Can you assume the gender as female when there is a "W" or "S" after the name?
Canada, Ontario—Tax Assessment Records, 1834–1899 [Part C][M3ZY-C1N] Can you assume the gender as female if there is an entry of "W" (assumed to mean widow) or "S" (assumed to mean spinster) ? I've been reviewing these records and it seems to be indexed as female in about 50% of cases.
Best Answer
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You can simply look at the examples in the project instructions. They don't index a gender, however, the field help shows to index the gender when Mrs. is a prefix (so words in the language can determine gender). I don't think a W or an S is enough because W could be Widower or Widow and S may not be Spinster since there is a James with an S in your batch.
The field help: Index the sex only if it was specifically recorded or you can tell what it was from relationship terms, such as "son" or "daughter," titles or terms, or other evidence in the language. Do not assume the sex of a person based on given names.
Although sometimes interesting, there is no need to go to the catalog and seek out any information. The project instructions and field helps should suffice.
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If you will search the catalog for Canada, Ontario then select Tax Assessment rolls you will get the list of records. Scroll down to the Red link indicating that they have been digitized and indexed and click on the red link to open the search link. Just below the Description please click on How to Use this Collection to open the Research Wiki page which describes what you can determine from those rolls.
Nowhere in this description is the sex/gender of the entrant described.
Here is a link to that wiki page:
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Thanks, Melissa. I agree with you. I just wanted a confirmation since I've seen so many batches where the assumption has been made.
Allan. I also agree that the catalog doesn't make a reference to gender however the project requires a entry and I wanted to be sure to review the indexing correctly. I appreciate the link as I was born and raised in Ontario so I'm sure these records will be useful to my research.
As always, I knew this community will have the answers to my question. Thank you for the endless hours of support you provide.
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On some to the forms it tells you to mark W for widow, S for spinster. Not all records state this, but there are a couple of forms that tell you in case of female please use these markings. Some of the entries will also say son. Read along the top of the forms before indexing.
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@Kindred, Jalene Thank you for sharing that information. Of course if there is information on the form that states the gender will be indicated by a mark or there is a relationship term then one can index gender.
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