Talk:Theodore Roosevelt

I am revisiting a topic that was discussed in Talk:Theodore Roosevelt/Archive 6#Naming of children in infobox. Some editors would like to list Roosevelt's six children in the Children parameter, rather than just giving the number of them. Other editors are unhappy because the Relatives parameter is a link to Roosevelt family, and that article gives names of (and links to) all of the children, making it unnecessary to list the names in the infobox.

A similar dilemma arose at Abraham Lincoln, and I proposed the following solution, to which, so far, no one has objected. The Relatives parameter should not link to Roosevelt family, but should instead give the names of other notable relatives, particularly Roosevelt's siblings. Roosevelt had three siblings, all of whom were independently notable. In principle, other relatives, such as cousins, uncles, and aunts could be mentioned; but this should be limited to people who are already mentioned in the article. There should be a link to Roosevelt family in the See Also section; I thought about linking to it from a hatnote in some other section, but that is not quite right, because the family tree is tangential to this article.

Having thus changed the Relatives parameter, one could use the Children parameter in the usual way, with a clear conscience. Bruce leverett (talk) 04:01, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

:Given the length of the template as it is, I don't see a benefit to listing out every notable relative mentioned. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:05, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

::I was reminded of the obvious question, was Theodore Roosevelt related to Franklin Roosevelt, and if so, how? But we are being somewhat accidental in answering that. It isn't mentioned at all in Theodore Roosevelt, and in Franklin Roosevelt, it's only mentioned in the "Early life and career" section. It seems to me that if someone wanted to know the answer to those questions, they'd surely turn to Wikipedia.

::On the other hand, we're more diligent with the Harrisons: William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison mention each other in the first paragraphs of their lead sections. But not explicitly in the infoboxes, which both link to "Harrison family of Virginia" as the Relatives parameter.

::Of course the Bushes have links to each other in their infoboxes, but there is also Bush family, which is linked from their Relatives parameters.

::I don't know, since I have now seen at least three "X family" articles, perhaps there is a more dignified way to link to these things than from the "See Also" section. Bruce leverett (talk) 19:22, 26 March 2025 (UTC)

:::From what I can tell, if the genealogical connection isn't parent and child, then relatives would be covered under a general family link within an infobox whenever those exist. As for why FDR isn't mentioned in Theodore's lead section and vice versa, I'm guessing that at least partially because of the more distant kinship (fifth cousins once removed) compared to the Bushes and Harrisons. Another factor could also be because they aren't as prominently noted for their family ties. It likely is a similar rationale for why James Madison and Zachary Taylor don't point out their relationship of second cousins within each other's leads. Regardless, I see no harm in adding each Roosevelt to the other's lead should one choose to do that. SNUGGUMS (talk / edits) 21:29, 26 March 2025 (UTC)