Toddlin' Tortoises Source-a-Thon Page

Profile manager: Melanie Paul [send private message]

Toddlin' Tortoises — we get there in the end (or, Hertyl and Spertyl are gettin' saucy).

Who / What are the Toddlin' Tortoises?

A non-regional "challenge" team — the intention of which is to enhance the overall health of the Tree, using a "whole profile approach", where speed is not a factor. (See the Toddlin' Tortoises Main Page for more information.)

If you like to participate in the 'Thon events, but no longer sign up because you feel "guilty" at dragging down your Team's score — then this just might be the Team for you!

Everyone is welcome, especially people who just like to work at their own pace, not bothered if the Team comes "last", so long as what they do is the best that can be done at the time. (No profile is ever "finished", as there are new resources released all the time, or new information that surfaces.)

Remember — the goal is to HAVE FUN while enhancing the overall health of the Tree. It doesn't matter if we come last. In fact, if we DO come last, we'll have made every other Team look good! (Who could ask for more?!)

• Toddlin' Tortoises Connect-a-Thon Page
• Toddlin' Tortoises Clean-a-Thon Page

On what can I work?

• Start with your own extended family members — aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and other offspring of grandparents, siblings and offspring of great-grandparents, etc. Make sure they all have at least once source (more is better, and as our goal is to make each profile as "complete" as possible, a source for each major event would be great).
• Check your Watchlist (My WikiTree menu in upper right then Watchlist). Click on "Edit Date" to move the oldest to the top and start looking for profiles that have no sources, or the sources are "family tree handed down…", "sources will be added by…", or similar. (Adopted profiles are likely candidates for this, especially if they were gedcom imports.)
• Any other people you like, so long as you can find accurate sources for them, as every profile needs at least one source, even when it's not a Source-a-Thon.
• If you're concerned that all your work will be "lost" by someone else editing the profile on which you are working — just click the "draft save" beneath the biography text box, and there will be a 30-minute moratorium on anyone else editing that profile. Don't forget to then click "FULL save" when you are done (with an edit explanation), or those edits won't show to anyone else.

How Do I Join?

✩ You need to register in advance — and each 'Thon has a separate registration, so signing up for a Source-a-Thon does NOT mean you are registered for the Connect-a-Thon, or the Clean-a-Thon, NOR for any subsequent Source-a-Thons.

➢ Go to the signup post in G2G and click on the Answer this post "button". In your answer, say something like "Please sign me up for the "Toddlin' Tortoises", or "I'd like to join Hertyl and Spertyl", or just "Tortoises, please", or anything similar that identifies this as your chosen Team, and you will be added to the team list.

★ Be sure to click that large answer button, and not the comment link, as that won't count – and don't reply to someone else's answer, as that won't count, either.

☆ Just remember : the cut-off date for registering is midnight (USA Eastern / GMT 5 am Thursday) on the Wednesday right before the Thon starts. (This means there is plenty of time to tell a friend and grow our team (😉). It's going to be a fun weekend.)

Current 'Thon

The Eighth Annual "Source-a-Thon" : 29th September (30th September) — 2nd (3rd) October 2023.

• The goal of this particular event is to work on clearing out the Unsourced Profiles category. Although including sources is in our community's Honor Code, new, or inexperienced genealogists don't always record them. Sometimes the source is "Grand Aunt Gertrude", or "unsourced tree handed down from Grandma". This doesn't mean the information isn't worth preserving or sharing, because it is. But it's only a starting point — information waiting to be confirmed.
• Where can I find other profiles on which to work? Why, right here, is where. Or if you know of some that have no sources, but do not have the template, feel free to work on those, too!
• ➢ For those who like working on ged-imported profiles, you could check out the GEDI challenge page, as they have a spreadsheet laying out which gedcom imports are currently in need of improvement. If going this route, be sure to follow the requirements, and any instructions, listed on the page.

• Don't forget to (a) remove the {{Unsourced}} template, or the [[unsourced category]] (if either is there, it should be above the Biography header), before you save; and (ii) click the tracker after you save, but before you leave the profile. It's in the huge banner thing that pops at the top of a profile after you have saved your edit. On the Challenge Tracker, select the Source-a-Thon checkbox, if it's not automatically selected. ➢ It doesn't matter if you add one source, or twenty sources, the profile only counts once — even if you make multiple edits. One profile = one point.
  REMEMBER: SCORING FOR THIS 'THON IS NOT AUTOMATIC. YOU MUST CLICK THE TRACKER.
• If you are uncertain which profile and profile changes count during a Source-a-Thon, here’s what Chris Whitten had to say in 2017 (and it hasn't changed since) : What Counts?

