USBH Weekend Sprint: Help us Write Biographies

Question

Welcome to US Black Heritage Project's weekend sprint!

The weekend is over. Great work everyone!

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Goal: To work together to add basic biographies to profiles in the USBH Needs Biography Category.

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Instructions:

• Answer below that you would like to participate. 
• Write a basic biography for a profile in the Needs Biography category following the instructions below.
• Remove the Needs Biography category.
• Note: Some profiles may not be ready to be in the Needs Biography category because they don't have enough sources. In this case, please replace the Needs Biography category with [[Category: US Black Heritage Project, Needs Sources]]
• Note#2: This category should only be used post-Civil War. If the person was born before 1865, please don't edit the biography, but remove the category.
• Repeat.
• We won't be tracking individual scores, but you can keep track of your own contributions and comment on your post at the end of the weekend just for fun.

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You can use the WBE (WikiTree Browser Extension) Auto Bio feature for this sprint! With the click of a button, it will write the biography for you. Please note the following if you choose to use Auto Bio:

• Auto Bio will write over the existing biography and sometimes any research notes. Please compare the old biography to the new one before deleting the old to make sure nothing was lost.
• You need to choose your preferred settings for Auto Bio in the WBE settings. Scroll to the editing section, find Edit Profile, and choose Auto Bio. Select the items you want to appear when you use the Auto Bio feature. 

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USBH Basic Biography: 

A "basic biography" would include a statement for each of the following facts, if known from available sources:

• Date and location of birth, marriage(s), and death
• Names of parents and spouse(s), preferably with links to their profiles
• Burial location
• Optional: names of siblings and/or children, occupation, locations where they lived for a long period of time

That's it. You don't need to write a lengthy biography (unless you really want to). We want a basic biography so the profile gives enough information for family members to start with.

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Before: 2273 Profiles Needing Biographies

After: 1859 (414 improved!)

Answer 1

I'll be helping this weekend using Auto Bio. I love that it's customizable.

Comments

I'll be doing the same as Emma as I come across profiles that need bios. I will be creating the bio improvements using Auto Bio.

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Thanks, Denise. I know you always do that. I see your great edits everywhere :-)

Answer 2

I’ll try to help out this weekend!

Comments

Thanks, Amy!

Answer 3

I'll be helping out :)

Comments

Thanks, Christy!

Answer 4

I can help!

Comments

Thanks, Stephanie!

Answer 5

I’d like to help.

Comments

Thanks, Katrina!

Answer 6

I'll look to see what I can do.  I will not, however, be using any apps or extensions - I will work the way I normally do, the old fashioned manual way.

Comments

I just finished working on Harriet (Abraham) Jackson, but it would probably be good for someone from the project to review some things I did that may not be the way the project wants to handle them:

• I detached the spouse that was connected.  He was a married white man who fathered Harriet's first child.  I did include that information in the biography, along with a link to his profile.
• I'm not sure the last name of Clay is correct for four of her children.

After adding 5 sources, I removed the Needs Sources and Needs Biography categories and added the Needs Profiles Created category because I came upon enough records for Harriet's siblings, children, and spouse to support added at least some of them.  I noticed that there is no USBH Needs Profiles Created category, though, so I used the one for Texas.

I'm not done - just done for the night - will work on more the next few days.

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Thanks for helping Gaile. Lots of people prefer the old fashioned way. Thanks for doing such great work on Hattie's profile! Descendants will appreciate this amazing profile.

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I like the old-fashioned way too, Gaile! Here's the category you're looking for:

[[Category:US Black Heritage Project, Needs Profiles Created]]

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THANX, Kate.  I added that.

On another topic, I just finished working on Georgia (Adams) Bryant, which drove me to tears - literally - because I feel so bad about leaving her with so many unresolved issues.  I discovered that there was conflation going on - she's married to Aaron Bryant, but had a census record on her profile that had them living in Georgia.  It turned out that is a different Aaron and Georgia Bryant, so I added the deconflation information.  I suppose we should add profiles for the second couple, but I'm too drained to keep going on it - it's very hard to know that sources I find are the right ones.  If someone else could pick up the ball from here and maybe also do some more work on the one I screamed "uncle" on, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I'm going to take a break now and start fresh on another profile later.

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I can take a look at it. I totally get how you feel!!

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It looks like you've got the wrong "wrong" 1900 census on there. It's the same as the right one.

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I don't know how I managed to do that ... see - I told you I was too worked up about this; I guess so much so that I couldn't keep the the different Aaron/Georgia couples straight in all the tabs with different records that I had open.

I just found a 1910 census record for the other couple and changed the profile.  THANX soooooo much, Kate, for taking the baton from me on this one.

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The weekend is over for me now.  I only managed to write biographies for six, but chased down a lot of new sources for most of them.  It was very rewarding to work on these, although being faced with the horrors of what some of them endured was frequently emotionally draining, i.e., one whose son's death certificate says he died at age 29 of a gunshot to his lower back at 4:30 AM on a deserted road, with nothing to be found about what, if anything, was ever done to bring the perpetrator to justice.

I suspect that I created more work than I accomplished - in most cases, when I removed the Needs Biography category, I was also adding the Needs Profiles Created one for all the family members I found named in sources.  I started at the top of the list and the ones I did are:

• Harriet (Abraham) Jackson
• Angeline (Adams) Bostick
• Georgia (Adams) Bryant
• James P Adams
• Lillie Pearl (Adams) Howard
• Sara Neta Lucile (Adams) Mitchell

Edited to Add:  I don't see why I have to stop just because the weekend is over.  I just did another one for Florence Dorothy (Adkins) Charity and will come back every now and then to do another one or two.

Answer 7

I need a break from my other cleanup project!

Comments

Thanks, Kate! It's funny that when we need a break from our work, we go do other work 

Answer 8

I will do some bio clean-up this weekend in between trying to finish profiles for an African-American cemetery that I recently discovered was very nearby.  Making my brain switch between tasks is a good exercise!

Comments

Thanks, Katie!

Answer 9

I'll be helping as I can, in and out a lot this weekend - started fixing up one family tonight and more to go (always).

Comments

Every little bit helps. thanks, Denise!

Answer 10

I would like to participate. I haven't used Auto Bio before--sounds interesting.

Comments

Thanks, Eva. Let me know if you have any questions about autobio. The biggest thing is comparing the before and after before deleting the old one.