Thanks for Traveling Frederick! ~ Esther Travels Again

This is part of a series of posts in which I share the documents relating to the travels of Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster and his family.

Esther (Matus Villatoro) Webster

This is my maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro. She was married to my "Traveling Dentist" great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster.

The last time I shared a travel-related document about Esther with you, she was traveling with her one-year-old daughter, Carlota. They were listed on a passenger list dated October 19, 1911.

The passenger list¹ I'm sharing with you today is dated late January - February of 1913. As of this date, Esther was the mother of two young daughters, Carlota and Edna. And these two daughters were Esther's traveling companions on the S.S. Voltaire sailing from Santos, Brazil to the Port of New York.



Here's a cropped portion of the passenger list.



What information can we glean from this passenger list?

1. Esther, Carlota, and Edna sailed on the S.S. Voltaire
2. Port of departure – Santos, Brazil
3. Date of departure – January 29, 1913
4. Port of arrival – New York, United States
5. Date of arrival – February, 1913
6. Esther's age – 19
7. Esther's sex – Female
8. Esther's marital status – Married
9. Esther's place and date of birth – El Paso, Texas in 1893 (This is incorrect. She was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. At the end of this line under the column heading "Address In United States" the correct place of birth is listed for Esther. Perhaps there was some miscommunication here. I also see another bit of incorrect information listed on this line. See the words "Husband born in Chicago, Ill." in parentheses? That is also incorrect. Frederick was born in Coolville, Athens, Ohio.)
10. Under the column heading "Address In United States," El Paso, Texas is listed in parentheses. I'm wondering if that's where they were headed to meet their husband and father, Frederick Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist."
11. Carlota's age – 1
12. Carlota's sex – Female
13. Carlota's marital status – Single
14. Carlota's place and date of birth – It looks like US is crossed out and the correct place and date of birth are in the next column listed as Arriaga, Mexico in 1911. Also notice that in parentheses it says "Daughter of USC." I think it's safe to assume that USC stands for U.S. Citizen, not University of Southern California. Haha!
15. Edna's age – 3 months
16. Edna's sex – Female
17. Edna's marital status – Single
18. Edna's place and date of birth – Again, the correct information is listed in the next column over. She wasn't born in Mexico like her sister Carlota. Edna was born in Santos, Brazil in 1912.

As you can see from looking at the information in this document, it contained some errors. If I had only relied on this one document in my research, I would have recorded inaccurate information in my family tree. It's really important to find all the documents we can when researching our ancestors so that we can make sure the information we have for our ancestors is as accurate as possible.

It's interesting that El Paso, Texas is listed on this passenger list. I think it's quite possible that Frederick was, in fact, in El Paso, Texas and that Esther, Carlota, and Edna were meeting him there. In a passport application for Frederick dated April 17, 1907, he stated that his permanent residence at that time was El Paso, Texas. Perhaps he had ties there and returned in 1913.

I find it amazing that Esther, as a young mother, was traveling alone with two very young children. She must have had her hands full on that ship all by herself. And if she was continuing on to El Paso, Texas, she still had about 2,000 miles yet to travel with her two young daughters.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 Source Citation: Year: 1913; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2016; Line: 1; Page Number: 142. Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.^↩

Thanks for Traveling Frederick! – It's Esther's Turn to Travel

This is part of a series of posts in which I share the documents relating to the travels of Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster and his family.

The Webster Family
L to R - Frederick, Carlota, Edna, Esther

I wonder if Esther (Matus Villatoro) Webster, would have traveled as much as she did during her life if her husband, Frederick, a.k.a "The Traveling Dentist," hadn't traveled as much as he did. I've decided to include the travels of Frederick's wife and children as part of this series of posts called "Thanks for Traveling Frederick!"

Today I'm sharing a passenger list¹ from October 19, 1911 showing Esther and her daughter Carlota traveling alone. Where was Frederick? Was he already in the United States? Were Esther and Carlota traveling to meet him? I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I wonder how Esther felt traveling by herself with a one year old child.



According to this passenger list, Esther and Carlota sailed on the S.S. Morro Castle. I found a picture of this ship. I think it's fascinating to see what this ship looked like.

S.S. Morro Castle ~ Wikimedia Commons
No Copyright

What can we glean from the passenger list (above)?

1. Esther and Carlota sailed on the S.S. Morro Castle
2. Port of Departure – Veracruz, Mexico
3. Date of Departure – October 19, 1911
4. On line 2 we see Carlota Webster listed.  She was Frederick and Esther's oldest child.
5. Carlota's Age was 1
6. Carlota's Nationality – United States citizen
7. On line 3 we see Esther Webster listed.
8. Esther's age was 20
9. Esther was married
10. Esther's Nationality – United States citizen
11. Esther's Race – Mexican

I think it's interesting that Esther's nationality (Country of which citizen or subject) was first listed as Mexico.  Then that was crossed out and U.S. was written over Mexico.  Also, in the column of Race for Esther, Mexican was crossed out and U.S. was written in.

Was Esther's nationality (Country of which citizen or subject) changed from Mexico to U.S. because she automatically became a U.S. citizen when she married Frederick Webster in 1910? I found the following information helpful regarding Esther and her citizenship status.

In the article Seven Keys to Understanding Naturalization Records at Ancestry.com,² the following is stated:

'"Derivative" citizenship was granted to wives and minor children of naturalized men. From 1790 to 1922, wives of naturalized men automatically became citizens. This also meant that an alien woman who married a U.S. citizen automatically became a citizen.'

