MyHeritage Scribe AI ~ Analysis of a Vintage Cabinet Card Photo

I recently shared a blog post expressing how useful the MyHeritage Scribe AI tool is for translating documents.

Scribe AI can also analyze photos, which is really cool and helpful. I uploaded the only photo I have of my maternal 2nd great-grandfather, Mathias Rodrigues Vasques, who was born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in about 1824, and died there on 7 January 1892.¹ That's him in the photo above.

I was doing research about Mathias to try and find his occupation. I found his death record and uploaded it to the MyHeritage Scribe AI tool and it provided me with some excellent information. I'll share that in a separate post.

I then decided to see what MyHeritage Scribe AI could tell me about the photo of Mathias.

As you can see from the screenshot above, Scribe AI provided Key Findings, Historical Background, Estimated Date, Estimated Location, Visual Clues, and Technical Details located in the dropdown arrows next to the uploaded photo.

Here is a screenshot showing Scribe AI's Key Findings about this photo.

It may be difficult to read, so here are the Key Findings.

A formal, sepia-toned studio portrait of a middle-aged man standing confidently in a military uniform. He features a prominent goatee and mustache. He rests his left arm on an ornate, carved wooden cabinet and his right hand near his belt, holding a sword with a heavy bullion tassel. A fringed, tufted chair sits to his right, holding his kepi hat. The composition is classic 19th-century portraiture, projecting authority and dignity.

The "kepi hat" mentioned in the key findings for this photo looks very much like those used in the American Civil War.

Here is a screenshot of the Historical Background tab.

See that "Copy to clipboard" button below the Historical Background paragraph? I was able to click on that and paste the paragraph below.

This portrait captures a military officer, likely from the Brazilian Empire, during the late 19th century. The elaborate uniform, sword, and medal suggest a man of significant rank and status, possibly a veteran of the Paraguayan War (1864-1870), which heavily influenced South American military fashion. The studio setting with props like the carved cabinet and fringed chair was a standard convention for officers to commemorate their service and social standing. Genealogists should search Brazilian military archives (Arquivo Histórico do Exército or Marinha) for service records of 'Mathias Rodrigues Vasques' and cross-reference the photographer 'S. Castro' in 19th-century Brazilian trade directories to pinpoint the exact city.

Wow! This is incredibly helpful information. And it accurately stated that the subject in the photograph was from Brazil during the late 19th century, as that matches my own genealogy records. Further, it stated that Mathias may have been a veteran of the Paraguayan War (1864-1870). That's another helpful piece of information for future genealogy research. Scribe AI even suggested where to search for records.

Additionally, the information about the photographer "S. Castro" is extremely helpful for my future research as well.

The Estimated Date tab (below) provides more valuable information.

Here is the Estimated Date information.

Prediction: 1870 - 1885. Confidence: Medium-High.

Reasoning: The Cabinet Card format (large photo mounted on card) became widely adopted in the 1870s. The subject's facial hair (imperial beard) and the style of the uniform (kepi, tunic) are highly characteristic of the 1860s to 1880s, particularly the post-Paraguayan War era in South America.

Scribe AI gave a predicted date year range that included a medium-high confidence level. And it even provided the reasoning behind it's analysis.

The Estimated Location tab (below) included a prediction, confidence level, and reasoning behind the analysis.

Here is the Estimated Location information.

Prediction: Brazil. Confidence: High. Reasoning: The subject's name provided in the metadata ('Mathias Rodrigues Vasques') is Portuguese/Brazilian. The photographer's mark ('S. Castro') aligns with this linguistic origin. Furthermore, the uniform—specifically the kepi, tunic cut, and cuff braiding—strongly resembles those worn by officers of the Brazilian Imperial Army or Navy during the reign of Dom Pedro II (mid-to-late 19th century).

I have to say that this is impressive analysis. It is true that Mathias was, in fact, from Brazil. I also appreciate that Scribe AI told me in which branch of Brazil's military Mathias may have served based on his uniform.

Here is the Visual Clues information tab.

And here is the Visual Clues information paragraph.

