Week 1 of The WikiTree Challenge was a fabulous success overall!
In a remarkable show of collaboration, WikiTreers added 38 new profiles to AJ Jacobs' branches. 21 were direct ancestors of AJ, and 17 were nuclear relatives of ancestors. Six of the ancestors were completely new to AJ. That means we broke six brick walls!
Additionally, the mother of Rose Jacobowitz was corrected. This is what our Year of Accuracy initiative is all about. We are correcting mistakes and making WikiTree the most accurate collaborative family tree in the world.
A total of 108 points were awarded, and challenge participants made 1,347 contributions. Way to go, team! For more information, see the scoring explanation and the week 1 statistics.
Here are a couple highlights of the week's discoveries:
- On Harry Flug's line, his mother's name was proven to be Ides, not Raizel, and he received new 2nd and 3rd great-grandparents. Hersz Flug leased a grain mill that he ran. His death was discovered by an employee at the mill. Hersz left behind a widow.
- On Gitel "Kate" Herzenstein's line we found out that her brother Morris emigrated first, with her brother David following two years later. They both worked manufacturing shirtwaists and dresses to raise money to bring the rest of the family over.
- Gertrude Kingsbacher's lines had a wealth of discoveries. Many ancestors were added on those branches, including connections that proved relationships to both Thomas Stix (an important American physicist) and Charles Aaron Stix (the founder of the department store Stix, Baer and Fuller).
- Solomon Königsbacher on Gertrude's lines was a prayer leader and Hebrew teacher. He and his wife had six children, and twenty-four grandchildren; fourteen of which migrated to the United States.
- Julius Winklein, also on Gertrude's branches, was born in Germany and married his wife Babette (Bloch) Meyer in Pennsylvania. They later moved to Ohio where they stayed until Julius died at the age of forty-nine, and Babette at the age of ninety.
If you missed the wrap-up LiveCast and want to see AJ's reaction to our endeavors, you can view it at any time on YouTube.
Team Captain: Mindy Silva (Team Virginia)
MVP: Karen Lowe.
