A Norwegian Passport ~ Ole Iversen

Last week I shared the Migration Record of my 2nd great-granduncle, Ole Iversen with you. That document was found in Norway's Digital Archives website. While I was doing research in that amazing website, I found the passports for Ole Iversen, his wife Anne and their daughter Guri. How exciting!

Today I'd like to share Ole's passport with you.¹ I'll share Anne's and Guri's passports in future posts.

The full image above may be a bit difficult to read, so here's a cropped portion of the image showing Ole's information.

Information found in this document

Given name: Ole
Last name: Iversen Marteplads
Gender: m
Age: 35
Issued/presented: 20 April 1858
Individual remarks: af Naes, 65 Tommer, undersat, blaa, morkebrunt
Id: og00000000903791
Serial number: 121
Fee: 64 s

I cropped the "Individual remarks" section of the document even further.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't read or speak Norwegian. So once again I posted a translation request in the Norwegian Genealogy Group that I belong to on Facebook. And as before, I did get help. Two kind people responded. I was especially interested in this "Individual remarks" section of Ole's passport. It appears that this is a physical description of Ole Iversen. How cool is that!?

With the help from the kind people in the Facebook group, here is the translation of the "Individual remarks" section.

Individual remarks: of Nes, 65 Tommer = inches tall (5'5"), undersat could mean stocky build, blaa means blue which must refer to Ole's eye color, and morkebrunt = dark brown which must refer to Ole's hair color.

We don't have a photo of Ole, so reading this physical description of him is really wonderful.

Ole and his family immigrated to the United States in April of 1858. The Migration Record for Ole and his family didn't have a specific date. It only had April in the date column. Since Ole's passport was issued on 20 April 1858, this tells me they left Norway sometime after that date.

Norway's Digital Archive is such a wonderful website. If you have Norwegian ancestors, I highly recommend giving it a try. And, if you'd like to access the passports section of Norway's Digital Archive, click HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 “Passport protocol for Hallingsdal bailiff's office 1856-1865,” database, The Digital Archive (https://www.digitalarkivet.no : accessed 24 February 2015), entry for Ole Iversen Marteplads, 1858, Buskerud, Flå, Gol, Hemsedal, Hol, Nes, Ål, Hallingdal bailiff; citing: The State Archives in Kongsberg.^↩

Thanks for Traveling Frederick! ~ An Emergency U.S. Passport Application from 1907

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.

In my previous "Thanks for Traveling Frederick!" post, I mentioned a passport application filled out by my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist." So, here it is! Frederick's passport application dated April 17, 1907.¹ He actually filled this out while he was in Mexico. The source citation states that this was an Emergency Passport Application (Issued Abroad). Hmmm. Interesting.



So, what information is contained in this passport application?

1. Frederick E. Webster stated he was a native and loyal citizen of the United States.
2. Frederick applied to the Consul at Guaymas, Mexico for a passport for himself. (Guaymas is located in the southwestern part of the Mexican state of Sonora. Why was Frederick there?)
3. Frederick was born in Athens, Ohio. (His birthplace is Coolville, Athens, Ohio.)
4. Frederick was born on February 14, 1870. (That's weird. His actual birthdate is February 14, 1864. So, why did he say he was born in 1870?)
5. Frederick stated that his father was a native born citizen of the United States.
6. Frederick stated that his permanent residence in the United States was El Paso, Texas. (Hmm. Why was he living in El Paso, Texas?)
7. Frederick's occupation was listed as a dentist. (No surprise here.)
8. Frederick stated that he left the United States on January 19, 1907.
9. He also stated that he was temporarily living in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.
10. Frederick stated that he intended to return to the United States within eighteen months.
11. Frederick stated that he desired the passport for the purpose of traveling in South America. (This is an interesting tidbit of information. Frederick eventually ended up living in Brazil and passed away there in 1946. My grandfather Debs, who was Frederick's son, and my mother were born in Brazil.)
12. Hurray! Frederick's signature is on the document.
13. Hurray again! We get a description of the applicant (Frederick).
14. Description of Frederick E. Webster
1. Age: 37 years old
2. Stature: 5 feet 5 inches tall
3. Forehead: Very high (bald)
4. Eyes: Blue
5. Nose: Medium
6. Mouth: Large
7. Chin: Medium
8. Hair: Brown
9. Complexion: Light
10. Face: Full
15. Identifying Witness for Frederick Webster – R. M. Black from Little Rock, Arkansas (Hmm. I wonder how Frederick knew this man. Did Frederick ever travel or live in Little Rock, Arkansas? Actually, I know Frederick was in Clarendon, Arkansas in 1899. And that's not too far from Little Rock. Frederick was awarded a patent in 1899. In this patent it states that Frederick was from Clarendon, Arkansas. If you'd like to see this patent, I shared it in a blog post. You can read about it by clicking HERE. It's pretty cool. And yes, it has to do with dentistry. And there are sketches of his invention included too.)

As you can see, this emergency passport application contains a wealth of interesting information. I sure am glad my great-grandpa Frederick traveled as much as he did. Doing so has created a great paper trail for me to follow. Thanks for traveling Frederick!

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Emergency Passport Applications (Issued Abroad), 1877-1907; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 1187503 / MLR Number A1 515; NARA Series: M1834; Roll #: 21; Volume #: 35. Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.^↩