September 2016 Connectors Challenge

Question

Thanks to all of you who joined us for our August Connectors Challenge. Amazing contributions leading to the connection of several twigs!

The August Top Connector is Paula Dea with 11 branch connections. Great work, Paula!

Our overall top connector is Carol Keeling with 39 branches connected. There were 28 connected branches in August, for a total of 146 connected branches in 2016 (since May). There were 4 new participants in August, 18 since May. Those 146 branches have resulted in our connection percentage being 75.4%. 

I know even more connecting is happening. If you haven't checked out the Connectors Chat page, you should! There is a lot of chatter there about what everyone is working on.

Now on to the Connectors Challenge Rules:

1. Pick any WikiTree profile which is not connected to the main tree. (In other words, that profile does not have a box at the bottom of the page, showing the degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon, AJ Jacobs,Michael Phelps, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Queen Elizabeth II of the Commonwealth Realms.) You can look for unconnected profiles using the Unconnected People tool, the Unconnected Profiles category, the Unlinked_Profiles category, or you may run across an unconnected profile in the regular course of your research.
2. Either add a new profile for a first degree relative (parent, spouse, sibling, or child) of the person on that profile, or else connect an existing profile on WikiTree to the profile you're working on.
3. Add a source to the profiles involved in the connection showing the relationship between the two profiles. This could be a census record listing a family, a marriage record, a death record listing the spouse and/or parents, a birth record listing the parents, or any source which demonstrates that the two profiles should be connected to one another. Your source needs to be cited as closely to the style recommended on our Sources help page as possible to count towards your tally.
4. If you are adding a new profile, add a second, independent source for that profile. (For example, if you add a spouse because of a marriage record, then look for a birth or death record for the spouse you're adding.) (Note: The reason for this rule isn't to discourage you from adding people. But as you have probably already learned, even official documents frequently misspell names, so adding an independent confirmation of the name helps to save other researchers time in trying to find records that don't exist, because the person's real name was not the same as showed up in the linking document.)
5. Answer this post, creating a numbered list, and including the two profiles and the kind of source you used to make the connection. (For example: "1. Smith-123 to Jones-456 - marriage".) You only need to reply once. As you make more connections, just edit your post to add your new connections.
6. If you connect a profile which completes a connection trail either for an isolated profile or an unconnected tree, please add "Connected!" at the end of the line which made the connection. We count those connecteds towards your tally.
7. The tally is of branches/unconnected profiles connected to the WikiTree tree, not sources or profiles added. That said, if you can add a number of sources to a profile, all the better, and sometimes a connection will take a number of profiles to get added. Every one is different, and each one makes our tree better. So, in short, we'll count each "connected!" we see.
8. If either or both profiles you connect did not have good sources before and were already on WikiTree, then you can also count those sources towards the Sourcerers Challenge.
9. All participants who do not already have a Connectors Project badge, will get one. Winners each month-the person with the most connections made to the tree-will get the Connection Challenge Winner badge, and the Top Connector each month with get a spiffy template to wear on their profile page. Stats will be kept on the Connectors Challenge page, just like we do for the Sourcerers Challenge.

See last month's challenge as an example. Ask questions in the comments section here. Thank you! 

Comments

See answer

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I'm hoping to see the October challenge start soon, since I connected somebody's family tree during the Source-A-Thon, and I've been waiting to post it.

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I'll try to get it up later this evening. We're still wrangling Source-a-Thon stats on the Team :-)

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September stats:

* Top Connectors was Greg Slade with 28 profiles

* Total of 80 September connections

* 3 new connectors for 7 connectors total in September

* 226 profiles total in 2016 from 28 Connectors

* Top All-Time Connector is Greg Slade with 44 profiles.

To see all stats, see the sheet here.

Answer 1

I tied James Madison Byrnside together with his parents, John Byrnside and Elizabeth Alexander using Bertha Clark's manuscript on the Erskine Family of Monroe County, Virginia.  Connected!

