User talk:Singer2cantor

I attempted beginning to build a page for Brevet Brigadier General John Henry Hammond in 2022. My page was nominated and approved for speedy deletion as soon as I had started, so I was never able to present or finish my final work. At the time Wikipedia seemed confused as there are other generals with the same name. But this General John Henry Hammond worked under General Sherman and was the founder of Superior, Wisconsin. I now have several digitised newspaper articles from the Superior Telegram that offer great details into Brevet Brigadier General John Henry Hammond, including a headshot and extensive biographical information. None of it is found online because the local historical society still has not digitised the local papers in Superior. I would like to try again to see if he could be recognised by Wikipedia without my having to resort to paying a Wikipedia editor to create a page. Wikipedia says it is free, and I would like for General Hammond to be recognised for his accomplishments. Can you please advise me how best to begin? Singer2cantor (talk) 16:02, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

Hello, I'm Magnolia677. An edit that you recently made to Superior, Wisconsin seemed to be generated using a large language model (an "AI chatbot" or other application using such technology). Text produced by these applications is usually unsuitable for an encyclopedia, and may contain factually inaccurate statements, fictitious citations, or other problems. You should instead read reliable sources and then summarize those in your own words. Your edit may have been reverted. If you want to practice editing, please use your sandbox. If you think a mistake was made, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks. Magnolia677 (talk) 19:12, 8 February 2026 (UTC)

Hello, Magnolia677, thanks again for reviewing my edit. The edits contain no factually inaccurate statements, or fictitious citations. I believe it was an error to have reverted the edit. Please refer to my response on "Superior, Wisconsin" that I added to your talk page: User talk:Magnolia677 Singer2cantor (talk) 20:11, 8 February 2026 (UTC)

		The Cheesy Barnstar
		Thank you for all your work improving articles related to the towns and history of northern Wisconsin MinnesotaNiceGuy (talk) 18:23, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! We've got a very rich history, and like a good Wisconsin cheddar, it only gets better with age. Singer2cantor (talk) 18:26, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

John Henry Hammond (Union Army officer), which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.

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ChrysGalley (talk) 23:03, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

• Thanks very much for the above article, and I see you have improved it further with the photo and other source. Personally I don't think there was any difficulty with this subject, there is actually plenty, plenty of coverage. The Dakota history piece was pretty detailed, I did take the decision not to use the unflattering coverage of that source's description of the subject's war record, under WP:UNDUE since Ulysees Grant would probably be the better and first-hand judge. I did wonder if this was due to some name mix up, but it is clear the subject was a staff (administrative) officer who ended up in the cavalry, getting rapidly promoted bearing in mind he started as a Private. But my question for you is - did you use AI or LLM for this article? The reason it took me a while to sort out the article was due to some mistakes in the sources. Some minor (incorrect publisher name), some quite significant (wrong author, mix up on book names). But when I checked it all through, then I came across first the details on Sitting Bull, then the "ingot of gold", and it seemed strange that it wasn't mentioned in the draft; but not at all strange that LLM missed it. So I wonder whether AI / LLM was initially leading us down the garden path here?

If you have any more details on the Superior Telegram cuttings (dates in particular), let me know since I've got access to some academic databanks. Formally you do not need a newspaper to be online or digitalised, but it does need clear referencing, such as dates and ideally page numbers, since the theory is that someone can walk into a library and see the archived copy. That's good enough for Wikipedia, it's just poorly identified offline sources which are problematic. ChrysGalley (talk) 09:27, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for the careful read and for catching the citation issues. I don’t use AI for writing. I try to check all facts and citations manually against the original sources before submitting. The publisher and author errors were my mistakes while consolidating and sorting through different editions and scans. I appreciate you flagging them. I did come across some hostile Dakota press coverage while gathering material, but I wasn’t entirely sure how best to handle it in terms of balance, especially since much of it appeared tied to the political conflict of that time. My initial focus was on establishing notability for AfC, so I kept the Dakota section brief instead of risking overstating either praise or criticism. I agree the controversy is part of the record and I’m open to your suggestions on how it should be presented. I’ll work on pinning down precise dates and page numbers for the Superior Evening Telegram material. I worked with the Superior Public Library to scan their microfiche records, as the Telegram is not digitized. I was handling a lot of materials in batches with scanned file names providing their dates and page number, so I can go back and check. I appreciate the reminder about offline source accuracy. Thanks again for your thoughtful review. Singer2cantor (talk) 13:32, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Yes @Singer2cantor, it's always an issue as to where WP:UNDUE sits. The answer is to put it on the Talk page and see where consensus lies, as a long term answer. For now, I think the wording is actually OK, there is mention of the controversy, and anyone can click through. The article is supposed to be a summary, and that's there, though with possibly scope for more text. That also applies to the Clark story, since in the legal proceedings there was a lot of discussion as to how the diaries ended up in Hammond's possession. Now counsel for the US government suggested that he found it in his Dakota office but actually there is no proof, he could have legitimately bought the manuscript in a bookshop. But I just left a one sentence mention and people can click through for the speculation.

