Talk:Jonathan Alder

Jonathan Alder has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
March 12, 2009	Good article nominee	Listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 10, 2009.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that after being kidnapped by Shawnees and adopted by a Mingo chief, Jonathan Alder became the first white settler of Madison County, Ohio?

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on September 17, 2018.

Biography

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

United States: Ohio Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Ohio portal This article is supported by WikiProject Ohio (assessed as Low-importance).

Hair colour[edit]

Interesting detail that the Shawnee spared Alder because of the colour of his hair. What colour was it? This would be useful information to include in the article. Gonzonoir (talk) 11:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Black, I'll add it now... - Adolphus79 (talk) 16:19, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That makes sense! Thanks. Gonzonoir (talk) 16:34, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the copyedit, you you think it will pass assessment as a C-class article now? - Adolphus79 (talk) 16:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome. I'm afraid I'm completely new to article assessment myself, but reading the guidelines I would guess it's at least C-class. I see you've listed it at the wikiproject, so hopefully a more knowledgeable editor will grade it soon. One suggestion: the lead paragraph would benefit from expansion, I think. Gonzonoir (talk) 17:08, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Aha... I've always thought the lead should only be one or two lines giving a very brief "Joe (born-died) was a German astronaut and cowboy." I did not realize that the lead should also include a short summary of the entire article... I'll have to look into this... thanks... - Adolphus79 (talk) 17:15, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I expanded the lead slightly (per the 'Length' section of WP:LEAD), but my brain is not fully operational yet this morning, and I do not like the phrase "white man's world" at the end... could you maybe think of a better way of saying that last bit for me? - Adolphus79 (talk) 17:38, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi: good work on the new material. I've given the additions a copyedit too; of course, feel free to change anything you disagree with (you've read the source material, and I haven't!). The lead looks fine to me. I'd guess now that one area where a reviewer might raise questions is on the sourcing. You've cited everything scrupulously, but a lot of the material in the article refers to just one source, the Howe. It would be great if you can add inline cites to other books for some of that material as well. Gonzonoir (talk) 19:40, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(undent) Yeah, the most recent expansion was done using the Howe ref, I just read through it word for word and expanded the smaller details I had left out previously... I plan on doing the same thing with the other refs, and adding additional inline refs, if not more content, when I do so... probably later this afternoon or tomorrow... thank you for your second copyedit on the additional content, I did not notice too many errors with either of them... I tried to find some images at the local historical society yesterday, but all they had were some low quality lithos of one of his cabins, and we did not know which cabin... I am going to try to drive down to London one day and take a photo myself of the 1806 cabin at the museum... Again, thank you for your help... - Adolphus79 (talk) 19:50, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds great. Good on you for all the work you're putting in; just shout if you'd ever like another set of eyes on this again. Gonzonoir (talk) 20:03, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure that it is a good solid C class now, and I just left another comment on WP BIO's assessment page... hopefully we can get yet another set of eyes on it, someone with more assessment experience than me, to let me know how to get it to B (or maybe even GA)... (and a DYK to boot, but it's probably too boring for that)... - Adolphus79 (talk) 20:09, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... it seems that Howe (ref #1) is the most accurate and reliable reference available... Nelson's text (ref #4) is a recreation of Alder's own tale, and the editor uses Howe's text to correct Alder's own version... I have found that most of the stories end between 1795 and 1812 though, so I am going to try to find some more references for after Alder's re-uniting with his family and/or the war of 1812 and/or after the war... - Adolphus79 (talk) 21:31, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]