User talk:Beth/Archive 2009-10

Watchers

Topics


Duplicate Review Project [2 September 2009]

I am a volunteer administrator with WeRelate and I am working on the Duplicate Review Project. WeRelate (through volunteers and people working on their own information) seeks to eliminate duplicate Person and Family pages, resulting in one page for each unique person and one page for each unique family. This is a key goal of WeRelate. We are merging duplicate person and family pages. If you receive an email that I have merged one of your pages; it does not mean that we are related. The project is here Duplicate review.--Beth 22:25, 28 August 2009 (EDT)


I deleted my tree last week, how are you still merging pages. This means that WeRelate has kept the info, it should have all been deleted. I cannot believe that Allen Co. Public library is a part of stealing information.--SharC 16:38, 31 August 2009 (EDT)


I am sure Beth is getting tired of responding to all the queries about changes resulting from her marging activity, when all she is doing is trying to clean up WeRelate before its goes into production, as a volunteer working on behalf of the WeRelate community. I don't speak for Beth, but having spent some time doing merging I think I can point out a few things:

  1. The duplicate pages have no doubt shown up on your own duplicates list, and since they were not cleaned up after a long time, the only assumption that could be made was that they had been abandoned, or you did not feel comfortable doing this process yourself.
  2. Pages only get deleted when you are the only person watching it. If somebody else is watching it, the page will remain.
  3. The pages become community property. I am no lawyer, and cannot provide a legal explanation of the license, but roughly I believe you retain the right to republish your material as yours, but once on WeRelate, others may change it and use it, even on other websites, as long as all suitable rules and acknowledgments are honored. There is no stealing of information going on. You contributed it, and your contribution is faithfully recorded in the history logs, even if somebody else comes along and makes changes.
  4. You are writing these messages as SharC, but searching for any people with the name Geiger, I find them belonging to a user SharCraig. Is this also you? If so, they may explain why some pages didn't get deleted? --Jrich 17:10, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Jrich is correct that pages watched by other users will not be deleted. However; if you are in fact Sharon with a second user name User:SharCraig; I don't find any record that your trees were deleted. What procedure did you follow? To delete your trees go to My Relate; select trees; and then delete for each tree. --Beth 17:33, 31 August 2009 (EDT)


I only registered once for this site, I do not know what is going on with that, there were no duplicates listed under the pages I was lookin at. I have now deleted the tree under SharCraig, I cannot fine away to cancel or get away from this site, or I would.--SharCraig 16:16, 2 September 2009 (EDT)


Select My Relate on the Blue Menu and Preferences. Remove your email address and select to not receive email notices. I may be able to delete your user pages. Do you wish me to delete those pages? Best wishes in your ancestor searches. --Beth 17:55, 2 September 2009 (EDT)


Yes please delete any user pages remaining--SharC 18:34, 2 September 2009 (EDT)

I deleted your user pages. --Beth 18:39, 2 September 2009 (EDT)

Confusing and unfriendly website [28 August 2009]


This is the most confusing and unfriendly family tree website I've ever encountered!! I think I'm going to give up!! You have all my uncles and aunts as still living even after I've entered their death dates!! Beth, are you related to me or are you just someone who edits these pages?--Scrapscot 10:35, 7 June 2009 (EDT) Replied on Scrapscot's user page. --Beth 18:27, 27 June 2009 (EDT)


I agree that this website is VERY confusing and unfriendly. I was excited that there would be cooperation on a family tree from out in cyber-land, but the process is arduous enough doing the research without the website wrestling match.

Beth are you a relative of mine? If so reply to me and I will give you an e-mail. We can collaborate on the tree in a sane manner.--BaltNVC 15:09, 10 August 2009 (EDT)

Moved message to user's talk page.--Beth 17:40, 13 August 2009 (EDT)


You made changes to my Geiger family, are we related or are you just messing around. I have research all my branches and don't appreciate new stuff showing up without consultation, please stop messing with my tree.--SharC 15:13, 25 August 2009 (EDT)

Responding on user's talk page. --Beth 15:30, 25 August 2009 (EDT)


Bold textYou have continued changing my submission without any consultation with me. I tried to merge my own stuff and it said nothing to merge, so you are merging others work that I have not studied or checked with mine. Therefore, I have deleted my tree from the site and will be leaving the site. You don t mess with work done over years because you enjoying merging things.--SharC 14:31, 28 August 2009 (EDT)

Hi SharC, I am also a volunteer admin. I'm not sure you understand what a wiki is all about. This is a public collaboration site. It is not like rootsweb where you post your stuff and go away. No one owns the pages. When a page is posted on this site, it is an invitation for others to collaborate and add what they have, discuss what they know and share information about common ancestors. Most of us keep our own desk top pedigree manager with our research. If your opinion differs from that of your cousins, it is easy to add an alternate opinion and site your sources. We often find that there are several people instead of the one, i.e. there are six Lewis Green Caddells buried in the same cemetery. All are contemporaries. Only one is my great, great grandfather. Getting information that doesn't conform to my own is helpful in sorting them out. So, if you want to find and collaborate with other people researching common ancestors this is a good place to be. If you want to just post what you have for the benefit of others, rootsweb provides a good platform :) --sq 17:02, 28 August 2009 (EDT)

Excessive categories? [8 June 2009]

I can't figure out what you are trying to do with your "Sourced by Ancestry One World Tree" category. It seems like Categories gone wild to me.

First, the citations I saw that you removed contained identification of what tree they referred to so theoretically an interested person (not me) could use the information you removed to find the cited source and review it on their own.

Second, the citations weren't the only sources, but assigning the category means some page is now listed as if it is wholly based on One World Tree.

Third, this is a task that should be automated if it is going to be done. Assuming this is a way to flag pages for future cleanup, it is too large for one or even a group of people to do. It will be done unevenly, and possibly unfairly. Look how many duplicates remain. Let's finish that task before we start (and eventually abandon) some other crusade.

Fourth leaving a note in the history section that you "moved source 1 to category" is cryptic, doesn't explain what/why you are doing and litters the page.

Why use a category? Why not a create a umbrella source? Wouldn't that accomplish the same thing. You could find all the pages using the "What links here"?

--Jrich 09:05, 8 June 2009 (EDT)

You are correct about this not being consistent. I will remove the category and the source; that is consistent with editng of duplicate pages. See Help: Merging pages How to Merge. It says: Do not keep MySources that reference gedcom, .ftw, etc. files.

Link to Training Video? [9 June 2009]

Beth, I think it was you who posted a link to an online training video from a national genealogy society. I got distracted and lost it, and cannot now find it. I searched through your history, but still couldn't find it. I'll keep looking for it, but if you get this (and it was you who posted it), could you please point me in the right direction? I'd like to view the video. Thanks! -- jillaine 12:58, 9 June 2009 (EDT)


Found it! [1]--jillaine 13:03, 9 June 2009 (EDT)


Hi Jillaine, glad you found it. I posted the link on the Watercooler. Sounds fairly easy but it is not. Tried recruiting a family for a client report and went to Montgomery and did the research and it was not a brickwall. Not enough sources to create a good client report for the portfolio. Anyway I haven't done anything since. Maybe I need to watch the video again to get me started. --Beth 20:31, 9 June 2009 (EDT)


Beth, i found it inspiring and challenging. I feel like I'm 65% of the way there, and that the last 35% is really difficult. Most of the work I've done has been for myself, and most of the work I've done for others is handled with finding a few census records and linking to a database I've made from a town's church records-- like what I think you're saying: not enough variety for what they're seeking. But I want to try to it. Will be a good way to strengthen and solidify (and make more disciplined) my own work if nothing else. Also, I'm thinking that if I were ever to make money doing this kind of work, I should be certified. Of course, in this economy... But it's quite well done, the video. I was hoping to find some of the books in the local library. No such luck. mmm... I have an idea. maybe we could ask each other for some work. I.e., I can't work on my own brick wall, but I could ask YOU to do it for your portfolio. And vice versa: give me something YOU'RE working on that I could use for mine... jillaine 22:07, 9 June 2009 (EDT)

AND, you're interested in colonial New England, right? jillaine 22:08, 9 June 2009 (EDT)