Text: Embossed text on the bottom right of the mount reads 'S. CASTRO PHOT.' Subject: A man with an 'imperial' style beard and mustache. Uniform: Dark tunic with a standing collar, a single row of metallic buttons, shoulder epaulettes, and elaborate gold braiding on the cuffs indicating officer rank. He wears a white belt with a large, decorative rectangular buckle and a single medal on his left breast. Objects: A military sword with a prominent hilt and heavy bullion sword knot; a kepi-style hat with a front insignia resting on a chair; a heavily carved Renaissance Revival wooden cabinet; a tufted upholstered chair with long fringe.

I love all of the detail that Scribe AI included in the Visual Clues, right down to Mathias' "...'imperial' style beard and mustache." I also appreciate the detailed description of his uniform, the objects in the photo, and the mention of the photographer's name.

The last tab is the Technical Details tab.

Here is the Technical Details paragraph.

The image is a Cabinet Card, a photographic print mounted on sturdy cardboard, which was highly popular from the 1870s through the 1890s. The mount features rounded corners and an embossed photographer's mark at the bottom right. The photograph exhibits moderate degradation, including foxing (brown spots), fading, surface scratches, and edge wear on the cardboard mount.

As you can see, this information is about the photographic medium and its condition. It is amazing to me that this photo has been handed down through the generations and that I inherited such an amazing photo of my maternal 2nd great-grandfather. I keep this precious photo inside an archival photo-safe sleeve.

I have found myself often turning to MyHeritage Scribe AI in my family history research.

Have you used MyHeritage Scribe AI in your family history research?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2026 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 "Brasil, Rio Grande do Sul, Registros da Igreja Católica, 1738-1952," database with images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-F69N-X5 : 31 August 2023), Major Mathias Rodrigues Vasques, 7 January 1892; citing Paróquias Católicas, Rio Grande do Sul (Catholic Church parishes, Rio Grande do Sul). ^↩

An Exciting Ancestry Hint for Raymunda Villatoro Vasques

A couple of years ago I clicked on a hint on my tree in Ancestry.com. I'm so glad I did because it turned out to be a very important hint. Of course, hints should be analyzed for accuracy. Thankfully, this hint was accurate.

The hint was for my maternal second great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques, who was from Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.¹ The hint was this baptism record (below) for Adolfo Villatoro, which states that he was born on 27 September 1885, and was baptized in November 1885 at Tonala, Chiapas, Mexico.²

The baptism record states that Adolfo was the son of Raymunda Villatoro and that Adolfo's maternal grandparents were Demetrio Villatoro and Ysabel Vasquez. I know that this Raymunda Villatoro is my 2nd great-grandmother because the names of her parents in this record are the same as her known parents in other records I have.

I had no record or knowledge of Adolfo Villatoro before this hint, so this is an exciting discovery. Unfortunately, the baptism record does not include Adolfo's father's name. Hopefully I will be able to find records that include the name of Adolfo's father.

What exciting discoveries have you found through Ancestry hints?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2025 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 "Chiapas, Mexico, Civil Registration Deaths, 1861-1987," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2015), image 151 of 2067, entry for Raymunda Villatoro (Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico), November 1923; citing Chiapas Civil Registry State Archives, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Academia Mexicana de Genealogia y Heraldica.^↩
2 "México, Chiapas, registros parroquiales y diocesanos, 1557-1978," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-3LWC-9?cc=1616412&wc=MCS8-CPX%3A123518301%2C123518302%2C123718501 : accessed 8 June 2022), image 1141 of 3013, entry for Adolfo Villatoro, September 1885; citing Parroquias Católicas, Chiapas (Catholic Church parishes, Chiapas).^↩

My AncestryDNA Ethnicity Inheritance Results

My Ancestry DNA results were updated recently. This update included a new interesting feature called Ethnicity Inheritance. This feature "estimates which regions" I inherited from my father and my mother.¹ Initially, the inheritances were labeled Parent 1 and Parent 2. I was able to edit those labels to Maternal and Paternal. In my case, it was pretty easy to see that Parent 2 was my father, Jan Albert Iverson, because the ethnicity regions for Parent 2 only came from Sweden and Norway.

