Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Margaret Lea Houston/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Laser brain via FACBot (talk) 15:11, 18 July 2016 [1].

Margaret Lea Houston[edit]

Nominator(s): — Maile (talk) 21:06, 2 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about Sam Houston's third (and final) wife, who became the First Lady of the Republic of Texas, and the First Lady of Texas when it became a state. I have been working on this article on and off since 2011.

An explanation about the names. Houston and Lea are the predominant surnames in this article. To avoid confusion, only Sam Houston is referred to solely by his last name. The others are referred to by their first names. Because the children were often given the exact name as the adults, I have included their nicknames to distinguish who they are. Houston City is how many authors mention the city of Houston when they are writing about Sam Houston. It could be confusing to say "Houston went to Houston." or "The Houstons moved to Houston." "The city of Houston" could have double meaning, because he also maintained a residence there. — Maile (talk) 21:06, 2 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

    • File:Sam3.jpg same, plus would benefit from moving to a better name

Comments. - Dank (push to talk)

  • I'm sorry that I probably won't have time to finish this one, but I'll do as much as I can.
  • "They met in between his two non-consecutive terms as President of the Republic of Texas": AHD and M-W say that "in between" (with or without a hyphen) can't be a preposition. You might change this to: just before his second term, or: just after his first.
CheckedChanged to "They met following his first of two non-consecutive terms"
  • "during his service as a representative": Politicians are really the only ones who think they're providing a service. "when he was".
Checked Changed
  • "a strong, close-knit family": What's a strong family?
Checked removed "strong"
  • "the man who was arguably the most famous and accomplished individual of his place and time.": I don't know what that means. What would a list of people who were the most famous of their place and time look like? Who would be on such a list?
Checked Changed to "the man who was an accomplished politician in both Tennessee and Texas, and who had won the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution"
I like it. - Dank (push to talk) 20:36, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "8 children": eight children
Checked Done
  • "to the majority of them": feels a little clinical to me. "most of them"
Checked Done
  • "helping with the children, alternately providing the family with financial assistance and temporary housing, as well as managing the household help": I'd go with: helping with the children, managing the household help, and always providing either financial assistance or temporary housing
Checked Done
  • "The Lea family presence in Texas formed a spiritual bond that helped Margaret convince her husband to": I personally don't object, but the tone isn't standard for Wikipedia. I'd go with: "With the help of her extended family in Texas, Lea convinced her husband to"
Checked Done
  • "Nacogdoches": link it ... and it's an odd-looking name for a town, so I'd put "Texas" after it.
Checked Done
  • I didn't get far, but I hope that helps. - Dank (push to talk) 19:55, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. I've taken care of these. — Maile (talk) 20:24, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Looks good. - Dank (push to talk) 20:43, 31 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments –

  • The last two sentences of the first paragraph of the Marriage section are currently unsourced.
Checked I put a citation at the end of the paragraph that applies to both sentences.
  • First Lady of the Republic: "She renamed it Ben Lomond as a tip of the hat to the romantic Walter Scott works she'd read". Contractions like "she'd" should be avoided if possible. I could understand leaving it if it was part of a quote, but since that is not the case I'd suggest going with "she had" here.
Checked done
  • The last sentence of the section's second paragraph could also use a cite.
Checked done
  • Raven Hill and Woodland: "and his concern that he'd had no letters from her in weeks." This has another contraction that should be removed; since you may not want "had had" in there, consider "that he had received no letters from her in weeks" or similar.
Checked done
  • Another in "she'd had with a breast lump", and one more immediately afterward. Try sweeping the rest of the article for any more.
Checked and I checked the rest of the article for possible contractions of 'd, 'nt or 't
  • "while Congress was in session and Houston in Washington, D.C.." Double period here, and the spacing of the abbreviation seems different than what you're using in the rest of the article. Also, if you think a Washington, D.C. link is helpful, it could be placed earlier in the section.
Checked done
  • Checked Houston's profession of faith: The Independence link could be moved up to the first sentence here. Giants2008 (Talk) 21:47, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Giants2008 I've taken care of all issues. That was a really good catch on the double period and varied spacing on Washington, D.C. — Maile (talk) 22:47, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support – A nice read overall, and I think it meets the criteria. Giants2008 (Talk) 21:17, 9 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Mike Christie[edit]

Support. I can only find one small quibble, which doesn't affect my support.

  • "His will named her as his executrix, and named his cousin Thomas Caruthers, as well as with family friends Thomas Gibbs, J. Carroll Smith and Anthony Martin Branch as executors": I don't think you need "with".

-- Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:04, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Checked Thank you for your support. "with" was actually a typo, and I've removed it. Good catch. — Maile (talk) 19:16, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from West Virginian[edit]

Support Maile66, I apologize for taking so long to complete my review of this article for Margaret Lea Houston. As always, you have done an exceptional job. This article is indeed well-written, comprehensive, well-researched, neutral, and stable; it follows the style guidelines; it has images with succinct captions, and acceptable copyright statuses; and it is an appropriate length. All my spot-checks of sourcing had satisfactory results. I find that this article easily meets Featured Article criteria, and all of the aforementioned issues and quibbles have been resolved. Thank you for your continued exceptional contributions to Wikipedia, including this one. -- West Virginian (talk) 01:20, 11 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Coord note[edit]

Coming now. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 12:57, 17 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Formatting looks consistent.
  • Earwig's copyvio tool is negative/clear.

Using this version as a reference,

  • FN 56 is used once, material is faithful to source.
  • FN 68 is used once, material is faithful to source.
  • FN 102 is used once, material is faithful to source.
  • FN 105 is used twice, material is faithful to source.

i.e. looks all in order....Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 13:37, 17 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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