Tip: Find All of Your Ancestors' Obituaries

This is a photo of my maternal 2nd great-grandmother, Cynthia Maria (Waterman) Webster.

Until March 2019 I did not know the cause of her death. And now I'm finally sharing this discovery here on my blog.

I love to find newspaper articles about my ancestors. I found three obituaries for Cynthia in different newspapers, but only one of them included her cause of death. Each of them contained different, but valuable information.

Before I share the obituary with Cynthia's cause of death, here are the other two obituaries I found.

This first obituary was printed in The Western News, Stockton, Kansas, on Thursday, 26 September 1895.¹

Transcript of this obituary:

                                                     Death of Mrs. Webster.

  Mrs. Cyntha [sic] M. Webster died at her home in Marysville, Kansas, at 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. She had been lingering at death's door for several months, and at different times during that time her children had all been summoned to her bedside to see her pass away, but each time she would revive and linger yet a while. She was the mother of Fred E. Webster of this place, and Frank S. Webster, formerly of this place, but now of Wymore, Neb. She was aged 61 years, 4 months and 2 days.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Mrs. Cyntha [sic] M. Webster

Place of Death: At her home in Marysville, Kansas

Time of Death: 9:40 a.m.

Date of Death: Sunday, September 22nd

Name and Residence of Sons: Fred E. Webster of Stockton, Kansas and Frank S. Webster formerly of Stockton but now of Wymore, Nebraska

Age at Death: 61 years, 4 months and 2 days

This obituary contains fantastic family history information about where Cynthia lived (Marysville) and where two of her sons lived as well. It also provides her date, place, and even time of death as well as her exact age at death. Her exact age at death was listed as 61 years, 4 months and 2 days.

In my research, I have seen different dates and years listed or calculated as her birthdate and/or her birth year ranging from May 20 or May 21 and 1834 to 1844. I love that this obituary was so exact with her age at her death. I wonder if either or both of her sons, Fred and/or Frank, provided information for this obituary. Using this exact age at death information, I used a helpful website called timeanddate.com to calculate her birthdate. The result was 20 May 1834.

This second obituary was printed in The Marshall County Democrat, Marysville, Kansas, on 27 September 1895.²

Transcript of this obituary:

  Died, in this city, Sept. 22d, Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster, in the 62d year of her age. Funeral from their residence Sept. 24th, and the remains were interred in the Marysville cemetery, followed by a large procession of their many friends.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster

Place of Death: Marysville, Kansas

Date of Death: September 22nd

Age at Death: In her 62nd year

Date of Funeral: September 24th

Place of Burial: Marysville Cemetery

Again we find wonderful family history information in this second obituary. In addition to the same information provided in the first obituary, this one also includes Cynthia's funeral date and burial place.

And this third obituary was printed in the Marshall County News, Marysville, Kansas, on Friday, 27 September 1895.³ The is the obituary that included her cause of death.

Transcript of this obituary:

Mrs. Cynthia M. Webster wife of E. P. C. Webster died at their home in this city, Sept, 21st, after a long and painful illness, with dropsy. The funeral services were held Tuesday Sept. 23, and a large gathering of sorrowing friends followed the remains to their last resting place in the Marysville cemetery. The deceased was a daughter of Asher and Basheba Waterman, was born May 6, 1834, near Coolville, Athens county, Ohio, and and [sic] grew to womanhood at the same place. She married E. P. C. Webster July 25, 1858. She was the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters. The first child, a daughter, died at the age of three years. The other five are now grown men and women. She has been a christian from childhood; was cradled in the M. E. church and affiliated with the same until the last five pears [should be years]. Since her marriage, she and her family have lived in ten different neighborhoods and communities and everywhere she made hosts of friends and never knew of having an enemy; universally loved by all. She was a remarkable kind and loving mother and a kind, gentle, amiable wife. She filled a place in the hearts of her family that will forever be vacant. Peace to her memory.