Great idea, but I don't think it will work for us. I know nothing about Colonial New England and researching there. My families are from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia; and brickwalls could possibly be solved but it would probably take at least 2 years of research. For example: would you want to search for a Jesse Redmond Jones born in anywhere North Carolina? I have not had any clients either, but one for a record search and then one that was for free that I searched for an heir of estate; and then they wanted to pay me. I probably will not take clients; I just wish to get my credentials and enjoy the learning experience. I will send you information about a mailing list that will probably be helpful and an interesting example of using historical information in the records to help solve ones genealogical question. Watching the NBA game now. --Beth 22:48, 9 June 2009 (EDT)


Questionable template [27 June 2009]

Beth, I've found a need for your questionable template and have used it. I like it; I can put on it just what is doubtful. It is very visible but doesn't shout at the viewer. I have used it here: Family:George_Jackson and Nancy Strother (1)

But I think it might work just a bit better if it were a tad narrower. As it is now it looks great when the screen is maximized. But when the window is opened in my AOL, it is never maximized at first - and so the template is too wide to show at the top of the page. It falls lower on the page under the advertising where there is more room for its width. I have no idea of how to make any change or I would take care of it without bothering you. What do you think? It doesn't need to be much narrower but a little bit would enable to always show on top of the page. --Janiejac 13:06, 17 June 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, how is your Jackson research coming along? Happy that you found a use for the template. I adjusted the width; let me know if it works for you now.--Beth 11:30, 18 June 2009 (EDT)
That's perfect! Works great and is just what I needed. My Jackson research? In overload right now. We have abt 5 different men awaiting DNA testing. One man's test results indicated that he was my line and the rest are various distant relatives of his. Their earliest ancestors all point to Northern Neck of Virginia but I have no idea how or when any of my Jacksons got to that area. Researching in that area is new to me so I'm beginning to put what we know about these folks on WeRelate in hopes somebody will connect to them somehow. I really need court house research but I'm an online researcher:(

--Janiejac 12:35, 18 June 2009 (EDT)


FYI, when I have cases like this, I simply add a section on the page called:
== Disputed Lineage ==
or some such. I was following examples like this that I'd seen elsewhere on WR. It would be nice if we could all decide on one approach or the other and be consistent in our use of it. Thoughts? jillaine 18:47, 25 June 2009 (EDT)
I think it is unlikely that we can all agree on one approach; but I do think we can consolidate some of the entries. The recent template

{{Sources needed}} and Category:Sources Needed could replace the Category:Date with no source earlier created by Ronni.--Beth 10:39, 26 June 2009 (EDT)

Oops! I think this category was created by User:Ceyockey. --Beth 18:31, 27 June 2009 (EDT)

That said, I just used your template on a page I'm editing. ;-) jillaine 10:07, 26 June 2009 (EDT)

Robert Breckenridge and Mary Doak [20 June 2009]

Hi Beth, I noticed the "no not merge" note for the following couples:

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Robert_Breckenridge_and_Mary_Doak_%283%29

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Robert_Breckenridge_and_Mary_Doak_%281%29

Do you know if these are two different families? Since this is not a primary family of mine, I cannot be positive that the information I've compiled is based upon primary research. I've added an advisory on both marriage pages until someone that has thoroughly researched them can resolve the question.

Sound OK?

Best regards,

Jim:)--Delijim 09:30, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

Thanks Jim, I don't know if they are two different families. The advisory is a great idea. --Beth 09:43, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

Marjorie Murray/Jack Cruickshank changes [27 June 2009]

Thanks Beth for your changes- both correct additions. Are you somehow related to either of them? Marjorie was my paternal aunt and I never knew her or Jack but do have some pictures.--Joana1493 11:19, 20 June 2009 (EDT) Replied on Joana's talk page. --Beth 18:32, 27 June 2009 (EDT)


GEDCOM uploads with no dates [26 June 2009]

Beth, I've been working on the uplines of some of the Jackson DNA participants hoping to find where they connect to my Jackson database. I started a new file and just worked with several Jackson wills, entering all the children and grandchildren named in the wills. These folks are too early to be in any 1850 or later census records. When I finished I looked at what I had and thought "Beth would hate this!" There were very few dates! Over half of them had no dates. I had about 100 people in the chart and do want to put it on WeRelate just to keep a record of the relationships, and I hope that someone eventually knows more about these folks than I do.

So I guess I'm using werelate as a place to park info I've researched and want to keep and/or share with others - not as a polished for publication genealogy. At least it's all sourced to the wills and what other small bits of info I've found. Also because I can't put it on my website without something in the d/o/d area, I've formed the habit of putting 'unknown' just to indicate these folks are deceased. But I couldn't help but remember your frustration over persons with no dates. And thought, yes, sometimes there's a reason for folks with no dates. I'd hate for werelate to not accept them for lack of dates. I have no idea of when these sons and daughters were born or died, but I do know who they are related to! Somebody will want to know sometime and will find them. And I hope to eventually find where they connect to my line.

I hope this isn't considered a mis-use of the site. If I ever know any more about these folks, I'll add it, but for now, until someone knows something more, their person pages are going to look very empty. That's all; just wanted you to know, I was thinking of you tonight. --Janiejac 00:59, 21 June 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, I don't mind no dates if you have a valid reason which you seem to. Now, if some of them show up on the duplicate pages review I will fuss with you. <g> Really, merging duplicate pages is the place where no dates drives me up the wall. I do believe that we have a few gedcoms uploaded with absolutely no dates. Those pages are the ones that I don't understand. --Beth 17:43, 23 June 2009 (EDT)
Image:Delete_button.jpg
Oh thanks Jillaine for the good laugh!! --Janiejac 00:31, 26 June 2009 (EDT)
Hey Jillaine, am allowed to use this button on some of the pages that I am trying to merge??? <g> By the way there is another war going on the APG list, but the APG board has new rules yet to be announced. Thank goodness!--Beth 00:44, 26 June 2009 (EDT)
Beth, this image may not be here for long. I uploaded it without checking permissions (found it via Google Images). (I left a note on the Image's talk page, apologizing-- after the fact-- to Solveig.) So enjoy it while it's here. I'm WAY behind in email (and WeRelate) because a) I was on vacation for 10 days, b) I got a small consulting contract and have actually been WORKING. Catching up now. jillaine 09:58, 26 June 2009 (EDT)

Overlapping GEDCOM [27 June 2009]

Hi Janie, interested in how this works for you. I am overwhelmed by trying to enter data in Legacy and WeRelate and sometimes on my private tree on Ancestry. I began by entering new data on my Coker name study just on WeRelate, but found out that I could not share my information in report mode with other researchers. I recruited a few Coker researchers to WeRelate, but they just dropped their gedcoms off and left. Well one did merge his pages which I am thankful for. Then I attempted to add the new information back to Legacy, but haven't finished that project either. I now enter the information in all of my genealogical endeavors but it is too time consuming. --Beth 21:08, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

I can certainly relate to what you're doing. I'm working with Jack McAnally on a special Project. He created an ancestry.com chart with what little we knew and invited me to be an editor with him. So I use that for searching ancestry's data bases, but I'm also trying to keep it all on my desktop program. We have trouble staying in sync so I suggested WeRelate where we each could input what we were finding. But we still needed ancestry for searching. Then he just couldn't handle a wiki environment so he abandoned that part. Then someone else joined us and sent their GEDCOM. So as we go along, I'm trying to put all the pieces together on WeRelate just hoping I'll be able to download it all in one tree/chart/whatever - something where we all can get the whole picture on our desktops.
Anyway, the upload of my small addition seemed to go well, though it hasn't had administrative approval yet. The wait time between uploading and approval is a bit frustrating because I get my mind on to something else during the wait. My main concern is to go back and double check all the family pages because I'm very uneasy about the sources. I can handle the merging of duplicate persons OK, but I'm uncertain if the various merged sources still remain referring to the correct item. That still is confusing to me, so I'll be checking that after approval is rec'd.
This has become a full-time, non-profit job for me. I doubt if folks without a large chuck of time to put into this will stick with it. But I love the concept and no matter the frustrations, I keep coming back. --Janiejac 23:11, 22 June 2009 (EDT)
Well, I learned it doesn't recognize duplicates as well as I hoped. Perhaps because in the first record of Family:Unknown Strother and Nancy Jackson I didn't have dates and in the new upload their record was updated to be Family:Lewis Strother and Nancy Jackson. So I just happened onto that and merged them. Which also caused other pgs to be merged.
But now I'm still looking for some new persons that I was sure I was uploading and can't find them now. Was I mistaken or did they just get lost somehow? Since this line keeps naming their children after parents, aunts and uncles, it sure gets confusing. There are only abt 10 or 12 of them so I'll input them manually, but it's hard to believe I just didn't upload them! Strange . . . --Janiejac 14:23, 23 June 2009 (EDT)
Just FYI, you can select Contributions from the MyRelate menu to get a list of every page you have contributed to. You can also select Trees from the MyRelate menu and then click View next to the tree that might have the pages you're looking for -- that will give you a searchable list of people in your tree.--Dallan 22:47, 24 June 2009 (EDT)
Janie, did you locate your new people? Did you have good results merging the sources? --Beth 18:35, 27 June 2009 (EDT)

Merge of James Anderson and Felicia Howitt [27 June 2009]

Hi Beth

I am very new to We Relate and have just started putting a few families up on the site. I noticed that you did a merge on this family, but in looking at the comparisons I don't get a clear idea of what the two versions looked like before the merge. I also don't see much change to the information that I had added.

