Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Declaration of Independence [closed]

+12 votes
671 views

Independence Day in the USA is right around the corner, so we're featuring signers of the Declaration of Independence in the Connection Finder, beginning with John Hancock.

We're looking for profiles of other signers to feature.

Here are a few of the people we're considering:

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections. Every missing relative you add will make our connections to them closer.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile?

All profiles we feature need a good biography and a connection to the big tree. We also want each one to have an image, and the image needs to have proper source attribution explaining why it's in the public domain or why we have the right to display it.

We can't feature everyone mentioned (we only have room for eleven per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

To help us plan future themes, see the 2021 Example Profile Plans post here.

WikiTree profile: John Hancock
closed with the note: Feature has run: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1261166/which-signer-declaration-independence-closely-connected
in The Tree House by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (745k points)
closed by Abby Glann

9 Answers

+8 votes
John Witherspoon (Witherspoon-160), ancestor of current well-known actress Reese Witherspoon, President of Princeton University
by Jonathan Crawford G2G6 Pilot (282k points)
Uh, side note, William Floyd (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Floyd-939) is marked as an active member? Perhaps the reanimation of signers of the declaration was a step too far?
@Jonathan: That is very strange. Somehow the profile has become united with the profile of a member who joined in 2013 and last edited in 2014.
It'll take a few steps, but I should be able to fix it.
The account closed like it should; it shouldn't be showing as active at this point, but it is. I think only creating a new profile for him would fix the issue at this point, and I'll leave that up to the project to attempt if they like.
+8 votes
As a clever play on words, Timothy Matlack, while not one of the "signers" of the Constitution, apparently was the "pen" that wrote the Constitution. So maybe he didn't "sign his name", but he certainly signed just about everything else on the page.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Matlack-16

Probably just subtle enough that he doesn't qualify, but I thought that was one of the more interesting things I saw on the Declaration history page.
by Scott Fulkerson G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)

The Declaration and the Constitution are different documents. wink

Wasn't paying attention - he penned the Declaration.
+7 votes
I would like to see the entire list of Declaration signers in the connection. I mean, since I am closely related to the 2nd signer of the Declaration Bartlett. lol!
by Dawn Walker G2G6 (6.4k points)
+6 votes

Thomas McKean - somewhat controversial in that he called into question exactly when the Declaration was signed, pointing out (in 1796) that some had not even been elected back in August 1776 when the signing took place.  (He was one who, despite being present for the voting and approval, did not sign until January 1777).  But ya need those who don't hear the same drummer.

by Melanie Paul G2G6 Pilot (425k points)
+11 votes
In the Netherlands we have our own declaration of independence : Het Plakkat van Verlatinghe" It has been the inspiration for the american one. We declared that the spanish king didn't act as our king because he didn't protect his subjects so we - the dutch - abandoned him and went to look for a new king, (which wasn't found so we became a republic.)

I want to propose one of the writers or signers for the connection finder ..... but our challenge is to find someone who has a tree already, or a good start, doable in a week.

Date of the Plakkat: 26 july 1581

I will keep you informed about the progress
by Eef van Hout G2G6 Pilot (191k points)
It couldn't be done in a week time. We have to look for someone with experience in the aristocratic world to do this job... his only daughter married one according to an online tree.
+8 votes
The profiles of the Lee brothers (Lee-535 and Lee-1424) look to be in decent shape, the former moreso than the latter. I'd like to see them included for a bunch of reasons, including that they were the only pair of brothers to sign. Pictures of both exist, although Francis (father of war hero "Lightfoot Harry" Lee) currently has a gravestone image as his profile picture.
by Anne Guglik G2G6 Mach 4 (43.5k points)
+8 votes

We could feature Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last-surviving signatory and the only one of Roman Catholic background.  He is connected and has a suitable image.  He has a biography but it could use some cleanup before being featured.

by Greg Lavoie G2G6 Pilot (374k points)
+5 votes
I am related to Thomas McKean of  Pennsylvania who was a governor of , signer of the Declaration of Independence. McKean county was named after the family.
by Pamela Ryan G2G1 (1.8k points)

I'm guessing you mean this Thomas McKean? Are you nominating him as a possible for next week's support profiles?

Yes, Thomas' father William and my 7th or 8th great grandfather were brothers. They both moved to Pennsylvania from Londonderry New Hampshire which they settled.
+5 votes
It has been 7 years since Roger Sherman was featured as one of the first connection targets -- and the only person to sign all four of the founding documents of the United States. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/90400/just-steps-from-roger-sherman-only-signer-founding-documents

Is it time to include him again?
by Ellen Smith G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)

Related questions

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...