What a beautiful obituary! Cynthia must have been a wonderful woman. Like the other two obituaries, this obituary is full of valuable family history information. However, the dates for Cynthia's birth, death, and funeral are incorrect. Her date of birth was actually 21 May 1834.⁴ And her date of death was 22 September 1895.⁵ And the obituary stated that her funeral was on Tuesday the 23rd of September 1895 but the 23rd was on a Monday, not on a Tuesday. It is likely that Cynthia's funeral was held on Tuesday, 24 September 1895, two days after her death.

Information gleaned from this obituary:

Name of Deceased: Cynthia M. Webster

Name of Spouse: E. P. C. Webster

Place of Death: At home in Marysville, Marshall County, Kansas

Date of Death: 21 September 1895 (should be 22 September 1895)

Cause of Death: Dropsy

Date of Funeral: Tuesday, 23 September 1895 (should be 24 September 1895)

Place of Burial: Marysville Cemetery

Father's Name: Asher Waterman

Mother's Name: Basheba [Bathsheba] Waterman

Date of Birth: 6 May 1834 (Should be 20 May 1834)

Place of Birth: Coolville, Athens, Ohio

Marriage Date: 25 July 1858

Number of Children: Six, three sons and three daughters

Church Affiliation: M. E. Church

Additional information in this obituary that is not included in the first two obituaries include the name of Cynthia's husband and their marriage date, Cynthia's cause of death, her parents' names, her date and place of birth, how many children she had including how many sons and daughters, and her church affiliation. All of this information is extremely valuable for family history research.

With this third obituary, I was able to learn that Cynthia's cause of death was dropsy. Dropsy is an older term, known today as edema.

I'm so glad that I didn't stop searching for obituaries after finding the first obituary for Cynthia. If I had stopped searching, I may not have discovered her cause of death. So what's the lesson here? We need to try and locate all obituaries and other documents that we can find about our ancestors to see if they have additional details about our ancestors' lives.

I'm so happy that I was able to finally discover Cynthia's cause of death.

What have you been able to discover through newspaper research about your ancestors?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2026 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

---

 

1 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, The Western News (Stockton, Kansas), 26 September 1895, page 4, column 4; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/379433198/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
2 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, Marshall County Democrat (Marysville, Kansas), 27 September 1895, page 8, column 1; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/290552521/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
3 "Cynthia M. Webster," obituary, Marshall County News (Marysville, Kansas), 27 September 1895, page 5, column 4; online digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/290184469/ : accessed 26 March 2019), Newspapers.com by Ancestry.^↩
4 "USGenWeb, The Tombstone Transcription Project" database, Marysville City Cemetery (www.usgwtombstones.org/kansas/marysvillecitycem.txt : accessed 29 January 2026), C. Marie Webster.^↩
5 Donald Lines Jacobus and Edgar Francis Waterman, The Waterman Family. Vol. 1 (New Haven, CT: E.F. Waterman, 1939), 566.^↩

Family Memories ~ A Christmas Visit

My maternal grandparents, Debs Warren Webster and Willis (Quillin) Webster, were from Brazil. In the summer of 1952 their family immigrated to the United States of America. My mom was fourteen years old at the time they immigrated to the USA. They settled in Southern California. To learn more about their immigration story, click the The Debs Webster Family Immigration Story tab at the top of this blog.

When I was growing up, my maternal grandparents lived in Hacienda Heights, California. My family traveled to visit them quite a bit while I was growing up, and my grandparents would travel to visit us. It was fun and interesting when we'd get together. I remember hearing Portuguese spoken all around me. Unfortunately, I was never taught the language.

Since it's almost Christmas, I figured it was the perfect time to share some photos from when our family traveled to spend Christmas with my grandparents at their home in Hacienda Heights in 1969. 

This is a photo of my Grandpa Debs and Grandma Willis Webster at their house in Hacienda Heights, California. Technically, my Grandma Willis was my step-grandma. My mom's mother died when my mom was almost four years old and my Grandpa Debs married Willis when my mom was five years old. Willis was the only maternal grandma I knew. So to me she was just Grandma. And she was a wonderful grandmother!

