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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was archived by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 22 April 2025 [1].

Sebastian Zouberbuhler

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Nominator(s): Z1720 (talk) 21:35, 29 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about a Swiss immigrant to Nova Scotia who became a prominent businessman and government official. Although this is a short article, I think it includes all academic literature about this person and I look forward to addressing your comments. Z1720 (talk) 21:35, 29 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

  • Is no image of the subject available?
  • I looked in the Canadian archives, the Nova Scotia archives, the Lunenburg archives, Google Images search and Wikimedia Commons but did not find an image of him. Z1720 (talk) 15:44, 30 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Vacant0

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Will review this. Vacant0 (talk • contribs) 11:26, 30 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  • I'd suggest wikilinking the first mention of justice of the peace in the lede, and unlinking the mention in the third paragraph.
  • "He attempted to attract hundreds of Swiss to this colony, but was stopped by the government." the government of South Carolina or Switzerland?
  • Introduce Samuel Waldo's occupation in the lede.
  • "He was represented the town" – is 'was' unnecessary here?
  • "The mob seized Pettrequin again" – do we know why?

@Vacant0: Sorry for the delay, comments above. Z1720 (talk) 17:10, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

ZKang123 (oppose)

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I might take a look at this.--ZKang123 (talk · contribs) 14:16, 30 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Initial comments:

  • I prefer if you would add a comma after every mention of a year. E.g. In November 1734 Zouberbuhler went to Charles Town... to In November 1734, Zouberbuhler went to Charles Town...
  • Is there a reason why the townsfolk were suspicious of him because he was from Halifax? Like, is there some adversion against people sent from larger towns?

Lead:

  • Later that year, the town suspected Zouberbuhler of possessing a letter that confirmed that the town did not receive an allotment of supplies – ...possessing a letter alleging that the...
  • and a subsequent investigation concluded that he never possessed such a letter Would clarify that the investigation was done by the battalion's commander

Early life:

  • In November 1734, Zouberbuhler went to Charles Town, South Carolina, to survey land for a new settlement, choosing land along the New Windsor tract. – to survey land for a new settlement, selecting a site along the New Windsor tract.
  • he borrowed a large sum – was it said how much he borrowed?
  • promising to repay the money later when he sold land he claimed to have – I'm confused by this sentence.
  • He was granted a one-year extension to find more families and returned to Switzerland to continue his recruitment – I think "to continue his recruitment" sounded rather repetitive. Would say "continue his efforts" as a reference to his attempt to recruit more families.
  • What does "speculated in land" mean?
  • were found guilty by a committee of the Massachusetts General Court for neglecting German Protestants for whom they helped settle in present-day Maine. So was it because they were found guilty of neglect that they helped them settle in Maine, or guilty of neglecting by settling them in Maine?
  • Also, was there a sentence meted out?
  • The only thing the source says on the topic is "In 1743 a committee of the General Court of Massachusetts found the two men at fault for neglecting the German Protestants whom Waldo had recently settled in the eastern part of the colony, in what is now Maine." Z1720 (talk) 19:54, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Would clarify what war the 1754 siege was part of.

Lunenburg:

  • ...that Jean Pettrequin received a letter that stated that the British government First I would clarify who Jean Pettrequin is here and why is he important (like was he a politician, officer or a very influential businessman?), and also is the British government referring to the one in the United Kingdom or the (provincial) government in Canada/Nova Scotia at the time?

Political and later life:

  • as one of the representatives for the Lunenburg Township – as a representative for... Also just a bit of clarification, this refers to the town government right?

