Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Herbert Harrison Mercer


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. J04n(talk page) 23:46, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

Herbert Harrison Mercer

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With the Portuguese Wiki containing nothing better and this article also, my searches have found nothing better than these Books links and therefore still questionable for WP:POLITICIAN and WP:GNG (with Tibagi not seeming convincing for its mayor to be WP:POLITICIAN and certainly nothing merge-material). SwisterTwister  talk  04:57, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions.  SwisterTwister   talk  05:01, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Brazil-related deletion discussions.  SwisterTwister   talk  05:01, 16 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Keep for now The article suggests some notability. It seems he was some sort of regional judge. It also seems he was involved in the creation of the Flag of Brazil. We need people fluent in Portuguese to conduct further searches. He was the founding Mayor of an area, the precedent seems to be a keep per Articles for deletion/Walter Christie AusLondonder (talk) 08:23, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
 * That precedent would be relevant if it could be shown that Mercer had an editorial obituary (not a family-written death notice) in a major national/regional newspaper of the stature of The New York Times, but we have no evidence of that. Walter Christie was kept on the basis of available sources, not because he helped found a town with a current population of about 20,000. 86.17.222.157 (talk) 16:23, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * I note that Tibagi has a current population of about 20,000, so being mayor wouldn't be enough on its own to pass WP:POLITICIAN. I'm not quite sure that I understand the bit in the article about the flag of Brazil - if he really did design it then maybe he is notable. 86.17.222.157 (talk) 14:10, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, st170e talk 15:05, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete Absolutely nothing is verified. In particular, the claim that he was involved in the creation of the flag of the Republic of Brazil is contradicted by our article Flag of Brazil. --MelanieN (talk) 21:27, 30 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep I agree that the article in its current state is very poor, but the subject seems to be notable to me. He is one of the founding settlers in the town of Tibagi and the name Mercer is all over the place in the region: including the name of the historical museum in town, a major road (named specifically for him), and the current mayor. The article should be cleaned up and verified, but kept. giso6150 (talk) 13:44, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * (after edit conflict with Fosse8 below) Do you have any reliable sources to support that? I note that the Portuguese Wikipedia article on Tibagi has a pretty extensive history section but makes no mention of Herbert Harrison Mercer, and that the museum is named after Edmundo Mercer Jr., not Herbert. 86.17.222.157 (talk) 15:21, 31 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Delete No verification, no sources suggesting notability, and the bit about the flag is a wonky translation of the original Portuguese - he didn't design the flag of Brazil, he *made* a Brazil flag for the festivities. Unless someone can find good sources explaining why this obscure 19th Century Brazilian regional functionary should have an article, I'd say get rid of this.  ✤ Fosse   8 ✤  15:15, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for clearing up the flag issue. Notability looks less likely now. 86.17.222.157 (talk) 15:22, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Keep' He is certainly listed as Mayor in the História de Tibagi, published by the city/town of Tibagi, Prefeitura Municipal de Tibagi, in 1934, p. 151. Only part of the section is visible to me online. He has a page in Wikipedia in Portuguese.  There is a Herbert Mercer Street in Tibagi, map . Tibagi is a tourism destination (rafting, hiking) and I presume that there is some tourist interest in the Anglo origins of the town founders.  I think keep and hope for further sourcing, at per WP:PRESERVE.E.M.Gregory (talk) 20:07, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, &mdash; Music1201  talk  22:43, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete. The only thing that is reliably sourced is that Mercer was a mayor of a small town, way below the size needed to pass WP:POLITICIAN on that count, and I can't find any reliable sources that say any more than that. I don't know where the idea comes from that he was one of the founders of Tibagi, because the article clearly states that it had already become a forum town (I guess that something has been lost in translation here and "market town" is meant, but, anyway, it was a town) before he settled there, and that he became the twelfth mayor, not the first. It is quite normal for streets to be named after local dignitories, so that doesn't create notability, and I'm sure that it was also perfectly normal for European immigrants to become mayors in 19th century South America.86.17.222.157 (talk) 15:38, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Delete. Poorly sourced, no better sources seem to exist - there is a brief mention on a Tibagi site of his role (along with several other people) when the Republic was proclaimed, but other Google results appear to be either blogs, or Wiki scrapes, or to relate to his descendants. No sign of notability. Narky Blert (talk) 12:00, 7 June 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.