Looking for some feedback on first pages edited

Question

I'm a newbie here (though not to genealogy), and I've uploaded a small GEDCOM as a self-learning tool. I'm presently reformatting & cleaning up the profile pages (I'll upload a few images later) and I'd like to invite anyone who's interested to take a look and let me know if I'm on the right track.

Even though they're both deceased, I'm keeping a relatively high security on my parents, because of siblings -- "private with public biog and family tree". The same for my grandparents, but I may change that. My gr-grandparents and earlier will be "public" from the outset. Does all that sound reasonable?

Please take a look at the profiles for my paternal grandparents, Arthur D. Smith and Cordelia Myers, which include considerable narrative. I'm both a historian and a writer (as well as a librarian), so I tend not to stop at plain lists of dates.

 

Ratz. Why don't internal links work the same way here as they do on the profile pages. . . ? Ah! Okay, I got it. Thanks for the nudge, Anne. (I'm so used to just typing out tags manually, I didn't even see that on the tool bar.)

Answer 1

Here in G2G as you formulate your question, the text box contains tools for formatting. One of them looks like a link. You can highlight text, click on the link and a window comes up to insert the URL. You can and should if the question is about an existing profile, type the Wikitree-ID in the text box labled "WikiTree ID/URL if this relates to a person or free-space profile"

Your concept of privacy levels sounds logical and reasonable.

Two suggestions on the profiles:

I love the narratives. Not so long that I got bored, but with lots of interesting tales. You can come write bios for Collaborative Profile of the Week anytime. (Shameless advertising). But I would add a source for the narrative just to make it clear where the information came from. Something like "Life stories told to Michael Smith by his father Smith and/or grandfather Smith and personal memories of Michael Smith."

The other suggestion is to beef up the information in your other sources. For instance 1920 United States Census Census: Town, Fremont County Wyoming (I know you have it listed at the top of the page, but it belongs as part of the source citation also) Instead of "Mentioned in family obituary, Albia Republican",  tell me whose obit, Albia Republican, town and state of newspaper and the date. Birth Death and Marriage Certificates should have who, what, where, when. As a general rule remember that journalism mantra "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How (not neccessarily in that order). The Why and How are not always important in Genealogy, but the first four are essential to sourcing.  Wikitree Help page on Sourcing

Overall a very nice pair of profiles. Thank you.

Comments

Yes, I'm going to need to go back and flesh out some of those cites. This is the first part of my research that went on computer, back c.1991. My citations in those ancient days were mostly reminders to myself where to find the original data. Research in the past 15 years or so all have much better citations.

 

And I'll add a byline to those narratives, too. There are also a couple of complex research problems involving the Smiths that I would like to commit to a free-space page, when I get the current clean-up done.

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I've done the same thing with citations in my personal genealogy. I've used lots of shorthand, so I too have to beef up my citations as I enter them here on Wikitree. I always understand my own shorthand citations, but I'm pretty sure the NEHGR would totally reject them.

Answer 2

I like it. Simple, straightforward and informative.

Answer 3

Hi Michael, Have you considered taking a yDNA 37-marker test to find clues to your Smith origins? There are no guarantees, but you might find that you match other Smith men who can give you some direction for where to look to extend your Smith line. I would also recommend that you change your own privacy level from 'private' to 'private with a public biography and tree'.