Here's a photo of my parents, brothers, and myself with my grandparents.

  

After all the festivities it was time for our family to head back home. But before we left, Grandpa Debs took a couple more photos.

The first one is of my grandparents with my brothers and myself. I love what Grandpa Debs wrote on the top margin of this photo: "They Came For Christmas." I like to think that this little statement meant that our Christmas visit meant a lot to him.

Here's a photo of my parents, brothers, and myself posing in front of our little 1964 green Volkswagen Beetle. Again, my Grandpa Debs wrote a little something on the top margin of the photo. This time it was, "Bye Bye."

I miss my grandparents. They were so kind and loving. I also miss my parents, who were also kind and loving.

At this joyous time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I'd like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2025 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Preserving Memories ~ The Mystery of Grandpa Webster's Property

As I've mentioned previously, I've worked on a large family history project. I've scanned photos, slides, and negatives of various sizes that I inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents. I have also scanned photos and negatives from my own collection. I'm not finished with this scanning project yet.

Part of my family history scanning project included scanning small black and white photos from a Kodak envelope. The writing on the outside of the envelope looks like my mom's handwriting. She wrote, "Pictures from the lot Dad had and Oswaldo Silva is the agent."

My mom's dad was Debs Warren Webster. Regular readers of my blog may remember that Debs and my mom were born in Brazil and immigrated to the United States of America in the summer of 1952, along with their family. I wrote a series of blog posts about their immigration trip, which can be found by clicking "The Debs Webster Immigration Story" tab at the top of my blog.

The Kodak envelope contains eleven photos with writing on the front and/or back of each photo. They were written in Portuguese. Unfortunately, I can't speak or read Portuguese so I turned to Google Translate for help. I won't share all eleven photos here.

I wish I knew the story behind these photos. Sadly I can't ask my mom about them because she passed away in October 2018. I'm thankful she wrote what she did on the Kodak envelope to give me a sense of what was happening in the photos.

From the photos, it looks like my grandfather, Debs Warren Webster, owned a piece of land (lot) in Brazil. I think the piece of property was in Brazil because the sign indicating my grandfather was the owner of this property is written in Portuguese, and my grandfather was born and lived in Brazil.

According to Google Translate, the writing on this photos says, "Sign on Site" and the sign says, "Property of D. Warren Webster, Attorney Dr. O.A.Silva," and I assume that is the telephone number at the bottom. Unfortunately, I don't know the specific location of this property.

Here are more photos from the Kodak envelope.

I believe the man wearing a tie was Oswaldo Silva, my grandfather's attorney (agent). I don't know who the other men were in this photo.

As you can see in these next few photos, it appears that my grandfather's lot was subsequently enclosed by a wall and a door was installed to access the property.

This looks like my grandfather's Attorney (agent), Oswaldo Silva in front of my grandfather's lot. The arrow is pointing to the "Property of D. Warren Webster" sign in this photo and in the next one.

Here is a photo of Oswaldo Silva in front of his 1950 Chevrolet. On the back of the photo Oswaldo wrote that his car was a dark green 1950 Chevrolet 4 door Fleetline, that he owned it for four years, and that it only had eighty-thousand kilometers on it.

I have questions about the circumstances surrounding these photos. When were these photos taken? And who took the photos? The information about Oswaldo's car is an interesting clue. The car was a 1950 Chevrolet that Oswaldo owned for four years. Did Oswaldo buy the car when it was new or later as a used car? Were these photos taken in 1954 or later? My grandfather and his family immigrated to the U.S.A. in the summer of 1952. Did my grandfather go back to Brazil in 1954 to help oversee the sale of his property? Or were these photos taken by Oswaldo Silva and sent to my grandfather at his new home in the United States? I know my grandparents visited Mexico in 1955 because I have their pictures from that trip. But, I am not aware of any trip they may have taken to Brazil in the 1950s. They did visit Brazil in 1986. And my grandfather visited Brazil in 1992 after my grandmother passed away.