When I was adding the family and the individuals in the family I didn't notice any duplicates that seemed close, but perhaps I missed something.

I assume that you are related to James and Felicia in some way, but I don't see any other links on their pedigree chart, etc. Is this family linked to your family somewhere?

Any insights you can provide would be helpful to me as a newbie. This site looks like it has considerable potential, but I'm trying to start small in order to get used to the mechanics of the site.

Thanks.

Ron--Ronjand 11:07, 25 June 2009 (EDT) Answered on Ron's user talk page. --Beth 18:36, 27 June 2009 (EDT)


APG List [26 June 2009]

OMG, I just "caught up" on the APG list. Would someone PLEASE admin the list? It's horrific that the list admin is not doing anything.

If we could completely screen out Aspergers and "reasonably exhaustive" there's quite an interesting conversation going on about cluster genealogy, but I find it horribly difficult to follow with all that other noise going on.

I wonder what the APG org is going to do. If I could get my hands on that list's admin capability, I'd turn moderation on for a week or more. It would be nice if individual subscribers could be "moderated". Or topics. Anyway. I often think that the people who respond to provocation are almost as bad as the initial provocateur.

For professionals, there's a subset over there acting like five-year-olds. That, or they need to get OUTSIDE for awhile, and get a life or something. Sheesh!

Speaking of, I'm going for a swim.

Later!

-- jillaine 15:35, 26 June 2009 (EDT)

Yes, I totally agree, but my lists are administrated more on the line of Alfred Eller of the Roots Magic list, so I am not very popular. Anyway to follow the Cluster genealogy topic just sort the list by subjects and there you have the entire discussion in order. I am in hopes that eventually WeRelate will help with cluster genealogy studies. That is one of the reasons that I created the category Gone to Texas.--Beth 21:28, 26 June 2009 (EDT)


New Category Reply [4 July 2009]

Hello Beth,

How are you? I hope you are well. I am trying to be helpful in my small way. I have created two new Categories. One is the "Daughters of the American Revolution" which in time will have under this category the Repositories, DC, and the DAR State office/libraries, articles, and the DAR sources. The other Category is part of the Famous idea. The Category is "American Revolutionary War Figures" which I hope everyone would agree to (not set in stone yet) would have the already uploaded WeRelate people who participated in the war, on all sides. The American, British, French, American Indian sides.

What do you think, Ideas? Opinions? Debbie Freeman --DFree 19:27, 27 June 2009 (EDT)

Hi Debbie, I am doing okay. Your categories are great editions. Will your category for the Revolutionary War automatically be updated to include the present Revolutionary veterans on WeRelate? I would like the bot to perform a search and find newly added categories for the month and post them on the home page or a portal. I will ask Dallan about this.

You contribute in a very large way by welcoming new members and answering their questions. --Beth 20:22, 27 June 2009 (EDT)


Stanley [12 July 2009]

New item:L. M. Corfman and Armilla Evaline Stanley had four children:

Dessie Lenora Corfman 12/5/1877 Toledo, Tama, IA - 2/9/1873 Los Angeles Bessie May Corfman 4/27/1881 Toledo, Tama, IA - 1/11/1960 Altadena, Los Angeles, CA Laverne Corfman 1883 Died young, of pneumonia Clifford LaVerne Corfman 7/30/1887 Toledo, Tama, IA - 6/25/1971 Rancho Mirage, Riverside, CA

Don't know how we missed them.

Richard Holmes

Would you elaborate more on the message above? --Beth 08:06, 4 July 2009 (EDT)


Dessie married William Royal Johnson (9/5/1876 - 1922) in Dunlap, IA on 6/26/1902. They had six children:

  Lloyd Lorraine  5/17/1903
  Russell Lowell  8/15/1904
  Vera            1/23/1907
  Virginia Lucille 6/21/1918
  Warren Lewis    8/5/1920
  Lawrence        8/5/1920

Bessie married Clarence Elbert Reedy (10/16/1877 - 2/20/1938 ) in Toledo, IA on 12/25/1900. They had four children:

  Dorothy May     1/21/1906
  Helen Louise    5/1/1908
  Nellie Evelyn   2/22/1911
  Richard Leonard 2/12/1915

Clifford married Mathea Hansen (8/26/1891 - 9/2/1952 ) in Washington, before 1914. They had one son:

  Robert Laverne  8/4/1914 

Beth, does this help?

Richard Holmes

Hi Richard, Thanks but I am not related to this family. I find that I merged Family:Lewis Corfman and Armilla Stanley (1) and Family:Lewis Corfman and Armilla Stanley (2), as a volunteer administrator on the duplicate review project. Checking I see that you have entered the same couple under this also Family:Lewis Corfman and Evalyn Stanley (1) but I believe the children are somewhat different. So I am still not quite clear on how I may help you. You may merge your own pages. Under More on the toolbar select check for duplicates. You will then have a list of all of your duplicates. When you get to the merge screen there are instructions and there is slso a link for more help. If I can be of further assistance just leave me a message here. --Beth 18:44, 5 July 2009 (EDT)


Beth,

I have to confess that I feel like a klutz. I tried to work with the "duplicate" file. After half an hour of false starts, I'm giving up. As I said in my prior messages, Lewis Madison Corfman and Armilla Evaline Stanley had only four children. Given my failures to fix it, I have to stop -- and leave the "We Relate" file inaccurate.

Sorry.

   Osmond--Osmond 01:20, 12 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Richard, you are not a klutz; some of your families are not easy merges. I merged the pages and hopefully did not mess anything up. I also merged some of your other duplicates and will return at some point and merge the others unless you would like to try again on some of your remaining duplicates. You can always do an unmerge if things don't work out quite right. --Beth 01:26, 14 July 2009 (EDT)


new template ?? [30 July 2009]

About the list of templates: My that was quick! Thanks Beth. But that list is sure not where it is instintively found is it??

I was looking for your 'Questionable Information Found' template but after thinking about where I am going to put it, it seems that a template saying 'Conjectured Information on this Page' would be more appropriate. I'm not questioning the info and it wasn't 'found' on the page; I'm deliberately putting conjecture on a page and I will say why it is a logical conjecture. Could you possibly make a template that says something like this? I don't know how to do templates. Or do you think it is acceptable practice to publish logical conjecture on WeRelate? --Janiejac 14:49, 9 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, sure it sounds fine to me. I will make your template. I will just copy the other template and change the text. What color would you like? --Beth 16:25, 9 July 2009 (EDT)--Beth 16:25, 9 July 2009 (EDT)

The grey that is on the questionable template shows well. Unless it needs to be another color, I'll be happy with the grey. It's soft enough and doesn't fight the other colors on the page. I appreciate your doing this!! Thanks so much!

