Meet our Members: Michael Black

Question

Meet our Members: Michael Black

701 views

Hi everyone!

It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Michael Black.

Michael became a Wiki Genealogist in June 2023. He is a Data Doctor, leads a One Name Study, and participates in our Profile Improvement and Mayflower projects.

When and how did you get interested in genealogy?

Genealogically speaking, I was lucky to be born the son of a teenage mother and a young father, who were themselves born to young parents, who were themselves born to young parents. As a result, I formed strong relationships with all my grandparents well into my college years, I got to know two of my great-grandparents well into my teen years and had a special bond with my great-grandaunt and -uncle (my grandmother’s aunt and uncle) into my college years and high school years, respectively. All four of my grandparents were interested in their family histories and passed on stories to me that were passed on to them, which fascinated me.

We also had many historical objects in our house and in my grandparents’ houses that had been handed down to family members, and there were stories to be told (most of them were mostly true) about each of these objects. When Alex Haley’s "Roots" was broadcast on TV in 1977, I watched every episode live with my family at home. Seeing his skill at weaving historical facts together into compelling stories of peoples’ lives made me want to try to do the same. I’ve been addicted ever since.

What are some of your interests outside of genealogy?

To be honest, my obsession with family history takes up much of my time, so I must work to fit in other interests (and those interests usually end up benefitting my family history pursuits). I like exploring, learning about, and thinking about other places and times; so hiking, wandering, visiting historical places, and traveling are things I like to do as often as possible. I’m lucky to live in a place that has natural areas with walking paths and hiking trails close to my home, so whenever I hit a wall in my research or come upon a new discovery, I take that as an excuse to go on a nice long walk alone with my thoughts. I do some of my best thinking while out walking.

What is your genealogical research focus?

I’ve always got multiple areas of focus going on simultaneously, so if I hit a wall or get weary of tedious tasks I’m doing in whatever area I’m focusing on, I can switch to a different area of focus and it feels like I’m giving myself a treat. Some of my top research areas are:

Pushing back all branches of my family tree. I’d like to get all lines on my tree back to at least 10 generations before I die. It’s an ambitious goal, but I’ve got all lines to at least 6 generations so far, and only two brick-wall ancestors stopping me from pushing all lines to 7 generations. I’m 84% done with 8 generations, 61% done with 9 generations, and 40% done with 10 generations.
Linking my family’s history to historic places, events, and people. This brings history alive for me. Some of the events I’ve linked to so far are World War II, World War I, the US Civil War, the Potato Famine, the War of 1812, the US Revolutionary War, King Philip’s War, the Puritan Great Migration, and the Mayflower. Some of the events I’m currently working on linking to are the settlement of Jamestown and the signing of the Magna Carta.
Preserving the information I’ve gathered. This used to be a nagging concern of mine, but now that I’m using WikiTree to document all that I’ve learned, the preservation aspect is baked into what I do on WikiTree. I no longer have to plan to stop my research at some point and shift all my efforts to publishing my results. It’s a huge weight off of my shoulders.
Preserving the tangible objects, original photos and documents, and other heirlooms I’ve collected. I’m working on cataloging and documenting it all and planning for its preservation—hopefully passing it on to my daughter if she catches the genealogy bug, but having museums and historical societies lined up to accession as much of the material as possible if she does not.
Writing stories to interest others in the lives of my and/or their ancestors. If we don’t pass our passion and/or our information to future genealogists, large chunks of what we’ve worked so hard to learn will either be lost forever or will have to be re-won by future researchers redoing the work we’ve already done. I hope that documenting what I’ve learned and doing so in a compelling way that tells fascinating stories will do both—preserve what I’ve learned and inspire budding new genealogists.

(interview continues in comments)

WikiTree profile: Michael Black

asked Jan 8 in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)
edited Jan 8 by Eowyn Walker

Are you interested in certain surnames or locations?

