Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Found at Last: The Marriage Record of my Great-Grandparents

I recently clicked on a hint in my FamilySearch Family Tree. And I'm so glad I did! The hint was for the marriage record of my maternal great-grandparents, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster and Esther Matus Villatoro.1

I did not have their marriage record before this new discovery. Their first child, Carlota Adelia Webster, was born on 11 January 1910 in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. The rest of their children were born in Brazil, including my maternal grandfather, Debs Warren Webster. Rather than being married in Mexico, it turns out that Frederick and Esther were married in Colombo, Colombo, Paraná, Brazil on 23 February 1918.

Here is their marriage record. I cropped it and highlighted it for better viewing.



Rough translation of this cropped section: Dr. Frederico Emory Webster and Esther Mattos, single, Dentist, fifty-four years of age, native of United States of America and resident of Curitba, legitimate son of Ebenezer P. Webster and Cynthea M. Webster....

The information in this section matches known information. Frederick's calculated birth year from his stated age matches his known birth year of 1864. His known parents were Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster and Cynthia Maria Webster. Frederick was known to have been living in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil in 1917 according to a U.S. Consular Registration Application. Frederick and Esther's place of marriage in Colombo was only about nine or so miles from Curitiba according to Google Maps.


Rough translation (referring to Esther Matus): twenty-four years of age, Dentist, native of Mexico and resident of Curitiba legitimate daughter of Nicanor Mattos and Raymuno Villatoro....

The information in this section also matches known information, although Raymundo should be Raymunda and Mattos should be Matus. I am intrigued that Esther was referred to as a Dentist. This is the first time I have heard or read anything about her being a Dentist so this is interesting.


The marriage record lists the children of Frederick and Esther and gives their birthdates, which is amazing: Carlota, 11 January 1902?, Edna 23 September 1912....

Carlota's year of birth must be wrong. Esther would not be old enough to have a child in 1902. Additionally, according to a US Consular document, Carlota was born in 1910, which would make more sense. This document supplied me with the date Edna was born. I knew she was born in September 1912, but I wasn't sure which day she was born. One of my options was the 23rd, so that is likely her birth date.


In this section, my maternal grandfather, Debs Warren Webster, was listed as Debs, 27 April 1914 (correct date), Eugene, 4 December 1915....


It's so fun to find the signatures of ancestors on documents. Here we have Frederick and Esther's signatures at the bottom of their marriage record. How awesome is that? I don't think I've seen Esther's signature before. I'll need to add it to the "My Ancestors' Signatures" page on my blog.

My mom was from Brazil and could speak Portuguese. Unfortunately, I do not speak Portuguese so I turned to Google translate for some help with Frederick and Esther's marriage record.

This marriage record contains so much valuable information. After the discovery of this marriage record, I was able to find the birth record of Frederick and Esther's youngest child, Alice, who was born about two weeks after their marriage. I was also able to find the birth record of their fourth child, Eugene. I will share these two birth records in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2021 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

1 "Brasil, Paraná, Registro Civil, 1852-1996," database with images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9396-Q6SZ-L1 : accessed 20 June 2021), certificate image, Frederico Emory Webster and Esther Mattos, 23 February 1918, no.160; citing Corregedor Geral da Justicia da Paraná (Paraná General Justice Office), Curitiba.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

My Updated Haplogroup


Today I had a very nice person contact me to tell me that we are mtDNA matches on Family Tree DNA. Isn't that awesome!? We had a nice chat sharing family trees, etc. During our chat she told me which haplogroup she belonged to and I told her my haplogroup was B4'5. I logged into Family Tree DNA and my haplogroup had changed. It was no longer B4'5.

I had my mtDNA tested at Family Tree DNA in 2013. At that time I ordered the mtDNA Plus test. That test result gave me my mtDNA Haplogroup as B4'5.


Last month I upgraded to the full sequence mtDNA test at Family Tree DNA. It was completed on June 8, 2021. Interestingly, my haplogroup has been updated from B4'5 to B2.


According to Family Tree DNA, Haplogroup B2 is found in Brazil and "is seen among Native Americans." My mom was from Brazil so this makes sense. Interestingly, my ethnicity estimates have pretty consistently included Native American ancestry. My maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was from Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.

Here's my latest Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Estimate. Of course, as the title says, this is just an estimate. But it is still interesting.



One of the college courses I'm taking this semester at BYU-Idaho Online is Introductory Genetic Genealogy - FHGEN 352. It's an interesting and informative class. This week we have been learning about autosomal third-party tools.

I'm taking three more classes this semester: U.S. Geographic Specialization - FHGEN 351, Visual Media - COMM 130, and Career Development - GS 170.

As you can imagine, homework is keeping me pretty busy these days. 😀

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2021 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved