Watchlist Wednesday - 1800s

Question

We thought it would be fun to do a little mini-challenge each Wednesday with our watchlists. No badges or stickers, just the satisfaction of doing something good! 

This week - pick an individual from your watchlist that was born or died in the 1800s  and spruce up their profile.  This could be adding photos, sources, writing a bio, etc. 

Just give that particular person a little extra TLC :) 

Share their profile below if you like so we can all see what you've done! You could share it to Facebook too so your family can enjoy it as well.

Answer 1

I have so many I can choose from but will post a link when I have decided.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tudgey-3 has lots of old Ancestry sources and I know I have more I can add.

Comments

You did a great job of getting rid of another GEDCOM. I enjoyed your story including your beginning with the historical perspective and description of where he was christened.

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Thanks I like to start afresh with them and make it more of a story. It's like doing a mini do over and I noticed that there was conflicting information. I have a memorial card to add but will have to look for it so I  can add more on Scan A Thon weekend.

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I just hope you are using more than Ancestry trees as sources. And getting rid of those that are there.

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They were census records and BMD references. I actually have more information from the records I had to order. The links to Ancestry worked. I avoid just having Ancestry member tree as a source and if I find profiles that are poorly sourced I try to update with better sources.

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Regarding Ancestry sources:

1 If they are there I leave them there and just clean them up leaving anything that might help to find a better source. GEDCOMs leave to many duplicates so I do combine them.

2. If time is not an issue, I will attempt to convert them to FamilySearch sources or American Ancestor (NEHGS).

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I started my tree on Ancestry long before I knew about WIkiTree, FamilySearch or NEHGS. Usually when I add new people I have one good source to add immediately. When time allows I try to use the info from my Ancestry tree to locate better sources that I add to WIkiTree and if applicable to FamilySearch. If Ancestry would allow free access to their source information we could just use them. If a better source can't be located I will summarize the indexed information to aid searching for its replacement. Ancestry's data can always be see from the changes tab.

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I have done this with some profiles but it can be just as quick to start again as most of the profiles I have can be matched to someone in Family Search. The GRO Indexes are an improvement on the Ancestry source.

I don't delete the previous bio until I am happy with the hew one.

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You can share links to a record and include the link in your citation. I have done this on at least one profile.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/15180314?h=0f2965

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The GRO free indexes don't cover the time period for my ancestors. :(

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That trick with ancestry is great. We should advertise it, so that more will use it on real sources.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/15180314?h=0f2965

I really like it!

Answer 2

Well, since it's not for a badge or anything, I don't feel guilty about cheating and using the one I did yesterday! :D

Yesterday I was looking at my Suggestions list and found Ulric Coulombe on there because he had no dates. He was just a name attached as a husband to a cousin of mine. Fast forward a few hours and he has parents, a bunch of siblings, and birth and marriage details. I also extended a few lines of his family tree back far enough to connect to existing families in the tree.

His profile had been sitting empty for 7 years!

Comments

That's a lot of work - all his siblings and about 3 generations on his maternal line were nicely added and sourced. I learn by seeing how others improve profiles.

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Thanks Pat! Sometimes I just don't have the motivation to work on a tough brick wall, and it's nice to take a break and work on a random Franco-Manitoban family that has a dozen kids and can be tracked through multiple censuses. :) It's a lot of grunt work to enter them all and add all the sources, but it's easy work and makes me feel like I've made a good contribution to the tree!

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I decided to find another 1800s profile to work on, and I ended up being able to do a merge that connected a family to the big tree! The profile is now William Sheppard. I had a profile for him and 8 of his children, so a group of 9 unconnected to the big tree. After some research I figured out he was a duplicate of an existing, connected profile. So now they're connected, and I was able to add a few more kids to the family, too. :)

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Another good job. Wish I could stay focused to do that much in such a short time. I have to try to avoid those rabbit trails. :)

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Congrats on a job well done!

Answer 3

Since I didn't come close to finishing Philena "Filena Polina" Beer Cooley Delay last week and she was born in 1842, then I will keep working on her. I got stuck at the point where she was widowed at 20 with two sons when her husband became ill and passed away at Milliken's Bend. Mostly finished her to age 20 and only about 60 years to go. That is, if one can ever finish a profile on WikiTree.

Comments

Most of the profile is finished. just some last minute tweaking to do but not today. Then back to the family!

Answer 4

I had previously created a profile for Numa Florent Joseph Mallarmé (1805-1863), but it was pretty basic, relying solely on his death act.  I went back and added his birth act and the acts for his two marriages.  I also created a profile for his first wife (and mother of poet Stéphane Mallarmé), Elisabeth Félicie Desmolins (1819-1847).

Comments

Good job so far. Now you need to add his parents and indicate which of his wives is the mother of his daughter.....You do have fun working in two languages; I don't envy you.

Answer 5

I will work on the profile of John Ross, a relative of mine through my fourth great-grandmother, Anne Cunningham (her sister, Janet Cunningham, was John's mother). I only started trying to work on this line yesterday, so I'll get to work adding John's descendants etc. and then work on his biography.

Answer 6

One day late as ever, but I did a little TLC on my brick wall Ruby (Foster) Babcock (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Foster-7755). Instead of adding anything useful like her parents, which is what I am looking for, I added a section of Research Notes where I included all the advice I just got from an NEGHS advisor. Now to follow through on it all. She sent me two of the papers which referred me to other papers. Now to carry out the research.