In a separate article, I found the following regarding marriage and citizenship of alien women. Marian L. Smith stated in her article "Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married . . ." Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802-1940 at Archives.gov:³

"In other cases, the immigrant woman suddenly became a citizen when she and her U.S. citizen fiance were declared "man and wife." In this case her proof of citizenship was a combination of two documents: the marriage certificate and her husband's birth record or naturalization certificate. If such an alien woman also had minor alien children, they, too, derived U.S. citizenship from the marriage. As minors, they instantly derived citizenship from the "naturalization-by-marriage" of their mother. If the marriage took place abroad, the new wife and her children could enter the United States for the first time as citizens."

This wasn't the only time I found Esther on a passenger list. I'll be sharing more documents from Esther's travels in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 Source Citation: Year: 1911; ; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: T715_1763; Line: 3; ; Page Number: 180. Source Information: Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. ^↩
2 "Seven Keys to Understanding Naturalization Records." Ancestry.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.^↩
3 Smith, Marian L. "Prologue: Selected Articles." Prologue: Selected Articles. National Archives, Summer 1998. Web. 20 Aug. 2013.^↩

Carl Albert Gillberg – Leaving from Liverpool

I love immigration and naturalization records. This amazing UK, Outward Passenger List¹ is from Ancestry.com. It shows my great-grandfather, Carl Albert Gillberg, with his step-daughter Judith, and daughter Margaret. See their names and information in the red box? Here's a close-up view.



Information gleaned from this document:

• Name of Ship – Canada
• Date of Departure – September 9, 1909
• Where Bound – Quebec and Montreal
• Carl's port at which he contracted to land – Montreal
• Port of Departure – Liverpool
• Carl's profession – Mechanic
• Carl's age – 27 years old
• Judith's age – 11 years old
• Margaret's age – 7 years old

So, of course looking at this document raises some questions for me.

1. Carl and his family lived in Eskilstuna, Sweden. He and his daughters would have had to travel to Liverpool, England, the port from which they left for the United States. How did they get to Liverpool? And where did they stay before the ship left?
2. Why was Carl's profession listed as a mechanic? On two other documents he is listed as a tinsmith.
3. Carl's 1924 Declaration of Intention states that he entered the United States on September 18, 1909 at the Port of Chicago in Illinois. But on a different passenger list, there is a handwritten note near Carl's name stating the following – Detroit 9-19-09 C. P. Ry. Through which port did Carl enter the United States? The Google Map below shows the relation of Montreal to Detroit and Chicago.

I did a Google search for "C P Railway" and Canadian Pacific Railway came up as an option. Here's a map from the Library of Congress that shows some of the Canadian Pacific Railway lines, particularly from Montreal, Canada westward. It appears that the ports of Detroit and Chicago were part of the Canadian Pacific Railway lines. So, now I'm not sure if Carl entered the United States at the Port of Detroit or the Port of Chicago.



Unfortunately, these questions may remain unanswered. But what I do know is that Carl and his daughters did travel across the Atlantic Ocean in 1909, leaving Carl's wife, Hilda, and another daughter, Naomi, back in Sweden. Hilda and Naomi would emigrate from Sweden to the United States the following year.

The family settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where my grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gillberg, was born. Years later they moved to California, where Carl and Hilda became citizens of the United States of America.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 Ancestry.com. UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Outwards Passenger Lists. BT27. Records of the Commercial, Companies, Labour, Railways and Statistics Departments. Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England. ^↩

Thanks for Traveling Frederick! – A September 1913 Passenger List

This is part of a series of posts in which I share the documents relating to the travels of Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster and his family.

S.S. Verdi Passenger List
for September, 1913
See Footnote

There he is on line 1…Frederick E. Webster, my "Traveling Dentist" great-grandfather. Where was he going this time? And why was he traveling again? In two previous posts I shared the U.S. Consular Registration Applications for the years 1917 and 1923. They were full of interesting information. They even provided the answer to why Frederick was traveling during those years.

Unfortunately, this passenger list¹ (above) doesn't give an answer to why Frederick was traveling in September of 1913. Perhaps the reason he was traveling again was to practice dentistry. That's what he stated as the purpose for his travels in both of the U.S. Consular Registration Applications.

So, what information can we glean from this passenger list?

• We already know his name, but there it is as Frederick E. Webster
• He left Santos, Brazil on September 8, 2013
• He sailed on the S.S. Verdi
• He arrived at the Port of New York on September 28, 1913
• Age – 43
• Married or Single – Married
• Date and place of birth – Athens, Ohio, February 14, 1870 (Actually his birth date was February 14, 1864. I don't know why this passenger list states his age as 43 and year of birth as 1870.)
• Address in the United States – Brooklyn, New York

I have some questions:

• Why was Frederick traveling alone?
• Where were his wife, Esther and children Carlota and Edna Lillie?
• Why was his address in the United States listed as Brooklyn, New York?
• Did he know someone there?
• Did he travel from Brooklyn to some other destination in the United States? If so, where?

Unfortunately, I may never know the answers to these questions. What I do know is that my great-grandfather, Frederick Webster, traveled a lot during his life.  And it turns out he wasn't the only member of his family who traveled.

In my next "Thanks for Traveling Frederick!" post I'll be sharing a passenger list which contains the names of two of Frederick's close family members.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 National Archives, "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com: accessed April 15, 2013), National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.;Year: 1913; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715; Microfilm Roll: 2187; Frederick E. Webster, Line: 1; Page Number: 122.^↩