The Other Watson E. Webster

Remember when I told you in a previous post that my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, had an uncle named Watson Emery Webster?  Well…this is him!

May I introduce you to Watson Emery Webster.

Watson was born on May 27, 1843 in Racine, Meigs, Ohio.  He was the third of eight children born to Moses Augustine Webster and Amanda Melvina Carlisle.

Watson was a Civil War veteran, like his brother Ebenezer.  In fact, they both served in Co. E.,74th Illinois Infantry together.

On March 3, 1864 in North Grove, Ogle, Illinois Watson married Malinda R. Eavey, daughter of Isaac D. Eavey and Caroline T. Hammond.  Watson and Malinda were the parents of two girls:

1. Carrie Estelle Webster (1865-1944)
2. Mertie Webster (1869-1885)

Watson passed away on January 26, 1882 in Des Moines, Iowa.

I will be sharing more about Watson Emery Webster's life in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

*Photo Courtesy of My 3rd Cousin Norma

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 31, 2013

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. The Youth are Eager to Learn about Genealogy by Sweet Tea, Tart Lemons & Memories
2. GenVines - a new genealogical news aggregator about online collections AND In which I attempt to clarify my earlier remarks and probably fail AND Do blog scraping sites violate the blog owner's copyright? by Genealogy's Star
3. What You Can Learn about Your Ancestor from a Bounty Land Application File AND Pre-1850 US Census Research – Women as Heads of Household by Genealogy Decoded
4. Visiting the American Cemetery at Normandy by A Sense of Family
5. Splog Alert – Monkey In My Tree AND Did You Receive An Email From AncestryBlogs.com? by GeneaBloggers
6. Mystery Monday: Searching for Mary Ann AND Wordless Wednesday: Button Button by Jollett Etc.
7. Japanese Names and Naming Practices by Japanese Genealogy Blog
8. More “veterans of the late unpleasantness” or better known today as the Civil War by Cindy Freed's Genealogy Circle
9. PBS lines up “Genealogy Roadshow” for the fall by Kelly Anderson for RealScreen.com
10. Heritage Scrapbooks: Changing Printing Companies Slowed Me Down by A Patient Genealogist
11. SCGS Genealogy Jamboree to Offer FREE Live Streaming Sessions June 7-9 by SCGS Jamboree Blog
12. Giggling With The Pig by A Southern Sleuth
13. La Tienda Part I by Past-Present-Future
14. Looking For Louie - The College Years by Celebrating Family Stories
15. Family Tree Poster, A Work of Art by My Hawley Family
16. MY DIGITAL FILING SYSTEM FOR GENEALOGY (WINDOWS) by Are My Roots Showing?
17. Blow Us Up, Blow Us Down, We Will Stand by Gathering Stories

New Blog Discoveries

• Blog Blog Black Sheep ~ Have You Any Clues?
• Tika's Teachings
• Paula's Genealogical Eclectica
• My Hawley Family

In Case You Missed It….My Contribution to the Genealogy Blogosphere This Week

• Watson, Why Did You Change Your Name To Frederick?

And, I started a new blog in which I share my maternal grandparents' vintage postcard collection.  If you'd like to check it out, here's the link ~

• Grandpa's Postcards

Thanks for reading!


© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Watson, Why Did You Change Your Name To Frederick?

My maternal great-grandfather's name at birth was Watson Emory Webster. My regular readers may know that I affectionately refer to him as "The Traveling Dentist."  For some unknown reason, Watson changed his name to Frederick Emory Webster sometime in his life.

I have two questions.

1. Why did Watson change his name?
2. Why did Watson choose the name Frederick when he decided to change his name?

Why Did Watson Changed his Name?

Watson had an uncle named Watson Emery Webster.  The only difference in their names was a slight variation in the spelling of their middle names - Emory verses Emery.  Perhaps he wanted to avoid confusion.

Why Did Watson Choose The Name Frederick?

I could not figure out where the name Frederick came from and why Watson chose that particular name when he decided to change his name.  Then I had a "light bulb moment."  I remembered that Watson (Frederick) Emory's father, Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster, had a younger brother named Fred Lincoln Webster, who passed away in 1877 at 13 years of age.

Ebenezer was 25 years older than his youngest brother Fred Lincoln.  By the time Fred Lincoln was born, Ebenezer already had a wife and two children.  And he and his wife, Cynthia, were expecting their third child, my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory.

When my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, was born, Ebenezer's brother, Fred Lincoln Webster, was only four months old.  That would have made Watson (Frederick) Emory and Fred Lincoln contemporaries in terms of their ages even though Fred was Watson's uncle.

At the time the 1870 U.S. Federal Census was taken, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster and Fred Lincoln Webster both lived in Benton County, Iowa in separate households.  Sadly, in 1871, Fred Lincoln's mother, Amanda Melvina (Carlisle) Webster, passed away.  That left only Fred Lincoln and his dad, Moses Augustine Webster, living together in their own household.

