What to do about unsourced family tree shown on WikiTree?

Question

Levi Helton (1805 - 1888)

afaict No source is given for this vital information: "Son of John Robert Helton and Nancy Ann Elmore"

Sina Cinay Jenkins (1813 - 1889)

afaict No source is given for this vital information: "Daughter of Matthew James Jenkins and [mother unknown] Sister of Caleb Jenkins"

Those unsupported claims have been shown for 2 years, I've sent private messages to the profile manager without response, I've posted public comments without response -- What next?

 

 

 

Answer 1

Anyone is allowed to add sources to open profiles.  We have a whole category of them.   https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Unsourced_Profiles

Every month, a group of members have a contest. They are called the Sourcerers.  this month's contest is here.  https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/333159/january-2017-sourcerers-challenge?show=333159#q333159

It is a really fun way to contribute   I do a lot of sourcing but don't get involved in the contest often.

Comments

afaict The specific profiles I mentioned are not in Unsourced Profiles, and yet there are gaps which (unfilled) ought to prevent leaping (as one of them does) back to 1600 :-)

Answer 2

Welcome to WikiTree, Isaac. After you are accepted as a Volunteer and sign the Honor Code, you will be a full-fledged member and can add sources to profiles like the one you cite.

As you note, the Levi Helton profile has sources for much of Levi's life, but there is no indication of where the identification of his parents came from. Chances are good that there is a valid basis for that information (maybe it came from a family bible, or a will, or a published genealogy). For that and other reasons, WikiTree usually maintains that sort of user-submitted information in good faith while sources are sought.

Comments

"Chances are good that there is a valid basis for that information (maybe it came from a family bible, or a will, or a published genealogy)."

Seems like the profile manager would have simply stated the source was "a family bible, or a will" ?

If the source is "a published genealogy" that itself did not provide a source, then how can that be a source?

For example, 5 sources are provided for the claim - "Born 1805 in Stewart, Georgia". One is a duplicate. Three are US census and provide state born "Georgia" and a varying age. The final provided source is "findagrave" where "Stewart County" is not shown on the apparently modern gravestone but is itself an un-sourced comment.

To me this seems a lot like un-sourced Ancestry.com family trees and not much like -- "We cite sources. Without sources we can't objectively resolve conflicting information."

---

"For that and other reasons, WikiTree usually maintains that sort of user-submitted information in good faith while sources are sought."

Sounds like I shouldn't expect the quality of information on WikiTree to be any better than the other family tree websites -- my mistake.

Does WikiTree provide any structure for a profile manager to explain why we should think that, for example, Levi Helton is the son of John Robert Helton ? Even if a source is given, it may not explicitly state a family relationship.

For example, 2 sources are provided for the name "John Robert Helton". The 1840 census page only shows names for head-of-household and in-fact shows the name "Robert Helton". The 1850 census page shows a household that includes "Robert Helton" although a "John Helton" has become head-of-household -- and nothing there provides relationships within the household or beyond the household to "Levi Helton".

In other words, the provided sources do not even show someone with the name "John Robert Helton" let alone that they are the father of "Levi Helton".

---

The huge problem with "maintains that sort of user-submitted information in good faith while sources are sought" is that it assumes we know when we should assume we don't know.

Answer 3

This Question will be featured on the WikiTree LiveCast this Saturday!

WATCH or CHAT live at 3:00 PM EST!

Mags