The surnames that interest me the most are Prettyman and Askew (my maternal grandfather’s and grandmother’s surnames, respectively) and McMurry (my paternal grandmother’s surname). It’s been my goal for years (long before I even knew that One Name Studies existed) to do some sort of grand study of all people with those surnames. Originally, I wanted to record all people in the U.S. with those surnames so that I could trace them all back to their original migrant ancestors (I suspect that there was a single Prettyman migrant ancestor, and two groups of Askew ancestors—one to Minnesota and one that gave rise to the Askews in the southeastern US states). I’ve just launched the Prettyman Name Study and am on my way to finding a more global answer to my original question). I’m saving Askew for when I’m less overcommitted, and the McMurry/McMurray surname is already getting a lot of attention from researchers, so I’m happy to just keep abreast of their work.

As for locations, I like to do deep dives in my research of places where family members spent multiple generations, and as a result, I’ve gotten to feel a special bond with the following places, even if I haven’t yet personally visited them all:

Wadena, Menahga, and Deer Creek, Minnesot
Olympia, Washington
Gosforth, Irton, Santon, and Egremont, England
Schönecken, Germany
Beaufort, Luxembourg

Some areas I’d like to learn more about (and I’ve visited none of these yet):

Sør-Aurdal, Norway
Haarlemmermeer, Wijdewormer, and the Genderen area, Netherlands
Plymouth, Massachusetts
New Trier, Minnesota
Downs, Palco, Jewell, Ionia, and Lebanon, Kansas

Do you have a favorite ancestor?

These days I have many, as I’ve gotten to know more about so many of my ancestors, so I’d be hard-pressed to choose a favorite. But when I was young, two ancestors stood out as being particularly talked about by my grandparents: my 3GGF Col. Joseph Askew (1840-1911) and my adoptive 3GGF Lewis J. Black (1839-1901). I haven’t yet written much for either of their profiles, but that’s on my plan for 2024.

The stories I heard about both were fascinating, but I’m discovering that so much of what I learned about Lewis appears to be apocryphal, whereas Col. Askew’s story has held up and turned out to be even better than what I heard as a child. So, if I had to choose just one ancestor as a sentimental favorite, it would probably be Col. Joseph Askew. Joseph had humble roots in Cumberland, England, and migrated to the United States in 1875 as part of the Furness Colony, which settled outside of Wadena, Minnesota. While in the UK, he had been a miner who worked to build the London Underground and the Paris Métro, and in Minnesota, he hustled and diversified and became a farmer, a sawyer, a hotel proprietor, and a mayor, among many other things. He was a larger-than-life figure who made some bold choices in his life that left a lasting legacy for his descendants.

What is your toughest brick wall currently?

I have three brick walls I’m struggling with now:

Who were the parents of Petri Evertz (1820-abt.1890)?
Who were the parents of William Horan (1844-abt.1882)? I haven’t yet written his profile, but here’s a post I wrote about him: https://blackenedroots.com/blog/william-horans-arrest-records/
Where was Ruth Tucker born and who were her parents? I haven’t yet written her profile, but here’s a post I wrote about her and her mysterious past: https://blackenedroots.com/blog/the-unexpected-life-of-ruth-tucker/ Did she really grow up on a southern plantation and elope with a wounded Yankee soldier, or was she born in Ohio and was just prone to telling romantic stories?

commented Jan 8 by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)
edited Jan 10 by Eowyn Walker

How long have you been on WikiTree?

WikiTree tells me I signed up for an account in January 2016, but I didn’t start actually using WikiTree until June 2023. I had to table an application I was preparing to the Jamestowne Society because my ancestor turned out to be a stepdaughter rather than a daughter of a Qualifying Ancestor. I was looking for other possible family connections to Qualifying Ancestors, and Google kept pointing me to WikiTree. I still haven’t found another viable connection to a Jamestown Qualifying Ancestor, but what I did discover was my first gateway ancestor, Sarah (Birchard) Barnard (1624-1698).

Using the handy family tree view, I quickly fell down a heady rabbit hole, where I discovered numerous well-documented ties to noble and royal families. After an hour or two of such fun, I figured I’d dismiss it all as so much fantasy, so I did some quick lookups to disprove the assertions being made. Much to my surprise, the assertions I tried to disprove held up under initial scrutiny.

