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

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

Dr. F. E. Webster, The Painless Dentist

Today I did a search for my maternal great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, on the Chronicling America website. My regular readers may remember that I refer to Watson as "The Traveling Dentist" here on my blog. At some point in his life Watson changed his name to Frederick Emory Webster.

One of the search results on the Chronicling America website was this article on the front page of The Brinkley Argus newspaper.¹

The article reads:

Coming this Month.

Dr. F. E. Webster, the painless Dentist, now in Mexico will return to Brinkley during the month of October. Patrons and friends requested to wait his coming.

Announcement of exact date of coming, will be made later.

Dr. F. E. Webster

The Painless Dentist.

This article was dated October 12, 1906 and said that Frederick would be arriving that month. I wonder when he arrived. I'd like to see if there are any newspaper articles stating that he did arrive. I could then add this to my timeline for his life.

The article states that Frederick was in Mexico during this time period. I know he was in Mexico as early as 1904 according to a record that I have yet to share here on my blog.

Frederick called himself "The Painless Dentist" in this article. What did dentists typically use in the early 1900s for pain control during dental procedures?

I love finding information about my ancestors in newspapers. Researching in newspapers can provide such interesting glimpses into their lives. And newspapers can provide clues for future research. For instance, is there a border crossing document associated with Frederick's return to the United States in October of 1906? How many times did Frederick travel back and forth between Mexico and the United States to do dental work? I found one border crossing document from Mexico to the United States for Frederick that was dated 2 August 1926. It states his occupation as a dentist but doesn't say why he was traveling to the United States.

What interesting information have you found about your ancestors in newspapers?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2020 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 The Brinkley Argus. (Brinkley, Ark.), 12 Oct. 1906. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. ^↩

My 6th Great-Grandfather's Signature

I recently added a new signature to the My Ancestors' Signatures page on this blog.

I was able to add this new signature because I found the probate packet of my maternal 6th great-grandfather, John Waterman.1

Within this probate packet were several documents including John's Last Will and Testament.2

Here's the last page of John's will. The red arrow is pointing to John's signature. 

Here's a close-up view of John's signature.

John Waterman signed his will on 3 January 1742/3. It's incredible to see the signature of one of my ancestors from so long ago. This was before the American Revolutionary War. John's grandson, Dr. Luther L. Waterman, served as a Surgeon in that war. Luther was my 3rd great-grandfather.

John Waterman was born March 1672 in Norwich, Connecticut and died in 1744 in Norwich, Connecticut. John was married three times. I am descended from his third wife, Elizabeth Bassett.

John and Elizabeth were the parents of three children:

1. Mary Waterman (1722-1736)
2. David Bassett Waterman (1725-1809) [my 5th great-grandfather]
3. Elizabeth Waterman (1730-1765)

Probate records are fascinating and valuable genealogical sources. My 6th great-grandfather's signature is an amazing genealogical discovery.

What genealogical discoveries have you found in probate records?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2020 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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[1] Connecticut. Hartford, City of. Wills and Probate Records. Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Probate Place: Hartford, Connecticut, Digital images. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9049/images/007628900_00696 : accessed 12 July 2020) Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. John Waterman. Images 696-705 of 1417.

[2] Connecticut. Hartford, City of. Wills and Probate Records. Connecticut State Library (Hartford, Connecticut); Probate Place: Hartford, Connecticut, Digital images. Ancestry.com. Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line]. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9049/images/007628900_00703 : accessed 12 July 2020) Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. John Waterman. Image 703 of 1417.

Dr. Luther Waterman–Revolutionary War Surgeon ~ Borne From the Field of Battle

In a previous post I shared the fact that my 4th Great-Grandfather, Dr. Luther L. Waterman, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War.  Many years ago, I learned of this fact while reading about Luther in The Waterman Family by Donald Lines Jacobus.1 In this book, Mr. Jacobus states the following regarding Luther's service, which he gleaned from Luther's Revolutionary War pension file (I added bold text to one sentence):

"…Phebe Waterman repeated her testimony, 5 Jan. 1839, and added that Luther entered service as a Surgeon under Dr. Spaulding, in Col. John Durkee's Regiment, in Cambridge, Mass., for nine months.  He then joined the Brigade of Horatio Gates, in Col. William Bond's Regiment, as Surgeon with Dr. Vinal, as his mate, for one year.  In 1776 he was at Lake Champlain, and was borne from the field, unable to perform his duty.  He was in the battles of White Plains, Stamford, Horseneck, and Rye.  This information was derived from Dr. Luther Waterman, himself."

In 1997 I ordered and received a copy of Luther Waterman's pension file. Unfortunately, this copy is quite difficult to read and only contains 12 of the 63 pages in the pension file.  I subscribed to Fold3.com, and happily I found Luther Waterman's full pension file containing all 63 pages on the website. Another bonus is that it is much easier to read on Fold3. The pension file copy I received in 1997 was inverted or reversed (black background with white writing). It also did not contain the page from the pension file that Mr. Jacobus used for his summary quoted in this post. With access to the full pension file, I was able to find the page from which Mr. Jacobus summarized Luther's war service, including the account of his being "borne from the field, unable to perform his duty."  This information was taken from the deposition of Mrs. Phebe Waterman, Luther's widow. Below is the pension file page containing Phebe's deposition:


The entire page above is probably difficult to read, so I cropped it into three parts as follows:

At the bottom of her deposition Phebe signed her name. What a treasure it is to see her signature. Phebe was 82 years old at the time of this deposition.

I wonder what happened to Luther Waterman at the Battle of Lake Champlain that caused him to be taken from the field of battle unable to perform his duties? Unfortunately, I don't know the answer.  And there doesn't seem to be any elaboration about this fact in Luther's pension file. It is and may remain a mystery. The fact that I learned about this from Luther's full pension file shows that it is important to obtain the full pension file of our ancestors if possible.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2020 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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^{1 Donald Lines Jacobus, The Waterman Family Vol. 1,1939, (Reprint by Higginson Book Company, Massachusetts), 294, 295}

Enhanced Photos Using the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer

MyHeritage recently announced a new feature called the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer. If you'd like to see the announcement about it on their blog, click HERE.

This new feature is pretty cool. I have tried it out on a few of my photos. One of the photos I tried it out on is this photo of my paternal great-grandmother, Hilda Maria Carlsson. This is the original photo. As you can see the photo is kind of grainy.

Here's the same photo enhanced with the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer.

What a difference, right? 

Here's another photo of my great-grandma Hilda when she was younger. She was nineteen years old when this photo was taken. As you can see, the photo is a bit blurry.

I tried the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer and here is the result. Isn't that amazing?

The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer may not work as well on every photo, but I'm impressed with how well it worked on these photos.

Have you given this new MyHeritage feature a try yet?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2020 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved