June/July Biography Builders - People born in the same city/town as you

Question

This month's theme will be profiles for people born in the same city/town as you.

Biography Builders Goal: To make profiles as complete as possible with well-written biographies and sources. You should research as much as you can find on a person, writing the information onto the profiles to create as complete a life story as you can for that person. Sourcing should be full citations. This includes adding categories and links to events and people connected to that profile and citing all those additions. See the first month for examples of how to participate.

Here's our checklist:

Data Section:

• birth date/place
• names of parents
• marriage date/place and spouse name
• death date/place

Biography Section:

• Written (full) sentences stating the facts above, adding inline sources to each fact.
• Is the profile '''Genealogically Defined?'''
• As a general rule biographies should be in your own words. Paraphrase and rewrite, don't copy/paste.
• Baptism, burial, military, and other life events with inline sources.
• Something to "humanize" the person, such as career or avocation with sources.
• List of children with at least one pertinent fact.
• One of the suggestions was siblings. I think this takes up real estate.
• Explanatory remarks, if needed (e.g. disputed persons information, Research Notes, whatever needs extra explaining).
• Photos or pictures, background. Not a must, but nice (you need to own the copyright unless they are in the public domain).
• Categories/Projects.
• Connection to the Global Tree.
• All duplicates merged or initiated.
• Links to persons and events, perhaps from Wikipedia.
• Historical context as related to the person's life.
• Sources, Sources, Sources.

You can see some ideas on where to find some of this information on the Biography Builders space page, linked below.

Use "comments" below to ask questions.

NOTE: Biography Builders will not show on the tracker. Please add a list to your answer.

WikiTree profile: Space:Biography_Builders

Comments

Same town where I was born?  or same town where I currently live?

---

Same town where you were born

---

Is there any restriction on the profiles being your own? I've still got quite a few of my original profiles, from my hometown, for which I never got around to writing bios. I'd be killing the proverbial two birds with one stone.

---

I was born in the Panama Canal Zone on a Navy base.  I can't find any profiles for people born there.  Any chance for me to get an exception and do the birth city of the rest of my family?  If not..no worries :)

Caryl

---

The profiles do not have to be yours. Any profile will do.

---

Caryl,

You may pick ONE member of your family, and use their POB. Remember to choose wisely.

Bob

---

Thanks Bob!  I will do the city where my mother and brothers were born, Santa Rosa, CA. :)

---

Do they need to be existing profiles for this challenge? I found a soldier who received the Medal of Honor during the campaign to recapture the Philippines during World War II. He doesn't seem to have a WikiTree profile yet.

---

Any person who fits the criteria is eligible, even if the don’t have an existing profile. Just make sure you have sources.

---

Have several people in my file that are not relatives.  Most from my home town.  Should i put them under this heading?  I also want to add Janet Lois Hay who married a Fotheringham.  I grew up with one of her daughters and we are still friends today - never recall not knowing her.  They are not interested in Family Trees but do have her Mother.

Answer 1

Gosh, maybe an uninformed question, but how do I find profiles with a birth in my town?  The only one I really know about is [[Valenzuela-180|Ritchie Vallens]]....he and I were born at the same hospital.

Comments

Two ways I just found is the Text Search at bottom of  the profile search page, and also location categories page. Do you know which town they mean - where we were born or where we now live?

---

More help needed here - "location categories page??". I know I was born in the same town as Glenn Miller, the big band leader, but how do I find others?? It would be good practice for me to help with this!! somebody send a sample or....(The town I'll look up is Clarinda, Iowa.) Thanks in advance!

---

A text search of "born Clarinda Iowa" on the profile search page, brought up these   https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-5983849578006601%3A2801067696&ie=UTF-8&textSearchType=on&q=+Clarinda%2C+Iowa&sa=Go   but it still takes some time to go through the list and find some that are usable.  I had a long list, but hardly any were usable, for a variety of reason.

eta: forgot to add the Category page that has hardly any entries  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Clarinda%2C_Iowa

eta (again)  how about this one?  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Roten-42.

Answer 2

OK, found one

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gardner-6190   Gov. Booth Gardner.  Found his orphaned, unlinked, unconnected, and empty profile. Will be working on adding profiles for his family and hopefully get him connected. 
2. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gardner-11339  Brick Gardner, father of above profile for Booth Gardner. 
3. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gardner-11362  Gail Gardner, sister of Booth. She died at 13 yrs old, so not too much to say, but she now has a profile with a small biography.

Answer 3

I am in I will try to find some.

Answer 4

I'll be doing some. This should be a good one for me, born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. Big city.