In any case, this is an interesting find in my scanning project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2025 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Preserving Memories ~ Disneyland in the Summer of 1955

As I've mentioned previously, I've worked on a large family history project. I've scanned photos, slides, and negatives of various sizes that I inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents. I have also scanned photos and negatives from my own collection. I'm not finished with this scanning project yet, but I'm taking a break at the moment.

Today I want to share some digitized images that were scanned from medium format negatives that belonged to my maternal grandparents, Debs and Willis (Quillin) Webster. They are photos of a trip they took to Disneyland in the summer of 1955. I have some printed photos from this trip that have an August 1955 date stamped on them. Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955.

My mom's mother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, died when my mom was almost four years old. Her father, Debs Webster, married Willis Quillin a couple years later in 1944. Willis was the only maternal grandmother I knew. And she was a wonderful grandma to my brothers and me. Although technically she was our step-grandma, she was lovingly referred to as grandma by us. So, that's how I will refer to her in this post.

My mom, her parents, her brothers, and grandmother immigrated to the United States from Brazil in the summer of 1952. They settled in the Los Angeles area, specifically Pomona. I think it's so awesome that my mom and her family went to Disneyland three years after their immigration to the USA. And it's awesome that they went to Disneyland shortly after it opened. I wish I knew if they were there on the day it opened or not. But, even if they didn't go on opening day, they were there soon after Disneyland opened, which is very cool. My mom turned seventeen years old on July 24, 1955. I wonder if they went to Disneyland for her birthday. I'm so glad they took photos of their time there.

It's also neat to see what Disneyland looked like in the summer of 1955.

Here they are on Main Street standing in front of the Wurlitzer Music Hall. My mom is the third from the right. She's standing next to her younger brother, Edwin (second from the right). Her other brother is seventh from the right. He's standing in front of my grandma (in the plaid skirt). My mom's grandmother, Helena Rohwedder Quillin, is the sweet lady holding her purse (sixth from the right). Apparently, the Wurlitzer Music Hall closed sometime in the late 1960s. Something else is there now.

Here's another photo in front of the Wurlitzer Music Hall. My grandma (in the plaid skirt) and her mom (my great-grandmother) are standing next to the man in the baseball cap. 

And here's another photo of Main Street. My mom and some of her family were walking on the sidewalk close to the street. My mom is the one with her left arm up and a bow in her hair. Her two brothers are on her left and my grandma is on her right. It's pretty cool to see Main Street back then.

Here's my mom and her family walking along at Tomorrowland. My mom is second from the right in this photo. My grandma is on her right.

It's difficult to see my mom and her family in this photo but it's a pretty cool photo because it shows Autopia on the left. See that Richfield sign above all the people on the left? That was Autopia. I had to look up what Richfield was and learned that it sponsored Autopia back then. My mom and her family are facing away from the camera in this photo and are close to the TWA Moonliner. My mom had a bow in her hair.

Speaking of Autopia, here is a photo of my grandma in an Autopia car. She's in the light car on the left. Interestingly, there wasn't a center guide rail on the track like there is now. Wow!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed going down memory lane with me as we visited Disneyland in the summer of 1955 with my mom and her family.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2024 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Have You Tried The MyHeritage In Color™ Tool?

In 2020, MyHeritage announced their new MyHeritage In Color tool. In just a matter of seconds it can colorize black and white photos. I used this tool to colorize a black and white photo of my mom. She was eleven years old when this photo was taken.

Here is the black and white photo of my mom. By the way, I absolutely love this photo.

And here is the colorized photo.

MyHeritage's tool also includes an Enhance and a Repair feature. You can see those features in the photo at the top of this post. I decided to try the Repair feature on the colorized photo of my mom. Here it is.

I then decided to add the Enhance feature to my mom's photo and here is the result.

