2021 Mighty Maple Leaves Source-A-Thon Chat

Question

Come join the Mighty Maple Leaves for the 2021 Source-A-Thon!

The marathon starts Friday, October 1 at 8 AM (ET) and ends Monday, October 4, 8 AM (ET).

Check out the Source-A-Thon Help page to see how it all works.

Please post your questions here or let us know what or where you will be working... there are lots of unsourced profiles to go around!

Remember you can also join the Live chat on Discord!

Most of all, have fun as we work together to make the one tree better!

Answer 1

Hey Team,

I call dibs on Québec unsourced profiles 1700-1799, starting at the bottom of the list making my way up. 

Comments

Awesome!! Thanks Andrea!

Answer 2

I was planning on concentrating on Saskatchewan, but this morning I found several families of Silverthorn's (distant cousins) that were not sourced and didn't have unsourced stickers. I'll probably manage to get to them all and then go back to Sask.

Comments

Sounds good David, thanks!

Answer 3

Hi there.  This will be my first Sourceathon.  Most of my family are in Ontario.   Where do I look for unsourced profiles?

Comments

You can find profiles that have been categorized to Canada, Unsourced here. Some profiles have also been categorized to specific provinces.

If you want a more specific list of unsourced profiles, you can use WikiTree+. For example, do a search that includes the text "BirthLocation=Ottawa unsourced".

But these are all profiles that have specifically been marked as unsourced. There are still many profiles that are not sourced that have not yet been marked. You can use the Bio Check app to help you find profiles that are probably unsourced. Select WikiTree+ search results from the drop down menu, type something to search with (like "Ontario" or a surname you're familiar with), and choose Unsourced and Maybe Unsourced in the second drop down menu.

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Thanks Valerie

There looks like there are lots of unsourced for Ontario, so I will take a stab at those.

Answer 4

Hello Teammates!

My plan is to focus on Québec profiles, but I haven't quite decided where I'm going to start.  I'll stick within the 1800's though.

Answer 5

I will start Saturday but will do as much as I can, probably in Ontario but who knows where that will lead lol.

Answer 6

I will focus on Ontario, from the beginning 1780s to late 1800s, as that is where I have the most experience.

Answer 7

Ontario 1800’s is my sweet spot, but l might work in Nova Scotia, Manitoba or Northwest Territories where I’ve done some previous research.

Comments

Hey just to let you know- I started a document for all of Manitoba - there are 73 profiles and I’m hitting them all :)

Answer 8

I’ll concentrate on the Atlantic Provinces, but could be all over the place.

Answer 9

Hi team, I plan on focusing on British Columbia, then Quebec, and some New Brunswick. Hope we can make a good size dent in the unsourced profiles!

Comments

Hi Valerie,

I just started to come across ones you have already done. Are you working from a specific list or using Wikitree+?

Let me know. I will switch to a different list for now.

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Hi Peggy, I've created my own list with samples from WikiTree+. Some are already marked as unsourced and some aren't. I can send you a copy if you like, there are 285 profiles. I did the ones with exact dates of death from 1950s and now I'm working on profiles without an exact date of death or no date.

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No problem, Valerie. I am sure I will find plenty to work on. Thanks for helping with the BC Unsourced!

Answer 10

I will focus on BC profiles as usual, but it may take me all over.  I will to keep my wandering to NB, PEI and MB. 

Answer 11

Hi Team.  I have most experience in New Brunswick but I'll probably venture on to look at Nova Scotia and British Columbia as well.  Perhaps I'll get familiar with sources in a new province.  Those just have the easiest to follow archives sites.

Happy Hunting

Answer 12

Hey there, I will go ahead and do Manitoba- there are 73 u sourced profiles- I have already started a document researching them all. My goal is to complete them all.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 13

I’m planning on doing Quebec profiles as well. Specifically all unsourced profiles with the name Vachon and last names that start with V. Just clearing out V names that I’m able.

Answer 14

Hello All.  I see Manitoba and Saskatchewan are well represented.  I will see what I can do for Alberta.  About 63 profiles there to source.

Answer 15

This is my first challenge.  I'm kind of lost.    I looked at the other answers here and it seems that people are handling Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. There are 170895 unsourced profiles in the Suggestion Report for Canada.   How do I know if a profile in this list is already been selected by someone else?  Do I check click on a profile and ignore the ones that mention Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario?

Comments

Don't worry if someone else is working on the same province. You can co-ordinate with the other person by deciding to start at the top or bottom of a list, for example.

There are lists by province, if you want to focus on one province. Here is the one for Ontario:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Ontario%2C_Unsourced_Profiles

There are a number of lists there so you can just let people know which one you are working on.

That said you may run into someone anyway. It happens. If you click on the edit button, you will be telling others you are working on that profiles.

Hope that makes sense. Thanks for joining in!

Answer 16

I'm not exactly going to be posting big numbers during this Source-A-Thon.  I just spent 45 minutes doing one profile for one person.  I cannot ever update a profile without being very detailed and thorough.  I do feel it's about quality over quantity, somehow, however, so some of these challenges where we compete on the numbers may defeat the purpose sometimes.

At any rate - I am now at 1 LOL :)

By the way, my 1 profle is John Wellington Ackerson - WikiTree Profile

Comments

I hear ya. If there’s more than one source, I just can’t leave it unattached.

Answer 17

Just starting my day on the west coast. Will begin in BC and proceed from there.

Go team!

Comments

I created this page a few months ago. While still a work in progress, it is there if you need help creating citations.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Canada_Project_Source_Citations

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Just in case it is helpful: I have started at the bottom of this category: Location: British Columbia, Category:Unsourced Profiles (74).

On this page: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:British_Columbia%2C_Unsourced_Profiles

Never mind, moving to a new list as I have run into ones already done by Valerie. 

Answer 18

Greetings Team!
I'm focusing on early Ontario (think Upper Canada and Canada West) unsourced profiles, but may cover a few Quebec profiles if I come across family surnames.

Answer 19

Hey guys!

For anyone familiar with Ontario pre-1867..

As a thought for future sourcing, would it at all be helpful to have a category for profiles that need work in Canada West and/or Upper Canada?? For example, Category: Canada West, Unsourced?

Or are you finding them alright in the current categories?

Thoughts?

Thanks!!

Comments

Christine it would be useful.

I'm working on early Ontario, and look at the dates that are hopefully on the profile, to decide who to work on, and then go to BMDs and censuses, 1851, 1861, there are enough sources.

I look for a death or burial record, which provides an approximate birth date from age at death, then go to the census records. There are marriage records for some but not all pre 1840.

Some other sources are parish records that sometimes can be found on historical society websites.

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OK, something to work on in the future then!

Answer 20

Hey Maple Leaves!  How do you handle one that only gives a first name and a death date in Ontario?  No there clues!

Comments

No other relatives of any sort.  A place of death maybe? That would be very difficult.

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Add the Category: Ontario, Needs Death Record... and move on!

LOL. We can leave profiles like that to another time, there are so many others to work on!!