I tied Elizabeth (Peters) Byrnside, Margaret Juliana Byrnside and Henry Clay Byrnside to James Madison Byrnside with the 1860 US Census. Connected 3 more!

I tied Clara Catherine (Byrnside) Walkup to Matthew Henry Walkup  to William Walkup with the 1860 Census.  Connected 3!

I tied Maria Houston (Walkup) Peck to her parents through Maria's death redrods.  Connected 2!

I had to add people to connect Matthew Henry Walkup to his great-grandparents Samuel Wauchope and Nancy Agnes Alexander using Oren Morton's History of Rockbridge County (1920).  So I'm not counting that one, but still they should be Connected anyhow.

Answer 2

The following people were tied to Callie Belle (Hampton) Pelfrey by the 1940 US Census:

1. William Daniel Pelfrey, husband.  Connected!

2. Treva (Pelfrey) McClees, daughter. Connected!

3. Rueben Truland Pelfrey,  son.  Connected!

4. Worth Lynol Pelfrey, son. Connected!

I also tied Callie B. and William D. together on his findagrave.com record and tombstone inscription...

Answer 3

1. Connected another profile from my own "Unconnected" list: Maria Huyck-169 . Created a profile for her mother Catharina Bovie (Bovy-10) and connected Catharina to her father Nicolas Bovie-12, who was already connected. Connected! The process was a lot more complicated than it looks, as I had to research several generations of several families and I did a lot of other editing and linking, but these were the links that connected the unconnected profile to the tree.

2. Johan Philip Sultzbach-22 was on my Unconnected list for a few months. Created profiles for his parents and several other family members and found evidence to support the conclusion that Henrich Sultzbach-42 was his brother. So through the brother, he is Connected!

3. Christina Van_Alen-32 was one of a cluster of six unconnected profiles. I think they lost their connections due to a merge that "orphaned" some parents. Most of them are duplicates of other profiles. I sourced her profile, determined the correct LNAB, and merged 3 profiles for her (also proposed some other merges), which connected Christina and this whole cluster -- CONNECTED!

4. Emanuel Bitting-18 was patriarch of a family of nine unconnected profiles. Suspecting that he was the sister of Elizabeth Bitting-58 on my watchlist, I found her father in the 1850 census with children of the right names and ages, created their father Michael Bitting-61, and connected the children to him. Now Emanuel will be CONNECTED!

5. Josiah Kocher-185 was on a twig that held about 15 unconnected profiles. To connect him to the tree, I created his son Milton Kocher-195 and Milton's wife Mary Long-10842, then connected Mary to the existing profile for her mother Amanda Sulzbach-6. Connected!

6. Phew, I cleared another cluster off my Unconnecteds page! This is a group of 4 profiles that I created back in June when I was trying to disambiguate two men of the same name and same age who lived in the same town. The existing unconnected profile that ended up being closest to the connection path is Margaret (Oliver) Lansing-5918. I created her parents and her sister, Maria (Oliver) Lansing-6157, created Maria's husband Gulian Lansing-743, and Gulian's father John V. Lansing-745, and finally connected John V. Lansing to the existing  profiles for his parents, John V. A. Lansing-370 and his wife. (Of course, I created several other profiles along the way that were unconnected until I finished...) CONNECTED at last!

7. Parnell Strobridge-76 was one of an unconnected family of about a dozen people. I corrected her relationship to the others (she was accidentally set as the mother to the man who was actually her husband), added some sources to a few previously unsourced profiles, and connected her to her father, Ebenezer Strobridge-29, who was connected to the tree. CONNECTED!

I also connected her sister to the same father; the sister was part of an unconnected family group that I had started earlier this month, so that doesn't count for the September challenge.

8. John Gilkerson-68 was part of an unconnected family group of about a dozen members. I created his father, Thomas Gilkerson-87 and connected him to two other sons that I had connected earlier through the Strobridge family (see item 7 above), so through his brothers this John Gilkerson group is also CONNECTED!

