Family members listed only under Biography

Question

Lately I've noticed a strategy of listing a spouse and children only in the "Biography" section of a profile, not above under general information. Is this a new thing? A consequence of in-line citation? Or was it just not completed? Example below is my great-aunt.

Comments

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "under general information," but if you are saying what I think you're saying, the only way for them to be listed "under general information" is for a profile to have been created for them. Someone just hasn't gotten around to making those profiles yet.

---

A slightly off topic but important note to make is that living relatives whose own profiles would be marked private should not be identified by name in the bio of the deceased relative. For example , if you have a deceased cousin whose wife and children are still living, you should not list that wife and children by name in your cousin's bio. Instead, simply state something like "He was married and had three children." This is particularly important when the children in question are still minors.

Answer 1

Could be because they are indicated by family trees but do not have sources yet? Could be explained better in the bio, but that would be my guess. Or, someone just has added the info from the existing sources but didnt want to take the time to create the profiles and check for duplicates, etc.

Answer 2

I am gradually working on adding all the descendants of one of my 5th great-grandmothers.  I mostly work on one generation at a time.  If I know the names of the spouse(s) or children I always include them in the bio to make it easier for someone else to connect them or for me to come back later. .  I may not have enough documentation, time, or interest to create profiles for everyone, and especially in families with lots of children I don’t create profiles for children who didn’t have descendants.

Comments

I don't always add profiles for siblings of an ancestor.

Especially if there is no information available except a baptism record.

For example I have 61 Jones ancestors, including 6 William Jones, who all lived in the same area in the same time period. Plus 3 William Jones with a second name.

 It is almost impossible to decide whether the child of William Jones born 1791 is the person who married Anne Unknown or if that person was the child of one of the other 8 William Jones.

I list them in the biography with a birth/baptism date as that is only information I can be sure of.

It is more of a problem if people are trying to do family history from the past to more recent family. It can be done if the family names are somewhat unique, but without a parent's name on for example a marriage record it really doesn't work.

Answer 3

This recent conversation the same question also might have some answers for you:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1631829/to-include-or-not-include-information-in-the-body-of-profile

But the short answer is that they are not linked at the top, because no one has made profiles for them yet, as Nelda said.

Comments

Thanks, this helps a lot. I didn't feel right about adding these to a profile managed by someone else without asking first. In this particular case, they are family members of mine for whom there are sources.

---

I personally always feel comfortable adding and connecting additional family members to profiles other people manage... indeed, you could say that is what Wikitree is all about!

The exception might be if your conclusions about someone's family members apparently contradict what is indicated in the profile - in which case, it's good practice to first reach out to the profile manager and explain what you think and why, using sources. But if looking at the profile you can reasonably conclude you're on the same page, connect away!

---

Thanks, Matthew! Could be that the profile manager hasn't had time to make profiles for the additional family members. Real life does get in the way...in my case, a crazy work schedule and lack of internet connectivity at home. Will take the laptop into town Saturday and try to do some work on these.

---

Sometimes you just have to stop somewhere! If I create a profile for my ancestor's sibling's spouse, I might write the name of their parents in the body of the profile if I know it, but don't create profiles for them. Or else I'll be trying to create infinitely many profiles LOL

---

I agree with Matthew that WikiTree is all about collaboration. You should not feel uncomfortable adding to a profile managed by someone else. Sometimes I will check in with a profile manager if it looks like they have just recently created or have been working on the profile, as I don't want to interfere with a work actively in progress, but your great-aunt's profile was created in 2015. If they haven't updated it by now, I don't think they're going to.