What is most important... for a great bio?

Question

What subjects (in your opinion) are most important to be included in order toi have a really great bio for your ancestors?

Answer 1

Hi Stephanie, A while ago I asked the same question. We came up with a list that is now part of the Biography Builders Challenge. Check out our list.
https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/320245/biography-builders-nov-dec-2016-thanksgiving

Answer 2

Everything you know about the person you're writing about, add it 

Add children and with sources, I like adding timelines with ages, this is my favourite profile that I had created on WikiTree is Jonas Archibald Braddock

Add "Subjects" like Birth, Christening, a little about their parents, school, Marriage... sometimes I add the environment that they lived at (New York 1849)

This is my opinion

Comments

Thanks for sharing that lovely work with us.

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This is all very nice but rather a lot to read,  Its lacking something - I think it would better if you had a list of all your basic birth, death census records.

Also I don't see the point of adding the children into the biography when they are already linked as relations, having in both places just means keeping everything up to date is that much harder.

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I disagree, to miss children out of a biography is to miss a very important part of many peoples lives.  This is especially true of many women,  In  this case, Jonas was awarded custody of his daughter; this would have been an important factor in both their lives.

I would add a citation for the records of the  divorce proceedings. I was able to view them on Ancestry (as I suspect you did) The National Archives,; Kew, Surrey, England; Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, later Supreme Court of Judicature: Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Files; Class: J 77; Piece: 734; Item: 2323 

I liked your timeline (thought the icons were a nice touch , how do you do that?)  It could possibly be placed before the bio so those who don't want to read a lot  could just read that

 

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Thanks, Paul and Helen for your feedback.

I know Jonas profile is long, and I still have more information to add, Jonas had fairs and sports days in a paddock on his farm and he was best friends with a Maori prince.

Helen, I'm glad you like the "icons". I have a Freespace page full of them, however, I don't know if you're allowed them on WikiTree so I keep them to a minimum on profiles.

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Helen I think you misunderstands me a little, of course children are an important part of someones life I didnt mean to imply they were not. I was just saying it seems a but unnecessary to link to them in the text seeing as they have their own dedicated links as children of the person.

I probably sounded too negative, this is a good biography but for my own purposes in most cases the most important thing in bio is to be able to easily check the sources to confirm the person and their relationships to another are correct.

Answer 3

I'm not great at writing bios yet, but based on my experience reading through some of them, I think that this is more a matter of "how" rather than "what." In my opinion, the thing that makes the most difference between an interesting bio and a generic/boring bio is incorporating lots of little details and forming them into a cohesive story. A bio is much nicer to read if it comes off as a story about a person's life, rather than just a list of facts about them. I would include as much information as you can about the person, so you have more substance to work with.

Answer 4

The key thing is building a bio which has enough info to give others confidence that everything you added is correct and that you haven't merged multiple people into one. For many viewers this person will just be a stepping stone to others so do you have sources for their birth, death, censuses (if available) marriages and births of all children.

Completeness where some fort has Benz made to find all children, marriages and death give confidence.

Links to sources, especially freely available ones, and transcribing ones that are freely available not are very helpful.

Answer 5

I like to know what they did...employment.  And education level.  Along with the usual, birth, marriage, children, death.  Personal stories are wonderful.  I never knew my granddaddy (I was 6 months old when he died).  One of my older cousins was telling me how he used to sit on the porch with the grandkids and tell them bible stories.  Wish I could have experienced that first hand, but felt good hearing about it.  I've also heard that he was a cut up, loved to play games...and, he had a glass eye (lost an eye in the coal mines) and would take his eye out to let the grandkids look 'at his brains'  fun tidbits that won't be found in official records.

Answer 6

I tend to treat my profiles as data gathering with as many links and sources as possible.  I will often start with information about the persons family and where there position was in the family structure.  This usually includes names at time of marriage of parents along with a list of all siblings including birth year.  I find it interesting that Johan Witteneimi  was born eighth of nine children an was born 13 years after his parents wedding. I then include birth info.  Then life stuff, census, residence occupation. Then Marriages and progeny with dates. Johan Wittaneimi had 19 children in 24 years.  My great grandfather Johan Lindqvist had three wives and fathered 10 children, including 6 out of wedlock with his sister-in-law. I then include death and burial info.

If I am recording someone in the US I try to include Census information, with links and a list of those in the household. See Charles Nelson McCartney.