly like a newsfeed but not entirely.  Questions are retained here and they continue to be searchable.  So while your other question may not have gotten a useful response initially, there's always a chance that it will someday.  This was my experience with the forums on Genealogy.com for many years as well.  A thread will lay around for a couple of years with no activity and then all of a sudden someone will find it during a Google search and they'll answer with some tidbit from their own research.  So be patient, too, you may yet get an answer to that question you had.   

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Thank you so much Kyle. I guess it was sort of an emotional pleas for help. I really didn't mean to ruffle feathers. I want so badly to be apart of something like this site that I think I jumped in too fast and got overwhelmed.

I think, too, that a switch from GUI sites like Ancestry.com and Familytree to a very "text driven" site like here is a HUGE change. At the same time, I was ready for the big change. I wanted more detailed info and more of a collaborative effort on profiles.
Does that make sense?
It's almost I went from Genealogy 101 to Advanced Genealogy 501 without ever taking the other courses and am not sure how to "make up" what I missed!
Thank you so much for your time and patience,  this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.
Tami

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We've all been there, Tami.  I was probably very close to where you are in 2013 when I joined WikiTree in terms of my genealogy experience.  I guess the difference is that I found the G2G forum and started getting feedback here very quickly before I even had a chance to ask about any of my brick walls.  The G2G is key to the collaboration that makes WikiTree what it is.

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I've returned to this question several times now.  I am a newbie and there are some useful answers here.  So thanks for asking it!

One Jones observation occurred to me after following a Murphy-Jones link, and that is that there are loads of Joneses around the Bethnal Green area of London, England.  

Is there anyone out there who has either started a sub-group of Joneses there, or who would like to?

My interest is in Ada L Jones, -50912 who married Albert E Murphy -11483, in 1914 in Bethnal Green.

Answer 6

I saw that you have a question on the g2g forum that has only received one answer.

I have to admit though, even though describe yourself as a beginner, the question you are asking is an advanced-level question, in that you are trying to link a Hutchins ancestor born in 1702 in Maryland to a Hutchins from North Carolina.  

This question could possibly be addressed through Y-DNA testing, but would require you to have identified a male tester with the Hutchins surname from each of their respective lines.

As far as paper records go, most of us don't have direct experience with Maryland records and North Carolina records from the early-1700s.  While there may be a few people on here who are familiar with records from back then for Maryland and North Carolina. my guess is that it would require a lot of work to establish this paper trail.

Anyway, if you want to get more of a response on g2g, you might want to try and ask questions that a broader range of users could answer.  For example - if you have a question on Ancestry DNA or on DNA genealogy, there are several people on g2g who regularly answer questions on DNA.

Comments

Thank you so much for your reply.
Yes, I realize it is an advanced question.  I apologize if you correlated this question to the one I asked on the other thread, as I am simply implying here that I am a rookie to wikitree, not necessarily genealogy as a whole.

My question on the other thread was meant for the following tags:

• simmons
• hutchins
• currituck
• southern_colonies
• simmon
• cowell

Thank you.

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Hi Tami , Welcome to wikitree I have an Ann Simmons in my tree somewhere. I don't know if she is on wikitree. She was married to one of the many Robert Hunnicutts.   She is listed on the site is Hunnicutt-HiersandRoots.com. I don't know how to make the site a link. But if you go to the site Ann Simmons is mentioned as being the wife of the third Robert Hunnicutt. I hope it is helpful for you. Hang in there. Again welcome.

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Hi Trudy! Thanks for replying!  The Simmons link is definitely a new one for me. Very interested in it. I will check it out! My ancestors founded Norfolk from Bermuda and Simmons was a piece I just figured out so I am on the hunt! LOL!
Thank you again!

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Hey Tami -

Sounds good.  I am glad that I saw your Hutchins g2g question though, as this led me to the reference to your America Jones - b. 1778 in Granville County, NC.  In my case, I have only been able to take my Jones line back to John H. Jones, b. somewhere in Virginia in 1806.  We have 12 different Ancestry DNA tests from my line.  Let me know your Ancestry DNA username and I will check to see if you appear as a match for any of us.

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Ray! We are definitely related! You are my first to talk to!

I am sorta kinda super excited. LOL
I don't like to randomly email people, as I am still new to the DNA part. Genealogy via census and records has been my go to before the DNA, which I just did recently. 
My GG Grandfather was America. His daughter Iredell married James Hutchins in 1829 Gibson County Tennessee. America had a BAZILLION kids. Often times, people think it is a mistake to have as many living children as he did but it is true and verified through numerous census records.

My issue is exactly at this point. My James only has a birthdate on a tombstone in Arkansas. I verified this information via a book on Clay County cemetaries, but no one knows his death date. His birthdate is still unverified and census records have been all over the place with a consistent year of birth. I believe it to be 1827 - not 1829. My Hutchins line is dead at that point, however, my DNA hits on Simmons and Cowells from North Carolina and further leads me to believe that my James' father was Thomas Hutchins of Currituck NC.

Its so complicated that its tiring to even type out!

Anyway - if you are up for a mystery, i can explain more.

Here is my GEDmatch:

A078316 

This is our strongest segment:

(revise to 500SNPs and 2 cMs and you will see we have several matching segments)

Chr	Start Location	End Location	Centimorgans (cM)	SNPs
14	68,206,634	71,374,482	4.0	749
14	100,988,969	106,345,097	7.7	769

 

I have not verified all of the jones info and would love an ally in doing so.

(I have unlocked my profile - check it out - its messy because of my Ancestry Gedcom and some unlinked files but it is a good start for us)

Your cuz - Tami

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I will pm you from here on....

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Hi Tami - re your Thomas Tucker Hutchin's question, I have this info if its of any help.  I did some Hutchins cleanup awhile back in connection with Duncans (N. or S. Carolina I think)

 Don't know if this will help, or if you already have -- but i did locate a marriage for "Tucker" Hutchens - 1839 - Gibson TN - Names are close, but really off beat spellings. - no parents listed.

"Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDQ9-FQT : accessed 30 December 2015), Tucker Hutchens and Sarah Standly, 22 Dec 1839; citing Gibson,Tennessee, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,002,624.

If married 1839, birth is probably 1819-1823

Regards

 

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Yep! That's my Tucker!  Here is the crazy part - He is in 2 census at the same time - 1840. He is in the 1840 census in Gibson TN AND in the 1840 census in Currituck, NC in 1840 with his father who was also Tucker - but here is another kicker - he is not Tucker - He is Thomas. Tucker was a nickname passed down through my entire line. I have no proof of this except that my father told me it was his grandfathers nickname for Thomas.

This was also a hangup for Jack Randolph Hutchins in his book - he could not link the Thomas of Currituck to any Hutchins line - he made a speculation of the Bermuda Hutchings and that is my speculation as well.

Darn nicknames - If I could verify that he was in fact in 2 census at the same time, then that would clear all of my issues.

There's just no way to verify that they are the same person. He and his wife died around 1845 and their children were raised by their Standley grandparents.

Thank you for sending that info though! Thats exactly where my hangup is!

Tami

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Tami, I've just noticed your cousin match.  I sat here grinning to myself as I read your exchange.  I almost expected the page to light up with bells and whistles in celebration!