# Talk:Rosalie Slaughter Morton

This review is transcluded from Talk:Rosalie Slaughter Morton/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Sainsf (talk · contribs) 02:15, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Hi! Will review. Sainsf <^>Feel at home 02:15, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

@Sainsf: Great! Let me know if I can do anything. Sam Walton (talk) 18:10, 17 April 2016 (UTC)
@Sam Walton: Sorry for the delay, was busy elsewhere. A very well-written article, only a few comments: 

It would be good to add the years for WW1 in the lead.
I'm not sure about this. The dates for the war are only a click away, and I think it might confuse the reader since I don't have exact dates for when Rosalie was abroad and don't want to imply she was there for the whole war. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
The lead does not say much on her life, it focuses only on her career. It should cover all aspects of the article.
I've added a paragraph about her earlier life. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
expecting her to find a husband who could provide for her Needs to be enclosed in endashes.
Done. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
Winter Park, Florida where she died in 1968 Should be "Florida, where"
Done. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
Dispensary where she worked "Dispensary, where"
Done. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
After marrying George Morton Should it not be "Morton Jr."?
Yep, done. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
they made Morton its first chairperson There may be confusion in this and a few following lines on who you refer to as Morton, the husband or the lady.
I think there's less confusion now that the previous sentence says Morton Jr.; I'd hope readers could tell that I would refer to George as Morton Jr. That said, I'm not sure how it could be better worded, I was tempted to write chairwoman but I didn't want to make it seem like she was simply the first female chair because she was indeed the first chairperson.  In the following sentence I again use 'Morton' and immediately refer to her as 'she', and the PHEC chairperson thing is written in the lead as obviously referring to Rosalie, so I think it's ok. I kind of still agree though, so any suggestions on how that could be reworded would be appreciated! Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
The agencies in the "Books" section should have their names in italics.
Done. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
These done, I would be happy to promote this article. Cheers! Sainsf <^>Feel at home 05:46, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

@Sainsf: Thanks! I hope I've addressed all your concerns. Sam Walton (talk) 08:05, 18 April 2016 (UTC)
@Sam Walton: I am happy with your replies and the changes. I will go ahead and promote this. Awesome job! Sainsf <^>Feel at home 08:26, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Do you have the exact text for that handy, and is it contemporaneous, or relatively new?  Anmccaff (talk) 06:42, 15 April 2016 (UTC)

@Anmccaff: The exact text is in the short summary section before the long bio, where - among the other awards - it simply says "Joan of Arc Medal". From some googling it seems there was a medal called this before the one we have an article on, but I can't find any information about it. There's no mention of the award in either of her books (though she does make a passing comment about Joan of Arc in the first one). Sam Walton (talk) 08:08, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
@Samwalton9: No, I mean what's the exact wording in the source? Is this from The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z (Ogilvie & Harvey)? It doesn't seem to be in the primary source there, nor in Hurd-Mead, but it is, like you say, in the bio intro.  This looks worth keeping (i.e., I don't doubt it is real) but it'd be nice to know how big a deal it was; the modern thing with a similar name can be given by any O-5, by the look of it. Anmccaff (talk) 18:13, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
@Anmccaff: Oh you mean from the source of the Biographical Dictionary? I'm not sure which reference it came from unfortunately. I'll look into this some more. Sam Walton (talk) 19:17, 15 April 2016 (UTC)
The other Hurd-Mead book, Medical women of America, mentions awards from Serbia and, surprise, surprise, France, but doesn't specify the French ones by name that I could find. Anmccaff (talk) 19:36, 15 April 2016 (UTC)

I came across this image of the historical marker for Morton which lists her year of birth as 1872. This is different to the date of birth listed in the sources we've used here, which give 1876 as her year of birth. I've contacted the Virginia Department of Historic Resources but haven't heard back yet. 1876 makes more sense in terms of other dates in the article (she would have started college at age 17 instead of age 21), but it's inconclusive as far as I can see it. Sam Walton (talk) 14:31, 22 May 2022 (UTC)

Just realised I never updated this. The Department got back to me, stating that Morton "listed 28 October 1872 as the date of her birth when she applied for a passport in 1898", was "listed as an eight-year-old in the 1880 census", and "the social security death index on Ancestry gave her birthday as 16 Oct. 1872" (note the different date in the last source). They say that following her marriage, Morton began to use the year 1876 in official documents (including the marriage register and her passport and immigration materials), and that people changing their ages wasn't uncommon in their experience.
It seems that 1872 is most likely to be the correct date of birth, and the VDHR are quite certain, so I've switched the date of birth in the article and updated the source to the historical marker. Sam Walton (talk) 10:45, 4 October 2022 (UTC)