BTW, I hope you're not serious about leaving after the merges. I'd sure miss you! But I think I know the feeling . . . probably for different reasons. My frustrations are all functional. This is just too clumsy. I keep telling myself it's going to get better; but it's slow going. And now I've read somewhere that the economy has forced Dallan to come out of retirement and if that's so, things will improve even slower. But I keep coming back because I love the concept and hope for better things in the future. --Janiejac 18:00, 9 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, okay will make your template in just a minute. I don't know if I am leaving yet, depends on how I feel then. Some of my frustrations are as I mentioned before, having to enter the same data in three different places. I am collaborating with some of my cousins on my Coleman research, but they would never understand this Wiki. Some of my cousins don't even have a genie program. If I leave I will probably go to Heritage, but that is not a Wiki and I really like the Wiki. Heritage has an interactive genie program and you can have a public or private tree. --Beth 18:12, 9 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, template completed. Let me know if it is ok or if you need it modified. --Beth 18:29, 9 July 2009 (EDT)
Conjectured Information on this Page
{{{1}}}


Thanks Beth! That works just fine and looks good. I used it on person:Willis Jackson (5). And I'm too sleepy to remember how to make Willis a link! --Janiejac 01:31, 10 July 2009 (EDT)

I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get over being frustrated on this site! I finally found the list of templates but didn't find your 'doubtful' template on the list. I'm in need of it and have spent way too much time looking for it! It's bad enough to have to put 'doubtful' on my own work but now I have to bother you to ask 'where is it?' And can you do something to get it on the list of templates? 'Conjectured' is there. Oh and BTW, the instructions for creating a template needs some more detail if you want another project.

I think I mentioned somewhere I'd like a page where wiki-challenged folks could leave comments on what is frustrating to them. That idea didn't fly. Maybe I'll have to do that myself if I can figure some way to keep it a helpful page and not just a place to vent. --Janiejac 17:35, 30 July 2009 (EDT)

Janie, sorry you are so frustrated, but you keep coming back for more? <g> Do I have a Doubtful template? I don't remember one. Are you talking about the questionable template; it is on the list of templates under questionable. Looks like Jillaine fixed you a page for ranting. By the way, I created a tips page for myself; I am slowly adding to it so I don't have to go chasing after information everytime I want to do something different. --Beth 18:21, 30 July 2009 (EDT)

Here you go:

Rant--jillaine 18:15, 30 July 2009 (EDT)

Jillaine, this is too funny; bet this article fills up quickly. --Beth 18:21, 30 July 2009 (EDT)
I love it!! Thanks Jillaine. And I see my problem; it's my memory again! What I should have been looking for was questionable; not doubtful! And I have this sneaking suspicion that is the reason for lots of my frustration - I'm just not retaining what I learn and have to go back to look it up again. I can laugh about it but it is troublesome. In spite of that, yes, I keep coming back because I love the wiki concept and you all make it a welcoming place.
Now after all this, I'll go remove this fellow's parents from his page and that removes the questionable aspect. A DNA test just proved he wasn't who I thought he was. :( But as far as I know his descendant line is fine. Thanks for you help and interest.
I'll see what I can do to write a purpose for the Rant page!

Wind Changes [19 July 2009]

Hi Beth. I think the issues you are concerned with (ease of use of this wiki) are being considered extensively on the WeRelate talk:Data entry design discussion page. The goal is, I think, to simplify use of the wiki, particular in the area of data entry. I think a much more streamlined data entry system is in the offing, or at least one that doesn't make you enter things multiple times. I don't think I've seen any of your comments there, so you may not be aware of what's being discussed. Here are some of the highights (probably my personal interpretation of the highlights---Dallan might not agree with all of the following).

1. Eliminate unnecessary input boxes, and make it more clear how they are to be used 2. Make Sources conform (eventually) with something like Source, MySource, and Original Document, so that there's less confusion as to what's what. 3. Eliminate some of the redundancy during data input (ie, type something in only to have to re-enter it on the next page.) 4. Add source identification to parent child/family spouse pages.

Dallan's taking it slowly so that he doesn't implement too many changes all at once, but the overall goal is to have a system that more closely approximates his long term goal of "drop dead simple". I think your participation in this discussion would be very beneficial. Q 19:36, 9 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Bill,

Thanks, I am now watching the page; but I am entering data in my Legacy program, in my private family tree on Ancestry and here on WeRelate. I started out on WeRelate just entering new data on WeRelate. But that was not working, because I could not generate any reports from the data on WeRelate. So then I began to enter the same data in my Legacy file, but that is incomplete and I now do not know what is entered where. So from now on I enter the same data in 3 databases which is a big hassle. --Beth 20:17, 9 July 2009 (EDT)


Beth, my own practice (after having attempted what you just described) is to maintain the bulk of my original work in my own database (I use Reunion on a Mac), and "publish" it here on WeRelate-- using relate more as a repository of the results of my work. When I find something new on one of my lines here at WeRelate, I then add it to my Reunion file manually. (I prefer that level of control.) I then periodically upload an updated GEDCOM to WorldConnect at Rootsweb. FWIW... -- jillaine 10:50, 14 July 2009 (EDT)

Thanks Jillaine; just dreaming of it working like it used to with Family Tree Legends and GenCircles. I could add stuff to my genie program and it was automatically entered on my pages on GenCircles. That is the way it works with MyHeritage now but it is not a Wiki. --Beth 12:06, 14 July 2009 (EDT)


I am thinking if we can fine tune the gedcom export; then possibly I could enter the data on WeRelate and then export my data via gedcom and merge with my file in Legacy. Regarding Ancestry, is there a way to update the Ancestry private tree site without entering the new data manually? If not then that is an Ancestry problem and I may just ignore my tree there. If some other family member would like to enter the data, then I can assign that task to the family member. --Beth 20:23, 19 July 2009 (EDT)


Myrtle Mae Crump [14 July 2009]

I noticed that you made changes to a page for Myrtle Mae Crump (1884-1955. She is my great grandmother and I was wondering if you are related to her somehow. She only had two children so it is not a large family. Also would you have any information on her you would be willing to share. My grandmother was Alice Mae Ashley.

Thanks so much,

Terri Merritt Rehmann--Treh6 22:04, 14 July 2009 (EDT) Moved message to Terri's talk page.


William S. Coker? [15 July 2009]

Beth, since I first saw the info on your Coker project and the apparent emphasis on the southeast U.S., I've been meaning to ask you: Are you familiar with an historian named William S. Coker? He was a faculty member at University of West Florida (I think he's retired now) and has published quite a few books on Gulf Coast history. I worked with him (long distance) as a researcher in the late '70s and early '80s on the Spanish Indian trade in west Florida (and ended up editing the book he did on that). He's also done some work of interest to genealogists -- the Pensacola Spanish censuses, etc -- so you may have come across his stuff. I mention all this because I seem to recall he knew an awful lot about the early history of the Coker family in that region. --Mike (mksmith) 18:22, 15 July 2009 (EDT)


Hi Mike, no I am not familiar with him, but I would like to know him. I have not done much research in Florida. I know that a Daniel Coker settled in Florida and is probably part of the same line but no one has figured out how he ties in with the rest of the group. I started researching Benjamin Coker from South Carolina and found that some of his descendants settled in Florida. Some of my Coker line ended up in the panhandle in Pensacola, but that is like part of Alabama. Thanks for the information about William S. Coker.

I have temporarily abandoned my Coker line to establish my Coleman line. The research is more of backwards approach. Several of my cousins know a great deal but all they have given me are names and dates and copies of documents from Elizabeth Stringfellow. So I began with the names and dates and am now trying to ascertain from my cousins and records how they developed the information. This reverse approach is working out fairly well. My cousins have identified important documents; I just need to get copies from the Archives. I plan to apply for membership in First Families of Alabama through my Coleman line. --Beth 18:48, 15 July 2009 (EDT)


GEDCOM Export Ready [19 July 2009]

The GEDCOM for tree Family of Beth Gay including surnames Canterbury, Carrell, Cloud, Coker, Coleman, Evins, Howard, Jones, Meadows, Morrison, Russell and Womack is ready to download. Click here.


Thanks so much [22 July 2009]

Hi, I really appreciate all your hard work! Thanks so much. We're back now. Could you let me know when you last patrolled the namespaces? Would you like to continue? Please record your time on the volunteer log.