Personal life and death:

  • The codicil was set aside after it was declared that the statement was made when Zouberbuhler could no longer make legal decisions Who made the declaration?
  • Neither source states who made that declaration. Z1720 (talk) 13:07, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
    • Like, I mean, was it a court decision? Also might rewrite: "...after it was declared that Zouberbuhler made the statement when he was no longer able to make legal decisions."
  • Neither source says who set the codial aside. Biographi says, "A codicil ordering partial repayment of a loan received during his time in South Carolina was set aside as having originated in an unsound mind." Bell says, "The codicil was set aside on the ground that Zouberbuhler had become of unsound mind by the time he made it". I can assume that a court made this determination, but I do not know which court and this would probably be in the realm of WP:OR. Z1720 (talk) 20:05, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm curious if there's anything more related to his family (like was there any further info of his parents and his married life?). Also, what is his legacy and impact?
  • There's a source that names his wife as Barbara, but no other information about the marriage. The information about his father is already included in the article and no other information about his family has been found in sources. For legacy, sources have not mentioned anything named for him and Google Maps did not highlight anything named "Zouberbuhler" in Lunenburg. I don't think he was reputable enough to have any artistic depictions of him. Z1720 (talk) 13:07, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That's all for me for prose comments. Please ping once you're done.--ZKang123 (talk · contribs) 04:10, 31 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but at this moment I felt more inclined to oppose this nomination as I can't help but feel a sense of incompleteness for this whole article. It's well-written, but there remains plenty of gaps and it also assumes one is familiar with the subject/person in question. Maybe the others might have different thoughts, but at the moment, I don't think it's really at that stage ready for an FA.--ZKang123 (talk · contribs) 09:52, 21 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Jon698

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  • I am rather impressed by the work you have done on this article about a rather obscure person @Z1720:. I have made a few copyedits and wikilinks to the page. My main suggestion will be to the lead and I am asking you to review this edit I made here.

UC

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Drive-by for now: as we've got no picture, suggest cropping the signature from the image of the signed document and putting that in the infobox. UndercoverClassicist T·C 08:37, 31 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A more thorough read-through follows. I'm afraid I'm not sure that the article is really there yet: there are some weaknesses in the prose and some areas where the details are not very clear, at least to this non-expert reader. Some examples:

  • He came to North America to promote colonial ventures, but failed and later became a merchant in Halifax and Lunenburg.: I think but failed is slightly over-blunt: more importantly, this sentence could be read as saying that he failed in Halifax and Lunenburg, then became a merchant there.
  • Returning to North America as an agent for the merchant Samuel Waldo, Zouberbuhler was found guilty for neglecting German Protestants that they settled in present-day Maine.: a few issues here. Dangling participle phrases aren't ideal in any case, nor can someone be found guilty for something (it's of), and the subject of they is not properly established. However, more importantly, neglecting people isn't usually a crime: which law was he accused of breaking?
  • I fixed up the sentence, and clarified which court made the determination. The source says that the court determined that the two men were at fault, so I changed the wording to try to align with this more carefully in the lead and the article body. Z1720 (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • While in South Carolina, he borrowed a large sum from another Swiss named Samuel Augspurger, promising to repay the money later: this seems superfluous: isn't that how borrowing money normally works?
  • I removed the last part. There was more information here about the loan, but it was convoluted and I determined that it was too much detail for the article. Z1720 (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • Zouberbuhler pledged to the South Carolina colony that he would bring 100 families to Fort Moore within eighteen months: what and where was Fort Moore, and why would the South Carolina colony care?
  • the Swiss government objected to emigration agents' work, and Zouberbuhler could not fulfil his promise.: this seems to be a non sequitur -- a government objecting to something doesn't mean very much at all (most of the world's governments object to a lot of things that carry on regardless), unless some concrete action was taken here.
  • During the 1745 siege of Louisbourg (a campaign in King George's War), Zouberbuhler was a captain in the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment: What was King George's War, exactly, and on which side were the 2nd Massachusetts? This may be a more difficult question to answer from the sources, but what was a Swiss priest's son doing with the King's Commission?
  • I expanded information about the siege, including its location and that Zouberbuhler was part of the 2nd Mass. Regiment on the British side of the conflict. I don't think explaining King George's War is on-topic for this article. The source doesn't state why Zouberbuhler joined the regiment. Z1720 (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
  • In 1752, a clerk for the Inferior Court and Quarter Sessions submitted a complaint to the court and the governor of Nova Scotia. His concerns included the treatment he received from the court's justices and not being paid enough to cover the expenses he accrued from his role. Zouberbuhler and other merchants signed a memorial supporting the clerk and questioning the conduct of the justices in numerous cases: it is difficult to get a sense of what is going on here (what was the "Inferior Court and Quarter Sessions", and what was "the court of Nova Scotia"? I think the word memorial is a mistake for memorandum: a memorial is a monument to someone who has died.
  • Some characters are introduced with no real context, as if the reader is expected to know who they are: see Joshua Mauger, Patrick Sutherland and Alexander McNutt.
  • There are some formatting issues in the bibliography, such as hyphens for endashes (MOS:DASH) and ISBNs on volumes published too early to carry them. The formatting of titles and the inclusion of metadata (e.g. ISSNs) is also inconsistent. While this is a fairly nit-picky point by itself, it might suggest that the article could have done with some more eyes on it or a little more polishing-up before nomination.
  • I changed to endashes in article titles which use date ranges. For the ISBN: the notice says it was published too early to receive an ISBN, but the metalink on Project Muse gives an ISBN, and the pdf of the book says it was printed in 1957 but has an ISBN on the front cover. Nevertheless, I replaced the ISBN with its OCLC. For Bell, I could not find any other identifying info like OCLC so I removed the identifying mark. If one is found later, I will add it in. I added ISSNs for the journal articles. I could not find a DOI for the Proquest article. Z1720 (talk) 19:48, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'll stop there for now and give you a chance to respond to the above, though these are more (hopefully) illustrative examples than a definitive list. UndercoverClassicist T·C 21:02, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Graham Beards

