England Orphan Trail Team
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[send private message], I. Speed [send private message], and Julie Laxton [send private message]England Project | Orphan Trail Team
Welcome to the England Project's Orphan Trail!
Project Coordinators: Malc Rowlands & Hilary Gadsby
Team Leaders: Elizabeth Viney | Julie Laxton
Trailblazers: Ian Acworth | Heather Brannon | Ann Sadler | Alan Davis | Nic Donnelly | Oscar Evans | Jo Fitz-Henry | Hilary Gadsby | Jan Hellier |Christol James| Owen Lake | Julie Laxton | Gillian Loake | Tomas Lowe | Liz Macdonald | Elaine Mattsen | Kathy Nava | Rosalie Neve | Alan Radecki | W Robertson | Malc Rowlands | Ian Speed | Stephen Trueblood | Elizabeth Viney | Jeffrey Wall|Roy Walmsley | Joan Whitaker | Steve Whitfield
Contents |
What is the Orphan Trail?
The Orphan Trail (OT) is a team that focuses on improving orphaned profiles of people who lived in England. An "orphaned profile" is a profile that doesn't have a Profile Manager and needs someone to care for it.
All new England Project members begin in the Orphan Trail team. You will be paired with a Trailblazer to show you the ropes, as you learn how to find English sources and edit English profiles.
You can join the England Project and begin the Orphan Trail by posting an answer on our G2G welcome post. Our Membership Coordinator will then contact you and get you started.
What will you learn?
The Orphan Trail focuses on the core skills needed to contribute the England Project's goals – which are to make every English profile the best it can be. You will learn about:
- finding and citing reliable sources
- editing the data fields of profiles according to the England Profile Standards and Wikitree's Style Rules
- giving structure to profiles
You will improve up to 3 orphaned profiles for each stage of the Trail, depending on your skill level and how quickly you learn. After each profile, your Trailblazer will give you feedback on your work before you move on to another profile or progress to the next stage of the Trail.
The Orphan Trail focuses on freely-available research resources, as many people don't have access to subscription services such as Ancestry and FindMyPast.
How long does the Trail take?
The Trail is popular and we sometimes have a waiting list before new members can begin. Once you are offered a place on the Trail, we will expect you to start straight away and to show a commitment to completing it. If you know you won't be able to dedicate yourself to the Trail over the next month or so, please wait until you have more time.
To get the best value from the Orphan Trail we strongly recommend that you use a PC or a laptop to research and to edit Wikitree profiles. In our experience, some people have difficulty noticing important details in images and following instructions when using a cell phone.
Do you need to complete the Trail?
Yes, new project members are asked to complete England Project Orphan Trail One. OT1 covers more recent English profiles and sources for the period 1700-1957.
After you finish OT1, it will be time for you to join a Team. This can be a special interest (Profile Improvers Teams or one of the England Counties Teams perhaps where your family came from, so you will still be able to work on your family at the same time, and it may even help you find more resources.
You might also decide to stay on the Trail and do the Orphan Trail Two (OT2)
OT2 is optional. It covers earlier English sources for the period 1500-1699. There is sometimes a waiting list to begin OT2, so we may ask you to join another project team whilst you are waiting.
If you are not going to be working on pre-1700 profiles, then you are welcome to stop after OT1 and use the skills you have learnt to improve your own family's profiles and in your England Project team. If you find later that you want to continue onto OT2, then talk to one of the Orphan Trail leadership team.
Orphan Trail Part Three (OT3) is an invitation only component for project members applying for certification to work on pre-1500 profiles.
What will your Trailblazer do?
The Orphan Trail is mostly self-directed. You will be paired with a Trailblazer to help you with the tricky bits. Your Trailblazer will give you tips on where to look for sources and feedback on the content and presentation of the profiles you work on.
Our Trailblazers are friendly volunteers who like helping our new project members. They have been through the Trail themselves and are knowledgeable about English research and editing English profiles.
