Talk:James W. Stephenson

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	James W. Stephenson has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
	An entry from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on August 21, 2007.
October 29, 2007 Good article nominee Listed

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[edit] GA hold

This is the kind of article I think GA is perfect for! I am placing it on hold for a few small fixes:

• Footnote 7 - the geocities site - the link is broken.
• I'm confused by the "References" section. That book isn't listed in the footnotes. How was it used as a reference? General background knowledge?
• He came to Edwardsville from Kaskaskia in 1816; in 1820, the family moved into the Benjamin Stephenson House in Edwardsville. - Who is the "he"?
• It is a little hard to follow which Stephenson was involved with the murder - Benjamin or James.
• I would insert a definition for "unexceptionable" as it has changed meaning since the nineteenth century.

Other expansions beyond GA that would be interesting:

• On 29 January 1825, while at the Stephenson House for a party, Daniel D. Smith was stabbed to death. - Do we know anything about Daniel Smith? This comes as something of a shock in the article.
• In the "Military career" section you might think about including a sentence or two describing what the Black Hawk War was about.
• The first we hear of the children is in the "Death" section.

If you have any questions about this review, drop me a line; otherwise leave a note on my talk page when you want me to re-review it. Awadewit | talk 20:33, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

First of all, thanks for the stunningly quick review! Awesome. The ref seems to work for me, at least now, the historical society that uses it has been having bandwith problems of late, hasn't happened before, I wish they'd just pony up and get a better site, the material is high quality and well researched from what I can tell, hopefully it works and continues to, as the information in the article on that site is unavailable in any publication I have found thus far, and I have been researching the Black Hawk War and its related personalities for several months.

The other comments I should be able to address relatively quickly, but the reference one is out of my hands, obviously. :) Thanks again, and I will let you know when things are ready. We may want to wait a few days to make sure the ref is stable again. IvoShandor 02:18, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

• You're welcome! Sometimes it is nice to take a break and read a nice little article like this one rather than sit down for hours to review the American Civil War. While important, it takes a very long time. :) The site is working for me today. I must have just caught it at a bad moment. Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stuff done

• Tried to clarify who was involved in the "affray" at the house, it was James.

• On 29 January 1825, while at the Stephenson House for a party, family acquaintance Daniel D. Smith was stabbed to death. Following an argument, Smith was found in the dining room with a stab wound - Seems a bit redundant - he was stabbed and found with a stab wound? Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

• Added the Smith was a family acquaintance, this is all I know at this point.

• Better than nothing. Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

• The Trask book is actually footnoted twice. :) Number 6 and 10.

• Oops. :) Thought I checked. Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

• Clarified "he".

• Indeed. Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

IvoShandor 02:38, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

• Added war background.
• Added bit about children earlier.
• Split career section into two logical subsections.

IvoShandor 07:59, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

• Passing this now. Awadewit | talk 08:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)