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I think this is wrong "He died, probably of gout". Gout alone is never fatal but it can lead to other problems that are. The source says "apparently", which is not at all the same as "probably". Graham Beards (talk) 09:50, 11 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Graham Beards: I changed it to: "He died in Lunenburg on January 31, 1773; a contributing cause to his death might have been gout." Thoughts? Z1720 (talk) 19:51, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, much better (and more accurate) IMHO. Graham Beards (talk) 20:31, 12 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Kusma

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Planning to review. —Kusma (talk) 11:01, 13 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

  • Lead: "Returning to North America as an agent for the merchant Samuel Waldo, the Massachusetts General Court determined that the two men neglected the German Protestants he helped to settle in present-day Maine." Dangling modifier: reads as if the Massachusetts General Court has returned to North America as an agent.
  • Mention that Louisbourg is in Nova Scotia? (Before, we are in South Carolina and Maine)
  • Early life (and perhaps lead): the "neglecting" of the German Protestants could do with a little more colour and detail. Osgood 1924, pp. 510–511 could help.
  • Could you give a little context for King George's War? What were they fighting about? A map would also be great; unfortunately File:Acadia 1743.png doesn't show Halifax, which wasn't founded until 1749 (it might be worth mentioning that?)
  • Lunenburg: Who appointed Zouberbuhler as justice of the peace? And what is a "judge of quorum"?
  • " Jean Pettrequin, a carpenter in Lunenburg, received a letter" tense: had received a letter?
  • I think it is worth mentioning that the story of the letter sort of ends when Petrequin (Bell has him with one "t") confesses he lied about giving the letter to Zouberbuhler.
  • "He also purchased land in Halifax and Lunenburg County, including 125,000 acres with Alexander McNutt, a land agent, and four others between Annapolis Basin and St. Marys Bay." I kind of read this as "125000 acres with McNutt and additionally four other pieces of land". The source also mentions "the great land-boom of 1765"; is that a piece of Nova Scotia history we know more about?
  • "He gave a large donation to build a school" made a donation?
  • Is it worth mentioning that the French-speaking and French-named people were actually Protestants from the County of Montbéliard, one of the very few French-speaking Protestant areas?
  • The "personal life" section is kind of missing whether he was married.
  • Is it "Augsperger" or "Augspurger"?

It is an interesting colonial life, but overall I think the story could be told better. (I like the CDB article). —Kusma (talk) 19:07, 14 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

RoySmith

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I just happened to notice these:

which may or may not have anything useful in it.

This has been open for more than three weeks and has attracted a lot of comments but has attracted no supports and one oppose. As it is showing no signs of moving towards a consensus to promote and so I am going to archive it. The usual two-week hiatus will apply. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:53, 22 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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