Don't expect your Trailblazer to do your research for you – the Trail is designed to empower you to do your own family history research and to show you how to improve the countless English profiles that need some TLC.
If you and your Trailblazer agree that you need more intensive help with the basics of WikiTree, or you have a disability, help from a Mentor or the Accessibility Angels may be more appropriate
What happens if you don't stay in touch with your Trailblazer or don't complete the Trail?
It's important to stay in regular contact with your Trailblazer.
If your Trailblazer hasn't heard from you for more than 2 weeks, we may email you to let you know your participation in the Trail has been paused and who to contact when you are ready to resume. Please understand that, when you resume, you may need to wait until a new Trailblazer is available,
The Orphan Trail is not open ended. If you do not resume the Trail within 2 months, we will assume you no longer wish to participate in the Trail. If you haven't completed OT1, your name will be removed from the list of England Project members.
Where to find out more?
Follow the links to your current stage of the Trail:
- England Project Orphan Trail One - general overview
- 1838-1957 resources: BMD (birth, marriage, death) vital statistics and censuses; source formatting and biographies
- 1700-1837 resources: Introducing parish registers; continuing with source formatting and biographies. Finishing touches; stickers and categorisation.
- Orphan Trail Part Two - general overview
- 1500-1699 resources continuing with parish registers; other reliable sources such as visitations and probate records; using templates, categories, stickers and named inline citations; the genealogical proof standard.
Orphan Trail Part Three - general overview under review.
England Project | Orphan Trail Team
- Login to request to the join the Trusted List so that you can edit and add images.
- Private Messages: Contact the Profile Managers privately: England Project WikiTree, I. Speed, and Julie Laxton. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
- Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)
- Public Q&A: These will appear above and in the Genealogist-to-Genealogist (G2G) Forum. (Best for anything directed to the wider genealogy community.)
I am interested in pursuing Pre-1500 certification. OT3 is invitation only. How do I express interest in this and get added to a potential invite list?
Congratulations on graduating OT2 and your kind comments on your trailblazers Elaine and Christol, I will send you a private message regarding the pre1500 certification process.
Kind Regards
Malc.
You do not give a timeframe for your Orphan Trail progress. I have nothing but praise for the way it is operated.
I was given a list of suggested orphan profiles to choose from in February and worked on my choice for some time before being contacted by my trailblazer who was most helpful and has responded responded promptly ever since.
I completed the first profile by June, then took on another, which was a direct ancestor of mine, and completed this and the trail by the end of June.
This has allowed me to join a county team within the England Project and continue with a mix of unknown persons and members of my own family. By looking at orphaned profiles with surnames from among my family I have already found a (several times) great-uncle who was new to me and his descendants.
It's much more enjoyable than looking for punctuation and spelling mistakes or following dubious ancestral lines to find connections with Alfred the Great!
Malc.
I tried to do the right thing and join the orphan trail thing ages ago. I have made many requests to no avail. All I got replies from 3rd persons stating the trailblazers were too busy and as volunteers deserve extra respect. When i suggested in that case the process too heavy and maybe Sir Humphrey of yes minster fame might be impressed with a heavy process and perhaps its time to review it to change time available to these volunteers , I got messages from 3rd parties telling me to show respect and to shut up (quite ironic!)!
In the mean time I kept my head down and busily toiling. I have adopted many orphans and added many relatives despite being ignored or lost from the orphan tail process. I Have found many new sources thanks to the learning of the orphan trail online suggestions of reliable sources such as the freereg.co.uk, thank you kindly! The approach I have taken is of a data scientist (my professional background).
Soon I will run out of sources and need add relatives from before the 1500s and will have to start acting like a true genealogist. Since my obvious abandonment here is there any other training processes? I could do the Irish equivalent and concentrate on my wifes family instead.
Malc.
I don't know what searches you've conducted, but I know of a few, if it'll help. Send me an email: [email address removed] and I'll send more hints that may assist.
Do you read Latin or Middle English or know someone who does?
Prof. Janet Costa Costa-1428