Searching on WikiTree
WikiTree is a nice, free, communal genealogy project. You can begin anywhere with your own family, or you can do something for someone else - the thing that drew me back to this site. I decided to do genealogy for a family friend of ours. I began with only three names (one of them incorrectly remembered) and one date. From that, I've been able to paste together her family lines all the way back to Europe - one line is all the way back into the 1500s. The other side is secretive and I may or may not be able to uncover anything more without her mother's help. But I think we'll get there.
Anyway, still bored of working on my own tree, I decided to make use of WikiTree's "adoption program" - where genealogists can accept responsibility of a profile that's not connected with their own tree. For this task, I've been choosing names that are connected to my family already - in hopes of finding one that merges with my family before I run out of known lineage...
I will use this feature to show you something about how I research a name that is new to me...
I searched the adoptable profiles for a name that features big in my tree... Whittlesey - a name that harkens back to Cambridgeshire, England, but at least one family arrived in America in the 1600s. That's the name I'll play with.
Luther Cogwell Whittlesey
I like this adopt for several reasons: We have full birth and death dates - and for his wife (whose profile, I'm also adopting.) Furthermore, as my line runs into the Cogswell family, I think it's highly likely this guy is related to me.
As you can see below, almost nothing is known about him on WikiTree - and his wife's tree looks just as barren...
My goal is to find out about both his parents and his children - as well as his wife's parents. With luck, we can bring the family forward to living relatives and maybe back into a well-researched line - maybe even my own.
First Steps
The first thing I will do is plug his name and dates into the WikiTree Search function.
That was pretty useless this time - the only result was the page that I'm working on right now - though it would be a good place to start to find out if someone is already working on your page - the goal of the project is to have only one profile page for each person recorded. Which means we all have to work together.
So, the next thing I will try is the "research" option. (The drop-down menus on WikiTree aren't always obvious.)
I have two immediate criticisms on this page.
Firstly, they throw out the "standard" date form for most genealogy. (day - month - year in the "## MON YEAR" format.) This is the way most genealogists work, so it needs to be standardized here as well. It reduces confusion especially when your research takes you to a different country.
My other criticism first off on this search page is that there's no way to "search all" of the listed sites at once. But that might be asking too much anyway. (And the reason for this became obvious as I conducted my searches...) I'm going to take a quick look at some sites I'm more familiar with - Ancestry and Findagrave and see what comes up.
Okay - I will just say that the search worked very well - better than I suspected. Next time, I'll move the search into its new window, but that was easier than plugging in the details myself and I have a load of results! I definitely like this search feature and will use it again.
Findagrave - is a wonderful site where people have shared pictures of graves around the world (heaviest concentration is in the USA, I'm fairly certain) including obituaries and family information where possible. Anyone can help by answering photo requests for a cemetery near you. This site is completely free to use.
Family Search - is a great source of information and clues. It is run by the Mormon church. Be sure to check for good sources (records and documents) to support anything you add to your own tree. Sometimes people make mistakes! (Even professionals.) This site is also completely free to use. You may build your family tree on here if you like. I like Family Search for its excellent citations.
Ancestry - is another excellent source of information and clues. It has connections to the Mormon Church as well, but is not run by them. Again, be sure to check for good sources to support your tree as I see many more mistakes on Ancestry than I do on Family Search. This site is not free unless you are a member of the Mormon Church. Otherwise, you can access it from an LDS Family History Center (when they reopen, anyway). Two week trials are normal, or a paid membership. I like Ancestry for its better search engine.
Findmypast - I haven't used this one... have you?
My Heritage - I have an account there, but I haven't visited for awhile. I should visit it again soon.
Google Search - Sometimes this helps, especially with living relatives, but I don't often find a whole lot from a general search.
I am conscious that this article is getting very long already, so I will come back and show you how I enter information from Family Search and Ancestry about our friend Luther Cogwell Whittlesey. (This time, I found nothing on Findagrave.)
To be continued...
Cover image from PxHere. Screen shots taken from my own research.
Past Issues
| Issue No. | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why do Genealogy? |
| 2 | What to do or not do in your genealogy & a note about literacy |
| 3 | Sweden: patronymic names and church books |
| 4 | Happy-go-clicky - Just say NO!!! |
| 5 | Records - Not Created Equal |
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
(Buy my work at RedBubble, TeePublic, PicFair and DeviantArt.)
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(Buy my books at Books2Read and at LBRY)
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