The WikiTree Challenge 2023 Challenge 18

Date: 14 Dec 2023 to 21 Dec 2023
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Surnames/tags: challenges wikitree_challenge

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Contents 1 WikiTree Challenge 18 1.1 Score Sheet 1.2 Starting Profiles 1.3 Needs Work 1.4 Photographs 1.5 FamilySearch Image Look-ups 2 Tell Us What You Found!! 2.1 Locations 2.2 Interesting Finds 2.3 Excellent Profiles 2.4 Military Profiles 2.5 Free Space Pages 3 Media Outreach 3.1 WikiTree Posts: 3.2 Participant Posts: 4 Ancestors 4.1 Brick Walls 4.1.1 Brick Wall Ancestors 5 Zoom Links 6 Resources 6.1 General WT Resources 6.2 Specific Country Resources

WikiTree Challenge 18

Organization: Rhode Island Genealogical Society

Score Sheet

Score sheet

Scores update once an hour.

Connections refresh twice an hour, though the score sheet won't reflect that.

Starting Profiles

1. Christiana (Babcock) Bannister
2. Ephraim Codner
3. Easton Cole
4. Mary (Murphy) Larivee
5. Charles H Short
6. Samuel Slater
7. Walter Williams

Here is a video explaining how to find missing connections: video

Needs Work

While working, the maintenance categories can be added to profiles as needed: Challenge Maintenance Categories. If there are profiles that need extra work or are in countries you're not comfortable in, feel free to list them below.

• this isn’t a Needs Work item, just hints for an ancestor Ephraim Codner provided by Geoff Cardner. See Ephraim Codner b 1683 Rhode Island origins Weatherall-96 20:18, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
• From Ellen Smith: I have created two profiles for Revolutionary War soldiers that would benefit from attention by members who have an interest in documenting Rev War veterans. Their profiles could use stickers, and I think that someone with a Fold3 subscription might be able to find more records of their service. They are : https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Straight-750 and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bennett-41488 -- the grandfathers of Easton Cole's wife.

• Sarah (Whipple) Ballou (1701-1763) has three spouses and 18 children are all mixed up... bad merge???

Photographs

Note: Please check with your captains, Elaine Martzen & Eowyn Langholf, if there are any questions about the images being protected by copyright.

See Help Section first, and you can also check the website's Terms of Service.

FamilySearch Image Look-ups

FamilySearch is only licensed to share some images from their FamilySearch Centers and cannot make them available across the Internet. Post those requests here for someone to visit one of their 5,000 centers or 1,500 affiliate libraries to download the image.

1. New Jersey records indexed on FamilySearch show the marriage in 1698, at Gloucester, New Jersey, of George Wightman and Elizabeth Wood. According to the index record, Elizabeth Wood was the daughter of John Wood and Sarah Wood and George Wightman was the son of George Wightman and Elizabeth Updike. Those are the names of the parents of George Wightman of Kingstown, Rhode Island, and I'm puzzled about why they would have married in New Jersey. I've not found a corresponding record in the usual New Jersey sources. It would be nice to have the record image, and I suspect the film may have been misidentified by FamilySearch, so I'd like to know how this record set is identified in the film itself. The source citation is "New Jersey, County Marriages, 1682-1956," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VW5P-QFM : 23 February 2021), John Wood in entry for George Wightman and Elizabeth Wood, 1698; citing Gloucester, New Jersey, New Jersey State Archives, Trenton; FHL microfilm 850,324.

Tell Us What You Found!!

Locations

List any countries you find here

1. Armenia (Turkish)
2. Azores (Portugal)
3. Belgium
4. England
5. France
6. Germany
7. Ireland
8. Italy
9. Scotland
10. United States
    1. Arkansas
    2. California
    3. Connecticut
    4. Georgia
    5. Illinois
    6. Massachusetts
    7. Missouri
    8. New York
    9. Oregon
    10. Pennsylvania
    11. Rhode Island
    12. Vermont

Interesting Finds

Please be sure to include which of the seven starting individuals your interesting find connects to and don't forget to sign with 4 tildes (~) so we know who submitted the find.