Thanks again, --sq 21:32, 21 July 2009 (EDT) Hi Solveig, Glad you are back. Hope that you had a wonderful time. It has probably been about 5 days ago. Sorry but I had a yard sale last Saturday and this weekend feeding about 40 people from my church. I checked my namespaces after your message and there are a few problem areas with new users and users that are just now participating. I will enter my volunteer time sometimes next week; I haven't even calculated it yet for last month when I was doing the merging. I don't wish to continue with places or images and by the way some of the image descriptions are in Portuguese or some other language and I cannot read them. I will try to do the other namespaces including sources. Check out the sources entered by User:Pbrown12303 and User:FactFinder. I will not have time to advise them until next week. For places there are numerous new places entered by User:Peggytrobinson. I haven't checked those entries. --Beth 22:36, 21 July 2009 (EDT)


I can speak to the issue with User:FactFinder's Sources. I explain the problem in Help_talk:GEDCOM. jillaine 08:38, 22 July 2009 (EDT)

Thanks Beth for VA info [30 July 2009]

Thanks Beth! I've passed on the info from the watercooler to my buddy Jack McAnally User:JackMc and he's just bought the Deedmapper software and maps to Prince William and Stafford Counties in VA. So I also passed on the info about ILL that you offered. So we're hoping to break down some brick walls! Maybe eventually I can get him to work at learning wiki. He took a couple of looks earlier and backed out. --Janiejac 01:01, 22 July 2009 (EDT)

Hi Janie, I don't have Deedmapper. I think it has a pretty steep learning curve also so if Jack can figure it out maybe he can write an easy how to.--Beth 01:11, 22 July 2009 (EDT)

John Catlin and Mary Marshall


Beth, Sometime back, you marked Family:John Catlin and Mary Marshall (1)do not merge with Family:John Catlin and Mary Marshall (4) I see no reason not to, and would like to know your rationale. --Scot 13:08, 30 July 2009 (EDT)


Scot, I don't see a good reason; go ahead and merge the pages. --Beth 13:44, 30 July 2009 (EDT)


Samuel Canterbury [8 August 2009]

Hi Beth, I checked my files and unfortunately, I don't have anything more on Samuel Canterbury. All I have is what I loaded on WeRelate. Sorry I couldn't be of much help.

Best regards,

Jim:)

Samuel Canterbury [7 August 2009] Jim, Do you have any additional information on Person:Samuel Canterbury (2)? My gr. gr. gr. grandfather was a Samuel Canterbury. Page has nothing on it. Just beginning to enter my research. Possibly his family came from Virginia to Tennessee and then to Alabama, actually Madison County when it was part of the Mississippi Territory. Possible relatives were in Bibb County, Alabama, creating page for Zachariah Canterbury, and Samuel moved to Lowndes County Alabama in the 1830's and estate was probated in Lowndes. He died before 1840 so there is no census data for Samuel stating his place of birth or definite age. Possibly born about 1795. --Beth 21:13, 7 August 2009 (EDT)--Delijim 17:04, 8 August 2009 (EDT)


your Canterbury worksheet [13 August 2009]

Beth, I appreciate your confidence in me but it is misplaced. I'll bet you meant to ask Bill the question you left on my talk page - grin! I know . . . it's late tonight. I'd love to be able to do pages similar to some of his (and so I watch his to learn), but templates and tables in wiki are beyond me. Janie--Janiejac 02:13, 13 August 2009 (EDT)


Well Janie, I did not expect you to construct the table or template. Just wanted to know if a template worksheet would be useful or should I not worry about a general template and just continue to add data to my worksheet. But I do remember you constructing some sort of a table. --Beth 21:42, 13 August 2009 (EDT)

Ah yes, I remember the most ambitious table I did was to convert a spreadsheet to a wiki table. It didn't turn out just as it should and Jennifer changed just a couple of things and it was perfect! It was a spread sheet I had made of a list of marriages here: wiki:Jackson in Clark Indiana and I was so pleased with the result that I made note of how it was done: The s/s converter is found by going to help/formatting/tables which sends me to wikipedia which has a spreadsheet converter. So all kinds of s/s info can be done this way! Later when they update wikimedia it may be easier, but for now this works! I think for other type of tables, I just copy someone else's code. Are there any instructions for how to create a template? --Janiejac 00:29, 14 August 2009 (EDT)


Clarke County Georgia [20 August 2009]

Hi Beth, the Clarke County people you noticed are probably part of the Early Augusta County Settlers project, but are probably not my ancestors...

Thanks for the offer, though:)

Best regards,

Jim:)

Clarke Co. Georgia [19 August 2009] Hey, I am in Athens. Do you need any records from the courthouse? I noticed you have some Clarke Co. folks in your data.--Beth 10:58, 19 August 2009 (EDT)--Delijim 09:30, 20 August 2009 (EDT)


Incorrect merge [23 August 2009]

Beth, please be careful with merges. You merged William Elliott (b. 1721) with his father, William Elliott (b. 1699), and had them both born in 1699.??

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Special:ReviewMerge/39775

Also, you added an extra (incorrect) wife to James Elliott, which I have since since taken him off:

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:James_Elliot_%289%29

Thanks,

Jim:)--Delijim 10:10, 23 August 2009 (EDT)

I am as careful as one can be when one knows nothing about these families. I merged them because they were both married to a Jane Clark. Both Jane Clark's have the same birth date and death date. So did the son marry his mother or did the father marry his daughter-in-law? Are you sure that an alternate birth date of 1721 was not shown in the merge? I am misunderstanding something. Anyway I figured if it was wrong you would let me know. You can just undo the merge and say they are not a match. Not really a big deal. --Beth 10:20, 23 August 2009 (EDT)

Actually the alternate birthdate of 1721 occurred after the merge with his son......

Anyway, I've fixed it, but with birthdates 22 years apart, you might want to not merge files unless you're somewhat confident that it is the same person..... (especially if you're not familiar with the family:).

Just my $.02

Thanks and best regards,

Jim:)--Delijim 15:07, 23 August 2009 (EDT)


Thanks for changes [23 August 2009]

Hi Beth, Thanks for the changes to the Egerton-Warburton pages. What a wealth of info you have added! I am not all that familiar with the process on this rather cumbersome website, having only joined recently. Can you tell me if the changes/additions you have made are now permanent, or do I have to do something to make them so?

The Egerton-Warburtons have a privately published history of the family of which I have a copy. Where are you in the world? I am in Brisbane, Australia. I am related to the Egerton-Warburtons through Celia Egerton-Warburton, nee Robinson, b1917 d2009, who was my mother's sister.

I look forward to hearing from you, maybe we can pursue a dialogue, as they say?

Regards, Richard Allberry (b1940!)--Allberry 20:00, 23 August 2009 (EDT)


Hi Richard, happy that WeRelate helped you. The changes are permanent unless someone else disagrees, but if they do you would be notified. Sorry but I am not a member of this family. I am a volunteer administrator on WeRelate and I merged duplicate pages. Do your pages now show anyone else watching the pages? If not I know that User:Samwilson's pages were also part of the merge so try and contact him. I am in Auburn, Alabama in the United States; small world isn't it. WeRelate is still in Beta and we welcome any suggestions for improvement. Thanks so much. Great to hear from you. If you have more questions send me another message. Warmest regards, --Beth 20:32, 23 August 2009 (EDT)

Moving question and response to Alsberry's page. He is not watching my page.


Abner Galliher and Melvina [26 August 2009]

Melvina Nunn aka Malverna/ Lavina

other possible children

Margaret Schafer died Harrietsville, Noble County, Ohio 22 Oct, 1932 age 63 years, 6 months, 25 days

Jerry Gallagher died Bellaire, Belmont, Ohio, 21 Nov., 1918. Birth 03 Jan.,1865--Kenneygen 23:24, 24 August 2009 (EDT)


Kennygen, I am not related to your family. I am a volunteer adminstrator and merging pages in the Duplicate Review project. --Beth 15:27, 25 August 2009 (EDT)


Who, if I may ask, has a duplicate page pertaining to this file? There is no indication of anyone else watching the page or showing intrest.--Kenneygen 14:22, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

The user name should be on the person or family page under watching page, if the pages merged weren't your own pages. If no one else is watching your pages; give me the names of the pages that I merged and will look it up for. --Beth 17:57, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

Greenich side of my family [25 August 2009]

--Svmanana 13:49, 25 August 2009 (EDT)


Greenich side of my family [25 August 2009]

Hi Beth, I am curious how the Greenicch's fit into your tree? I'd like to trace both of the Greenich and Breymaier familes and siblings back further. Chuck--Svmanana 13:54, 25 August 2009 (EDT)


Chuck, I am not related to your Greenich family. I am not related to your family. I am a volunteer adminstrator and merging pages in the Duplicate Review project.--Beth 15:28, 25 August 2009 (EDT)


Fixing link to deleted source page [26 August 2009]

Posted this on Bill Wright's talk page but noticed you aren't watching it.