For some reason, the color of my mom's blouse became discolored in several areas. However, the Enhance feature did improve the photo by eliminating the pixelation in the original photo. The original photo is a rather small jpg file at 146 KB.

What do you think? Which version of these colorized photos do you prefer? Have you used the MyHeritage In Color tool? How did it work on your photos?

I really do like this tool and appreciate being able to colorize black and white photos. It's really fun to see this adorable photo of my mom in color. Thank you MyHeritage!

You can read more about this new tool at Colorize your black and white photos automatically with MyHeritage In Color™

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2024 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Preserving Memories ~ My Adorable Grandparents

For several months I've been working on a large family history project. I've been scanning photos, slides, and negatives of various sizes that I inherited from my parents and my maternal grandparents. I've also been scanning photos and negatives from my own collection. 

I finished scanning all of my parents' and grandparents' slides and have lately been focused on scanning photos and negatives.

Some of the images I've scanned from my parents' and maternal grandparents' collections have been new-to-me images. In other words, I don't remember seeing them before. So that has been fun!

Today I'm sharing a new-to-me image of my maternal grandparents, Debs Warren Webster and his second wife, Willis Quillin Webster. I remember Willis very well. She married my grandfather when my mom was a little girl. Debs' first wife, Sarah Vasques Madeira (my mom's mother), passed away when my mom was almost four years old.

This adorable photo of my maternal grandparents was scanned from a medium format negative. It looks like Debs and Willis were on a trip.

The negative envelope did not provide a location for my grandparents trip, but there's a hint on the chalkboard on the building in this photo. The word Crannell is written on the chalkboard. And Crannell is also on the side of the building behind my grandfather, and it's in the sign above the chalkboard. I did a Google search for Crannell and it's a "former settlement in Humboldt County, California" and used to be a "company town for sawmill workers of the Little River Redwood Company."¹

I'm not sure what kind of building this was, but I think it may have been a store. On the side of the building behind my grandfather, I think the word Store is under the word Crannell, but Store is partially hidden by my grandfather. What do you think?

Check out that old phone booth near the entrance of the building and check out my grandparents car! So awesome! I'm not an expert in vintage cars, so I did a Google image search for the car and it looks like it was a Renault Dauphine.

I just love this photo of my grandparents! It looks like it could have been an advertisement in a travel brochure.

I'll share more photos from my scanning project in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2024 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

---

1 Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), "Crannell, California," rev. 18:33, 29 November 2023. ^↩

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

---

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

Little Eugene Webster's Birth Record

In my previous post, I shared the birth record of Alicia Bell Webster, the youngest child of my maternal great-grandparents, Frederick Emory Webster and Esther Matus Villatoro. In that post I also shared the exciting news that I had found the birth record of Eugene Webster, another child of Frederick and Esther (Matus Villatoro) Webster. I also said that I would share Eugene's birth record in a future post. So, today I will share Eugene's birth record here on my blog.¹ In his birth record his first name was listed as Eugenio instead of Eugene.

I highlighted the names of Frederick, Esther, Eugenio, and the grandparents, Ebenezer and Cynthia Webster. For some reason, Esther's parents were not included in this birth record. They were included in the birth record for Eugenio's sister, Alicia Bell Webster.² Eugene and his younger sister, Alicia Bell, were both born in Bacacheri, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.

Information in Eugenio's birth record:

Name: Eugenio Webster
Event Type: Birth Registration
Event Place: Bacacheri, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Sex: Male
Birth Date: 3 December 1915
Father's Name: Frederico Emory Webster
Mother's Name: Esther Matus Webster
Certificate Number: 38461

Frederick Emory Webster stated in his 1917 U.S. Consular Registration Application that Eugenio's full name was Eugene Rollin Webster.³ I'm glad that Frederick left such a rich paper trail due to his travels. I've learned a lot from these documents.

Sadly, Eugene and his sister Alicia Bell did not live to adulthood. I still do not know their exact dates of death. Hopefully I will be able to locate their death records in the future.