I decided I would take a day or two and enter these newly found ancestors in my offline genealogy software and then get back to my normal genealogical work. It might take a few hours or maybe a full day, I thought, but I had a whole weekend at my disposal. Two months later, I finally finished manually entering all of the new ancestors. My direct ancestor count had soared over 300% (from 2,079 to 8,396), and now I had an offline database with far more ancestors than I could realistically ever hope to maintain.

That’s when it occurred to me—maybe I should use WikiTree to maintain my family tree. So, on August 14, 2023, I started working in earnest with WikiTree.

I knew right away that I had made the right decision. WikiTree gave me a clean slate and a chance to ensure that every person in my family tree is based on evidence and that every assertion made about every person is likewise evidence-based. So while it might seem tedious, I actually welcome the task of manually entering each ancestor in WikiTree and ensuring I have sources to back everything up.

What do you spend the most time doing on WikiTree?

I spend most of my time improving profiles and adding sources to profiles. I feel this is where I can currently make the biggest impact on WikiTree, and I get a lot of satisfaction from writing and from knowing that the profiles I help craft can help conjure up a fuller image of a person than the basic BMD facts do. Profiles shouldn’t stray from documented evidence, so I spend much of my time hunting down evidence to use as the basis for my profile writing.

I also have a lot of hope and faith in the promise of WikiTree, and I want to do my part to bring that promise to reality. I like to imagine a day in the medium-term future where we’re approaching 500,000,000 profiles on WikiTree and the dream of having a profile for every person on earth who left some sort of evidence of their existence is starting to seem like it might be achievable. Imagine being at the point where we can have a “Project 18th Century” that is starting to tick off countries for which all 18th Century profiles have been completed. I may not live to see that day, but it’s motivating to think that we’re taking meaningful steps in that direction.

commented Jan 8 by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)

Which projects are you most involved in?

Profile Improvement Project—I didn’t even know this was a project until my mentor in the Data Doctors project turned me on to it, but it’s now the project to which I feel the most affinity. WikiTree’s profiles and their easily reviewable sources are what make the people we are researching spring to life.
Data Doctors Project—I love databases and like improving the quality of the data they contain, so this is a natural fit for me.
Mayflower Project—The Mayflower passengers hold a cherished place in my heart, and this was the first WikiTree project I joined. I’ve been distracted by all the bright and shiny things I keep discovering at WikiTree, but I hope to spend some quality time with this project in 2024.
One Name Studies Project—I just joined this project to start tracing the spread of the Prettyman surname around the world. It’s a fascinating new angle to take in understanding our history, and if done correctly it could result in a handy resource for future researchers. I decided to start this after being contacted by someone who wondered how her Prettyman line fit into the bigger Prettyman picture, and I couldn’t give her an answer that was as complete as I would have liked. I told her that I planned to one day undertake a project to be able to answer such questions, but then I thought—why wait?

What inspires you to contribute so much of yourself to WikiTree’s mission? Do you consider your work here to be part of your legacy?

I do! As I get older, I give more and more thought to preserving my genealogical legacy. Until recently, I thought that would mean publishing a series of books to capture much of my research. But books have several downsides: they’re expensive and time-consuming to write, edit, and publish; they’re out of date as soon as they’re published; it’s close to impossible to ensure that your book will be easily available to all who may benefit from it.

WikiTree, on the other hand, suffers from none of these limitations. Family and fellow researchers can benefit immediately from the research I document in profiles and we can interact and collaborate in real time. Later this year, once I have a larger core of profiles written, I plan to start inviting non-genealogists in the family to come learn about their family’s history by reading the profiles I’ve helped improve and by discovering who they’re related to and how.

commented Jan 8 by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)

What is your favorite feature or function on WikiTree?

I love the gamification of everything on WikiTree! I love the badges, the metrics, and the statistics. I love that there are so many different activities I can participate in, and if so inclined, can compete in—usually just against myself.

I really like the Connection Finder and the “My Connections” button that appears whenever I bring up a category of people.

The WikiTree Browser Extension makes everything better and easier, so that’s at the top of my list, too. The WikiTree Sourcer Extension likewise makes finding and citing sources so much faster and easier.

I also really like the new Fan Chart in Tree Apps. It’s a great way to see where I am on my progress towards pushing all lines back to 10 generations.