... ... ... participated with the Toddlin' Tortoises during the 2023 Source-a-Thon, adding sources to 000 previously unsourced profiles.

• Want a sticker for your profile? Check out the Source-a-Thon template. (The example shown {{Source-a-Thon|team=[[Space:ToddlinTortoisesSource|the Toddlin' Tortoises]]|year=2023|sources=000|bib=ToddlinTortoisesSource-62.png}} is using Melanie's 2023 bib#.)
• Don't forget to check the times for the Video Hangouts. This is your chance to win a t-shirt, Gift Certificates/Cards, Research Assistance, books, DNA tests, or other great prizes! Here is a time zone calculator if you need help figuring out the right time in your part of the world. All 'Thon times are based on the United States Eastern time zone (GMT-5, or GMT-4 during summer time).
• Additional pointers are in the Participation Instructions section of the WikiTree Source-a-Thon help page.

• Want to see how the Team is doing so far? Are we still in last place? Are you a Hare among the Tortoises? Check out our progress (and everyone else's), and your own, here.

✬Thanks so much for considering us. ✬ Thanks even more for joining our Team. ✬

Team Members

Toddlin' Tortoises — Hertyl and Spertyl Slowsky

  0.25 Hertyl

 0.25 Spertyl

1. Melanie   ★ Data Doctor, Connector, Sourcerer, pre-1700 qualified.   ★ Project Member of — Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, Remember the Children, Black Heritage, Notables, ANZACs, Military & War.   ★ Intends to work on — whatever the rabbits lead me to.
2. Susan Anderson ★ pre-1700 qualified.  ★ Project Member of — United States, Westward Ho, Appalachia, Kentucky, Washington State.   ★ Intends to work on — Kentucky profiles, as the rabbits and squirrels lead me.
3. Amanda Myers ★ Intends to work on — Australian profiles probably Victoria.
4. Elizabeth Russon ★ Intends to work on —
5. Anne Young ★ Intends to work on — not sure yet but I am sure I will find plenty of opportunities at the time
6. Sue Wyatt ★ Intends to work on — Anything relating to my family or people in Tasmania in particular.
7. D Crawford   ★ Cemeterist, Sourcerer, pre-1700 qualified.   ★ Project Member of — Global Black Heritage, Notables, Military & War, Great War. ★ Intends to work on — Barbados and Jamaica
8. Joan Hollander ★ Intends to work on —
9. Sjaak Spijkermans ★ Intends to work on Amsterdam Netherlands Unsourced Open 20cen
10. Katrina Lawson   ★ Data Doctor, Pre-1700 Certified, Member of: Ireland Project, US Civil War Project, Black Heritage Project, Palatine Migration Project.  ★ no idea where I'll be working, so I'll have to update later.
11. Stanley Baraboo ★ Intends to work on existing WikiTree unsourced profile lists in North America and any profile that lists TORTOISES as pets !.. lol ..
12. Margreet Beers ★ Intends to work on —
13. Laura Ward ★ Intends to work on this and that. As I work in WT I'll be identifying profiles that need sourcing and adding my personal category to them so I can find them again during the challenge. Also my favorite, of course, civil war soldiers.
14. Sue Carda ★ intends to work on a certain branch of my relatives without sources.
15. Carol-Lynn Harke ★ Intends to work on —
16. Jim Parish ★ Intends to work on —
17. Michelle Wilkes ★ Intends to work on —
18. Patty Keffer ★ Intends to work on England and Wales; the records I am familiar with.
19. K. Nichols ★ Intends to work on sources for ancestors of DNA matches.
20. Mary Kirtland ★ Intends to work on —
21. Camille Richou ★ Intends to work on —
22. Anne Eady ★ Intends to work on —
23. Laurie Hughes ★ Intends to work on —
24. Linda Sherman ★ Intends to work on —
25. Marcie Ruiz ★ Intends to work on —
26. Pat Reynolds ★ Intends to work on —
27. Michel Vorenhout ★ Intends to work on some (or many) of the Unsourced Dutch profiles, mainly from the undated/unsourced section.
28. Sara Baird ★ Intends to work on London, England, which encompasses parts of the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey and Kent, and the City of London.
29. Regina Hall ★ Intends to work on —
30. Beverly Diaz ★ Intends to work on —
31. Anthony VanCampen ★ Intends to work on —
32. Karen Hipson ★ Intends to work on —
33. Jeri Steele ★ Intends to work on —
34. Barbara Brown ★ Intends to work on —
35. LaMyra Morton ★ Intends to work on —
36. Wendy May ★ Intends to work on —
37. Doris Lanier ★ Intends to work on —
38. Jody Green ★ Intends to work on —
39. Christine Baker ★ Intends to work on —
40. Audra Castro ★ Intends to work on —
41. Was your name supposed to be here?   Well, maybe next time!