My father's maternal grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Maria Hilda Carlsson were immigrants from Sweden. My father's paternal grandparents, Christopher Iverson and  Anna Christopherson, were children of Norwegian immigrants.

The rest of my ethnicities come from my mother, Maria Elizabeth Webster, who was born in Brazil. From her I inherited ethnicities from Portugal, Sweden & Denmark, England & Northwestern Europe, Indigenous Americas--Mexico, Indigenous Americas--Yucatan Peninsula, Wales, Spain, Senegal, Basque, Northern Africa, and Northern Italy.

My mother's mother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was born in Brazil and was mostly of Portuguese ancestry. My mother's father, Debs Warren Webster, was also born in Brazil. Debs' father, Frederick Emory Webster, was born in Ohio, USA, and Debs' mother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.

Here is my ethnicity inheritance from both of my parents.

Sadly, both of my parents have passed away. I sure do miss them. My dad never took a DNA test, but my mom did take one before she passed away.

I am the manager of my mom's Ancestry account and have been able to access her DNA ethnicity inheritance results. I have been able to differentiate between Parent 1 and Parent 2 in my mom's results based on the known ethnicities of her father and mother. I will share those results in a future post and compare them with mine.

Have you been able to differentiate between Parent 1 and Parent 2 in your Ancestry DNA ethnicity inheritance results?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana Last

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1 ”Ethnicity Inheritance,” Ancestry Support (https://support.ancestry.com : accessed 13 July 2022).^↩

The Passing of my Beautiful Mom, Elizabeth Webster Iverson

I'm sad to announce that my dear, sweet, beautiful Mom, Elizabeth Webster Iverson, passed away on October 27, 2018. She had been suffering from moderate to severe Dementia, most likely Alzheimer's, according to a Neurologist we went to see in early January 2018. She declined at a rapid pace from her initial diagnosis of mild dementia in early November 2017.

My husband and I were with my Mom when she passed away. Our family will miss her, but we are happy in the thought of her joyous reunion with her beloved husband and our Dad, Jan Albert Iverson, who passed away on April 29, 2009. She must have also had a very sweet reunion with her own Mom, Sarah Vasques Madeira, who passed away when my Mom was almost four years old. My Mom also must be so happy to be with her other family members who've passed away before her.

I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we will have the opportunity to see and hug my Mom again someday. I'm so grateful to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His atoning sacrifice that makes this possible.

I'm so happy that my Mom is free from the horrible Dementia that took her away from us little by little over this past year. We will miss her, but we're so happy for her freedom from pain and suffering.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jana

© 2018 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Fun New Feature on FamilySearch ~ Compare-a-Face

There's a fun new feature on FamilySearch. It's called Compare-a-Face. And it's really cool. It compares photos of you with photos of your ancestors.

Here's what the feature looks like on my FamilySearch home page.

Simply click on "Try Compare-a-Face"

and you will see the next screen where you can upload your photo, or photos. As you can see, I uploaded several different photos of myself.

Here are some of my results with two of the photos I uploaded:

Comparing photos with my maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro.

Comparing photos with my paternal grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gillberg.

Comparing photos with my maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira.

Comparing photos with my Mom.

Comparing photos with my Dad, Jan Albert Iverson.

See the ancestor photos at the top of the page? To compare with another ancestor, just click on one of their photos.

This shows my photo compared with the photo of my 3rd great-grandmother, Amanda Melvina Carlisle.

See where it says "List" with the arrow at the top left of the page? Click on that and it takes you to a list of your matches.

You can also upload more photos.

It was fun and interesting to compare photos of myself with photos of my ancestors. If you'd like to give this fun new feature a try, click on the link below.

FamilySearch Compare-a-Face

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2018 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

An Exciting Discovery! Could This Felicito Villatoro Be My 2nd Great-Granduncle?