1. Ann Elizabeth Ackroyd https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ackroyd-270
2. David Longden Gyte https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gyte-307
3. Ada (Sampson) Webb https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sampson-2760
4. James Robert Howe https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Howe-7816
5. Eleanor (Crookes) Gyte https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crookes-40
6. Nellie Gyte https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gyte-201
7. Joseph Hargate https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hargate-54
8. Lucy Ann (Hargate) Renshaw https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hargate-55

Answer 5

I should be able to do a few this month. These will be in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1. Charlotte Mary Bogan-150 - OK, not sure this one should count. I had thought she would turn out to be born in New Orleans, but after spending quite a few hours hunting down records it turns out she was probably born in Baton Rouge before her family moved. Waa Waa!
2. Thomas Richard Carey-4099 - Charlotte's first husband.
3. Marie Eulalie Cezanne-1 aka Saizan
4. Frances Armilda Hillerman-16 
5. Julia Catherine Fulda-10 
6. Augustus C. Freitag-207 - added Julia's son from 1st marriage
7. Louis Albert Steidtmann-4 - Julia's son from 2nd marriage
8. Charles Fredrick William Steidtmann-5, another son

Answer 6

I'm in and got one started. Would welcome any commentary on him, is he looking good? Ideas for more polishing? I've pretty much exhausted the local resources for him... he led a quiet life.

1. Nathaniel Richards of Dedham, Mass.

2. His wife, Mary Aldis of Dedham, Mass.

3. Mary Richards of Dedham, Mass.

4. Amos Fuller of Dedham, Mass.

5. Joseph Fairbanks of Dedham, Mass.

Answer 7

OK...this one is going to be rather difficult as I doubt there are any profiles already on here that were born in the same place as I was...how do we find people born in a village/town if they haven't been categorised?

Edit: There isn't even a category for the town I was born..and only one person in the category for the next nearest town!

Could do with one of those neat useful wiki-tree apps for this!

Comments

Agreed! I'd love to be able to search Wikitree for, say, anyone who had any event in xxx location!

---

Michelle,

Failing any other clever ideas, could you perhaps choose people from the same county instead of town? Might give you more options.

---

I think I'll go with the town my children were born.

---

1) George Phillpott b. 1815

2) Sarah Ann Phillpott b. 1819

3) Edward John Phillpott b. 1820

4) Emma Horne

5) Sophia Phillpott b. 1849

6) Sophia Phillpott b. 1855

7) Edward John Phillpott b. 1852

8) Sophia Phillpott nee Fasham/Fassam b. 1823

9) Ellen Merricks Phillpott

10) Frank Fasham Phillpott

11) Lucy Merricks Phillpott

12) Ada Lily Phillpott

13) Thomas "Toby" Philpot b. 1774

14) Richard Phillpott b. 1778 Expanded the research notes and added autosomal DNA evidence and charts to explain link to Thomas (Toby) Phillpott

15) Richard Vincent Philpot b. 1806

16) Maria Phillpott b. 1844

17) Emily Matilda Kennett b. 1870

18) Richard Phillpott b. 1847

19) Edward George Phillpott b. 1848

20) George Phillpott b. 1810

21) George Thomas Philpot b. 1837

22) George Phillpott b. 1851

23) Elizabeth Caroline Phillpott nee Cox b. 1857

24) William Edward Phillpott b. 1878

25) Emily Matilda Phillpott b. 1879

26) Alice Maria Phillpott b. 1881

27) Thomas Richard Phillpott b. 1895

28) George Phillpott b. 1883

---

From Saturday Sourcing sprint:

29) Harriet Caroline Forster Added category and sticker, added source for baptism, death & burial

30) Charles Francis Forster Added categories, added biography & source headers, added sources for key facts

31) Thomas Forster Added category and "Uncertain Existence" template as there is no evidence that this child existed. Added Research Notes

32) William Forster Added category. Added source for death/burial and added likely baptism with correct parents in research notes

---

33) Thomas Richard Sandwell b. 1840

34) Mary Ann Sandwell b. 1841

35) Mary Ann Sandwell b. 1846 - sad profile to write - giving birth to 14 children but 8 died young

36) Susanna Matilda (Susan) Sandwell b. 1843

37) Emily Elizabeth Sandwell b. 1848

38) Alma Helena Sandwell b. 1854 - Another sad one as she died at the age of 20 just 3 months after arriving in the US with her new husband and baby daughter

39) Hannah Maria Sandwell b. 1850

40) Matilda Sandwell b. 1852 

41) Frederick William Sandwell b. 1831

42) Lavinia Spickett Sandwell b. 1784

43) Elizabeth Major b. 1794

44) Mary Ann Major b. 1796

45) George Major b. 1799

Answer 8

This sounds like a great learning exercise for doing biographies. I was only nine months old when we moved away from where I was born. We had no family ties to the location and I have never been back. We only lived there because my Dad was the minister at the local Methodist Church - his first charge after graduating from Seminary. I have a lot of family born in one location - but that would be too easy to find profiles to work on. I am going to accept the challenge and maybe find out some information regarding Dunlap, Sequatchie County, Tennessee. Frankly, I always loved the name Sequatchie!.

