Talk:Bethany Veney

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Evidence that Veney is of African descent[edit]

I'd like to point out that no sources substantiate an African origin. Virginia and South Carolina, among other states, practiced chattel slavery of Native Americans at the time of Veney's birth and for most of her life, and later changes in law would not have resulted in her freedom. I'm going to remove links to African-American topics until a reliable source can substantiate African descent. Psmith85 (talk) 23:49, 24 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Just to close this out: Veney was of African American and Blackfoot descent, as is cited in the article. Census records from New England showed her as Black or Mulatto (the way that they recorded mixed race at the time).–CaroleHenson (talk) 02:57, 26 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrite[edit]

I rewrote the Bethany Veney article, replacing this version, which had the following issues:

There were no inline citations for the content.
There appears to be a lot of research of public records, but no citations for the source of the information.
The article focuses on her narrative (which should have its own page, if that is the intent), rather than the Veney's biography.
It is not written as an encyclopedia article. There is a fair amount of trivia.

I am going back to this version, though, to see if there is encyclopedia content in this draft that I may have missed for which there are reliable sources.–CaroleHenson (talk) 10:41, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Here's my review of the pre-rewrite version by section:

Significance of Aunt Betty's Story - this is primarily original research of the number of slave narratives of Virginia, and then from the specific county then where Veney lived. Written the way that it is, this isn't encyclopedia content and the source is unknown.
An overview of the personalities in Aunt Betty's Story - this kind of section is more appropriate for an article about the narrative.

It describes the findings of research in "happily" and "sadly" terms, definitely not encyclopedia content. It also contains trivia and conclusions that fall into the category of original research
There is some information that could be notes in the article - like how the Fletcher estate was divided among his children, specifically relating to Veney's family members. But, it's not evident where this information came from.

Done I found some of this from the narrative and added it to the article - while also being mindful not to pull too much from the narrative.–CaroleHenson (talk) 11:37, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It would be interesting to tie the "Second Great Religious Awakening" to Veney's religious conversion, but I cannot find a source for that. I thought I could back into it by researching Jerry Kibbler (Kibler) and Methodist, but am not finding a source for that either.

"Aunt Betty's" childhood - nothing new here to add
Religious experiences - it would be interesting to have more information about her religious experiences, particularly since attending church was governed by slaveholders.
First marriage - covered in the Bethany Veney#Marriage and children section of the article
Motherhood - I like the quote, I will look for it in the narrative.

Done–CaroleHenson (talk) 11:37, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Second marriage and freedom - covered in the article
After Aunt Betty's Story - much of this is in the article now. I will see if I can find sources information about her employment for the current Bethany Veney#New England section of the article.

Done–CaroleHenson (talk) 17:05, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

–CaroleHenson (talk) 11:12, 24 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I started Sterling Camp Meeting Grounds, which was an important part of Veney's life.–CaroleHenson (talk) 05:10, 25 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]