Talk:Martha's Vineyard/Archive 1

Map error
The map on this page is wrong, as it lists the town of Chilmark as 'Chilwick'. Does any one have another map, or can whoever created the first one fix it? - Thanks


 * I contacted the author of the map, User:NormanEinstein, earlier this week. He is in the process of fixing it. Mike Dillon 21:59, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Genetic basis of deafness
Hi, Martha's vineyard is often considered as a case-study for the adverse effects of a small closed gene pool, since the deafness of the population resulted from an effective (although ultimately innocent enough) inbreeding resulting in `genetic drift'. I therefore propose the following slight modification to the first paragraph,

''...The islands closed gene-pool resulted in it being home to one of the earliest known deaf communities, and consequently a special dialect of sign language, Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, developed on the island. The island is now primarily known as a summer colony.''

any objections?

-rainbowpants 23:43, 15 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I don't think the intro is the proper place for that material. That's fairly specific information and deserves to be properly sourced. The deaf community isn't mentioned in the body of the article, so if this is as significant as you say, perhaps it should have a paragraph in the History section or its own section if the material is sufficient. --NormanEinstein 13:53, 16 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Agreed, but it should be included in the article as fact. See Groce, Nora Ellen. "Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language : Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard" Amazon link, and Lane, Harland, Richard C. Pillard and Mary French. "Origins of the American Deaf-World: Assimilating and Differentiating Societies and Their Relation to Genetic Patterning." Sign Language Studies 1.1 (2000) 17-44 (accessed through Project Muse).

From the latter, "In her work on the Vineyard Deaf population, Groce identified 72 Deaf individuals, of whom 63 could trace their ancestry to James Skiffe, 32 to Samuel Tilton, and 9 to Jonathan Lambert (Groce 1985). Most of the Deaf people on the island had all three of these colonists in their pedigrees. Remarkably, Groce found that all three families were linked before they arrived on the Vineyard. In 1634 a minister named Lothrop and some 200 members of his congregation and their servants, all from parishes in an area in the English county of Kent known as the Weald, arrived in Boston harbor. They made their way to Scituate, where half the population was from the Weald, and then to Barnstable on Cape Cod. In 1670 several of these families moved to the Vineyard when James Skiffe, who was from Kent, sold land in Tisbury. In the ensuing decades, more of these families—Tiltons, Lamberts, and others—moved across Vineyard Sound, settling in the Chilmark area (Banks 1966). Because of the very early appearance of Deaf people on the island and because not all the known Deaf Vineyarders can be traced to a common Vineyard ancestor, Groce concludes that the island’s Deaf heritage, and thus Mary Smith’s, originated in the Weald and arrived on the island with the colonizing families." (Lane, Pillard and French 23-26).--Marysunshine 03:18, 24 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I've added the material and citations.--Marysunshine 04:09, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

Dyke/Dike
google for 'dike bridge vineyard conservation society' I'll take the first few links here as authority. Blair P. Houghton 23:39, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)


 * Yes, but lots of good references for Dyke Bridge, too, including this from the MV Times and this  from the MV Gazette. It appears that either spelling is accepted (I've never been there, myself). How about if we put in both?  - DavidWBrooks 02:56, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It's Dike (except to New Yorkers who are steeped in the Dutch habit of spellings like they were on cell phones in the 17th century, hence Bronx and Dollar). The conservation society is going to be conserving things like that, though, and I'm going with their word. If they'd been preponderantly "Dyke", that's what I'd accept. Okay, as long as Dike remains the major case; there's plenty of people who do misspell it. Blair P. Houghton 05:06, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

As a frequent visitor to the island, I've never seen it spelled "Dike" - it's always "Dyke". I'll double check that next week and make changes if so.