By the time the 1880 U.S. Census¹ was taken, Moses Webster was living with his son Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster and his family.  You can see Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster listed here as well.  They lived in Kansas at the time of this census.

 

United States Census, 1880, Otoe Reservation, Marshall, Kansas

So, when did Moses move in with his son Ebenezer and his family?  Was it before or after Fred Lincoln died in 1877?  I wouldn't be surprised if it was shortly after Moses' wife Amanda passed away in 1871.

If it is true that both Moses and Fred Lincoln moved in with Ebenezer and his family shortly after Amanda passed away in 1871, then Fred Lincoln and my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory, basically grew up together as brothers, even though they were uncle and nephew.  They could have become very close to each other.  Both boys were about 13 years of age at the time Fred Lincoln died.  The accident that took the life of Fred Lincoln could have been a very traumatic event in the life of my great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory.

Perhaps when Watson decided to change his name, he chose the name of Frederick to honor his uncle, Fred Lincoln Webster.

In a letter written by Watson (Frederick) Emory's brother, Rollin Waterman Webster, to my grandfather Debs Warren Webster, Rollin stated that Watson (Frederick) Emory (Debs' father), had indeed changed his name to Frederick.

Rollin Waterman Webster Letter

I'm glad Uncle Rollin confirmed the name change so we could be sure that Watson Emory Webster and Frederick Emory Webster were in fact the same person. I do wish, however, that Uncle Rollin had given the reason for the name change. Oh well, we can't have everything, right?

My theory about why my great-grandfather changed his name from Watson Emory to Frederick Emory is only speculation, of course.  I sure wish I could ask my grandfather Debs about why his dad changed his name.  But my grandfather passed away years ago, so I can only speculate about why Watson changed his name to Frederick.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 "United States Census, 1880, Otoe Reservation, Marshall, Kansas, Line #23, Dwelling #24" index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MF5H-BBH : accessed 28 May 2013), Watson Webster in entry for E. P. Webster, 1880. ^↩

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for May 24, 2013

My Fab Finds for this week are (in no particular order)

1. Tech Tuesday's Tip: Making Timelines with TimelineJS - John Pape, 1851-1945 by ABT UNK
2. Explosion! AND Summit County in the Census by Ancestral Breezes
3. Genealogy ‘Society’ For Gen Y Update! by Across the Rolling Prairie
4. Join the Discussion by The Organized Genealogist
5. FamilySearch Naturalization Petition by Evidence Explained
6. Gen Y: The Top Lessons Learned From Genealogy by D. Joshua Taylor for The Huffington Post.com
7. Genealogists are not being pushed out, Reinforcements are being invited in by A Patient Genealogist
8. Observations from the edge: multi-generational needs in genealogy by Trials and Tribulations of a Self-Taught Family Historian
9. The Honor Roll Project by Nutfield Genealogy
10. HEADS UP ALL GENEALOGISTS! by The Olive Tree Genealogy
11. Search Stays True to Experienced Family History Users by FamilySearch Blog
12. Why do we blog about genealogy? by Genealogy's Star
13. FREE access -- Military Records at FindMyPast -- starts tomorrow! by Upfront With NGS
14. EVIDENTIA AND MASTERING GENEALOGICAL PROOF by Are My Roots Showing?
15. Tornadoes Present Remind Us of Tornadoes Past by Ohio Historical Society Collections Blog
16. The RETURN of Who Do You Think You Are? (not reruns!) by Dear Myrtle
17. Wishful Wednesday - Everyone and Not One More than the Other by Family Preserves
18. DO YOU HAVE A FAMILY TREE ON FAMILYSEARCH.ORG? by On Granny's Trail
19. Sterile Facts vs. a Person’s Story by Ancestoring's Ask A Genealogist

New Blog Discoveries

• Arbitrator's Point of View
• Family Tree Nat's Genealogy Blog
• Caroline's Chronicle
• Genealogy Lady
• Trees 'N Branches

In Case You Missed It….My Contribution to the Genealogy Blogosphere This Week

• "The Traveling Dentist" ~ A New Ancestor Landing Page

Thanks for reading!


© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

"The Traveling Dentist" ~ A New Ancestor Landing Page

Everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about "The Traveling Dentist" is now at your fingertips and in one place.

Yep, my great-grandfather, Watson Emory (Frederick) Webster, affectionately referred to as "The Traveling Dentist" has his own Ancestor Landing Page on my blog.

Want to see a photo of the Webster Dental Boat or the Webster Photo Boat?  How about a photo of a shark hanging in front of the Webster Dental Boat?  You can access all of that and more by checking out The Traveling Dentist's Ancestor Landing Page.

But wait!  There's more!

Did you know that Watson was an inventor?  Yep!  He was!  You can check out a copy of the Patent that was awarded to Watson in 1899.  And his D.D.S. Degree from 1896.    All you have to do is click The Traveling Dentist's Ancestor Landing Page to check these out, as well as other interesting photos and stories about Watson Emory (Frederick) Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist." 

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last