Respecting your role as volunteer administrator, but still don't understand what is being done here: There appear to be two pages, only differentiated by having different FHL numbers. Only one has a link to to it and somehow that is the one being deleted? Why not just mark the other duplicate as the one to be deleted? I cannot see that Bill Wright changed either source page, and never did anything but link to one, probably picked at random from the list? Just out of curiosity, why is it his responsibility to clean up the link? --Jrich 13:48, 26 August 2009 (EDT)


I did not say it was his responsiblity; I just asked him if he would. I didn't mark the page for speedy delete. I just volunteered to help Judy with the speedy deletes. And then although, I saw it was not recommended on the source renaming talk page; I decided it would be courteous to let people know if they were linked to a page that was scheduled for deletion. You can fix for him; I am busy this afternoon and will not return to my computer until later this evening. --Beth 13:57, 26 August 2009 (EDT)


I am watching his page; must be a bug that my name does not show up. When I select his talk page the option says unwatch, but thank you for letting me know. It is easy to forget to watch page. --Beth 13:59, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

Thanks for fixing the source pages. --Beth 17:58, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

Thanks [26 August 2009]

Thank you for adding to the family tree. All the information I have I used a geneology pamphlet that I received in 1973 during a family reunion. I orginally posted all the information on rootsweb.

Yolanda Collinsgru--Yomomma858 14:28, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

You are welcome Yolanda. I am merging duplicate pages as a volunteer on WeRelate. Check on your pages under watching pages; there should be a name under yours. This user would be the one that is familiar with your family. Send a message to this user and maybe y'all can share information.--Beth 18:01, 26 August 2009 (EDT)

I'm not sure what's going on [30 August 2009]

Hi, Beth, I got a series of emails all telling me you had made changes to one of the people in my tree: "Unknown Unknown" married to Elmer Hartman. Looking at the page, I can't tell precisely what's been done or why. On the other hand, I haven't looked at this site for some time. Could you bring me up to date, please? Are you related to the Hartman family (and thus to me), or are you part of the Admin group trying to clean up an awful mess? Thanks in advance, Richard Aurand Sherer aka reporter57x--Richard 00:10, 27 August 2009 (EDT)

Hi Richard, yes I am volunteer adminstrator merging duplicate pages and I think you just had the pages on here twice. Maybe they are entered twice in your database, not sure. If no one else is watching your page then that is probably the case. If you have any other questions, I will be happy to help. --Beth 01:12, 27 August 2009 (EDT)

Beth: I too have receiver over 200 e-mails stating that you had changed something. Have not seen much of any change in the first 50 or so I looked over. Am I missing something that is too obvious for me to see. And looking at your list of names you are researching I do not see how my Norton list mixes with yours. But it has kept the day from being a total bore.

dan norton--Frozenflea 00:19, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Hi Dan,

I am a volunteer administrator with WeRelate and I am working on the Duplicate Review Project. WeRelate (through volunteers and people working on their own information) seeks to eliminate duplicate Person and Family pages, resulting in one page for each unique person and one page for each unique family. This is a key goal of WeRelate. We are merging duplicate person and family pages. If you receive an email that I have merged one of your pages; it does not mean that we are related. The project is here Duplicate review.

If the page was an exact duplicate you are not likely to notice any changes. Some of the pages may be dupes of your own created when you uploaded your gedcom or entered pages directly on WeRelate and others may be because some other person entered the same people that you did. If so they should also now be watching that page. If you wish to check the changes, you need to go the page and select history. Then you will see an option to review the merge. This page will show you what was actually done. --Beth 00:27, 31 August 2009 (EDT)


your changes.... [31 August 2009]

Hi!

I got this message in my mail-box today:

"Family:Peter Pedersen and X Unknown (1)" has been changed by Beth at 14:24, 30 August 2009. Edit summary: merged with [[Family:Peter Pedersen and X Unknown (2)]] - review/undo

Please explain to me......what's that??

Torill--Toristor 04:01, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Torill, you had 2 family pages. The pages were exactly the same except family page (2) had Peter M. Pedersen and wife X, X with a daughter Anna and family page (1) had Peter M. Pedersen and wife X, X and no children. I combined the 2 pages, so now there is only family page (1) with daughter Anna. If this is not correct then I can undo the merge but you need to edit the pages so that one knows that wife X, X is different than the other wife X, X. --Beth 08:01, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Reddin family data [31 August 2009]

I have Reddin data to exchange at braughtloran@msn.com--Braughtl1 12:59, 31 August 2009 (EDT)


Simmons-Pate [31 August 2009]

Beth,

How do you relate to Simmons-Pate line?--Sargal 16:46, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

I am not related; I am merging pages as a volunteer for the Duplicate Project Review. Hopefully we will complete this project within the next 2 weeks; so after that time if you receive a notification that your pages were edited; that person will likely be interested in your surnames. --Beth 16:55, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Thankless task [31 August 2009]

Dear Beth, I must say you are doing a wonderful job, and I admire the way you are maintaining your 'cool' throughout all the rather angsty messages you get!

People are just so nasty sometimes, for no reason.

However, that said, When WeRelate goes 'live' after the review, are we likely to see any changes to the way the syst6em operates? I have to agree with a number of comments others have made about WeRelate being not very user-friendly, as I find it difficult to navigate around once logged in to my own tree.

BTW, did you notice that I have a Coker in my family tree too? By marriage only, but I could contact Steve Coker for you to see if he has any info about his forebears.

Cheers, And keep up the good work, Ric Allberry--Allberry 19:08, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

Thanks Ric, I don't know of any specific plans for easier navigating but we encourage suggestions. It would be helpful if you could specify the problems that you are experiencing with navigating. Sometimes I use the FTE and many times I don't. You may bookmark pages when using the FTE. Also you can view your recent contributions and easily return to the page you last edited. Is your Coker part of Steve's line? If so I Steve and I communicate from time to time. I am the administrator of the Family Tree DNA site and he has the one on Ancestry. Steve is also the admin. of the Rootsweb Coker mailing list and has Coker sites on Ancestry and Facebook. My cousin was tested and Steve's family and one other are the families that mine matches. But we the three of us are not sure of our common ancestor. Maybe one day. Please feel free to participate in discussions on the Watercooler and elsewhere. This is a community of users and users who are also volunteer administrators. --Beth 19:23, 31 August 2009 (EDT)


You are presently working on my Flannery database. Please save yourself some time and effort. I'm going to delete my GEDCOMs from Werelate. Grandmakr


Merging madness.... [2 September 2009]

It's been good to see someone else splashing around with merges - particularly in the medieval spaces! I have to say I was taken aback by some of the static you've received. I don't know how much more clear it can be that werelate isn't just a personal GEDCOM show-place/dump, but some people seem determined not to get it.

I guess it's a little counter-intuitive, but I decided a while ago that the only way to really preserve and protect "my stuff" was to put it out there for general use and consumption. Even more important - if I could make "my stuff" part of something that is just far too big to be forgotten - then it would be saved by being carried along in that much larger current. Those folks that are "selfish" about "their stuff" and "their tree" etc., are just killing their chances of keeping it safe and alive for the coming generations - saying nothing about letting other people boot-strap their efforts on work already done.

Even my surprisingly controversial wikipedia inclusion work was geared with all this in mind - get lots of people with common famous ancestors to create trees that intersect at the famous ancestor. So I added lots of "famous" ancestors via wikipedia page sourcing - in hopes of creating those intersection points. Maybe it helps - it helped me with medieval merging anyway.