 * Great, but do us all a favor and create an account before you do. When an anonymous IP changes something that has been the topic of debate, there is a tendency to assume that the change is spurious and to revert it; rightly or wrongly, people will look more seriously at a change (and look for reasons why it was done) if it's done by somebody with an account. - DavidWBrooks 17:40, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Lifetime resident of the island its dike Samnesral — Preceding unsigned comment added by Samnesral (talk • contribs) 22:23, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Martha's Vineyard African American Heritage Trail
I am doing a project on William A. Martin's House, but cannot find any pictures of it. I live on Martha's Vineyard, but I can't go down to chappy to take some pictures. If anyone could find some, then please tell me. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.20.17.14 (talk) 15:07, 13 November 2006  (UTC)

Towns
2 Things: 1) West chop is part of Tisbury. It is not its own town. 2) What does the "athens" of Martha's Vineyard mean? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.247.239.56 (talk) 21:56, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Typo. Please correct.
The C in Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be capitalized.
 * This seems to have been done; feel free to make spelling corrections and other changes directly to the article. -- Beland 06:39, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Thomas Hart Benton.
It would be nice to see some addition of material on Chilmark about Thomas Hart Bentons time spent there in the 1920s. I am a frequent reader of Wiki, but do not know how to edit yet or anything. I am currently reading a good book he wrote in his old age and he discusses Chilmark and the artistic activity happening in MV at that time. Maybe it will be my first edit? If anyone else has any knowlege of this very important aspect of Chilmark history, (and knows how to edit) please take this torch and run with it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.39.254.235 (talk) 02:47, 11 December 2006 (UTC).

comment about John Belushi
Hi, I did not know where to ask my question, since this is my first time in editing & signing in & I'm new to Wiki, so since this is the closest to my question subject, I chose to ask it here: What does the commment about John Belushi have to do with this article of Martha's Vineyard? Is Chilmark a part of Martha's Vineyard? It does not state so in any part of the article that I have read so far. Lotus7 02:28, 15 February 2007 (UTC)Lotus7


 * Yes, Chilmark is a town on Martha's Vineyard. John Belushi died in California, his body was taken to Martha's Vineyard where a funeral was held in West Tisbery. He was buried in Chilmark. He was an island resident along with his friend Dan Akroyd. His widow, Judy Belushi Pissano and his brother, Jim Belushi, both live on the island. (talk)

Hollywood
I removed this line:

On the television show Gilmore Girls there is an episode titled "A Vineyard Valentine" that takes place on the Vineyard, however there are no recognizable landmarks.

Fictional TV characters on a fictional show pretending to visit a real town is not encyclopedic. Jaws was filmed on Martha's Vineyard, that is worth noting, I would suggest the other shows listed should have references acknowledging they were filmed there, not just 'suppose to be there.' — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.178.13.167 (talk) 18:41, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Endless list of businesses and stores
I went ahead and removed most of the endless list of commercial businesses in the "Scenic landmarks, stores and locations" and renamed it "Points of Interest." It was looking a lot like self-serving spam.

The few commercial businesses I left include historical buildings (like the old theatres) and businesses (the Mansion House) and those that can't be ignored (Black Dog.) I imagine we could add some of the other really old hotels like the Harbor View or the Wesley House.

It seems too long as it is. Care to edit further? Cbaer 13:40, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Original name
Bartholomew Gosnold indicates that Martha's Vineyard was the original name, but this article says it was Martin's Vineyard. Reliable sources are needed. -- Beland 06:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

"The original name of the island was Martin's Vineyard (after the captain of Gosnold's ship, John Martin)" contradicts Nomans Land, too. ("In 1602, from the voyage of the Concord (of Dartmouth) arriving at Cape Cod on May 15, 1602, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold had named the small island "Martha's Vineyard" after his eldest daughter, Martha;[5] however, the name was later transferred to the larger island nearby, northeast of Nomans Land.") In the case that no theory is definitely refuted, they all should be counted for - or at least mentioned as refuted so people won't dig it all up again. --Oop 10:28, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

This is a disputed point. See []. Although it's been established that Banks did have a daughter Martha since this was written, it has not been established that he named the island after her. I suggest we do not state it as an established fact. Cbaer 14:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Population
It would be good if there could be even a rough approximation of both the permanent and non-permanent population somewhere. Or am I missing something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.101.225.152 (talk) 10:26, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Lester
Hi. I had a great aunt tell me a tale some years ago about my ancestors the DeBettencourts who were among the first europeans to inhabit the island. The family name is DeBett. If anyone has any information regarding this, please share.

