Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Douglas Syphax

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The result was WP:WITHDRAWN. (non-admin closure) Mkdw ^talk 03:05, 7 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Douglas Syphax

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Unref'd stub for six years. A search doesn't bring back anything other than forks & mirrors of WP. I can't find any reliable sources to indicate notability. Lugnuts ^{Dick Laurent is dead} 13:05, 4 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Delete - I hate to say it, but I think you're right. I've found a few passing mentions, and a photo of his grave, but not really enough information to establish notability for Douglas Syphax. PianoDan (talk) 13:36, 4 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I will absolutely change my vote to Keep. Nice job! PianoDan (talk) 16:57, 6 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep ~~Possible delete~~ - A regular Google search wouldn't provide much for something from the Civil War days but a Google Books search probably would and it did with results here (second to the last result at the bottom), here and here. I also found this which mentions a Douglas P. Syphax but it seems to be about criminals who were sentenced and pardoned. I also found this which briefly mentions Douglas but focuses more with his son, Theophilius John Minton Syphax (later changed his name to T. John McKee and started passing as a white man including marrying a white woman and severing ties with his black family). I actually visited Virginia two years ago and visited museums but, unfortunately, I can't remember if I read anything about this man. I also found this which mentions a Douglas P. Syphax in the Washington, D. C. area who was a real estate agent. I wish I could find an obituary that may provide information about his life especially after the war but it's probably lost, fragmented or never existed. Additional Google Books searches with "Douglas P. Syphax", "Douglas Prosser Syphax" and "Douglas Syphax Civil War" provided nothing useful. It seems he had a son also named Douglas who lived from 1871 to 1928. I found a family website, syphaxfamilyreunion.com which provides a photo of Douglas Syphax's gravestone here (scroll a little bit from the top, his name will be at the left top corner) though it seems to be his son, not him. The website also provides a family tree available through payment here. Unfortunately, given that there isn't much to either Douglas (son or father), I vote delete. SwisterTwister talk 21:31, 4 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- The irony of what you write is that the same person who created this article also created a Theophilus John McKee article, which claimed that the New York Post had an article on him in 1948. Uncle G (talk) 00:30, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  - The user may have been a family member or someone familiar with the family history. Regarding the New York Post article, I found this from a website, mckeescholars.org, which actually talks quite a bit about him but it's a Readers Digest article from July 2006 by Lawrence Otis Graham (the author of one of the books I provided above). A search at both Google News and Books provided nothing else for this 1948 or 2006 article. It seems the Post provides archives but only from 1998 to the present. SwisterTwister talk 03:22, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
    - Having read pages 181–182 and 384–385 of Graham 2007, I think that exactly the opposite of the right thing has happened here. Theophilus John McKee, the person whom history and the history books remembers, has been deleted, and this person, about whom history records about 1 sentence and mostly in the context of his son, still remains. I'm have contested that proposed deletion and I'm going to ask Aymatth2 a question about Henry McKee Minton. Uncle G (talk) 16:55, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Military-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 20:15, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 20:15, 5 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. I have pumped up the article a bit. The 1935 Journal of Negro history article, unfortunately only available in snippet view, gives an outline of the subject's biography, and other sources mention aspects. These seem enough to (just) establish notability. There are two main points of interest: wealthy descendant of Martha Washington and one of the few Black Civil War Sergeants. Since the record books will give an outline of the biographical data, which are unusual and should be interesting to a wide audience, it seems highly likely that other offline sources also give thumbnail bios. Although not strictly relevant, I also find the article provides a useful link between undoubtably notable topics such as George Washington Parke Custis, John McKee (Colonel), Calvin Brent, Henry McKee Minton, Theophilus John Minton Syphax and Roscoe Conkling Bruce. Aymatth2 (talk) 02:06, 6 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Nice work! Happy to withdraw following Aymatth2's excellent article expansion. Lugnuts ^{Dick Laurent is dead} 09:34, 6 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep per WP:HEY after Aymatth2's work on the article. While it looks unlikely that the subject is massively notable, what notability there is is clearly sufficient for an article. I note that the nominator has declared his willingness to withdraw - are the delete !voters also willing to stand down? PWilkinson (talk) 13:48, 6 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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.