Saturday Sourcing Sprint! (24 November 2018)

+10 votes
323 views

Hi WikiTreers! 

imageJoin in on this week's 24-hour Saturday Sourcing Sprint!

It's basically a casual mini Source-a-Thon.

When it's Saturday where you are, get sourcing! 
(And quit when it's Sundaysmiley)

Anytime you want to compete for the Weekly Winners badge, click answer at the bottom of this post, We use the Challenge Tracker to record the profiles we sources. 

Tell us about your successes, discrepancies, stories that tug at your heart strings, and new amazing sources. We have a Google Hangout if you'd like to join us. It will be as busy or quiet as we make it.

  • All profiles improved must come from the Unsourced categories or be already present on WikiTree and only have links to other profiles, links to search results from another genealogy website, or the words "Ancestry tree," "Geni.com," "Pedigree Resource Files" from FamilySearch, and the like. Do not delete these items as they can provide clues for other researchers.
  • If you cannot find any sources, create a Research Notes section, list where you tried to find records, and add four tildes to the end of your note as a date stamp (you won't see it until you save). Do not remove the Unsourced Template and do not use the tracker or count in your tally. Example:
    • "Looked for John in the US Census records for 1900-1940 and couldn't find him on FamilySearch or Ancestry"
  • Sources citations need to provide a way for anyone to find the source. We strive for the Evidence Explained format to tell where, what, who, and when, as well as where the was source was found. Do not delete existing items in the Sources area as they can provide clues for other researchers. 
    • Examples of citations can be found in the Tip of the Week first comment in each post and in the Citation Example page where the Weekly Tips will be archived.
  • If you add a source which names other family members, check to see if their profiles exist. 
    • If not, add  [[Category:Needs Profiles Created]] to the first line of the edit box
    • If so and there are no sources, add the source. Use the tracker to count that profile too

See the Sprint Help Page for full details. 

When you save the profile, a green bar for the Challenge Tracker will appear at the top. Due to the security changes for the implementation of GDPR regulations, unlisted profiles are not eligible for challenge tracking. 

For all others, click the Challenge Tracker button, add or verify your WikiTreeID, select a pre-defined comment or add your own to indicate which type(s) of source(s) you added, put a check mark in the "Saturday Sourcing Sprint" box, and click "Add Action." If you participate in the Monthly Sourcerers' Challenge you can click both boxes. For visual learners, this YouTube video starting at about the 4.30 minute mark will explain how to use the tracker (earlier parts of the video explain how to find sources and add the citations to profiles).

You can track your progress on the Challenge Tracker report.

Don't forget to removed the Unsourced template if you are able to add a source!

in The Tree House by Debi Hoag G2G6 Pilot (391k points)

Citation Tip of the Week

This is not an endorsement of any one source or citation style. Tips are provided to help you learn how to cite the sources you find. There is no requirement to look for sources of this type.

Source: Email

A member asked for my help this week in crafting a citation for an email received from an archivist. The email was relevant to their current research question and was the current source for a bit of information on the ancestor. Here is the citation format we came up with:

  • Sender's Name, Sender's title, department, and library, [(email address for private use)] to Member's name, email, "date of email", "Subject Line of email," "where you have stored the mail"; privately held by [[WikiTree ID|Member's Surname]], Member's city and state.
In practice, this citation would look something like this:
  • Jane Doe, Research Specialist, Government and Heritage Library, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, [(email address for private use)] to Debi Hoag, email, 31 February 2012, "Reed Gold Nugget location," Smith Family Files, Shinn Folder; Privately held by [[McGee-1611|Hoag]], Leesburg, Florida.
The [(email address for private use)] portion is used because Jane Doe did not give permission to share her email address. If she had, it would be located in that place in parenthesis like this (JDoe@madeup.com). The square brackets, used to indicate that it is a note written by the member, would not be included.
If this citation was being used outside WikiTree, the WikiTree ID of the member would be replaced with space for the receiver's email address and street address. It would look like this:
  • ; privately held by Hoag [(email address), & street address for private use], Leesburg, Florida.
This citation example was crafted using Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained, 3rd Edition Kindle, pg 154-155, 3.42 "E-Mail & Instant Messages > E-Mail > First Reference Note."
I'll try to do some with the tracker. Oops I should have answered
Add me for next Saturday
I'll add a a separate line on the spreadsheet for you, Katie. If you want a chance for the weekly winner sticker, you will need to register each Friday when I post the Sprint thread.