Derek —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 132.161.143.182 (talk) 00:05, 6 October 2004 (UTC).


 * from where in europe?
 * when did they settle?
 * any full names? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rj (talk) 20:44, 7 October 2004 (UTC).

The name Debettencourt is common on the island, though I've no idea how long the family has been there —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlesaf3 (talk • contribs) 02:56, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

My mother's side of the family is all Portuguese, and my aunt is on the working committee for the Martha's Vineyard Portuguese Genealogy Project (http://history.vineyard.net/mvpgp/).

The site contains a list of family names and also has a lot of research resources. My grandmother's maiden name is De Bettencourt so I've kept an eye out for anything on them but haven't found much.

- amwestover (Dec 29, 2007) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amwestover (talk • contribs) 20:50, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

"Athens" of the island
Hi. I grew up on Martha's Vineyard and I'm curious the source of the statement about West Tisbury being the Athens of the island. What does that even mean?

-Jesse —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.96.191.39 (talk) 16:15, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

I think it's a play on one of Boston's nicknames, The Athens of America. However, I never heard West Tisbury be referred to as the Athens of the Island while I grew up there.

- amwestover (Mar 2, 2008) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amwestover (talk • contribs) 16:17, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Query about Annual Events list
I'm wondering why the Aquinnah Music Festival is listed under All Towns instead of in a separate Aquinnah list -- does anyone know? If not, I'll move it. Forestgarden (talk) 17:28, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Odd Sentence
"The island is primarily known as a summer colony, and is accessible only by boat and by air."

How unusual for an island to be accessible only by boat and by air. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.158.94 (talk) 05:37, 9 November 2008 (UTC)


 * There's Long Island, Staten Island, and plenty of others (but not, alas, Gravina Island) with bridge or causeway access.Cbaer (talk) 12:20, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Incomplete sentence
In the "Modern era" section: "Native Americans in the United States,...." Might be the result of an accidental deletion. Can someone who's familiar with the page history attempt to fix... 24.19.37.181 (talk) 18:49, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Pillsbury Family and Jewish misinformation
Just removed the listing of the 'Pillsbury' family as Jewish. I'm too lazy to find out who originally listed this, but must have some sort of issue with Jews or Pillsburys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tapered (talk • contribs) 06:40, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Cost of living
"...A study by the Martha's Vineyard Commission found that the cost of living on the island is 60 percent higher than the national average and housing prices are 96 percent higher.[1]"
 * Placing emphasis on a detail such as this in the Lead paragraph, is terribly misleading. Mike Seccombe's Martha's Vineyard Times article goes on to clarify that the study was performed on a select target group of professionals and was not representative of the Island community in general.  For example, even the Martha's Vineyard Commission had some reservations about the percentages cited:

&mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 15:47, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Rhode Island
I removed the following paragraph (added by an anon) from the article:


 * Although Martha's Vineyard is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, when asked in which state they live, many residents will say Rhode Island. The residents of the Vineyad would prefer to become part of Rhode Island rather than remain in Massachusetts.

If this is true and anyone has evidence for it, go ahead and add it back in. AJD 14:54, 23 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I have lived on Martha's Vineyard my whole life, and not omce has anyone ever said that we were or would like to be part of Rhode Island User:Mved
 * The subject was discussed in 1977 during Terry McCarthy's secession campaign. I believe he approached Block Island with a query if that island would entertain the notion of joining Martha's Vineyard in secession, and then of partitioning the Rhode Island legislature as a "collective body" of Outer Islands.  The notion was mere hype, was easily passed off, and nothing became of the entire concept, other than a little media attention.  In response to the statement "...when asked in which state they live, many residents will say Rhode Island."  This is nonsense.  I lived 62 years on MV and no acquaintance ever said that he lived in the state of Rhode Island.  On the other hand, when asked, many residents would say ''Tax–achusetts". 24.170.242.101 (talk) 15:12, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Subtle Advertising
"...etcetera all found the Vineyard an exciting, rewarding place to live."