List interesting finds to share with the guest at the end of the week:

• John Huebbers (1887-1958) worked as a bologna maker, baker, and milk route driver. In 1931 he was convicted of selling milk with less milk solids and fat than required. (Thiel-559)(Walter Williams)
• Helena Florence (Guerrier) Brown (1890-19??) was attacked by her landlord with an iron bar in 1922, receiving a cut on her head, because he was mad at her children for being noisy.(Thiel-559)(Walter Williams)
• James Howe (1781-abt.1802) and his two brothers Mark and William died off the coast of Cape Cod in 1802 after their ship wrecked. They were in their early twenties and had sailed on a world voyage. Finch-7411 06:02, 16 December 2023 (UTC)(Samuel Slater)
• Mary Garand and her husband John Murphy liked the name, Mary. They gave the first name Mary to 4 of their daughters; Mary Elizabeth, Mary Ellen, Mary Sarah, and Mary Lena. Some daughters chose their middle name as the preferred name.(Stephens-3929) Stephens-3929 14:45, 16 December 2023 (UTC)(Mary Murphy)
• Capt. John Pratt (1761 - 1836) was in early life a mariner, and then a ship owner and merchant. He established the first line of packets between Boston and New Orleans, (Albasini-30)(Samuel Slater)
• Both of the grandfathers of Easton Cole's wife Roxana (Bennett) Cole served on the American side in the Revolutionary War. The two grandfathers are David Bennett (1745-1833) and Joseph Straight Jr. (abt.1750-). Smith-62120 05:20, 17 December 2023 (UTC)
• Samuel Slater (1768 - 1835) pioneered the American textile industry by introducing machinery that revolutionized textile production in the United States. Drawing on his memory of machinery in his birth country, England, Slater reconstructed the complicated spinning machines when he relocated to the United States, thus playing a key role in launching the American Industrial Revolution. At least two presidents, James Monroe and Andrew Jackson, visited Slater at his home. Jackson, who saw Slater in 1833, said "I understand you have taught us how to spin." Albasini-30 00:00, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
• Hannah (Wilkinson) Slater (1774-1812), Samuel Slater's, wife was an inventor. In 1793 his husband showed Hannah some very smooth yarn he had spun from long staple Surinam cotton. He intended to use it to produce cloth; however, Hannah and her sister used a hand spinning wheel to spin it into thread, and the resulting thread proved to be stronger than linen thread. The same year, Hannah applied to the U.S. Patent Office for a patent for an invention - a new method of producing sewing thread from cotton. The patent was issued in the name of "Mrs Samuel Slater". She was among the first American women to receive a patent. Albasini-30 00:00, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
• Dr. Frederick Brown's brother Clifford was caught embezzling a substantial sum from the bank where he worked, was arrested, and jailed. None of it was Dr. Brown's responsibility; but he nonetheless felt that as a matter of family duty he had to make restitution, and he did, in one blow destroying most of the family money. Albasini-30 23:05, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
• Ruth Slater (1867 - 1944), at the age of forty-five, had an affair with the man who ran the family farm. He threatened to sue for breach of promise, and had to be given a great deal of money to disappear. Ruth, in anguish, turned to drugs, and remained addicted to cocaine for the rest of her life. Albasini-30 23:29, 18 December 2023 (UTC)
• Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908 - 1979), US vice president under Gerald Ford is 6 degrees from Samuel Slater. His second wife, Margaretta Large Fitler, was previously married with James Slater Murphy, great great grandson of Samuel Slater. Albasini-30 09:51, 19 December 2023 (UTC)
• Judge Thomas Durfee (1826 - 1901), Chief Justice of the Rhode Island State Supreme Court published "The Village Picnic and Other Poems" a collection of poems capturing the beauty and charm of rural life in the mid-19th century. Albasini-30 00:27, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

Excellent Profiles

Please be sure to include which of the seven starting individuals your excellent profile finds connects to and don't forget to sign with 4 tildes (~) so we know who submitted the find.