While doing research on my Mexican ancestral lines, I found a very interesting death registration record. Or perhaps I should say I found it again, because I had saved it to My Shoebox in Ancestry.com some time ago. I was doing research in FamilySearch.org when I found this record again.

What record did I find? A death registration record for Felicito Villatoro.

My maternal 3rd great-grandparents were Demetrio Villatoro and Isabel Vasques. I don't know much about them. What I do know so far is that Demetrio passed away sometime before 1902 and Isabel passed away sometime between 1902 and 1925.

My records indicate that Demetrio and Isabel had six children:

1. Raymunda Villatoro Vasques (Abt 1863-1923) My 2nd Great-Grandmother
2. Francisca Villatoro Vasques (Abt 1866-?)
3. Camilo Villatoro Vasques (1868-1934)
4. Felicita Villatoro Vasques (1874-1902)
5. Elpidia Villatoro Vasques (Abt 1875-?)
6. Zenon Villatoro Vasques (1879-1944)

The death registration record I found could mean that there is a 7th child we didn't know about. Here's the record.¹

Here's a close-up of two highlighted portions in the record.

Since I don't speak Spanish, I turned to Google Translate for help. The translation isn't perfect, but it provides me with some important clues.

Google Translation:

"Camilo Villatoro of 29 twenty-nine years old married natural farmer of the Jalisco farm of this understanding and saw that in compliance with the law news that in his house he died today at eleven o'clock in the morning with the intestines, Mr. Felicito Villatoro at the age of 26 twenty-six years ? natural laborer and neighbor of estates Jalisco estate. That he was the second son of the late Demetrio Villatoro and Mrs. Ysabel Velasquez, 55, fifty-five years old, a natural widow of the Soldedad and Vicina farm in Jalisco."

So, could this Felicito be a previously unknown son of my 3rd great-grandparents, Demetrio Villatoro and Isabel Vasques?

Some interesting clues jump out at me. Camilo, who appears to be the informant, is one of the sons of Demetrio and Isabel. It would make sense for him to be the informant for his brother. Camilo's age doesn't match what I have though. In this record it says he's 29, which puts his birth year at 1875. The birth year I have for him was calculated from his death record. Perhaps the informant for his death wasn't correct.

In this record Felicito's parents are listed as Demetrio Villatoro and Ysabel Velasquez. Vasques and Velasquez are kind of similar. There are three different variations of Isabel's last name in three of her children's death records. In Raymunda's death record, Isabel's last name is listed as Vasquez. In Felicita's record, Isabel's last name is listed as Basques. And in Zenon's death record, Isabel's last name is listed as Vazquez. So is Felicito's record just another variation?

Also, the record states that Felicito Villatoro was the second son of Demetrio Villatoro and Ysabel Velasquez. The fact that he was the "second son" fits with my Demetrio and Isabel Villatoro family. Camilo was the first son. And Zenon was the last son and was born in 1879. Felicito could have been the second son since his calculated birth date is 1878.

Some information that we can glean from this death registration record:

Decedent's Name: Felicito Villatoro
Death Date: 6 November 1904
Decedent's Age at Death: 26
Estimated Birth Year: 1878
Father's Name: Demetrio Villatoro (deceased)
Mother's Name and Age: Ysabel Velasquez, 55 years old
Informant: Camilo Villatoro

I definitely need to do more research to verify if this Felicito Villatoro is the second son of my 3rd great-grandparents, Demetrio Villatoro and Isabel Vasques. But, this death registration record is a very exciting find.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2018 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 "México, Chiapas, Registro Civil, 1861-1990," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5B4-9V4Y?cc=1916246&wc=MDLQ-Q68%3A205687701%2C206171401 : 16 January 2018), Arriaga > Nacimientos, matrimonios, defunciones 1897-1937 > image 2201 of 2930; Archivo General del Registro Civil del Estado Chiapas (Chiapas Civil Registry State Archives), Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Accessed 6 February 2018

An Exciting Discovery ~ The Death Record for Raymunda Villatoro Vasques

I have an exciting discovery to share with you today. Last Friday, I was searching on Ancestry.com and found the death record for my maternal 2nd great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques.¹ I didn't have any information about Raymunda's death before.