I have started one profile and found another to work on:

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooley-3211 I think his bio is complete, now I have to connect him to the global tree. I have now added his parents, siblings, and grandparents that enabled me to connect him to an existing profile of an Uncle https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooley-2850

2. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stewart-17990

Answer 9

I was born in a small pokey little country town in the south Waikato region of New Zealand,  and there are only 2 other "Famous" Kiwis who are also from this same town - both of them were rugby players.

I cannot create profiles for them because they are still living, and their wikipedia pages dont mention their parents names.

Comments

Robynne,

You are granted permission to expand to all of New Zealand.

Bob

---

Silly me. I did find a Notable Athelete from my home town - I forgot about her.

So I will start working on her Ancestry. I have her parents but am not sure how far back I can go.

This is for June and July, right? So I have 2 months. That's good.

Thanks for the exception Bob, but it turns out that I don't actually need it.

---

Robynne, this challenge is only one month, but is not a calendar month. It lasts the 15th of this month to the 15th of next month.

---

You are far too generous, Bob. The whole of NZ gives Robynne millions of profiles. As a Kiwi, I would restrict her to the Waikato. (Robynne, Putaruru is huge compared to Waiouru!)

---

Joyce - 15th of June to 15th of July. Thanks for that.

Fiona, Waiouru is a military base, Surely there must be hundreds if not thousands of soldiers passing through there every day? Putaruru's current population according to Wikipedia is 4100,

But I have decided to do the marathon runner - Lorraine Moller. She was born in Putaruru. Only trouble is that she is still living - she lives in the USA. Her father however has passed so the line will be accessible starting with him.

And Moller is a Danish name. I can go back at least 3-4 generations befroe we have to start looking at Danish records.

---

Lots of service personnel went through Waiouru but very few babies were born there, Robynne. My brother and I were both born in the cottage hospital, and there have been no births probably since the late 1960s when births were moved to Taihape. Waiouru's current population is 920. Good luck with Lorraine Moller - she was a fab athlete.

---

Fiona, I concede. 4100 is a lot bigger than 920.

I had no idea that the permanent population of Waiouru was so small!!

---

I have created the profile for the Kiwi Marathon runner Lorraine Moller, because she was born in my home town of Putaruru, New Zealand. However her profile is unlisted because she is still living.

Lorraine's father Gordon Moller -- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moller-1434

Lorraine's grandfather Jacob Moller -- https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moller-1435

Lorraine's grandmother Mary Moller nee Franks - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Franks-2292

---

How about all the Kiwi Biographers can expand to all of NZ? Gotta keep things fair.

---

Maybe Kiwis can expand to their districts as opposed to just their towns, and the USA and Canadians can also do States or provinces if there is noone from their home towns. THAT would make things fair.  IMO.

But the situiation is moot since I did find someone from my home town and I am working on her tree.

Answer 10

All Born in Whangarei. New Zealand.

1. Jessie Simpson b.1874  Sticker, Bio and Sourced
2. Isabella Broome b.1886 Sticker, Bio and Sourced
3. William Phillips b. 1906 Sticker, Bio and Sourced
4. Margaret Spencer b. 1855 Sticker, Bio and Sourced

Answer 11

Here are what I have for Santa Rosa, CA.

1.  Julie London (aka Nancy Peck) born 1926. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Peck-6311 She didn't exist so I created the biography and added her to the notables project.

2.  My grandfather Cecil Showalter. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Showalter-466

3. Lloyd Donner Showalter. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Showalter-650

Answer 12

I'll give it a go with with  the  textile mill owners in the town  where I was born: Borne, Overijssel, Netherlands. One member of the line has already a profile so mine will be easy to link to the tree.:

1. Spanjaard-11  (1873 - 1934)

The second one wille be from the town I 'm now living in: Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands. He is already connected to the tree but I find so many interesting details of his life I just want to write about him.

2. Hermanus van Houdt (1852 - 1941)

Comments

can someone show me how to make a link to the profile? It didn't work the way I thought.it would.

---

After you type the name, say:

1. Spanjaard-11  (1873 - 1934)

Then highlight the portion that you want to be "clickable." Then go to the little chain link icon above in the options above your answer. There you feed in the URL. Hard to explain, easy to do once you do it the first time :)

---

Did it!! and it works!

Thanks Bobby

---

Easy when you know how 

Answer 13

I was born in Hartford, Connecticut. So was

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pantry-15 John Pantry