Closer - closer - closest

Profile manager: Eva Ekeblad [send private message]

The vocabulary and the context of this case study is defined in the 100 Circles page.

It is a companion page to One million profiles in ten circles

One way of defining a central profile in the Global Tree is that it is a profile with the shortest possible mean distance to other connected profiles. This is a simple idea - but there is no computationally cheap way of finding these profiles among the 21 million connected ones.

Since the start of the 100 Circles research in November 2020, we have picked up some likely examples:

Samuel Lothrop

Samuel Lothrop Esq (1622-1700) was mentioned in a discussion way back in May 2018.

• Mathematical graph structure of global tree (Shawn Ligocki in G2G May 2018)

Lothrop's profile was then at a mean distance of 17.69 from all connected profiles. He was also found to have many initial options for his connection path - 18 of his 27 nearest relatives were starting points on his way out to the rest of the tree.

So Samuel Lothrop has been with us in the 100 circles from the start, as the known profile with the shortest mean distance to all other profiles. It was 17.46 on March 8 2021, having decreased from 17.51 on Nov 18 2020. Lothrop is not unique in his slow but steady decrease of the mean distance to the total of connected profiles - this is an ongoing process for all connected profiles.

• Samuel Lothrop is a 10C1M profile - the circle where the cumulative population reaches over a million is Circle 10.

We still have not stumbled across - or sniffed up - a profile with a shorter mean distance than Samuel Lothrop (although we may soon see him overtaken by Brigham Young). Since this was written in the beginning of March 2021 Brigham Young has indeed had his mean distance to other connected profiles reduced faster than Samuel Lothrop. Lothrop was overtaken in the end of March, although it is still, in June, not a very big difference: Young has a mean distance of 17.39 and Lothrop a mean distance of 17.40. By November 2022 Young has a mean distance of 16.83 and Lothrop is at 17.17.

• Comparison spreadsheet Samuel Lothrop versus Brigham Young.

Lothrop's profile was created 11 June 2010, so his branch has been worked on for a long time. He is under the wings of the Puritan Great Migration project. Fifteen duplicates have been merged into the profile of Lothrop-29 - which is also an indicator of the interest from WikiTree members.

Samuel Lothrop's first circle contains 27 profiles - 2 parents, 14 siblings, 2 spouses and 9 children. This circle must be complete, no more persons to add. His second circle contained 202 profiles in November 2020. One more profile was added in January 2021. Samuel Lothrop has 14,563 profiled descendants in WikiTtree down to the 9th generation (births from 1645 to 1933). There are (prudently) no more than 19 known ancestors in WikiTree.

• WikiTree+ Descendant summary (click the blue button)
• WikiTree+ Ancestor summary (click the blue button)
• Lothrop in comparison spreadsheet

Brigham Young

Brigham Young (1801-1877) is one of the profiles with the largest number of profiled children: WikiTree Tops - Profiles. He was also mentioned in the May 2018 discussion about the mathematical graph structure of the global tree. At the time he had a mean distance of 18.38 to all connected profiles. This seems to have been reduced at a faster rate than Lothrop's since then: Jan 4 2021 his mean distance was at 17.60. On March 8 his mean distance was down to 17.47 - he may be in the process of overtaking Samuel Lothrop (he did in the end of March 2021). In November 2022 Young's mean distance is down to 16.83

• Brigham Young is a 10C1M profile - the circle where the cumulative population reaches over a million is Circle 10.

The profile for Brigham Young was created in February 2010. He is under the wings of the LDS project.

Brigham Young's first circle currently contains 125 profiles - one (a child dead in infancy) has been added since the first sample in January. He has: 2 parents, 11 siblings, 55 wives and 57 children. His second circle contained 458 profiles on Jan 4 and had grown to 489 on Mar 8. His kinship network is clearly being worked on.

Brigham Young has 189 descendants with profiles in WikiTree, down to the fifth generation (births from 1825 to 1940). He has 7,368 ancestors with WikiTree profiles, ranging back to the 61st generation in the first century.

• WikiTree+ Descendant summary (click the blue button)
• WikiTree+ Ancestor summary (click the blue button)
• Young in the comparison spreadsheet

Heber Chase Kimball

Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868) is number one on the list of the profiles with the largest number of profiled children: WikiTree Tops - Profiles. His circles were first sampled on Jan 7 2021. His mean distance to the total of connected profiles was then 17.94. On March 8 it had been reduced to 17.86.

Kimball's profile was created 27 September 2010. He is under the protection of the LDS project.

Heber Chase Kimball's first circle contains 109 profiles: 2 parents, 43 wives and 64 children. No siblings have yet been profiled in WikiTree - there are online trees with several, so he may be a "coming man".

Kimball has 164 descendants profiled in WikiTree: six generations with births from 1843 to 2000. He has 7734 profiled ancestors in 60 generations back to the first century.

• WikiTree+ Descendant summary (click the blue button)
• WikiTree+ Ancestor summary (click the blue button)
• Kimball in the comparison spreadsheet

Abraham Hunsaker

Abraham Hunsaker (1812-1889) is number one on the list of profiles with the largest number of profiled grandchildren: WikiTree Tops - Profiles.

His circles were first sampled 5 January 2021, when he was at a mean distance of 19.19 from all other connected profiles. 8 March 2021 his mean distance was 19.09. In November 2022 it is down to 18.19.

Hunsaker's profile was created 31 October 2010. He has a sticker for LDS pioneers.

Hunsaker's first circle contains 64 profiles: 2 parents, 6 siblings, 5 wives and 51 children. His second circle contains 424 profiles and has not changed between the two samples. One profile has been added to his third circle, which has grown from 491 to 492.

Abraham Hunsaker has 482 profiled descendants down to the sixth generation (births 1833 to 1946). He has 3968 profiled ancestors, back to generation 12 in 1485.

• WikiTree+ Descendant summary (click the blue button)
• WikiTree+ Ancestor summary (click the blue button)
• Hunsaker in the comparison spreadsheet

Elizabeth Tilley and her children

Mayflower passenger Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland (bef.1607-1687) was one of the featured profiles in the Connection Finder when the First Thanksgiving was honoured in November 2020. Her mean distance to all connected profiles at that time was 17.96 - so she does not beat Samuel Lothrop or Brigham Young, but is still worth mentioning. Actually her daughter, Elizabeth (Howland) Dickinson (abt.1631-aft.1691) has a mean distance of 17.80, slightly better than her mother.

Ended up looking at all the children of Elizabeth Tilley - it turned out that all ten children had shorter mean distances to the Global Tree than their mother, who was at 17.91 on March 14. Daughter Desire (Howland) Gorham (abt.1624-abt.1683) had the shortest mean distance at 17.58.

• Spreadsheet for Elizabeth Tilley and her children
• Elizabeth and her children are all 10C1M profiles