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 : accessed 20 June 2021), certificate image, Eugenio Webster, 3 December 1915, no. 38461; citing Corregedor Geral da Justicia da Paraná (Paraná General Justice Office), Curitiba.
2 "Brasil, Paraná, Registro Civil, 1852-1996," database with images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9396-Q699-B4 : accessed 20 June 2021), certificate image, Alicia Bell Webster, 10 May 1918, no. 42988; citing Corregedor Geral da Justicia da Paraná (Paraná General Justice Office), Curitiba.

3 "U.S., Consular Registration Applications, 1916-1925," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 December 2012), Frederick Emory Webster, 29 August 1917, no. 10239; citing Department of State, Division of Passport Control Consular Registration Applications, roll #32734_620305173_0258.

Little Alice Webster's Birth Record

In a previous post I shared the exciting news that I had discovered the birth record of Alice Webster, the youngest child of my maternal great-grandparents, Frederick Emory Webster and Esther Matus Villatoro.

My readers may remember that I refer to Frederick Emory Webster as "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog. He practiced dentistry in three countries: The United States of America, Mexico, and Brazil. Because of his travels, it was challenging to know where to look for vital records for his family. I'm thankful for the recent hint on FamilySearch that led me to Frederick and Esther's marriage record.

Their marriage did not take place at the time or place I would have expected. Because they were married in Curitiba, Brazil, I decided to do some research in that locality and was able to find the birth records for their two youngest children, Alice and Eugene. Yay!

Here is Alice's birth record.¹ In this birth record I learned that her actual name was Alicia Bell Webster.

Frederick signed his name on the second page of the document. It's always fun to see an ancestor's signature.

I highlighted the names of Frederick, Esther, Alicia Bell, and the grandparents, Ebenezer and Cynthia Webster, and Raymundo Matus (should be Raymunda). The inclusion of the grandparents' names provides evidence that this birth record is for my Frederick and Esther's daughter, and not another Frederick and Esther's daughter. It's so great and helpful when grandparents are named on documents.

Because I do not speak Portuguese, I used Google Translate to help me understand this birth record. I am not seeing an actual birth date on the record, but FamilySearch states that Alicia's birth date was 10 May 1918. If Google Translate is correct, it looks like Frederick reported his daughter's birth on 11 May 1918.

Sadly, Alicia Bell did not live to adulthood. I am glad to finally have her birth record, but I still do not have her death record. I'm also glad I was able to find the birth record of Alicia's brother, Eugene. I will share Eugene's birth record in a future post.

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-Q699-B4 : accessed 20 June 2021), certificate image, Alicia Bell Webster, 10 May 1918, no. 42988; citing Corregedor Geral da Justicia da Paraná (Paraná General Justice Office), Curitiba.^↩

My Ancestors' Signatures

In my previous post, I shared the news that the marriage record of my maternal great-grandparents, Frederick Emory Webster and Esther Matus Villatoro, included their signatures. It's so fun to see the signatures of ancestors on documents. I have already seen Frederick's signature on other documents, but I don't think I've ever seen Esther's signature before. So, her marriage record is not only valuable from the standpoint of the information it contains, but also because it includes her signature.

In my post about their marriage record, I also said that I needed to add Esther's signature to my blog's "My Ancestors' Signatures page. I have now done that. On that page I have signatures of other ancestors including the signature of my 6th great-grandfather, John Waterman. His signature was from his Last Will and Testament dated 3 January 1742/3 when he was about seventy years of age. If you would like to check out the "My Ancestors' Signatures" page on my blog, click HERE, or you can just go to my blog's home page and click on the "My Ancestors' Signatures" tab.

Seeing the signatures of our ancestors on documents is such a treat. Do you collect your ancestors' signatures?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2021 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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.^↩

Lesson Learned. Always Check for Additional Pages

I've been working on a timeline in Excel about my maternal great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog.

