Talk:Katherine Mary Flannigan

Orphan Article
I don't believe that this article should be classified as being an orphan article, with no or few linked articles. As of January 21, 2012 there are 8 links, which seems a good amount for a fairly short article. Karenthewriter (talk) 18:26, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

A difficult article to write
I have been doing a bit of research about this woman, and I have to say I think it is going to be quite the challenge to disentangle the fact from the fiction of the Mrs. Mike book. One example, multiple obituaries and her grave records say that she was 54 when she died, and that she was born in 1899. This would mean that she was 8 years old in 1907 when the "Mrs. Mike" character is 16. There are other problems which make me suspect that the Mrs. Mike version of her life was mostly fictionalized. For example:
 * no reference to a Mike Flannigan in these NWMP archives from the period when he was supposedly in the force
 * no reference to any Flannigan, Katherine Marys or individuals of the right age, occupation etc in the Canadian census records for Grouard in 1911 and 1916.
 * The description of Grouard in 1913 as "a bustling prairie metropolis of over one thousand residents. It boasted two schools, a dentist, four doctors, two lawyers, one eye specialist, two druggists and a veterinary surgeon.." around the time when in the book there is no doctor or drugs anywhere near to save the townspeople from diphtheria.

These points from the census and other data are obvious original research which I have no intention of adding to the article, but they are, I think, useful for the talkpage to establish that we cannot and should not use the novel for any biographical information about the woman herself. There is actually very little biographical information out there. I have found some microfiched obits in Canadian newspapers around the time of her death, but unfortunately there is a fair bit that is contradictory (including where she was born). I'll do my best in the next little while to sift through what there is. Any comments about this welcome!!! --Slp1 (talk) 22:42, 17 March 2012 (UTC)


 * I've been doing more work on this, and have come to the conclusion that it likely would be best if the article was merged to Mrs. Mike. I have found a fair amount of (reliable) sources that confirm that put in doubt a lot of the details of the novel. Katherine Mary Flannigan (if this was ever her legal name) is not notable outside the novel, so it is best to put the novel front and centre. Unless there are any objections, I will probably do this shortly. --Slp1 (talk) 02:27, 17 June 2012 (UTC)