I can’t wait to find the next amazing feature that already exists but which I haven’t yet discovered. There’s so much richness in WikiTree!

What feature or function would you most like to see added or improved?

This is hard to answer because I still feel like I’ve only scraped the surface of WikiTree. There’s a good chance that any feature or function I wish existed already exists. That said, being a typical American mutt, having some sort of an automatic heritage calculator (“you are 65.5% English, 18.3% German,” etc.) would be a fun feature (although admittedly fraught with difficult choices: what heritage is the man who was born in the Holy Roman Empire, then made French thanks to Napoleon’s conquests, then died as a member of the Prussian Kingdom, without ever having moved from where he was born?).

The ability to batch upload multiple images with similar metadata (like a multi-page letter) would be handy.

The ability to upload an improved version of an image would also be really helpful.

Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get more involved in our community?

Download and use the WikiTree Browser Extension
Take advantage of all the wonderful mentors and guides we have on WikiTree. If you don’t know how to find a mentor, sign up for the Profile Improvement Project and take the PIP Voyage. You’ll learn all sorts of helpful tips and tricks from an experienced guide, and you’ll be able to do higher-quality work with less effort.
Find a challenge or Thon that looks interesting and see how far you can go.
Do what you can to find connections to the global tree; that’s when you really see the advantages of being interconnected.

What could we do to inspire more people to participate in our mission?

Create more groups and feature more categories in Featured Connections! Easily seeing how you’re related to a bunch of notable people is a great reward for connecting to the global tree and can serve as great motivation to get more people working on connecting their lines to the global tree. It certainly worked that way for me!

commented Jan 8 by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.5m points)

9 Answers

Answer 1 · 2024-01-09T22:34:06+0000

My Dad's side of the famiily had immigrant ancestors from Sør-Aurdal, Ole Bjørnsen Benson [[Bjørnsen-98|Ole (Bjørnsen) Benson (1840-1928)]] from the Bjødnaplassen farm, main farm Olmhus and wife Anne Arnesdatter (born Bøle or Lundebøle farm) born 1838 and died 1873 in Wisconsin. They immigrated in 1868 and Ole's parents Bjorn Olsen and Gjertrud Olsdatter came the following year. I put a little information about Ole on his wikitree profile. This parish is in the Valdres valley. I also have immigrant ancestors from other parishes of this valley. The Valdres Samband organization sponsored trips to this region, and I think continue to do so every five years. So I think maybe this year too. The Fagernes Hotel there is nice. The relationship in your post is from my Mom's side. A lot of very distant relationships for me follow that general line. Perhaps some Norwegian CC connection between my ancestors and yours will come up.

commented Jan 10 by Kathy Benson G2G6 (6.9k points)

Answer 2 · 2024-01-10T12:50:17+0000

Glad to get to know more about you. We are 14th cousins according to WikiTree. Thank you for all you do here.

Answer 3 · 2024-01-10T13:59:58+0000

Congratulations Cousin on your M.O.M. recognition! 10th cousin

Quote: "my obsession with family history takes up much of my time"

You hit the nail on the head for a lot of us!

Answer 4 · 2024-01-10T15:21:07+0000

Great interview, Michael. Thanks for helping us on the Mayflower Project, your skills have really developed and you're a great member to have around the tree. Only one request: stop looking at "all the bright and shiny things" ... We need you

Your 10th cousin.

Answer 5 · 2024-01-10T19:12:56+0000

Great interview Michael and a big howdy to a fellow PNWer. As you had said, it's great to be able to access trails and hikes within minutes to clear one's head and breathe in deeply.

Loved the hefty goal of taking all brances back to the 10th generation. Admirable indeed.

I also agree with the sourcing and evidence based profile writing that you do. "A profile without a source is just a rumor".

Much like Carol above, we are 10C1R through Samuel Hinckley Sr. and Sarah Soule.

Best of luck in your future research Michael.

Answer 6 · 2024-01-10T21:34:09+0000

It is amazing how much you have done on Wikitree and how involved you are in such a short time, Michael. Thank you for a very interesting interview. We are 10th cousins twice removed.

Categories

Meet our Members: Michael Black

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to answer this question.

9 Answers

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Please log in or register to add a comment.

Related questions