Merging is the best thing that can happen to a person's information/work - but boy, some people so don't get it. --Jrm03063 21:09, 2 September 2009 (EDT)


Well I just wanted to finish the project. I know nothing about medieval research but attempted to follow the same rules for normal folks. I did leave a few that seemed to be so messed up already that you or someone else more familiar with the medieval should try and cleanup. I chose WeRelate for the same reason that you did. My children are not interested in my research so I decided that this was a great place to enter it all. I think it is fantastic that you can enter the actual images of the documents and personal pictures, etc. I hope to save future researchers from having to reinvent the wheel and start from scratch. Many of the pages that I merged were from the same person; there were either duplicates in their own upload or some glitch when the pages were uploaded to WeRelate.

The majority of the pages are not from personal research, but from trees and Family Search. I think one of Dallan's goals on WeRelate is to educate interested family researchers in the methodology of proper research. How many family researchers are actually interested in serious research beyond tree collecting is not known to me. It is unfortunate that we lost some of our users due to the merge; but maybe one day they will realize the value in collaboration and return. Collaborating with such users at this point would probably not be beneficial or enjoyable. --Beth 00:04, 3 September 2009 (EDT)


Ditto. You're a saint, Beth! (Saint Beth!) Not only for your diligence in working through the merges, but for so calmly handling the upsets. I'm hoping that the recent rewrite/reframing on both the home page and the upload gedcom page will attract the sort of folks JRM is referring to and deter those folks who seek to use WR only as a place to "publish" "their" work. jillaine 21:42, 2 September 2009 (EDT)

Hi Jillaine, I am definitely not a saint. Through the grace of God, my attitude etc. has changed over the last 15 years or so. I still have a temper but keep it under control most of the time. In the past week my son and a friend on WeRelate told me that patience is a virtue; so maybe I am not quite there yet. Thanks for your kind comments. --Beth 00:04, 3 September 2009 (EDT)


Merge [3 September 2009]

Hi Beth, Thanks for merging my "Wyer" pages. Just to mention, they didn't come up as matches when I uploaded the GEDCOM - should they have? AndrewRT 04:45, 3 September 2009 (EDT)

You are welcome, Andrew and welcome to WeRelate. I have not experimented with the new gedcom upload, but I would think so. We need to ask Dallan that one. Would you prefer to ask him? If so leave a message on his talk page with the date of your gedcom upload and the user page that was merged. --Beth 07:56, 3 September 2009 (EDT)

There may be other issues at work in this case, but it often happens that an isolated discovery - of a single duplicate page - will lead to a whole string of previously unnoticed duplicates. This can very easily happen when there are uploaded trees without a lot of specifics (DOB/DOD/places), combined with differences in spelling of surnames. --Jrm03063 09:49, 3 September 2009 (EDT)

Family:Thomas Wright and Margaret Butler [3 September 2009]

Beth, I've been noticing that when you add a no merge template, you add 2 of them. In this case the page for Family:Thomas Wright and Margaret Butler (2) seems to be an orphan, not linked to anything but Person:Margaret Butler (33) which goes nowhere. I don't see any reason not to merge these two pages or just delete them either way. --Scot 12:04, 3 September 2009 (EDT)

Hi Scott, I don't know why there are two merge templates. Any way I think you are correct about merging the orphan page, So it is now merged. Thanks. --Beth 12:37, 3 September 2009 (EDT)

Thanks Beth, you have done a great job wiith this. I know how tiresome a task of this sort can be, having spent several months on a place name project. Congrats,--Scot 14:07, 3 September 2009 (EDT)


thank you [5 September 2009]

Hello Beth,

thank you for your feedback on the newbie issue. Everyone has been very nice and helpful. Also, thank you for your nice welcome message. I look forward to contributing to the site. Enjoy your guests : ) Amelia (88buckaroo)--88buckaroo 22:37, 4 September 2009 (EDT)


Coleman [9 September 2009]

Beth, I have a few Coleman's in my tree, ancestors of Grizzell Coleman [[2]] How do I participate, or should I?--Scot 19:20, 8 September 2009 (EDT)


Hi Scot, I guess you are talking about the Coleman Family Exchange. I wish are families were related but evidently not. The Exchange has not taken off at all; maybe I should add it to the projects list. What do you think about its usefulness? Why don't you just add links to your pages or tree on the Coleman Families page? You are welcome to modify the pages as you see fit. One of my cousins was tested in the Coleman DNA project but I haven't set up a table on the DNA page to enter the results. I guess I would first need his permission to post the results here. He matches the Halotype G Group on the project, Kit#DA-10 [3]--Beth 22:29, 8 September 2009 (EDT)


I see my Coleman ancestor, Robert of Gloucester Co. kit#149897, coincidently, I happen to be haplogroup I1, but that comes from my CT Austin's. Group G is certainly unusual for people of British origin, perhaps from Roman slaves? What is the intent of the exchange? Simply to identify Coleman researchers? Actually I am not absolutely certain of my Coleman descent as documentation of which Whitlock married Grizzell is missing.--Scot 11:38, 9 September 2009 (EDT)

Scot, yes G is unusual for British origin and I don't know what can be drawn from that fact. The Coleman Family Exchange was patterned after Gay Family Exchange. I had hoped that others would contribute. I entered a small amount of data but am too busy now on other projects to add additional data. Maybe one day.--Beth 17:20, 9 September 2009 (EDT)

GEDCOM Export Ready [26 September 2009]

The GEDCOM for tree Beth Test Tree is ready to download. Click here.


GEDCOM Export Ready [4 October 2009]

The GEDCOM for tree Beth Test Tree is ready to download. Click here.


McLain Family [12 October 2009]

Beth,

You seem to have an interest in the McLain family. Merrill and Ruby were my grandparents. How do you relate?

Robert--Mclain35 18:13, 11 October 2009 (EDT)

Robert, for some reason there was a duplicate page for your family. I just merged the two pages; I am a volunteer administrator on WeRelate. Best of luck with your research. --Beth 11:13, 12 October 2009 (EDT)

how to export ?? [12 October 2009]

Beth, I see you've been working to test the export function. Is it workable yet? I don't see anything in the help pages on how to do it. I have a small chart I'd like to download as it was created here manually and I don't have it on my desktop. Is it possible yet to do this? --Janiejac 22:41, 12 October 2009 (EDT)

Janie, it works. I just don't like the source output. I create a new tree. Then I go to the page that I wish to export and then select trees on the menu. I then add the page to the tree that I wish to export. Next go to MyRelate>trees and select your tree and export. You should receive an email on your talk page when the export is ready. --Beth 23:29, 14 October 2009 (EDT)



GEDCOM Export Ready [14 October 2009]

The GEDCOM for tree Beth Test Tree is ready to download. Click here.


Jacob Carroll [31 October 2009]

Hi Beth - It's been a long time - we met in Montgomery (my mother, my aunt, you and I) while we were visiting and doing some research in Montogomery and Monroe County about 6-7 years ago. I've lost your email address after getting a bad virus, but wanted to pass something along and maybe get a "second head" on something I've found at the National Archives in DC: There are some unindexed War of 1812 land bounty files that are just now being indexed - they are not part of the regular War of 1812 pension application files. They've indexed through the letter "F" but the information is located on only one computer in the microfilm room. I've found what would appear to be additional Jacob Carroll who married another Margaret Gray. The timelines are about a generation apart for the two sets of "Jacob Carroll & Margaret Gray's".

If you have any interest in this (I know your main focus is unraveling the Cokers), you can reach me at KaBallew@verizon.net.

Blessings, Kathy Ballew--KaBallew 18:05, 31 October 2009 (EDT)


Beth, why do I get emails everytime someone edits your pages? [8 November 2009]

It seems that the only WeRelate email messages I get are when someone edits your pages or makes comments to you about families I am not connected to. BTW, I have never got a message when someone makes any changes to my family pages... maybe there have been none, but there are different people watching the pages than before. It would seem good to get a notice when someone else shows an interest in my family.--JgWEST2008 20:36, 31 October 2009 (EDT)

I don't know. Send me a copy of one of the email messages that you received. I will check with Dallan about new people watching your pages and notifications.--Beth 21:48, 31 October 2009 (EDT)
At the risk of being obvious, its likely that JgWEST2008 either a) edited those pages himself, and so is automatically set to watch for any changes to them, or clicked the "watch this page". Others may have set "watch" on some of his pages, but did not edit them. You don't get notified when someone sets "watch", so his list of folks watching has changed, even though no edits were done. Q 10:58, 7 November 2009 (EST)

I get emails every time someone edits your pages as well.--Patriciaberry38 15:00, 7 November 2009 (EST)


When you get an email about a changed page, click on the link to take you to that page.