I knew that Raymunda passed away before 7 March 1925. Why? Because her son Francisco was married to Emma Vera on 7 March 1925 and their marriage record stated that Francisco's parents were deceased. But, I didn't know when or where Raymunda passed away or her cause of death.

This is a copy of Raymunda's death record. It begins on the bottom of the left page and continues to the top of the right page. Her record is highlighted in the red boxes.

I decided to crop Raymunda's death record and highlight in yellow some of the information contained in the record.

Unfortunately, the edges of these pages are in bad shape which makes it difficult to see all of the words in the record. But, I'm thankful that Raymunda's death record is mostly readable.

I don't read or speak Spanish so I turned to Google Translate for help with this document. I also asked my son-in-law, who served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico City, Mexico, for help. It was a quick translation help session and we didn't get everything in the document translated. However, I think I can understand it enough to glean the most important information from it.

Basically, here's what this record tells me:

Francisco M. Villatoro, 23 years of age, and single, reported his mother's death. Francisco is one of Raymunda's children. He and my great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, were siblings. Raymunda Villatoro, 60 years of age, passed away in her home in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico at 2:00 on 8 October 1923. Her cause of death was "Hidropecia." I used Google Translate to see what Hidropecia means and found that it is Dropsy. Raymunda's parents were listed as Demetrio Villatoro and Ysabel Vasquez.

So now I have this additional information about my 2nd great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. I don't yet have her birth or marriage records, so I can't say exactly when or where she was born or married. But, I'm grateful to have her death record. It really is an exciting find.

I found other exciting, and even surprising, discoveries this last weekend. I'll share those in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
 © 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 "Chiapas, Mexico, Civil Registration Deaths, 1861-1987," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 October 2015), image 151 of 2067, entry for Raymunda Villatoro (Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico), November 1923; citing Chiapas Civil Registry State Archives, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Academia Mexicana de Genealogia y Heraldica .  ^↩

Great-Grandma Rosalia's Baptism Record

My maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was born in Brazil. Sarah's mother, and my great-grandmother, Rosalia Rodrigues Vasques, was also born in Brazil.

Rosalia was born on 4 September 1857 in Rio Grande, Rio Grand do Sul, Brazil to her parents Mathias Rodrigues Vasques and Margarida De Farias Vasques. I was able to find Rosalia's baptism record on FamilySearch.¹

The really wonderful thing about this and other Brazilian baptism records in this record set on FamilySearch is this - not only do these records list the parents of the infant being baptized, they also list the infant's maternal and paternal grandparents as well. How awesome is that? If I didn't already have that information, I would be able to go back another generation on my family tree.

If you have Brazilian ancestry, I encourage you to check out these wonderful records by clicking HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 "Brasil Batismos, 1688-1935," index, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 13 May 2015), Rosalia Vasques, 04 Sep 1857; citing reference p 184; FHL microfilm 1284647.^↩

52 Ancestors: #36 ~ My Great-Grandmother - Rosalia Rodrigues Vasques

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.



I believe this is a picture of my maternal great-grandmother, Rosalia Rodrigues Vasques. I cropped it from a larger group photo, which I will share at a later time.

I introduced you to Rosalia's husband, Alvaro Borges Da Silva Madeira, in a previous post. If you missed that post and would like to read about Alvaro, who was a Naval Engineer in Brazil, click HERE.

Rosalia was born 4 September 1857 to her parents Mathias Rodrigues Vasques and Margarida De Farias Correa. Rosalia was christened on 8 December 1857 in São Pedro, Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Rosalia and her husband Alvaro were the parents of five children.

1. Maria Isabel Vasques Madeira (1890-?)
2. Agrippina Vasques Madeira (1894-?)
3. Alvaro Borges Madeira (1895-1960)
4. Lucia Vasques Madeira (1896-?)
5. Sarah Vasques Madeira (1900-1942) [My Grandmother]

My records indicate that Rosalia passed away on 24 April 1930 in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil at 72 years of age.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

52 Ancestors: #33 ~ My Grandmother – Sarah Vasques Madeira

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.

