Need some critique please

Question

Working on my 4th great grandfather's profile and have been working up to this one. I've learned a bit since joining in March, but if anyone could give me any suggestions on my direction here, I'd welcome them. Thanks!

Comments

I know I need to add the rest of his children, too. (and parents, but I need far more info on them. French is going to baffle me)

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It's looking really good, Natalie!!

I agree with Magnus regarding the citations from FamilySearch, though. The details they give in their citation can be very helpful for someone looking at this years down the road. The census listings can also be found on other websites, so the references to location, family number and the NARA microfilm could come in handy. :-)

Well done!

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Thanks, I will fix those.

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Wow!  For being a Wiki Tree newbie, this profile is just plain awesome!  I am an eight month old newbie and I don't have how to find resources and how to add them when I do find them exactly down pat yet.  Congratulations on your awesome work!

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Thank you so much, Diane,

Answer 1

I love it Natalie.

In your see also section, you can, but you don't have to repeat the sources that you used in the <ref></ref> statements. They are already on the page.

Also in the see also section. Try adding an * (asterick) at the beginning of each source and then you don't need to put the double line break. You get a nice neat bulleted indented list.

And.. We have people here who will be able to help you with the French, if Google translate fails you.

Nice profile.

Comments

Will do! Thank you for your help.

Answer 2

I'm so glad I took a look.

Sources and the "See Also" are much better than my typical profiles have. Nice job.

Images are well done and appropriate.

You found some of the most interesting personal facts, that I was CAPTIVATED.

I would like you to break up the text into paragraphs to make them a bit easier for me to follow with my eye as I speed read.

for coincidence, the ancestor has surname,same name as my given name, I saw you also have a Ray individual in your tree, and that is my middle name.

Like the individual I also had my family house about 7 miles north of Ft Wayne. First house that we owned. I know the town and river locations that you talked about. a little intoxication was not unusual in the time that we lived in that area !!!!! HA

I can certainly relate

Thanks for bringing this to the G2G

Comments

My parents both grew up in New Haven, but they raised us elsewhere. We did spend lots of time in Allen County, so I know the area, too.  Looks like your Rays not from the same family as mine, but it's a cool coincidence!

Do you mean for me to break up the one large quoted para into smaller ones?

Answer 3

Sourcing is difficult

If you source https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHVF-LYQ 

Then add the section CITING THIS RECORD to your profile to make it easier for other people to understand. As Internet is changing you never know when URLs doesn't work

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHVF-LYQ : accessed 5 April 2016), Charles Martin, Perry, Allen, Indiana, United States; citing family 2748, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Good book about sourcing:

• Evidence Explained  (amazon)

Comments

Thanks. I started sourcing that way, but decided it looked cleaner this way, but you're right. Links go "poof" all the time. I will take your advice.

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If you use inline quotes then they will be at the end and cleaner....

<ref>"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHVF-LYQ : accessed 5 April 2016), Charles Martin, Perry, Allen, Indiana, United States; citing family 2748, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).</ref> 

 

== Sources ==
<references />

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I agree that links are not always the best way to source your information. I have come across too many that no longer work.  The familysearch citation is an excellent roadmap to find the census on ones own. It is not, however the same citation that Elizabeth Shown Mills has in her Evidence Explained. It contains the same info, plus more, and is in a different order. So if she was writing for this census it would look more like:

1850 U.S. census, Allen County, Iowa, population schedule, Perry Township, p. 532 (handwritten) dwelling 2736, family 2748, Charles Martin, NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 135, digital image,Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 5 April 2016).

Its a bit more  complicated and offers more info that may or may not be of value. 

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Citations are not easy EE discussion about Family Search

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agreed, I think citations are the hardest part of doing genealogy.

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It has baffled me for awhile! I think I'm going to get that book!