Talk:Emily Donelson/GA1

GA Review

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Reviewer: Sammielh (talk · contribs) 16:27, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

I will pick up this review. From a first glance, the article looks in good shape but I'll leave my comments below. Sammielh (talk) 16:27, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

Good Article review progress box Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed

Comments

• "Emily Tennessee Donelson was born on June 1, 1807, in Donelson, Tennessee, to" per MOS:DATECOMMA and MOS:GEOCOMMA.
• "She first attended a log house school in Nashville" The 'first' feels out of place when the second school isn't mentioned until the second paragraph.
• Minor point but the text refers to the "Nashville Female Academy" and the infobox refers to the Nashville Female Seminary (redlinked)
• There is some discrepancy in the article over whether The Hermitage has a capitalised 'The'
• "They had chosen to marry early" -> "They chose to marry early..." Is there any information about when they were engaged as the text mentions that planning was delayed but there is no information about how long this delay was (months, years, etc).
• "17-years-old" I don't believe this should be hyphenated (a quick google says it's only hyphenated when modifying the noun i.e. "17-year-old girl")
• When listing their children's ages, you should use an endash instead of a hyphen (–)
• I would link White House at its first use, it's currently linked at its second use
• Is there any detail on when they returned to Tennessee following the 1824 election?
• "Donelson traveled to Florence, Alabama, in October 1828" per MOS:GEOCOMMA
• "Jackson had Donelson become the White House hostess" -> "Jackson asked Donelson to become the White House hostess"
• " grief-stricken for the loss of his wife" -> " grief-stricken by the loss of his wife"
• "The feud" is repeated in the Petticoat affair section
• "Donelson's health began to fail in spring of 1836" this feels a bit out of place when the previous section discusses her health worsening
• "Donelson died on December 19," I would perhaps specify 1836 as this is an important date in the article
• "The Petticoat affair may have had political ramifications that would shape 19th century politics in the United States" This is a bit of a throwaway line in the legacy and it would be nice to have even one more sentence on what those ramifications were and why it is only specified as "may"
• "In the 1982 Siena College Research Institute survey asking historians to assess American first ladies, Donelson and several other "acting" first ladies were included"
• Earwig is clear so there don't appear to be any issues with copyright violations
• The link on the photo page on Commons is broken, can an archived version be added?
• I would recommend that American Lion be fully formatted in the citations (not a GA requirement)
• You can link Jon Meacham and Daniel Feller in the references (optional)

Source spot check

I haven't checked all the references but they seem to generally back up the statements in the article with the exceptions of the below:

• I cannot see where in Schneider and Schneider that it says she was close to her parents in law
  • I think it's a fair summary of Jackson's deceased wife, Rachel Jackson, had loved Emily Donelson dearly, and the president always called her "my daughter." I edited the article to specify it's talking about them and not his biological parents.
    • Apologies, my confusion was around them not being his biological parents.
• I don't see where Feller mentions Mary Ann Eastin
• For "Jackson's wife asked Donelson to go to the White House and fulfill the role of first lady of the United States", the source says only that Rachel asked her to handle the social functions. I don't see where it states that she "took on the role of first lady in its entirety" in the next section either
• I would also amend "popular in Washington society" to avoid close paraphrasing

I'll put the article on hold but let me know if you'd like me to clarify any of the above. Sammielh (talk) 16:27, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

I believe all comments have been addressed. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 00:08, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

This looks good, a very comprehensive article! I've made a few small grammatical amendments to the article but I'm happy to promote. Congratulations! Sammielh (talk) 15:20, 31 March 2023 (UTC)