9 Answers

+7 votes
 
Best answer
I am in again this weekend and will be using the tracker
by Sarah Black G2G6 Mach 1 (12.6k points)
selected by Debi Hoag
Glad to have you joining us again, Sarah. Good Luck!
Congratulations, Sarah! Thanks for sourcing the most profiles in this week's Saturday Sourcing Sprint.
+9 votes
Whilst checking for potential matches for a Smith relative, I stumbled across loads of Smiths that had no places entered..so down the rabbit hole I went  and found a whole tree that had no places and no sources...I "fixed" about a quarter of them (looks like someone had also merged profiles with people with same name but wrong birth/death years so the whole branch was askew so I started from the root!)

Anyway as that family still needs a lot of work, I will try to finish the rest tomorrow
by Michelle Wilkes G2G6 Pilot (167k points)
Amazing how easy it is to make a total mess of things. I applaud your efforts to fix the chaos!
Thanks for filling in the rabbit holes, Michelle. Let us know if we need to send a search party in to bring you back to the service.
Been going 7 hours now, and nearly completed that one family..complicated by duplicates that need merging, and closed profiles that really could do with being open!
Wow! From a Smith family researcher, my thanks! Are the profiles managed or orphans? If they are orphaned and the connected relationships are all for deceased people, send the team a message asking if they can be opened. I was able to get some that I worked on opened up after adding evidence on all the linked profiles.
Hope my SMITH family are better connected than this one even if it does have a lot of Ancestry sources attached.

nearly 12 hours solid and I'm running out of steam lol It started off as a "Smith" but when I researched the family, half the women had been given the surname "x" instead of "unknown", and the other half had the wrong LNAB. No dates or places on any of the profiles but I figured them out, now all sourced with dates of birth's and places of births!

Elizabeth Smith should actually be Eliza Newman

and I haven't a clue whether Caroline Howard should be Pratt or Goodchild but it certainly isn't Howard! She is a strange one - father recorded as Thomas Pratt on marriage, with a Goodchild witness, then in census she has James Goodchild as her father. She was living with James & Martha Goodchild, and there is a Caroline Goodchild, daughter of a James & Martha Goodchild baptised....my brain is too frazzled to work that one out at the moment.

i think I have corrected and sourced about 60 ancestors of one person today!
Doh...I worked out Caroline...James Goodchild married Martha Pratt (widow) in 1835, Caroline was born in 1827! I knew I'd solve it eventually!

And I found her baptism...threw me because she was born in 1828 in Islington but baptised in 1836 in Lambeth!
Those late baptisms can be confusing especially when the mother has remarried in the meantime.
That is quite an accomplishment, Michelle. Between you and Beverly, maybe we need a Rabbit Hole of the Week category LOL
+7 votes
I'll do some with the tracker. Ignore my comment above :)
by Kyla H G2G6 Mach 5 (53.8k points)
Glad to see you join us again, Kyla. Good luck!
+7 votes
I'll work on some Pennsylvania profiles tomorrow.
by Beverly Benfer G2G6 Mach 2 (27.7k points)
Good luck in Pennsylvania, Beverly. Thanks!
Michelle was a jinx with her mention of rabbit holes. The first profile I selected to source was an infant - whose entire family was unsourced or unidentified. If there is no profile for a father, but I find his identity on the source for the child, I cannot resist creating a profile for him - and oh, yeah, there are some records for him as well. And the next thing you know that still-born child teased me down a rabbit hole for hours! Thankfully my dog did her "begging beagle" routine with the big soulful eyes to remind me that we were late for sharing lunch. Whew!
It's so easily done...reminds me I should feed the kids again lol

I find if I've worked out a really complicated relationship, I like to add in the profiles of other relatives as they may not be easy for others to work out.
+6 votes
participating, using tracker
by Kandita Post G2G6 Mach 4 (46.6k points)
Welcome to the Sprints, Kandita. Good luck and let us know if you have any questions.
+5 votes
I'll do some today.
by Joan Whitaker G2G6 Pilot (168k points)
Thanks, Joan. Good luck!
+5 votes
I will be working on some of my profiles which only had local file references. The online sources have improved since I uploaded my Gedcom file.
by Hilary Gadsby G2G6 Pilot (312k points)
Sounds like a great plan, Hilary. Good luck! I should probably follow suit with my sources that were emails from a cousin, etc.
Didn't get very far with them been cleaning up some sources and found a surname for an unknown spouse.
+5 votes
Plan on doing some sourcing today anyhow so I will track too
by Navarro Mariott G2G6 Pilot (164k points)
Good to see you, Navarro! Good luck.
+4 votes
I'm up and almost ready to start.
by Beverly Ahrens G2G6 Mach 8 (83.8k points)
Good luck today, Beverly. Thanks!

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