Answer 4

Using Rev Charles Rogers, D.D.'s Memorials of the Earl of Stirling and of the House of Alexander (1877) connected the following people from my unconnected list to John Alexander and Sarah Macauley:

1. John Alexander of Belfast. Connected!

2. Anna (Portis) Alexander. Connected!

3. John Alexander of Milford. Connected!

4. John Alexander born 1802. Connected!

5. Anne (Alexander) Cranstoun. Connected!

6. Lorenzo William Alexander. Connected!

7. George Alexander, J.P. Connected!

8. Fanny (Alexander) Travers. Connected!

9. James Alexander. Connected!

10. Rev. Charles Leslie Alexander of Stewkley.  Connected!

Answer 5

1. John Russell-8208, father of Joseph Russell-8207 - Birth record

   Joseph Russell-8207, husband of Jane Kendall-1367 - Marriage record CONNECTED

2. Nathan Fiske-4, father of Jonathan Fiske-918 - Birth record CONNECTED

3.

Comments

Oh, boy! Bob's joined in! Now we're going to see some real connecting happening!

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Thanks, Greg.

Bob

Answer 6

1. Farmer-557 to Farmer-551 - census - Connected!
2. Farmer-558 to Farmer-551 - census - Connected!
3. Farmer-561 to Farmer-554 - christening - Connected!
4. Farmer-562 to Farmer-554 - christening - Connected!
5. Farmer-564 to Farmer-554 - christening - Connected!
6. Farmer-575 to Farmer-554 - christening - Connected!
7. Farmer-577 (and Weeks 428) to Farmer-575 - christening - Connected!
8. Farmer-576 to Farmer-577 - christening - Connected!
9. Farmer-578 to Farmer-577 - christening - Connected!
10. Farmer-583 to Farmer-554 - christening - Connected!
11. Mills-1682 to Mills-1676 - census - Connected!
12. Mills-1683 to Mills-1676 - census - Connected!
13. Farmer-3132 to Morris-3156 - census - Connected!
14. Mills-1685 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
15. Mills-1686 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
16. Mills-1687 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
17. Mills-1688 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
18. Mills-1689 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
19. Farmer-3136 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
20. Stanley-1290 to Farmer-3136 - marriage, census - Connected!
21. Mills-1692 to Mills-1684 - census - Connected!
22. Morris-3157 to Morris-13966 - christening - Connected!
23. Morris-3160 to Morris-13966 - christening - Connected!
24. Morris-3164 to Morris-3155 - christening - Connected!
25. Morris-3166 to Morris-3155 - christening - Connected!
26. Morris-3167 to Morris-3155 - christening - Connected!
27. Morris-3168 to Morris-3155 - christening - Connected!
28. Morris-3169 to Morris-3155 - christening - Connected!

Greg 

Answer 7

1. Lucy (McKinney) Daniel   used the marriage bond for her marriage to Christopher C Daniel. CONNECTED!Then the 1850 census connected her to her parents 
2. David McKinney CONNECTED! and 
3. Louanna Sharp   CONNECTED!
4. Wildy McKinney  father of David  CONNECTED!  Then marriage bond for Wildy's marriage to second wife Polly Shearer
5. Polly Shearer CONNECTED!
6.   Aaron Sharp  father of Louanna, CONNECTED! Then Aaron to his parents
7.   Adam Sharp father of Aaron  CONNECTED!  and Adam's wife
8.   Phoebe Harmon  CONNECTED!

Answer 8

Here's my first entry for the month

1. Added Rosa Annie Reece CONNECTED! as daughter to existing profiles James Reece and Mary Ann Exton source baptism, census 1881/1891, marriage, 1939 register, and death

Added Francis Albert Bayley as husband of Rosa source marriage, 1901/1911 census, ww1 enlistment, and death

Added Violet Mary Elizabeth Bayley as their daughter source birth, 1911 census, marriage, 1939 register, and death

Added George Thomas Sweetman as husband of Violet source birth, 1901/1911 census, marriage, 1939 register, death and probate
Connected George to his father (existing profile) George Thomas Sweetman, and added George's mother Elizabeth Lewis source marriage, remarriage, 1901/1911 census.

