Ran into my first mother and wife w/o LNAB. Unable to create profile.

Question

Am aware I can go only so far w/o LNAB.  I have married name, birthplace (country), and birth year.  Can I not create profile for wife and mother?

Answer 1

Hello, Mary!

If you absolutely MUST have a profile for someone whose LNAB you don't know, then recycle one of the profiles from the Recycle Unknowns category:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Recycle_Unknowns

We all must do our part to "Keep WikiTree Beautiful!" (paraphrasing road sign - "Keep America Beautiful" - from anti-litter campaign)

Comments

Correction: I will certainly use an unknown profile if I must create a profile w/o LNAB.  

But how would I have known about that list if you didn't just show me?  I will try and store the link somewhere for the future.  

We could be recycling those profiles in other circumstances.  Why am I just learning about them?  Am I skipping something? 

Lindy ~ Thanx for all the info! 

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There is an unbelievable amount of information on WikiTree, but much of it is so hard to find it unless you really dig for it!

I sometimes will look at a page and try to check out every link on it. Of course, every link I click leads me to another page with more links to click; it's a vicious cycle!

Basically, it is nearly impossible to find every resource available to managers. But a good starting point is to check each link in the drop-down menus, especially the Style Guide, and the Help Index, and the Categories.

Once you find a topic of interest, copy/paste the link and save it to your Scratch Pad on your Nav/Navigation Home Page; or create a Free-Space page (go to Add drop down and click New Thing) for useful links.

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What do I put in the box for LNAB?  Can I put "presently unknown" or do I put the married last name?  Because I have to put something, right?

Thank you again : ) 

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Never mind!  I see the "name fields" category.

My only question is:  Why can't they just be deleted by a leader or someone on some level?

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Mary, if you use a profile from the Recycle Unknowns category, DO NOT change the LNAB (presumably a version of Unknown) until you have determined the actual LNAB!

What you want at this point is a profile for someone whose LNAB is currently unknown; when that is the case, the preferred LNAB is "Unknown" - without the quotes (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Name_Fields#Last_Name_at_Birth).

It's okay if you prefer not to use a recycled profile. It was just a suggestion!!

 

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Okay.  I think I get it.

It's too early to tag her as "unknown" if it can't be corrected at a later date.  I will do more research and then decide.

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Actually, Mary, it is not too early to tag her as "unknown" since that is her current status as far as your research is concerned. And if/when you finally determine her correct LNAB, you will be able to correct it on her profile.

What happens when we change the LNAB is that a new profile is created, and the old profile simply redirects to the new profile. Over time and thousands (millions?) of changes, we end up with a lot of server strain (redirect tangle, perhaps?) that we could avoid if we wait until we have more information.

However, we also currently have a ready source of reusable profiles that we can use to connect individuals with unknown LNAB if we feel a profile must be added to fill a gap in a section of the WikiTree to enable us to continue our research on the related profiles.

So go ahead and recycle one (or more) of the Unknowns, leaving the current LNAB as Unknown/UNKNOWN (or other variation). Then continue your research and maybe someday you can change the profile from Unknown to her correct LNAB!

And if I've THOROUGHLY confused you, let me know!!

 

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No.  It's becoming clearer.  

Do you correct the LNAB by way of creating a new profile, and then merging the two?  Or can you correct the LNAB on the original profile?  

What I am wondering is .  What will the end result be?  Will the Wikitree ID always be: Unknown-#### or no? 

Just wondering. :)  

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Mary --

When you are the profile manager, you can edit the Last Name at Birth. You don't explicitly create a new profile when you identify the actual Last Name at Birth, but editing that name looks like a merge to the system.

Another method to handle situations where you don't have a name is to create a === Research Notes === section in the biography of the husband (or parents, or child, etc) and include any information you have about that person so that you can find it easily when (if?) you finally do identify them.

And, yes, it is sometimes difficult to identify how to do things like this. :-) The most educational place on WikiTree is here in G2G. I know it's time-consuming, but stick to what interests you and search messages for topics you need help with, and you'll begin to pick up tips here and there. It takes patience and perseverance, but we wouldn't be genealogists if we didn't already have those qualities. ;-)