This doesn't belong in an encyclopedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.113.141.186 (talk) 01:49, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Celebrity lists
"Well-known celebrities who live on or frequently visit the island:...Queen Elizabeth; Roger Moore; Marco Borsato;..."
 * This is a joke. Lists like this should be backed by reliable factual documentation, or deleted altogether.  Query any Vineyarder and ask: Have you ever seen Queen Elizabeth, Roger Moore, or Marco Borsato...anywhere onisland?  Lists like this serve little purpose other than degrade an otherwise interesting article and reduce it to the level of tabloid journalism. &mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 15:25, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

''"...Many people visit his grave and in the summer it is often littered with beer cans, joints and other "tokens" for Belushi. [19]
 * hmm...this kind of detail is little more than yellow journalism. Furthermore, the citation for the factual detail goes to a website called Absolute Astronomy where we discover that the authority for this stupid remark on Belushi's gravesite-details is a copy of Wikipedia's own article on Martha's Vineyard, or perhaps some commentary from the Absolute Astronomy chatters.  Come on, this is not cricket; it is a cheap trick and against Wikipedia's policy on reliable sources and original research.  I noticed that this technique was used on two other occasions.  I will delete the offending material within a week unless someone steps forward to support this kind of shenanigans.&mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 16:28, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

'I added this simple and factual sentence a number of years ago, the charge of "yellow journalism" is insulting and ignorant. I do not know who added the citation nor why. I am a life long resident of Martha's Vineyard and this fact is commonly known there, if you don't believe me, here is a picture of said gravestone. http://lh5.ggpht.com/kropewnicki/SG5CQsCwfmI/AAAAAAAACFo/ExPZ9G-Xkyc/s800/John%20Paying%20Respect%20at%20John%20Belushis%20Grave%202.jpg Cheers mved (talk)
 * It serves little purpose in an encyclopedia to regurgitate facts which are "commonly known" without supplying a verifiable source. Your hyperlink is useless; it could be the image of a crackpot with an insensitive, disrespectful need for attention.  There are ghosts haunting the West Tisbury farm of **** ********.  Does this "commonly known fact" deserve recognition too?  I doubt it.  If you wish to keep a repugnant remark about the cemetery conditions, remember both the family and the cemetery custodians found the subject of your juvenile interest tasteless.&mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 19:52, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Around the world there are many celebrity graves that people often travel to and do what they will do there. Perhaps my word choice was a little biased, but honestly, I really don't condone people leaving trash on his grave, although I have smoked a cig there now and then for kicks. Sometimes the grave site is nice and respectable, other times there are countless bottles and other trash, that is truth, regardless of whether or not you think it is repugnant or tasteless. If Judy or Jim were upset with that post, I feel sorry for upsetting them. This site shows the grave with 2 bottles of beer and a Cubs hat,http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=77, oh, and look at this one the reputable TIME magazine http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1919236_1919237_1919234,00.html notice the "tokens" I mentioned? Anyway, I think you should watch your online tone, I've looked at a lot of your posts and you come off as someone who probably isn't very much fun to be around. Cheers. (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 08:37, 27 May 2010 (UTC).

True Island
I removed the use of the term "true island" from one sentence in this article. My brief searches didn't turn up any indication that this is a well-defined geography term. The definition was given parenthetically within the article as "the largest island not connected to mainland by a bridge or tunnel." If anyone else knows more on this topic then maybe this could be reverted back into the article. If it is a well-defined term then possibly a new article could be made describing it and a link made. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rock soup (talk • contribs) 23:52, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Normans Land
I think that the information on Normans Land in the intro does not belong in this article. The same information can currently be found in the Normans Land article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rock soup (talk • contribs) 00:03, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

What is the actual size of the island in square miles?
Doing a quick search I found a difference in square miles ranging from 87 - 104 square miles. What source should be used to clear this up?Whoisjohngalt (talk) 00:32, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

Secession
In 1977, Martha's Vineyard tried to secede from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (it also tried to secede from the United States and become an independent nation) along with the island of Nantucket.