List excellent profiles to share with the guest at the end of the week:

Military Profiles

Please be sure to include which of the seven starting individuals your military person is connected to and don't forget to sign with 4 tildes (~) so we know who submitted it.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

• David Bennett (1745-1833) - Paternal grandfather of Easton Cole's wife Roxana (Bennett) Cole, served as a private in Massachusetts militia. Smith-62120 04:47, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

• Joseph Straight Jr. (abt.1750-) - Maternal grandfather of Easton Cole's wife Roxana (Bennett) Cole, recorded with service in Holden's Rhode Island Regiment. Smith-62120 05:20, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

WAR OF 1812

CIVIL WAR

• Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831-1889) was a first lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of the Massachusetts Militia. He was made a lieutenant colonel in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, known as the "Harvard Unit" due to the number of graduates in this group. He served under William Raymond Lee, and was severely injured at the Battle of Antietam. Following Lee's discharge in December 1862, Palfrey was promoted to Colonel of the unit, a rank he would hold until his own discharge in April 1863 due to lingering health effects. On May 4, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Palfrey for the award of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, to rank from March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the war. [Albasini-30]

• Archibald Gordon, husband of Lydia E. Cole who is a daughter of Easton Cole and Roxanna Bennett. Archibald Gordon was born in 1833 in Connecticut. He was married to Lydia Cole about 1852. When the American Civil War began he was living in Windham, co., Connecticut with his wife and children and was employed as a painter.[1] Archibald enlisted on 19 August 1862 and was a Private in Company I, 18th Regiment Connecticut Infantry. He was discharged with disability on 18 May 1864.[2][3]After the war, he returned to his family in Windham county and resumed working as a painter.[4]In 1878 his wife was able to apply for a pension for his Civil War service to help support her and her fatherless children.[5] Rutz-276 17:36, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

• Lewis Balch (1847-1909) Surgeon of the 37th, 71st, 10th regiments, National Guard, state of New York. Surgeon of the 2nd New York Infantry, U.S.V. during the Spanish-American War, then a surgeon of volunteers in the Phillipine Islands, then superintendent of sanitary improvements at Colon, Panama. Finch-7411 17:44, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

WORLD WAR I

• Joseph Louis Scuncio (1896-1958) was the brother of William Norris Williams' maternal grandmother. He served in Company H of the 314th Infantry, 79th Division during World War I.

• Terry Tuttle (abt.1888-1918) Pvt. Terry Tuttle, 18th Co., 20th Engineers served in World War I. He died in the torpedoing & sinking of the troopship "Tuscania" on 5 February 1918 in the North Channel between Scotland & Ireland by German submarine UB-77. ( In the CC7 of Samuel Slater) Finch-7411 23:02, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

WORLD WAR II

• Harold Hicks Williams Jr (1918-1944) was the father of William Norris Williams. He was awarded the Purple Heart. Excerpt from FindAGrave Memorial: "PFC Harold H. Williams was riding in a 1/4 ton truck with another aid man in a column comprised of element of Task Force 'Beatty' which was ordered to move from an area north of St Vith to an area west of St Vith. The move was made under heavy artillery fire. Pvt Williams left the convoy and during an attempt to pass the road, was hit by enemy fire and was killed." Robinson-27225 15:20, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

• Frankiln Clarence Brown (1907-1992) was the uncle of William Norris Williams' step-mother, Ivy Brown. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the destroyer USS Harry E. Hubbard, which was primarily charged with shooting down Kamikazes off the coast of Okinawa. He later founded Lee-Kapp Post 96, American Legion, Danbury, New Hampshire. Note of interest, the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on his 34th birthday. Randall-8561 08:57, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

• Walter Edward Ramsay (1924-1990) served in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Barnstable during World War II.

• Alexander Leo Ramsay Jr. (1921-2013) served as a Technician 5 in the United States Army during World War II.

VIETNAM WAR

Free Space Pages

List of Free Space Pages created for or linked to members of this family.

