Challenge of the Week: Help clean up marriage data [closed]

Question

Hi WikiTreers,

Want to join us in a challenge?

This week's Data Doctors Challenge is centered on weddings and marriages. Let's help profiles in our tree live happily ever after.

WikiTree+ data analysis has discovered 18,442 marriage-related errors and warnings to be investigated, including:

• Unknown gender of spouse: These are cases where a person's spouse does not have a gender. If it can be confidently determined, set the spouse's gender from their edit page.
• Single sex marriage: Both spouses have the same gender. Same-sex marriage is not uncommon today but it was rare in history. Try to verify that one of the partners does not have the wrong gender and edit if appropriate. If it truly was a same-sex marriage, dismiss the suggestion.
• Marriage before birth: The person's marriage date is before their birth date. If the correct marriage date or the person's birth date can be confidently determined, fix it. To edit a marriage date look for the "edit marriage" link below the spouse in the Edit Family section of the person's edit page.
• Marriage too long after birth:The person's marriage date is more than 115 years after their birth date.
• Marriage after death: The person's marriage date is after their death date. If the correct marriage date or death date can be determined, fix it.
• Multiple marriages on same day: The person married more than one spouse on the same day. If one marriage date is incorrect, fix it, or if the spouses are duplicates, merge them.
• Marriage to duplicate person: The person married more than one person with the same name. If the spouses are duplicates, merge them.

Here is the table of errors we need to investigate.

To earn a point, click the status button on the report by the profile you edited and follow the instructions there. [more info]

The member with the most points at 11:59 pm EDT on Sunday night will get the badge and the bragging rights. But we'll all benefit from an improved tree, with stronger marriages. :-)

What will you be working on? Please post here to let us know and we'll cheer each other on. Or post if you have any questions about how to participate.

PS If you want to chat or coordinate what you are working on with others, in addition to this G2G post there is a handy spreadsheet courtesy of Steven Tibbetts. 

Top 10

• Teresa L. Downey - 217
• Helen E. Edwards - 120
• Carolyn S. Martin - 104
• Peter Cameron - 65
• Terry McClintock - 62
• Paula A. Reinke - 54
• Dennis J. Heltemes - 23
• Robin A. Shaules - 22
• Anon McClain - 21
• Graeme R. Olney - 19

Comments

Challenge is active. A bit late this week, due to my extended weekend.

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I'm getting BS data errors on my British ancestors who married between 1707 and 1801. Error: 672 Location too early in marriage location

The reason this error keeps cropping up is that the system fails to recognize that the Kingdom of Great Britain was established in 1707 and was known simply as Great Britain. Some folks try have tried to correct profile I manage by entering UK, however the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland didn't come into existence until 1801. It later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922.

Example:  A couple married in 1715. I entered as the place of marriage as Settle, Yorkshire, England, Great Britain.  This is correct and should not be flagged as a data error!

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I'm sure if someone got married today then "Settle, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, European Union" would technically be correct but I bet "Settle, Yorkshire, England" would still work just fine and not error???  

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It didn't used to show as an error. It is correct. And why should I or anyone else need to waste time by correcting profiles that actually are correct, just so they don't show up as data errors?

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Jane, what profile are you looking at?  The error is about UK, not Great Britain, I think. What is in the Info box on the Suggestion?  That indicates what the error is.

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Linda,

There were several from the 18th century...

One marriage that was flagged was between John Carr and Mary Robinson.

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Jana, I checked your false suggestions and the rules for the suggestion. 

Conclusion: Great Britain, GB, United Kingdom or UK shouldn't be used before 1801 since it didn't exist before. If England is not good enough for you, then use the full title Kingdom of Great Britain instead of just Great Britain.

But I don't know that much about UK history and can't decide what is correct. England and other UK projects were discussing about the rules for this error and this was set. Talk to the project about this in a new thread and I can adjust the rules as needed, when a conclusion will be made.

Here is the link of your False suggestions so others know what you are talking about. 

https://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTWebUser/Suggestions.htm?UserID=12429462&ShowHidden=1&HideActive=1&ErrorID=672 

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Is it just me or is this the wrong spreadsheet?  When I click on the link in the above message I get an old spreadsheet from early June.

Edited:

I see the problem, the sentence here are the problems we need to investigate has the wrong spreadsheet but the one at the very bottom is the correct one.

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I revised the 672 Suggestion page to include what Ales said for 1801

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Space:DBE_672

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Link is corrected. Tx Paula.

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Ales, how best to start a new discussion? To which project do I address - Data Doctors or UK Project?

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I would add tags data_doctors and england. That should get enough attention.

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Tracker seems to be down. Status not working.

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Seems to be ok now

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I will do a few today as have a decent Wi-Fi connection currently

Answer 1

I'll work on Perkins and Crawford errors this week.

Answer 2

I'll work on few this week. Thanks.

Answer 3

I'm delighted to help with standardizing capitalization.

Answer 4

Ales, the tracker appears to be stuck on the data doctor challenge.