Scroll down and look at the "Watching Page" section; if your name is on it, this will explain why you get an alert when a change is made.

If your name is on this page, and you don't remember "watching" it or editing it, go to the upper right corner, and click on "Trees" and see if this page is attached to one of your trees. If there is a checked box next to a treename, then this is another reason you'd be alerted.

If neither your name is listed under "watching page" nor a tree is checked, then something IS wrong, as you should not be getting alerts to changes to such pages.

-- Jillaine 18:05, 7 November 2009 (EST)

The last page I edited was Stewart Kelley. This is a newly created page and I am the only person watching this page. Did either of you receive a notification about this edit? --Beth 18:15, 7 November 2009 (EST)

Hello The watching page appears to be South West Virginia which I am not watching.

I am the only one watching my tree.

Someone helped me with my tree a few months ago. Is that why I get emails but the emails have no connection to my tree.--Patriciaberry38 19:30, 7 November 2009 (EST)


Commissary Sergeant Newton H. Coker, 39th Georgia [8 November 2009]

Beth,

I research the 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment of which Newton H. Coker was the Commissary Sergeant. I came across your name the other day while I was doing some genealogy background research.

I am a descendant of several soldiers in Company D from Dade County. Please check out my web site on the regiment.

Please let me know if you have any questions that I may be able to assist you with.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr. War Between the States Historian M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html


Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army--Gerald.hodge 21:01, 7 November 2009 (EST)


Help Beth in organization [13 January 2010]

First, cleaning up my emails. First is APG-Rootsweb which is now defunct. I started the new year by working on this account for 1 hour per day, but after 2 days realized this was a hopeless task. I have 11177 messages in this folder and 836 are unread. So I went through Craig Scott's and saved the ones of interest to another folder and now am reading my messages and the responses. I will check all of ESM's messages and I am sure there are many more of value but what to do? --Beth 20:27, 12 January 2010 (EST)


Beth, I've been going through Transitional-genealogist looking for good research guide stuff, and posting to research guides and other places as I find them. Does that ease your mind a bit?
I'm also on the new APG public list, but it's not very active since they split it up. And I'm not a member so I don't know what the activity on the members-only list is like.
Jillaine 21:57, 12 January 2010 (EST)
Activity has slowed down on both lists but what drives me crazy is the double posts; most messages are posted on both lists, public and member. Guess I will just have to delete and this is only the tip of the iceberg on my emails. Much other cleanup; next will be the items on my desktop and the items in my unused icons folder. I have not rerouted the new APG list to any folder so they are still in my personal emails. --Beth 22:05, 12 January 2010 (EST)
Do you use email filters? I filter my email so that it automatically goes into specific folders. FOr example, all my Transitional-Genie email (which I receive in digest mode) goes automatically into a folder with that name on it. Then I devote a chunk of time just to reading TG messages. It helps with that sense of overwhelm. Jillaine 22:22, 12 January 2010 (EST)
Yes, Jillaine, I use filters. I just have not changed the filter since the list changed origins. I going to send most of the messages in my folders to the trash. Calculating the time it takes to read the messages and make a decision, say 1 minute, which is probably too low an estimate, then it would take me over 7 -24 hour days to read all of the messages in this one folder. --Beth 10:45, 13 January 2010 (EST)

Just another Benj Jackson [18 January 2010]

Thanks Beth for thinking of me! I printed your msg and will check it out. The scope of my research expands beyond my ability to keep up! I need a 'Family Association' but don't know how to go about putting one together. If/when Dallan does develop the ability to upload GEDCOMs with text notes that keep their formatting, I'll put my main db on here and then perhaps I can twist enough arms to ask for volunteers from various areas to post their Jacksons here. Dallan did move my request for text formatting up on his to-do list, but I still have no idea of when it will happen. But until then, I'm not posting large bits. I don't have the time nor inclination to go back to clean up each page.

But I surely like the community spirit here and feel like we're working together to build something potentially great. --Janiejac 21:53, 18 January 2010 (EST)


Kinzer - Coker family [22 January 2010]

My maiden name was Coker. Kinzer was my previous married name. Steven Kinzer is my son who is now deceased. He & Laura were divocred many years before his death at age 35. Would be interested to chat with you.--Explorer 13:05, 22 January 2010 (EST)


Coker-Kinzer [23 January 2010]

I was born in Mobile 1948. parents are Sgt J.C. Coker & Ouida N. Coker (both deceased). My dad's father was Stephen B. Coker. Dad's mom was Emily Alice Jane Smith.Dad had several siblings but he was the youngest. Henery, Eddie, Sarah aka Jodie, Georgie, Mattie, Lelia & jane. Dad was born in Lowndes county in Aug 1895. He spent time in the Evergreen area. He died in Jan 1969 My brother James J. Coker was born in 1942 & died 3 yrs ago in Feb. My brother's only daughter Heather, died last June at age 32. I am curious ...did you create the account on Coker.. where did you find the info on my son Steve & his ex wife Laura? I am new to WE RELATE so i am not fully aware of how it works.

  RCKM--Explorer 23:55, 22 January 2010 (EST)

[24 January 2010]

Beth-

parents of Stephen B. Coker were John H. Coker 1830-1887 & Eliza Jane Lane 1829-1892. Eliza's parents unknown. parents of John H. Coker were John B. Coker 1795-1887 & Allis Brown 1805-1844. My cousin, Julie (granddaughter of Henry Coker)has researched the Coker side and I believe this info is correct. Regarding living people being listed on We Relate - My name is on there along with my ex's name and that of my oldest son David and his two minor children Alexis & AJ and his ex wife Nicole. ..Laura is also still living. who is the creator of this account and where did they get the info? if you are a member of ancestry.com Julie's Coker family tree along with my sister in law Betty.s tree and be viewed. Betty did extensive research on my mother's side (Northcutt) which allowed me to qualify for the DAR. please anser my question about the creator of the Kinzer Coker account. rckm--Explorer 15:33, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Thanks, I answered your question on your talk page. I don't think that you are watching this page so I will resend my answer on your talk page.--Beth 16:35, 24 January 2010 (EST)
Hey, looks like you are watching this page. User John Coker is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson Coker, son of John B. Coker and Allis Brown. He imported the gedcom on y'alls family. You can leave a message for John on his talk page. --Beth 16:39, 24 January 2010 (EST)
I removed the pages from WeRelate that you mentioned regarding the living. --Beth 16:57, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Coker-Kinzer [24 January 2010]

Beth - Thanks for removing the pages. I appreciate it. RCKM--Explorer 20:26, 24 January 2010 (EST)

You are welcome. Perhaps you have some pictures and or bios of your father and mother that we could add to their pages. It would be wonderful to add personal information to their pages. Thanks. --Beth 20:30, 24 January 2010 (EST)

No Merge Template on Lewis Burwell and Abigail Smith [22 February 2010]

Hi Beth, I noticed that you added a no-merge template to:

http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Lewis_Burwell_and_Abigail_Smith_%281%29

with Lewis Burwell and Abigail Smith (2). I have this family in my files and according to "Virginia Vital Records" and other sources, they are the same family (I have both daughters with these parents):

From "Virginia Vital Records", Indexed by Judith McGhan, pg. 61:

Here lyeth the Body of Honorable Lewis Burwell, Son of Maj. Lewis Burwell & Lucy his wife Of the County of Gloucester who first Married Abigail Smith of ye family of ye Bacons by whom he had four sons and Six Daughters and after her death to Maria the Widow of ye Honorable William Cole by whom he also had two Sons and three Daughters and Departed this Life the 19th Day of December Anno Domini 1710 Leaveing behind him three Sons and Six Daughters.

If it's OK with you, unless you have any objections, I'll remove the no-merge template and merge them when I upload my gedcom on this family.

Best regards,

Jim--Delijim 15:06, 21 February 2010 (EST)

Sure Jim, please remove and merge. Thanks. --Beth 08:09, 22 February 2010 (EST)


Thanks! [18 July 2010]

Hi Beth. Thanks for the nice comment! Best regards, Annette--Aberksan 14:25, 18 July 2010 (EDT)