Is there any references for this information? I tried looking it up, but didn't find any. Thanks. --Ragib 01:40, 15 January 2006 (UTC)


 * The Vineyard Gazette seems to have some articles. Try a Google search for "site:mvgazette.com secession" (without the quotes). I didn't dig in, but there are 63 results. From the snippets Google provides, they seem to refer to secession from Massachusetts, not the United States. Mike Dillon 01:55, 15 January 2006 (UTC)


 * After a closer look, it looks like there may only be one thing . The rest are about "secession" from the Martha's Vineyard Commission. If you add "1977" to the Google search, you get 19 hits, so you might want to look at them all, I may have missed something. Mike Dillon 01:58, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Try this page. It has a whole compilation of articles about MV sucession:
 * http://www.mvgazette.com/commentary/gazette_chronicle/?document=19770300_statehood
 * —Jared 21:31, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The concept of secession was the brainstorm in the late-70s of a man named Terry McCarthy. At the time, he was the Dukes County Representative from Martha's Vineyard to the Massachusetts Legislature, a first-term representative with the fanciful notion that the idea of secession would cause the Legislature to reconsider some of its redistricting philosophy.  Redistricting threatened to combine McCarthy's island office with several, other Cape communities and with Nantucket and thus, the loud voices of Martha's Vineyard's residents would be much softer since the newly proposed representative would be less likely to be elected from the Vineyard.  McCarthy enjoyed media coverage of the day (even Time magazine I think had a small piece on the subject) and he found a local artist to design a catchy "secession flag" (a flying seagull floating majestically above a blue  island?) McCarthy approached several abutting states to see if those states would be interested in acquiring Martha's Vineyard should there be a referendum on secession by the local voters (To the best of my knowledge, there NEVER was any discussion of seceding from the United States, or of becoming a single entity Nation).  After a short media blitz, and a lot of brouhaha (which even encompassed the possibility of Block Island seceding too), the concept of Martha's Vineyard's secession disappeared into the Vineyard Sound fog by circa 1978-9. Most of what I have written is from memory, but the two island papers covered the story well: the Vineyard Gazette and the Grapevine (now know as the Martha's Vineyard Times.) The Dukes County Historical Society (located in Edgartown on School Street) has a curator who would welcome all inquiries on such trivia as this; he has a lot of time on his hands. &mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 21:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The loss of MV's own seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives was the result of a ballot question that mandated a reduction in the total number of representatives in the House. I recall that Nantucket voted in favor of the reduction, and I suspect that Martha's Vineyard did too. Does anyone have the figures on this? Bostoner (talk) 02:27, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150701155523/http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/faqs.htm to http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/faqs.htm#18
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070627121040/http://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/Papers/labov.pdf to http://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/Papers/labov.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090310042434/http://www.wtisbury.mv.k12.ma.us:80/ to http://www.wtisbury.mv.k12.ma.us/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150219145354/http://www.oakbluffs.mv.k12.ma.us/ to http://www.oakbluffs.mv.k12.ma.us/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090307013255/http://www.tisbury.mv.k12.ma.us:80/ to http://www.tisbury.mv.k12.ma.us/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080628061845/http://chilmarkschool.mv.k12.ma.us:80/ to http://chilmarkschool.mv.k12.ma.us/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130618232317/http://possibledreamsauction.org/ to http://www.possibledreamsauction.org
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20150119003223/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125150193908668295.html to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125150193908668295.html

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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120225082934/https://www.mvtimes.com/2008/08/14/news/news-in-brief.php to http://www.mvtimes.com/2008/08/14/news/news-in-brief.php

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"Black" or "African-American"?
In the Residents section, "Black" is used (I just cleaned up inconsistent capitalization), but "African-American" is used in the Tourism section. Does anyone feel strongly about what is used? I have a slight personal preference for the latter, so if no one else weighs in, I'll make that adjustment so the article is consistent in its terminology. Thanks. Forestgarden (talk) 17:31, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I find the entire paragraph in the Residents section distasteful; it draws unnecessary attention to a separation between the preceeding paragraph about the "celebrities" and itself, and thus becomes racial in its overtones. It is understandable that the writer of the paragraph does not intend to convey this separation, but neverthelss it happens, especially when the offending paragraph ends on the subject of the Inkwell beach.  The paragraph needs to be removed or rewritten or simply incorporated into the paragraph about the celebrities. Why someone felt that it was necessary to make this distinction between the "celebrities" of the first paragraph and the "blacks" of the second paragraph is beyond me. &mdash;24.170.242.101 (talk) 21:26, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
 * A distinction of some sort is needed as explanation, otherwise the reference to 'The Inkwell' nickname is too obscure. As it currently stood, I was confused until I followed the link to the film of that name. So I've reworded this paragraph and added a citation. Please rewrite further if my phrasing is offensive. – Meticulo (talk) 22:54, 2 February 2017 (UTC)
 * And I've also reworded the paragraph before that after looking at old versions of the article. Some mention of race is needed to retain the significance of these paragraphs. - Meticulo (talk) 23:17, 2 February 2017 (UTC)