Sarah Vasques Madeira
Circa 1923

We have a lot of exciting stuff going on around here right now. Our second-oldest son is getting married this Saturday, so as you can imagine, we are pretty busy with wedding activities.

So, this week's 52 Ancestors post will be brief. I thought I would share a photo of my maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, that I haven't shared here on my blog before. I've written about my Grandma Sarah several times on my blog. Here's a list of the blog posts I've written about her in case you'd like to read them.

Wordless Wednesday–Sarah Vasques Madeira

Sepia Saturday 130–Two Love Birds

Amanuensis Monday–A Brazilian Death Record: Sarah Vasques Madeira Webster

Sepia Saturday 134–Sarah Webster Holding Her Sweet Little Baby

Sepia Saturday 142–Three Hats ~ Three People

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

52 Ancestors: #22 ~ Crecenciana Aurora Matus Villatoro

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.

Crecenciana Aurora Matus Villatoro

I'm sticking with the "Matus Villatoro" family again for this week's 52 Ancestors post. Today I'd like to introduce you to my great-grandaunt, Crecenciana Aurora Matus Villatoro. She was the youngest of four children born to my maternal 2nd great-grandparents Nicanor Matus and Raymunda Villatoro Vasques.

Crecenciana was the youngest sister of my great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro. Esther was married to my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog.

I know a little bit more about Crecenciana than I do about her parents.

Crecenciana was born on 14 September 1900 in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. She moved to Brazil sometime after her sister, Esther, moved there with her husband Frederick.

Crecenciana was very kind to my grandfather, Debs Warren Webster, and to his daughter (my mom). In fact, Crecenciana helped to care for my mom after my mom's mother, Sarah, passed away. My mom was only four years old at the time of her mother's death.

Crecenciana married Theodor Reinacher on 5 July 1932 in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is a photo of her husband Theodor.

Theodor Reinacher

Theodor and Crecenciana didn't have any children of their own.

Crecenciana passed away on 29 July 1973 in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was buried in Gethsemani Cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

I have several photographs of Crecenciana. I'll share them in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

52 Ancestors: #20 ~ Is This Raymunda?

This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.

Last week's 52 Ancestors blog post was about my maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro.

Esther's parents were Nicanor Matus and Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. This beautiful portrait was found in one of the briefcases that belonged to my Grandpa Debs Webster. The briefcase contained many wonderful photos and other family history treasures.



Unfortunately, this beautiful photo didn't contain any information about who this lovely woman was. The photo is rather large. It measures approximately 9-1/2 inches x 7-3/4 inches.

We've wondered if this is a photo of Esther's mother, Raymunda. For comparison, here's a photo of Esther. What do you think? Is there any resemblance?



We have another photo that may show Raymunda. Here it is. It's a very small photo measuring only about 2-1/8 inches x 2-3/8 inches. It was also found in one of my Grandpa Debs' briefcases.



The little boy in this photograph is my Grandpa Debs. And I believe the girl behind him and to the right is his sister, Carlota. As you can see, the writing on the photo says "Mexico." Unfortunately, I don't know who wrote that.

Debs and Carlota's mom, Esther, died in 1919, when Debs was five years old and Carlota was nine years old.

I wonder if this is a photo showing Debs and Carlota visiting their grandparents, Nicanor and Raymunda, sometime after the death of their mother. Perhaps they were even staying with them while their father, Frederick, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist," was on a trip somewhere.

Sadly, I don't know a whole lot about my 2nd great-grandmother, Raymunda Villatoro Vasques. I don't know where or when she was born. And I don't know her exact death date. I do know that she died sometime before 7 March 1925. The reason I know this is because that is the date her son, Francisco, got married. According to his marriage record, his parents, Nicanor and Raymunda, were both deceased.

So, if this really is a photo of Nicanor and Raymunda with their grandchildren, Debs and Carlota, then the photo was taken sometime before 7 March 1925.