While doing some research for this timeline, I took another look at a document I shared in a previous post back in 2013. It's a U.S. Consular Registration Application from 1917 for Frederick.¹ I was looking at it on Ancestry and clicked on the little arrow on the right side and there was a second page to this application! Not only that, it turns out that there was a third and fourth page too! I had only downloaded the first page to my computer years ago. Now these additional pages have been downloaded to my computer as well.

This second page contains some interesting information.

Information gleaned from this second page:

Name of witness: J. C. Terry

Address of witness: Curitiba, Parana

Date: 29 August 1917

Identifying documents: Previous registration

Name of person to notify in the event of death or disability: Rollin W. Webster

Address of person to notify in the event of death or disability: Chicago, Illinois

Additional data: I own land at Ironton, Missouri

Addresses supplied by Frederick for investigation:

Dr. F. S. Webster

Clinton, Missouri

Rollin W. Webster

525 E. 37th Street

Chicago, Illinois

Rollin W. Webster and Dr. F. S. Webster were Frederick's brothers. F. S. stands for Frank Summers. He was also a dentist. A very interesting bit of information on this page is that Frederick stated he owned land in Ironton, Missouri. Wow! I wonder if I can find some land records about his property.

Here's the third page of Frederick's application.

This is an affidavit in which the applicant had to explain the reason for their "protracted foreign residence" etc.

Information gleaned from this third page:

Date Frederick ceased to reside in the United States: On or about 20 October 1911

Places Frederick lived temporarily since that date: Various places in Brazil

When Frederick arrived in Curitiba, Brazil: About 1915

Reasons for such residence: Frederick said, "I have built up a profitable practice in dentistry which I cannot abandon to return to the United States to start in anew at this time and I expect to return at such time as I retire from practice."

Since establishing a residence abroad Frederick made how many visits to the USA: None

Frederick stated he never was naturalized, took an oath of allegiance, or voted as a foreign citizen or subject.

Frederick maintained the following ties to family, business, and property with the United States: "8 tracts of land near Ironton, Missouri on which I pay taxes. Also have two brothers and a sister living in the United States."

Did Frederick pay the American Income Tax?: Frederick said he did not and said, "My income is below legal minimum."

When did Frederick intend to return to the United States permanently?: Frederick answered within four years or when "I retire from practice."

Frederick last registered at the American Consular Office: At Santos, Brazil in about 1915.

There's so much information on this page. It's great to know the reason Frederick stayed abroad. It looks like he was doing pretty well with his dental practice. On the second page of this application he mentioned he owned land at Ironton, Missouri. On this third page he gave more specific information about that land. He said he owned eight tracts of land near Ironton. He also said he paid taxes on that land. These bits of information could lead to further research in land records and tax records, right? 

Frederick also mentioned he had two brothers and a sister living in the United States. His two brothers were those mentioned on the second page. Frederick had three sisters, but only one living at the time of this application. The surviving sister was Lura Elizabeth Webster. The two sisters who had already passed away were Mary Alice Webster and Lillian Dell Webster.

Frederick said he intended to return to the United States permanently within four years or when he retired. I don't know that that ever happened. He moved and traveled so much. I'd have to do more research to find out if he established a permanent residence in the USA at some point after this application. Frederick ultimately passed away in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil on 21 July 1946 and is buried in the Araca Cemetery in Sao Paulo.

Frederick stated that he had registered at the American Consular Office at Santos, Brazil around 1915, which is true. He also registered at the American Consular Office in Mexico City, Mexico in 1923.

The fourth page of Frederick's application is titled "Opinion of Officer Taking Affidavit" and contains a paragraph written by the officer. I won't include that here in this blog post.

The information within this U.S. Consular Registration Application is fascinating. I'm so glad I clicked those little arrows to see if there were additional pages in Frederick's application!

Now I need to go back to the other U.S. Consular Registration Applications for Frederick to see if I missed any additional pages in those.

Lesson learned. Always check for additional pages.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2020 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

---

1 “U.S., Consular Registration Applications, 1916-1925,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 July 2020), Frederick Emory Webster.^↩