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"First book brought to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket by European settlers"?
A photograph of a book bearing the caption "First book brought to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket by European settlers. Shiwei Jiang's private collection" rather inexplicably appears in the sidebar. Nowhere in the article does it mention this book, nor is any citation given provided to demonstrate the veracity of the claim, nor does Shiwei Jiang seem to be notable, so why are these included? Unless the WP:N standards are met for the book, it should not be mentioned. Even if it is, the owner, unless they meet the same standards, should not be mentioned in the caption. And reliable secondary sources for all must be provided. Otherwise, it will all be removed. Bricology (talk) 23:52, 17 April 2016 (UTC)

Plus, the picture does not look like any book I have ever seen. It seems to be a blob of gelatin. Or perhaps the book is covered in layers of plastic? I don't get it, and will probably remove it in a few weeks, if I remember. Keeves (talk) 21:36, 9 November 2017 (UTC)  ... Done. Keeves (talk) 01:09, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

Thoughts about Hereditary deafness and sign language
I had deaf culture and history course last semester, and because of that experience, I am interested in the deaf history in Martha's Vineyard. After reading the written information under this tag, I believe I can add more related information, for example, the difference between Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) and American Sign Language (ASL). I noticed that there is one sentence that was marked as source needed, so I found this research paper "[RU 310--Hereditary Deafness.pdf Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard Collection]" to help me add citations to this part.Jill Gu (talk) 23:00, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Suggestions for Hereditary Deafness and Sign Language section:
-percentage comparisons are illustrative and effective! :)

-For alignment and to create an affirmative statement, consider rewording the related sentence in the article to read: ...cannot be traced to one common ancestor; however, documentation indicates that the first deaf immigrants to inhabit Martha's Vineyard originally lived in the Weald...

-'smoothly' suggests an opinion, consider ...this allowed deaf and hearing residents the opportunity to communicate and to interact with each other using a common language

-for greater clarity consider ...as intermarriage and further migration joined the people of Martha's Vineyard to the mainland, the island community itself began to more closely resemble the demographics of the mainland...

-Perhaps follow that sentence up with: ...and soon the population of deaf people living on the Vineyard decreased significantly...

Jullian Drews (talk) 23:28, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

A lot of great information, off to a great start! -Consider clarification about big D versus little d 'Deafness' are the people there culturally 'Deaf' or 'deaf'?

-MVSL Martha's Vineyard Sign language. I would suggest inserting a few words that clarify this is different from ASL such as "MVSL, a sign language specifically used in the village of Martha's Vineyard..."

-I would suggest separating your paragraphs into political, economic and social facts. You could, for instance, put income under your economic paragraph and family and church information into your social paragraph.

'Deaf Vineyarders generally earned an average or above average income, proved by tax records, and they participated in church affairs with passion.'-Church affairs and average income are two different subjects, I would consider revising for organizational purposes. Alternative organization suggestion- group all of the information about income in one sentence, then transition to separate subject of church.

Etoppo (talk) 16:45, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Edits counter to MoS
I'm opening a discussion regarding this diff because all that it did was re-break a variety of manual of style consensuses – at least MOS:CURLY, MOS:CITEPUNCT, and MOS:HEADCAPS – and also went from reference templates back into bare URLs. I would be curious about what the motivation for that edit was so that we can work whatever the desirable change is into the page without breaking style consensus. - Astrophobe  (talk) 00:18, 20 November 2020 (UTC)