Nicanor and Raymunda were the parents of four children:

1. Esther Matus Villatoro (1893-1919) [my great-grandmother]
2. Catalina Matus Villatoro
3. Francisco Matus Villatoro
4. Crecenciana Matus Villatoro (1906-1973)

I do know who Raymunda's parents were. Their names were Demitrio Villatoro and Isabel Vasques. I'll share what I know about them and their children in a future post.

As you can see, I still have a lot of research to do in order to fill in the details about Raymunda's life. As I find out more about her, I will share the information here on my blog.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

My AncestryDNA Results Are In ~ Some Surprises

I received my AncestryDNA test results the other day. They arrived a lot earlier than I was expecting, which was awesome. And, they revealed a couple of surprises too.

AncestryDNA  Test Results

The AncestryDNA test results provide some very interesting and helpful tools and charts. Here's my Ethnicity Estimate Chart.




In case the chart above is difficult to read, this is the percentage breakdown for my Ethnicity Estimate Chart:

North Africa – 5%
Native American – 10%
Scandinavia – 34%
Europe West – 20%
Great Britain – 9%
Ireland – 8%
Iberian Peninsula – 7%

I didn't include the Trace Regions. According to AncestryDNA, they may or may not actually be part of my ancestry.

A Really Cool Feature

This is what happened when I clicked on Scandinavia. A bar graph shows up and on the right side of the screen some interesting information about Scandinavia appears. I've blurred the map because of copyright issues. You can also see that they've included a bar graph that  shows how my average ethnicity percentage compares with a typical native Scandinavian.

This is a screen shot of the top portion of the page. As I scrolled down the page, additional information such as genetic diversity and population history can be found. You can see portions of those sections in the next two screenshots.







No Surprises

I'm not surprised by the Native American result. Last year I took the Family Finder (autosomal) DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA. I shared those results here on my blog. It was quite exciting to see these results because they showed that I have Native American ancestry, specifically Mayan ancestry. This verified something that my mom's stepmother had told her a long time ago. She said my mom had Mayan ancestry, and she was right. My maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. The Mayan people inhabited parts of Chiapas and other areas, so this could explain the Native American result.

Esther Matus Villatoro

I'm not at all surprised by the Scandinavian result. My father, Jan Albert Iverson, was Swedish and Norwegian. His maternal grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson, emigrated from Sweden to the United States in the early 1900's and his paternal great-grandfather, Iver Iverson, emigrated from Norway to the United States shortly before the U.S. Civil War.

Jan Albert Iverson

Carl Albert Gillberg and
Hilda Maria (Carlsson) Gillberg

The Family Finder DNA test I took last year didn't include Scandinavia in my results. But, it did include North Africa. My maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was Portuguese. Some of her ancestors came from the Azores and the Island of Madeira. I'm wondering if this accounts for the North Africa ethnicity result. The Island of Madeira is quite close to Morocco, which is in North Africa.

Sarah Vasques Madeira 

The Great Britain and Iberian Peninsula results also don't surprise me. My Webster and Waterman ancestors are originally from England. And the Iberian Peninsula includes Spain and Portugal. As I already mentioned, my maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was Portuguese. So, this could account for the Iberian Peninsula result.

Surprises

The ethnicity results that surprised me were the Ireland and Europe West results. They did not show up in my Family Finder DNA test results.  And I don't have know of anyone in my family tree from Ireland or the countries represented in the Europe West region.

Matches

The Member Matches feature of the AncestryDNA test is really awesome. I have lots of matches. At the top of the list is my 1st cousin one time removed. She and I had already been in touch with each other. There are some great features included in the Member Matches including lists of shared surnames, a map showing birth locations that appear in both your family tree and your potential cousin's family tree, and even a shared ancestor hint feature.

Conclusion

I'm really glad that I took the AncestryDNA test in addition to the FamilyTreeDNA tests I've taken. I also took the mtDNAPlus test with Family Tree DNA. But, I haven't shared those results on my blog yet.

I love the Member Matches feature on AncestryDNA. I have a long list of matches to look through. And hopefully, I will be able to make new cousin connections soon.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

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