How does wife fit in on naturalization records
US, Pennsylvania, Western District—Naturalizations, 1820–1930 [Part A] [MQSR-DWG]
I am reviewing records and have come across a separate entry made for the wife. Is this correct? I was under the supposition that the wife is named on the husband's entry and that was it. I would appreciate clarification of this.
Jane
Best Answer
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There actually should only be one entry.
The indexed entry has fields for a spouse's name and birth year.
The project instructions also say:
- If a naturalization document was filled out in behalf of a spouse or child, index the information about the child or spouse as the principal person. For documents created in behalf of a child, do not add entries in the data entry area to index the names of the parents.
There should not be a separate entry for Carolina. She is not an applicant.
Also, read the project instructions about How to Index Combination Images. The first two entries should be combined.
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Answers
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Thank you for your help with my question. I appreciate the information you gave me.
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Hi @Jane Adams_5 and @MinnWisRoots,
How do you know or how can you tell if a naturalization document has been filled out on behalf of a wife/ spouse and or for a child? This may clarify some confusion on my part.
Thank you in advance.
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If the person has indexed the back of the Facts of Petition document, there is going to be a record without the name of the primary (petitioner) and only the name of the wife and her date of birth. This is because the instructions tell us:
- If a record does not include a name for the primary person, you should still index the record, marking the primary name fields blank and indexing other names, such as the name of the spouse, along with any other fields that are present on the record.
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This project has had some of the most confusing and contradicting instructions due to the overlay issues! 😫
The Facts of Petition [FOP] document is a two-sided continued form (note the word over at the bottom of the front page). However, the example in the project instructions shows only the FOP front without any data from the FOP back. This example was there before the project was changed from multiple images with the same petitioner name in a batch, to only one image per batch. Unless you know that FOP back is the second page of a form, it can be confusing by itself, especially if the the wife is listed with only a first name.
When I got the FOP front while reviewing, I would look for the FOP back in Reference Images and add any relevant data like we usually do with two-sided continued forms.
However, an additional PROBLEM cropped up that sometimes there is a FOP back image without a corresponding FOP front image. In that case, follow Melissa's instruction suggestion to record the spouse's name and other fields (e,g,, Declaration of Intent No., near bottom of form).
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We have never been told to go backwards to combine a document, unless the project instructions specifically say to look back to previous documents for more information (i.e., get a date from a previous record). This one does not. By changing this project from several images in a batch to one image in a batch, I think they have solved any confusion regarding overlays and combination images. Everything stands alone in one batch images, and the instruction to index an image even if it doesn't have a primary person solves the problem with the back of the Facts documents.
I have been reviewing these and people don't understand that when there is an overlay, only index the information on the overlay! The documents under it have been indexed by others. The only combination images seem to be those with the Declarations and the Petition on the same image as shown in the examples. There can be an "indexable" overlay on one side of the book, and a page without one on the other side. Then you would create 2 records - one with the overlay information (if is isn't a certificate of arrival, a piece of correspondence, or some other item that isn't being indexed) and another record with the Petition, the Oath, or the Declaration.
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