➢ If you want to display your bib on your own profile, there are two options. The image code using {curly braces}, or the image code using [square brackets] (as was done here). Both options allow for alt text (the "on mouseover 'floating' text" for screen readers), as well as size and alignment adjustments. Your base code can be found by clicking on the image next to your name, then scrolling down a little way to where it says Use Inside Text. There are two options there, neither of which (sadly) uses alt text. So, for those who would like to make their image accessible to screen reader users, here's the code for Melanie's (so just click on the one for your name, and collect the ID# and don't forget to change the bib# in the label parameter to your own!) :

{{Image|file=ToddlinTortoisesSource-23.png |align=r |caption=Source-a-Thon 2022. |label=2022 Source-a-Thon "racing bib" #009, with Hertyl and Spertyl in the upper left, and lower right corners holding spoons full of sauce. }}

➢ If you'd like it smaller, just add the size= parameter:

{{Image|file=ToddlinTortoisesSource-23.png |align=r |size=200 |caption=Source-a-Thon 2022. |label=2022 Source-a-Thon "racing bib" #009, with Hertyl and Spertyl in the upper left, and lower right corners holding spoons full of sauce. }}

➢ If you're ok with the image being on the left, or wish to incorporate it with text, then you can use the square brackets, thusly: [[Image:ToddlinTortoises-14.png|120px|Racing bib number 035, with Hertyl and Spertyl in the lower right corner.]] — adjusting the size parameter to suit (and changing the bib# to your own).

— although for those who wish to use Discord (there is a channel for the Tortoises), or some other method, just let it be known and it can be added here as an alternative.

✬ Our Source-A-Thon Chat Thread

✬  : https://discord.gg/9EMSdccnn3 - if you have been verified, just look for the Toddlin Tortoises channel.

➢ Note: If you are new to Discord and are taken to the registration screen, continue with the registration process and get signed into your account, then return here and click the link again. After that make sure to go to the "wikitree-verification" channel on the left side panel on the server. There'll be instructions there to get verified, and that's how you'll be able to join in the chat. That's when you'll want the Toddlin Tortoises channel.

Links to Handy Apps

• A link to all apps made by members - very helpful

• Missing Links - Helpful for Connect-a-thon

• Ancestry Citation Builder for Image
  • A form you can use to create a citation for a record/image/media found on Ancestry.com that can be used as a Wikitree citation. Also adds a link to a free-to-view image so that non-Ancestry-subscribing Wikitreers can view the original source. (Highly recommended!)
    • Link to profile built with above app (so you can see how it works): (Marcoux-401)

Whole Profile Approach

Q : What do we mean by "whole profile approach"?

A : Every person has, at minimum, two recorded life events — their birth, and their death. So we chronicle those events, with backup sources (primary, where possible, secondary, if not; or a combination of sources that verify the event (newspapers can be good for this)).

        Sometimes, however, only the birth, or only the death can be verified in documents. This is when it is most important to be as thorough as possible in clearly documenting every other aspect of the person's life that can be done.

• Large numbers of people also have other recorded events: baptisms, funerals/burials, marriages, children, education, religious professions, and so on. Sometimes there were no recorded births, but there were baptisms, so the one can be used in place of the other. The same for deaths before registrations were normal, or required; so the burial record takes the place of the death registration.

• For each event in a life, we add whatever we can in the way of sources/citations that support our claims. We also use citations full enough that anyone else can find that same source. Source citations do not require a link to some online repository, but when they exist they can be helpful.

• We write as narrative a biography as we can, in chronological order. (If biography writing isn't your "thing", that's ok. Just chronicle the live events in chronological order, with their citations, and it should be fine.) Chronological order can be important for aligning sources to statements/facts, especially if the citations are in list form under the Sources header, and not attached to the related statement in the biography area.

    Chronological order also makes much more sense than having birth and death, followed by education, followed by burial, followed by a list of the children, followed by migration, followed by marriage. Sometimes it isn't possible to keep everything to a strict chronology — such as listing the children as an attachment to the marriage event. Mostly life intervenes, and children's births are actually interspersed between those events; but it's not always the best way to present such facts. It really depends on what the overall aim is meant to present — strictly chronological, or a narrative that flows.