2. Added Mary Alice Adams CONNECTED! as daughter of (existing profiles) Newport Scott Adams and Rachel Fatheree source 1900/1910/1920 census and find a grave

added William Allen Gates as husband of Mary Adams source 1900/1910/1920 census and find a grave

added Isaiah Franklin Gates and Mary Brister as parents of William Gates source 1900/1910 census and Find a Grave

connected Isaiah to (existing parents) Collier Barksdale Gates and Miranda Fletcher source 1860/1870 census

3. Completed the merge of Archibald Dungar with (Dungar-8). This resulted in the connection of Edward Cockaday CONNECTED! and his branch (258 profiles).

4. Created William Withell and Elizabeth Gillard as parents of (existing profile) Tryphosa Kate Withell CONNECTED! source baptisms, marriage, 1841/1851 census

Created Thomas Gillard and Mary Treweek as parents of Elizabeth Gillard source baptism, marriage, 1841 census, burials

Connected Thomas Gillard to his parents (existing profiles) John Gillard and Mary Newman sources baptism

Answer 9

Heh heh heh.  It took me long enough, but I finally connected Mary Ellen Ream to the main tree!  I wound up adding nearly 200 profiles (with sources), but I did it!  I started in June I think.

[http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ream-149]

Answer 10

Hello Abby,

Well I clicked on California Unconnected Profiles ... I spotted one that I know very well, Edmund Kemper III (Kemper-509).  I am not family, just as soon as I saw the name ... I grew up in his area and my employment also dealt with him.  So I figured I could Connector him up.

I created his parents (Kemper-621 & Stage-84), one sister (Kemper-622)and his grandparents.  It was when I went to create another sister, I found her (Kemper-576) and linked her to the parents.

But I did learn something that you may have to help with, Kemper-509, which is a California Unconnected Profile, is also Project-Protected and he is still alive.  I did request Trusted List status.  But I am not sure just now about dealing with the Project-Protected status and getting the Unconnected Profile linked up to his parents.  I will be looking it up tomorrow, as it is late for me now.  Just a heads up.

Comments

Project-protected status shouldn't scare us off, Virgil, but in this case it's a bigger challenge than it ought to be. Profiles like this one are protected to prevent malicious changes, but project protection doesn't seem necessary here since the profile is already protected by its privacy setting.

Your options for this situation are:

1. Ask the Profile Manager to add you as a second profile manager. Then you will not be affected by the PPP status and you can add the parents whose profiles you've created.
2. Ask a team member to remove the PPP protection (I don't think an ordinary Leader can do this for a private profile, and the Profile Manager is no longer a Leader, so she can't do it) so that all trusted list members can edit the parents.

I think I'd pursue both options!

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Unprotected, Virgil-move forward with connecting! Thanks :-)

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Thank you Ellen.  I am learning a lot on this one, thank you so much for this reply, very helpful.

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Thanks Abby.  The profile manager contacted back yesterday on this also, very quick answer back, and very nice and willing to work on it with us.  Thank you for your help.

Answer 11

1.  Attached existing parents to Eben Raymond Abbott [[Abbott-2905]] - CONNECTED!

2.  Attached existing parents to James Norman Abbott [[Abbott-2907]] - CONNECTED!

3.  Attached existing parents to Gertrude D. Abbott [[Abbott-2906]] - CONNECTED!

4.  Attached existing parents to Lucy Dennis Abbott [[Abbott-2908]] - CONNECTED!

5.  Attached existing parents to Susie Elizabeth Abbott [[Abbott-2909]] - CONNECTED!