US Michigan Nat Records. So on image 1, I combined the DEC and the PET for the
principal. I used the PET Record Number and PET Record date. Image 2 is an OOA and a PET for a different individual. Did I do it correctly?
https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/8da8bab4-2d76-4742-8d31-384ac92bce12
Answers
-
On the first PET, his sex is male. On the OOA, the given name is Hairabet Or Harry. The second part of the order admitting the petitioner is where the petitioner can change their name, and he did. The second PET's birthplace is spelled Pittsburgh.
0 -
Thank you for checking my work. The reason I marked <blank> on the sex field is because of the field help instructions: Pronouns are masculine by default. Do not assume the sex based on printed statements in the form. Is this direction applicable for this form?
0 -
I'd mark the sex as blank: the only indication of gender is the pre-printed "wife", which the particular instructions tell us not to use -- and even without that, it doesn't actually apply to the applicant. Yes, in this time and place, we can guess that a person with a wife is male, but that's a cultural assumption, not a linguistic indication, as the general guidelines call for.
0 -
They threw that in while I was gone. Your granddad dies one time...
0 -
@erutherford I am sorry. I'm thankful for my savior and what that means for eternity with our loved ones.
0 -
Interesting piece of trivia that really doesn't matter, but, from 1891 - 1911, Pittsburgh Pa was spelled Pittsburg. The federal government had a United States Board of Geographic Names and they deemed the city Pittsburg. The citizenry protested and in 1911, the name was changed back to Pittsburgh. So in this case, using Pittsburg would be appropriate!
I believe that the gender should be recorded as male since the petition says the petitioner has a wife. In the other one, wife is crossed out and the petitioner has a husband. Thus, the gender would be female, based on the timing of the collection. We have been told that based on timing of records, we can infer gender from relationship terms. The instructions also lean to the acceptance of wife and housewife to determine gender.
Wife is a relationship term and they also make the exception for the occupation of housewife in the examples. "Do not assume the sex from recorded occupations such as "policeman" or "fireman." An exception to this rule is if the occupation was recorded as "housewife.""
The instructions on the field help and the examples are inconsistent.
The field help gives alot more detailed instruction about how to handle the gender field:
"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.
Do not assume the sex from recorded occupations such as "policeman" or "fireman." An exception to this rule is if the occupation was recorded as "housewife."
Pronouns are masculine by default. Do not assume the sex based on printed statements in the form."
The example instruction on the declaration:
Note: Do not assume the sex of a person based on given names. Do not assume the sex from recorded occupations such as "policeman."
The example instruction on the petition where the do index the female:
Note: Do not assume the sex of a person based on given names. Do not assume the sex from recorded occupations such as "policeman." An exception to this rule is if the occupation was recorded as "housewife."
0 -
@Melissa S Himes very interesting about the name Pittsburg/Pittsburgh! Who knew?! (well, obviously you did!) 😀
1 -
He was five weeks shy of 100 and still sharp.
0
