Dr. Frank and WikiTree

Earlier, we mentioned that we had Dr. Frank's notes about his heritage from around the 1907 timeframe. The first exercise was to use his notes to check his Gardner pedigree against what Gardner Research had come up with starting from scratch almost 100 years later. The two views matched up. Of course, we had his books as reference. But, we have filled in the entire tree with the collateral families. In this day and age, we have a lot more information available since the www has forced things to an on-line mode. Too, communication is much faster (albeit, still errorful due to many reasons).

But, the question came up about public presentation since Gardner Research information is in a private, personalized environment, at the moment. Well, about the time that the marriage notice of Thomas and Margaret came up, we had gone to Wikitree to put in a link on the Thomas Gardner page. That was 2014. There had been a bit of discussion now and then, but, this year, the focus came back. So, this was accomplished: Margaret, anew. Essentially, we can declare that Thomas and Margaret were the parents of the children (notice that the first two nodes have the same information; the idea will be to merge these so that there are two spouses: Margaret and Demaris).

So, while that was going on, it seemed like a good time to try out WikiTree (what else? Not ancestry, for several reasons). If you look at the Profile of JMSwitlik (section on WikiTree), you will see the projects that are ongoing. Some of this was done by using ahnentafels from articles written in The Essex Genealogist or in The Gardner Annals to make profiles. In all cases, we got back to a Profile that already existed. In many cases, that Profile listed the known children. All we did was link in and bring up-to-date information related to a descendant.

But, Dr. Frank seemed to be a good subject (Frank Augustine Gardner (1861-1938)). The image is of his Profile and includes the first page of his ancestors graph ('Ancestors' button). To note is that we have 13 of 16 of his 2nd-great-grands. We have information about the others, however this needs checking before filling out the Profile.

With regard to the referenced projects, there are a lot more in process. However, with these, the focus was on Profiles in order to get familiar with the WikiTree ways (that is, get nodes into the tree). On each Profile, there is minimal source material; however, we have many sources and will be going back to fill in additional source material.

In doing Dr. Frank's biography (brief), we noted his sister, Lucie M. She picked up his work when Sidney Perley retired and published her work in The Massachusetts Magazine. Also, we noted that they were descendants of Nathaniel Eaton (as is Ann, TGS Secretary/Treasurer), and the link is there (pick Rebecca Knapp, wife of Simon Stacey Gardner). However, in doing his mother's line, we see that he is a descendant of Damaris Shattuck. So, he descends from both wives of Thomas. Lots more stuff coming.

For instance, taking Rebecca Knapp, we know her pedigree. For instance, she has Edward Woodman who was early into Newbury. This exercise tried to stay within things that have been proven by having been bumped up against a genealogist from one of the Heritage Society Community's groups that meet in D.C. each spring. That, folks, is about the best way to test these things. Our continuing issue? Even WikiTree has flim-flam. How to mark these would be something to figure out. In the meantime, note that the TGS will only put out things that have been scrutinized.

All and all, the work of the past few months has been a very good exercise. WikiTree has constraints in place that really help the genealogists. I like that. Too, they are Wiki in scope which is real nice (will discuss).

Remarks: Modified: 03/14/2019

03/14/2019 -- Added information about Dr. Frank's first wife: Caroline Louisa Read who was the daughter of John Franklin Read and Caroline Louisa Chase. Changed burial for Pauline Gardner Donnell, his daughter, to Newcastle, ME.