Challenge of the Week: Investigate Find A Grave suggestions [closed]

Question

Hi WikiTreers,

Will you join our Data Doctors Challenge for this week?

Aleš does something clever as part of his WikiTree+ data analysis: When a profile on WikiTree can be connected to a memorial on Find A Grave, the data here is compared with the data there. If there's a discrepancy, he alerts us to it.

Sometimes Find A Grave has a birth date or location or a death date or location that's missing from WikiTree. These are golden nuggets for those of us who are obsessed with making profiles as complete as possible.       

This isn't mechanical, thoughtless work. This isn't like fixing typos. A genealogist needs to look at each one of these items and consider whether the information on Find A Grave is reliable. A lot of it isn't. Just like on WikiTree, the information on Find A Grave all comes from its members.

Generally speaking, if there is a photo of the grave and you can see the information written in stone it's worth using. Even then, gravestones aren't always correct. If the gravestone is the source for a date, location, etc., make that clear in a source citation.

What do you say? Will you help us sift through the mountain looking for the golden nuggets?

Here is the table of suggestions to investigate.

Please post here to say you're participating. That helps avoid working on the same items at the same time, and gives us the opportunity to cheer each other on. If you want a more advanced way to chat and coordinate there is also a handy spreadsheet courtesy of Steven Tibbetts.

Also post here if you have any questions. Find A Grave suggestions aren't as easy to use as some of the other types, so if you're not sure about something, just ask.

Thanks!

P.S. Here's a tip: There is an easy way to put a link on a WikiTree profile to a Find A Grave memorial that will always work, even when Find A Grave changes their website (as they did recently). It's like this, where 1234 is the Find A Grave memorial number:  

== Sources ==         
<references />         
See also:         
* {{FindAGrave|1234}}

Top 10

• Carolyn S. Martin - 722
• R Pardieck - 493
• Helen E. Edwards - 436
• Terry McClintock - 171
• Martha L. Mcaulay - 149
• Joel Bridgham - 108
• Pip Sheppard - 89
• Richard C. Heritage - 88
• Sondra K. Marshall - 62
• Tim C. Prince - 57

Comments

will do some

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On a profile which cites correctly both the findagrave associated to the profile and another relative's findagrave, I will mark false.

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I can help.

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Tim, do not mark false. Use the template with "sameas=yes" on the correct one.

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I will sometimes flag the ONLY FaG reference that way, especially if there are other relatives listed on the FaG Memorial page.

Answer 1

The best tip of all is to ignore Find a Grave and mark it a false suggestion unless you can find an independent, valid source that verifies the Find a Grave information.  Find-a-Grave is largely unsourced.

Comments

Actually, the best answer is if you can't prove it false by documentation, you can change it, mark it "about/ uncertain" and that will fix it, OR you could leave it as is until the error is fixed.

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Whether you consider find a grave a source or not has nothing to do with marking all the suggestions false! That is not helping the tree.

I have found numerous times that the dates didn't match because of a typo in wikitree when the  information was entered wrong.  The Find a Grave suggestion helps to find those incorrect wiki entries!  When the Find a Grave is fir the son or father with the same name, the entry should be identified that it is for the other generation, as well as the template being used correctly.

If you are going to haphazardly just mark them all false, it would be much better to ignore them and let someone else, do the research to verify the information and update the suggestion correctly.

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That's a horrible tip. (and you get a down vote from me).

Sometimes FindAGrave is more accurate than WikiTree.

I just found a case with one of my relatives where the date used to be off (was Jan instead of Jun), and was recently corrected (no history of changes on FindAGrave -- but I have old captured data where I used to match, and now I don't). A headstone photo was added to the memorial a few years after its creation, and probably took a couple more years for someone to notice and correct the difference. FindAGrave now matches the headstone photo leaving WikiTree wrong (and showing up on the suggestions report -- its been a little while since I last check, but my report used to be clear on this one). Since there are no other known records for this person, I'm going with the headstone photo on FindAGrave.

The point is -- you need to check.

Sometimes FindAGrave is wrong (then its a "false suggestion").

Sometimes WikiTree is wrong (then we should fix it).

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When working with the Stetson Family, many of the FaG memorials are verbatim copies of "The Descendants of Cornet Robert Stetson...."

But they also quote obituaries and those are pure gold. (IMHO)

Answer 2

I will join in for a few!

Comments

I would like to join.

Answer 3

I'm in for a few this week. Thanks.

Answer 4

Hello: A comment on Findagrave inconsistencies. My family from Finland have original names from Finland, but Anglicized when they were in Canada. So the grave name is not "consistent" from the original name but correct. Other immigrants from other countries can have the same issue.

Comments

Send a comment in the other corrections to FAG profile, requesting you other nane be added to profile at least

Answer 5

I'm a new Data Doctor, and I'm in. I'll start with the 20 FAG suggestions on my own watch list.

Answer 6

I would like to join

Answer 7

I'll fix some Perkins and Crawford errors.

Answer 8

I'll do some.  The FindAGrave macro works even with variations in capitalization, but people get bent out of shape.

I've had less than 50% success with submission of edits to FindAGrave where the inscription is mis-transcribed, none at all with discrepancies about graveyard sites.  Should we put those a false indications in case they never get fixed?

I think people have said in the past that discrepancies of 1 year associated with the dual dating era could be marked false. There are some of long standing which are within 1 year but have a discrepant month.

Comments

I would agree False is valid when year is off. If the gravestone has dates, they have to use those dates, but other information can be added to the profiles.

I have had very good success with date differences especially when I send a source link, also merging of duplicate records on the site.

Graveyard differences won't come up in suggestions,  just dates and locations.

Answer 9

I'll take care of a few of these.

Answer 10

I'll take a look at some Australian errors.

Answer 11

I did a few yesterday.