Monday, June 10, 2019

Grandpa Debs Webster's Blue Notebook

In 1955 my maternal grandparents, Debs Warren Webster, and Willis Quillin Webster, traveled to Mexico to visit relatives. My great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was Debs' mother. She was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. Esther passed away when Debs was only five years old. Esther was the wife of my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog.

Found among my Grandpa Debs' belongings was this small blue notebook pictured below.



I like how Grandpa Debs wrote "Genealogy" at the top of the notebook. From the pages in the notebook, it appears that he must have been asking for family history information during his trip to Mexico.

Debs' parents moved to Brazil before he was born. All of his siblings were born there except for his oldest sister, Carlota. At some point Carlota must have returned to Mexico. She married a man there named Braulio Guerreiro and she and Braulio raised their family in Mexico. During this trip in 1955, Debs and his wife, Willis, visited Carlota and her family. They were living in Mexico City at the time.

Here are the pages Grandpa Debs wrote on in this little blue notebook during his trip to Mexico in 1955. I've included transcriptions as well.


Transcription:

Omelino Villatoro
Francisco Villatoro
______________

Sra. ? viuda de
Villatoro
? de ?
?? No. 7
Tuxtla Gutierrez
Chiapas
______________

Matus
Catalina Villatoro
Catalina Matus
Carlota Matus
Romeo Villatoro Vera
Raymundo tambien (also)
Dr. Olvera #34 - Dept 4
Col. de los Doctores
Mexico D.F.



Transcription:

? Elena
Catalina Matus
Guerrero Norte No. 107
Arriaga, Chiapas
_____________

Ixtepec Oaxaca
Nicanor Matus nasao en
Juchitan Oaxaca
Espinal y sus papas
vivian en Juchitan
no ? si si naci?
_____________

Noeh Villatoro
8a Pom? y 2a Av. ? No. 14
Tuxtla Gutierrez
Chiapas


Transcription:

Raymunda Villatoro

Hijos (children):

Esther Matus Villatoro
Catalina Matus Villatoro
Francisco Matus Villatoro
Chana Matus Villatoro

Hermanos de (siblings of) Raymunda:
  1. Francisca Vasques Villatoro
  2. Camilo Vasques Villatoro
  3. Raymunda Vasques Villatoro
  4. Felicita Vasques Villatoro
  5. Elpidia Vasques Villatoro
  6. Zenon Vasques Villatoro



Transcription:
     
       Hermanos
6. Nicanor Matus

  1. Esciquio Matus
  2. Romula Matus
  3. Maria Matus
  4. Felicitas Matus
  5. Caliseto Matus

Vivian en Espinal (They lived in Espinal)
Ablan el Zapoteco (They speak Zapotec)




Transcription:

20 anos
Mario Arriola
Mario Arriola M
Fernando Montes
de Oca 27
Colonia Condera
Sona 11   Mexico D.F.
hijo de tia Catalina
_______________

22 anos
Maria Elena Arriola Matus
_______________

21
Geronimo Arriola Matus
_______________


Transcription:

Hijos de tio (children of uncle)

Francisco Matus Villatoro

  1. Romen Matus Vera
  2. Esther Matus Vera
  3. Noeh Matus Vera
  4. Raymundo Matus Vera

_______________

Hijas de Primas (Children of Cousins)

1) Romen tiene (Romen has):

  1. Francisco Matus Padilla
  2. Roberto Matus Padilla

2) de Esther:

  1. Freddy Esquincar Matus

3) de Noeh:

  1. Fernando Matus Farrera
  2. ? Matus Farrera



Transcription:
Juanita Guzman
Tia Juanita Guzman
2° gran (I think this means second degree great)
253 N. West Lake Av.
Los Angeles 26, Calif.
Isabel Villatoro
Arriaga Chiapas Mex.

There is so much wonderful information in this small blue notebook. It lists the siblings of my 2nd great-grandparents and other valuable information.

I'm currently researching Juanita Guzman, who my Grandpa Debs wrote about on the last page. I don't know where she fits into our family tree yet. But, I have found some interesting and helpful information already, thanks to my Grandpa having written down her address in the United States. I have a sweet card that she sent to my Grandpa Debs. I'll share that in a future post.

I am so grateful that my Grandpa Debs asked for family history information during his trip to Mexico.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2019 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

20 comments:

  1. What a good source of information. It is wonderful when our grandparents and other ancestors leave us clues to follow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. It really is awesome when our grandparents and other ancestors leave clues for us to follow in our family history research. I really appreciate my Grandpa writing these notes on his trip. I just wish I had could have asked him about the notes and his trip to Mexico. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you Anne! I agree. It's a wonderful resource. Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Priceless. Even when there are parts you can’t read, still so much good info. Glad this was kept and is in such good hands.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Diane! It really is a priceless family history treasure. I'm so grateful my grandfather kept this precious notebook. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Such a priceless treasure. I love that you have his family history in his own handwriting.

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    Replies
    1. I agree Laura. The information is priceless, made more so because the notes were handwritten by him. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. So lucky. He was preserving the family information for the future. For you!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I love that thought that he was saving it for me to pursue our family history. Thank you so much for stopping by!

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  6. The shared genealogy gene must explain why you have always been so drawn to Debs’ story. I look forward to reading the stories that you find thanks to this blue notebook.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Wendy! I love that he was interesting in family history too. Thanks for stopping by!

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  7. This is terrific! What a lucky break to have all this info to build on. Have fun!

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  8. Wow, what an artifact! How wonderful that your Grandpa Debs undertook this family history research and left behind his notes for you to continue the genealogy work. It's a lesson to us all to preserve and pass on our own research.

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    Replies
    1. Oh Molly! That is so true. It really is a great lesson for all of us to preserve our research and pass it on to future generations. Thank you so much for stopping by!

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  9. This reminds me that I need to search through my mother's small genealogy workbooks to see what gems are lurking there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How fun that you have your mother's genealogy workbooks! Thank you for stopping by!

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  10. What a wonderful find! A great source for future blog posts.

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