Practice case
Five sample notes. For each, read what the source says and make the call a verifier would make. Nothing here touches the real map. About five minutes.
Case 1 of 5 · Mars Avenue
Mars Avenue is named for Mars Wagar, who bought land in the heart of Lakewood in 1820.
Source: Butler, Romance in Lakewood Streets (1962), page 10
What the source says: Butler writes that the avenue was named for Mars Wagar, and tells how he bought his land in 1820 for $7.00 an acre.
What's the call?
The source states the origin outright, you can find it again from the citation, and nothing contradicts it. That is the Verified bar.
Case 2 of 5 · Cook Avenue
Cook Avenue is named for Charles Cook, who owned and divided land here around 1900.
Source: Butler, Romance in Lakewood Streets (1962), page 24
What the source says: Butler says that from all indications the street was named for Charles Cook, who allotted land here, rather than the later mayor B. M. Cook.
What's the call?
"From all indications" is the source hedging. A checkable source that supports the origin without stating it reaches Likely, not Verified. A firmer source later can move it up.
Case 3 of 5 · Beach Avenue
Beach Avenue is named for the Beach family, who farmed this land and divided it into housing lots.
Source: Lakewood: The First Hundred Years, "Focus: Beach Family" page
What the source says: The Beach family settled 28 acres at Beach and Detroit in 1864, their home stood on that corner, and Henry Beach divided the farm into lots. It never says "named for", and no source names anyone else.
What's the call?
The landowner rule: the same name, their land when the street was laid out, and no rival candidate. That is how most streets got their names, so it reaches Verified without the words "named for".
Case 4 of 5 · Sloane Avenue
Sloane Avenue must be named for John Sloan, the painter. Same name!
Source: None given
What the source says: This one is made up for practice. There is no source to check.
What's the call?
A name that merely matches a famous person doesn't count as evidence (and the spelling differs). But it isn't a Dispute either: Dispute needs a source that says otherwise. Leave the label alone and reply kindly asking where they learned it.
Case 5 of 5 · Your street
You found it: a 1911 subdivision plat, filed by the family, on which your street first appears. You post it as a note with the plat's record number.
Source: Cuyahoga County plat book (with the volume and page)
What the source says: The plat shows the family naming the street. That is a document of the naming itself.
What's the call?
Nobody verifies their own note. The person who finds the answer posts it; a second person reads the source and makes the call. It will likely be Verified, and the solve, with your name on it, is yours.
Done.
That's the job: read the source yourself, hold it to the bar, and never call your own note. The full rules are on thepolicies page and in the verifier guide.
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