US, Illinois—Naturalization Records, 1856–1951 [Part C] [MQVG-RCG]
in image 1 I am combining the DEC and the PET for Jacob Siegers. I used the record number and record date of the PET, however, the birth year and the birth place do not match. Am I misreading the documents?
I would appreciate it if someone would take a look for me.
Answers
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From the GIG/Indexing Dates:
If multiple dates were given for a birth, type the earliest date.
May 22, 1877 will be the birth date. The researcher can go from there.
The sex is Male, since it states that his wife is Jennie.
The birthplace is Ulrum, Netherlands.
And 11 kids. Good lord, leave that poor woman alone 🤣 (I shouldn't say anything. My dad is one of 12).0 -
I've indexed for a bunch of years. I read the PI over and over!
My indexing goal each day is to index with accuracy and yet again
I am confused.
Can we really assume the sex is Male because it gives the wife's name as Jennie?
FROM THE Purple Question Mark:
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 of a person based on the sex of the spouse.
If we CAN assume this, is this always the case or does this instruction change from project to project?
I could be in error but I believe in doing NY Naturalization records I was instructed Not to assume sex
from the information in the field of spouse???
Thanks!!
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You do not assume sex unless there is evidence in the document, like Jennie Doe is the wife of John Doe. Before 1922, 98% of Naturalizations were men and therefore, the document stated wife. There are times where a female is an applicant and the word wife was replaced by husband, and you will mark the sex female.
After 1922, when single women could apply for Naturalization, the document changed to my {wife husband} is Jennie Doe. If neither term was specified (often the opposite term was crossed out so it would be my wife is Jennie), then the sex of the applicant will be blank, even though John is a masculine name.
This instruction does not vary from Project to project. There is an exception to the rule, however. If Jennie Doe is the applicant, you can used the occupation of housewife to determine Jennie's sex.
Image 1 in this batch has the word husband crossed out. Anna Buvkic is the wife of John, the applicant. Image 2 does not have the sex indicator crossed out, so the sex will be left blank.
https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/f2e1a3b8-0eb5-4b52-a02c-aa8038a10e171 -
Thanks, erutherford!
Appreciate, ALWAYS, your clarifications.0 -
Like was mentioned above from the popup box before indexing:
Do not assume the sex of a person based on the sex of the spouse
Based on this direction, I have not been indexing the sex of the applicant even if it does say "husband" or "wife". Using the terms "husband" and "wife" seems to contradict the last bullet of the popup indexing directions.
🤷🤔
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Based on the sex of of the spouse is for when John and Jennie appear without an indicator. The Field Help is the top of the hierarchy.
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.
If it is John Doe and my wife's name is Jennie, then John in Male. If there is no indicator, then John's sex will be blank even though Jennie is a feminine name, there is no indication that this particular Jennie is female.1 -
The pedantic interpretation of "Do not assume the sex of a person based on the sex of the spouse" plus a form that says "my wife's name is Jennie Doe" is that the applicant's sex should be marked blank: marking him as male would be assuming his sex based on the fact that his spouse is female. If the indexing fields include the spouse, then Jennie should be marked as female, as it clearly says that she is a wife, which is a relationship term that indicates her sex.
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There must be a reason the instructions have been updated. I'm going with "Do not assume the sex of a person based on the sex of the spouse."
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Also, the instructions used to say you can indicate sex if their signature says "his (or her) mark." I assume that is still correct.
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