• It is also helpful to add categories to profiles, as part of the "whole profile" ideal. Grouping people by location, or occupation, or migration, may help someone else find someone they have been looking for.

• For this same reason, it is helpful to other researchers to transcribe as fully as possible any census records there may be. It may take longer than some like to spend, and "clog up" a biography text area, but we don't do this for us, but for a future researcher who just might be looking for their "great-grand-uncle George H Smith, who had been a miner", and not finding him until they see "date of census, Geo. Henry Smith (43), coal miner, resident as a lodger in the household of Jas. Conquest, place name".

• Everything we can add, should be. For the sake of completeness, and for that future researcher.

• In addition, stickers can be a nice addition, but be careful if adding to profiles you do not manage. The rules regarding stickers mean that they can be removed at any time, and not replaced. There is also a limit of "5, but 3 is better", so be very choosy regarding which stickers you wish to use to highlight life events. The "migrating ancestor" sticker is always a nice addition, as can be the veteran recognition stickers. Many countries also have the equivalent to a "born in" sticker - although the non-migrating ancestor sticker can also be used for this purpose.

• If using images in the biography text box, do consider those who use screen readers and cannot, therefore, see the images except as a blank space. Both {curly braces} and [square brackets] image codes have a parameter for "on mouseover 'floating' text", which allows for a description of the image to be presented in a form that a screen reader can pick up. Images within the body of this text box all have "alt text" added for that reason.

    If there are a number of images, and there is no wish to have them on the profile's right side causing what many refer to as "double vision", then consider a free space page to hold the images so they can be linked in the biography. (An example profile with an attached space page.) If you don't wish to create your own space page, feel free to utilise this one : No Double Vision, a home away from home for profile images. (NOTE: you cannot remove the Primary Image from the profile's right side pane, as that is the only image that must be on a profile.)

    Also be judicious in the use of primary images, and background images — particularly background images, as many have expressed extreme dislike of seeing them on profiles. Where possible, to minimise the "jarring" effect backgrounds can have for some folk, they should tile seamlessly. There are a number of images pages on Wikitree, where there are seamless images of varying colours and designs.

• A few examples of "whole profile approach" edits from the 2021 Source-a-Thon.

    • Elizabeth (Smith) Bird (abt.1853-1944)

    • Edward (Tate) Hills (1883-1950)

    • Bessie Margaret (Turner) Berry (1882-)

    • William Goodrich (1846-1938)

    • John Patrick (1735-bef.1818)

✩ If you frequently copy and paste text that has tabs, or extra wide spacing, and you don't use one of the wonderful apps that does the formatting for you but manually remove all those tab indents and so on, consider using this wonderful web-based tool:

    • Text Fixer: Remove white spaces

✩ The same thing applies to if you manually re-case text from all upper case to sentence case, or all lower case to sentence case, or the reverse; consider using this wonderful web-based tool:

    • Convert Case

Previous 'Thons

The Sixth Annual "Source-a-Thon"; 1st October — 4th October 2021

Name	Name	Name	Name	Name
Primary Commun- ication	Hertyl	Click that Tracker!	Spertyl	Discord chat
Melanie Paul	Greg Morris	David Smith	Julie Kelts	Ian Beacall
Michelle Wilkes	Kristina Adams	Helen Ford	Candyce Fulford	U Swanson
Katie Taylor	Marcie Ruiz	Nelda Spires	Pat Reynolds	Susan Anderson
K Cathey	Christy Melick	Laurie Hughes	Linda Sherman	Karen Cillie
		Lynette Jester

The Seventh Annual "Source-a-Thon"; 30th September — 3rd October 2022

Name	Name	Name	Name	Name
Primary Commun- ication	Hertyl	Click that Tracker!	Spertyl	Discord chat
Melanie Paul	Beverly Diaz	Susan Anderson	Cheryl Grogan	Carol-Lynn Harke
Christy Melick	Anne Young	S. Fary	Mary Kirtland	Amanda Myers
Candyce Fulford	K. Nichols	Sue Wyatt	Duane Malcolm	Marcie Ruiz
Sue Carda	Gerard Heinen	Linda Sherman	Linda Hinchcliffe	Pat Reynolds
Lisa McCown	Heather Stevens	Camille Richou	Francesca Murphy	Mary Wandler
	Anne Farewell		Patricia Terry