For the Superior Evening Telegram, that is available online from May 1890, but that's too late for the subject. St. Pauls may be another hunting ground. ChrysGalley (talk) 13:51, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

I was only able to locate articles from the Telegram via physical microfiche through SPL directly and wasn’t aware of a fully digitized run beginning May 1890. If you happen to have the link to that archive, I’d appreciate it. Singer2cantor (talk) 14:13, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

• It seems to be on Newspapers.com - I've had a quick look and there is quite a lot on Hammond, including forensic details of his will/probate. He seemingly was quite affluent, I can see details of of $150,000 of cash and shares, which would be $5 million in today's money. That's a quick look, if you will give me a few days then I will dig a bit further. But here is an obituary notice of sorts, which now gives us a potential year of birth. If you can't see this clipping (well, it is also very faint!) then use another browser or Incognito, Newspapers.com's cookies interrupt after five views.
• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-superior-times-john-henry-hammond-g/191270632/

ChrysGalley (talk) 15:05, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks. Superior Times was a different paper that predated the Evening Telegram. Newspapers.com doesn't have any of the Evening Telegram editions scanned from 1890 to present to my knowledge. There were several local papers, but the Superior Evening Telegram and all the other local papers are overseen by the Douglas County Historical Society and they have yet to have gotten themselves together to scan the papers of Superior, Wisconsin. A common, sad problem for many of these small American towns of former glory. Singer2cantor (talk) 17:49, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

The 1890 obituary provided less biographical information compared to the four pages dedicated to the memorial service to honor General John Henry Hammond in the Superior Evening Telegram on the weekend of 1 July 1912 (page 3) and 2 July 1913 (pages 3-5) covering the dedication of a fountain that the city installed in Hammond Park. His sons Ogden Hammond (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ogden_H._Hammond&oldid=1336588103 ) and John Henry Hammond (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Hammond_House?wprov=sfti1#) both spoke on behalf of their mother, Sophia Vernon Wolfe. In addition to showing the fountain and the assembly that showed up for the event, it also includes a reprint of the same headshot I provided from 1890. Singer2cantor (talk) 20:21, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;cc=wiarchives;view=text;rgn=main;didno=uw-whs-sup000r I’ve had the opportunity to digitize Hammond’s personal papers at UW–Superior, including an unpublished autobiography that’s part of the collection. In that manuscript he reflects at some length on his years in Superior and suggests that he felt his contributions to the city were not fully appreciated locally. It’s an interesting personal perspective, though of course unpublished and not something I would cite in the article itself.

He also provides additional genealogical detail there, including his birth in New York City on 30 June 1833, along with some colorful descriptions of his land acquisitions in West Superior covertly using a civil war cypher and burning down the forestry without notice. Again, fascinating material, but I’ve avoided using any of it since it would constitute original research. I’ve occasionally wondered whether his own sense of being overlooked might relate to the relative brevity of his local death notice, though that’s purely speculative. It may just as well be that the contemporaneous publication of Eye of the Northwest, in which he features prominently, was considered sufficient recognition at the time.

In any case, the archival material certainly adds color to his life, even if it can’t be incorporated into the article without published secondary sourcing. Singer2cantor (talk) 20:56, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I have linked in a copy of the 1 July 1912 newspaper report regarding the fountain and Hammond Park. The text in the next day's newspaper gives a lot more information, as does the catalogue entry above. I need to spend a bit of time reading the 2 July story, which has a lot of information (which overlaps the catalogue). I don't think I can sensible clip in a copy of that, since it's not just spread over 3 pages but the layout within the page is all over the show. We can use the catalogue material, it's primary sourcing but not OR. His own writings would be OR. My calculation is that he died when he was 56 years old, not 57. ChrysGalley (talk) 21:15, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for adding the memorial information and the link out to the paper. Singer2cantor (talk) 02:15, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

I am quite impressed that the DCHS finally scanned and made the paper available online. At the time I collected materials in 2024, it did not exist on Newspapers.com and the library and I went painstakingly through the old card catalogue and archives to find articles of interest. DCHS is an all volunteer organization. I was pushing them for years to get their newspapers scanned and searchable on newspapers.com. This is a major milestone for them. Thank you for making me aware of this development. Singer2cantor (talk) 02:30, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

• That newspaper, and any newspaper printed before 1930, is out of copyright, so absolutely anyone can digitialise the newspaper, and back in the day all sorts of libraries carefully stored their newspapers (thankfully). So it's not just DCHS, the biggie is the Library of Congress, they normally digitialise and release on their site. The British Library (I'm a member) has copies of various Superior newspapers, perhaps thanks to Ontario. Newspapers.com just hoover up whatever they can and from whereever given that family history is big business. The information in the 2 July version gives a lot about Hammond's entrepreneurial activity, so we will have to update that aspect. It would probably be best to move that conversation to the Talk page of Hammond though, for visibility. ChrysGalley (talk) 09:12, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

  Agreed. And thanks for the information on the newspaper digitization. They may not even know that the paper is now on Newspapers.com. I will alert them. Singer2cantor (talk) 20:53, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Your math is correct. He passed at the age of 56. Singer2cantor (talk) 04:20, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

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