• Ephraim Codner b 1683 Rhode Island origins

Media Outreach

Share WikiTree on your social media

WikiTree Posts:

Hashtags: #WTChallenge #CollaborativeGenealogy #YearOfCommunityConnections

Day	Subject	@WikiTree @RIGenealogical Society	@WTChallenge	@WikiTree	@WikiTreers	@WikiTreers
12/12	About to start!	Link	Link	Link	Link	Link-
12/14	Zoom Kick-off	Link	Link	Link	Link	Link
12/16	Zoom Weekend Chat	Link	Link	Link	Link	Link
12/17	Halfway	Link	Link	Link	Link	Link
12/19	Winding down	Link	Link	Link	Link	Link
12/30	Challenge Highlights	Link	Link	Link	Link	video

Participant Posts:

Member	Date	Subject	Facebook	Twitter	Mastodon	Instagram	YouTube
Azure	11/27		Link	/Link	Link	Link

Ancestors

Brick Walls

These links will be added mid-week by Eowyn and the captain. Remember to claim any brick wall bounties in the G2G!

Brick Wall Ancestors

1. Christiana Bannister - Can you find the wife of her stepson, Henry Babcock? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Babcock-3594
2. Ephraim Codner - His son George's wife's name is in the bio. Can you find a child for them? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Codner-157
3. Easton Cole - Can you find a spouse for his daughter Maria? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cole-32614
4. Mary (Murphy) Larivee - Can you find a grandparent for Mary? It sounds like her father's parents may come from England and her mother's parents may come from Canada. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Murphy-28247
5. Charles H. Short - Can you add a parent for Charles' father Hugh? Their first names are given in one of the sources on the profile. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Short-10459
6. Samuel Slater - Samuel's second wife had a first husband, supposedly a Robert Parkinson. Can you find him? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Johnson-144833
7. Walter Williams - Can you find a parent for Walter's father Harold? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Williams-133569

Zoom Links

• Dec 14th Noon EDT/5pm UTC Kickoff - https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/85455060308 
• Dec 14 th 8pm EDT/1am UTC Kickoff - https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/89930738992
• Dec 16th Noon EDT/5pm UTC Weekend Chat - https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/87984593743
• Dec 21st Noon EDT/5pm UTC Wrapup - https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/89512081053
• Dec 21st 8pm EDT/1am UTC Wrapup - https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/86453642282

Resources

Please list any resources that you have. We all gain knowledge from eachother!

General WT Resources

• Editing Tips This page shows basic markup that can be used on WikiTree profiles and Space pages. Please remember not to use tables on Challenge profiles.
• Example Challenge Profiles This is a guideline on how the profiles can look.
• WikiTree Browser Extension This addon is great for a lot of things, but the main help for the Challenge is the "auto-bio" button that it puts on the profiles. This will give you basic narrative you can add to. It is also great for adding stickers and cleaning up GEDCOM clutter. Let your team captain know if you need help learning one of these features!
• The Background Images Category contains pages that you can find a large variety of background images on. Most of them are tiled (repeatable) images.
• WikiTree+ is valuable for so many things! Here are a few of the search features you can use for challenge profiles: (Go to WikiTree+. In the "Search" section, look at the "Text search" box and then "Text:" underneath that. Leave the ProfileList parameter and change the text at the end to search for different things. You can copy the text below and paste it in the text box. Click "Get profiles.") Thank you Aleš!!
  1. Look for Pending merges: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" pendingmerge
  2. Profiles missing the country in a location field: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" UnknownCountry
  3. Not connected to the global tree: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" unconnected
  4. No parents: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" noparents
  5. No spouse: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" nospouses
  6. Notable profiles: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" TemplateFull=Notables_Sticker
  7. Has GEDCOM clutter: ProfileList="WikiTreeChallenge\ActiveChallenge" GEDCOMJunk
• Connection Finder If you're not sure where you are working on the tree, this will show you anyone (connected)'s connection to the starting profiles. Just enter the profile you're working on in the box at the top of the page.

Specific Country Resources

• Rhode Island Source Records
  • Sources-Rhode Island