Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

52 Ancestors: #41 ~ Erastus Waterman's Signature

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

Today, I'd like to introduce you to my 3rd great-granduncle, Erastus Waterman. He was the second child born to my 4th great-grandparents, Luther and Phebe Waterman.

Erastus Waterman was born on 6 May 1780 in Connecticut.

On 11 September 1851, Erastus Waterman signed a Power of Attorney document, which is found in Luther Waterman's Revolutionary War pension file. In this document Erastus appointed Mr. John Welch to be his attorney in order to procure any money due to him and his siblings from their father's Revolutionary Pension. Erastus' mother, Phebe, had already passed away by the time this Power of Attorney document was signed.

Here's the Power of Attorney document that was signed by Erastus. About half-way down the page is his signature.

And here's Erastus' signature cropped from the page.

Erastus was 77 years old when he signed this document. He passed away on 13 April 1859 in Coolville, Athens, Ohio.

I don't have any information indicating Erastus ever married. In fact, in the book Waterman Family, Descendants of Robert Waterman, Volume 1, page 563,¹ it states the following: "No wife or family have been found." The book also states the following regarding Erastus' burial place: "Gravestone near Coolville, Athens Co., Ohio"

Erastus was living with his nephew John Smith and his family in the 1850 federal census.² This image shows John's wife Lydia and their children. Erastus is on line four. John is listed on the previous page.

I'll be introducing you to another of Luther and Phebe Waterman's children in a future 52 Ancestors post.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

1 Jacobus, Donald Lines, and Edgar Francis Waterman. The Waterman Family. Vol. 1. New Haven, CT: E.F. Waterman, 1939. 563. Print.^↩
2 "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12328-142003-35?cc=1401638 : accessed 05 Oct 2014), Ohio > Meigs > Salem > image 23 of 34; citing NARA microfilm publication M432.^↩

Friday, October 10, 2014

Follow Friday ~ Fab Finds for October 10, 2014

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

Would You like to contribute to the Honor Roll Project for Veteran's Day, 2015? by Heather Wilkinson Rojo, author of Nutfield Genealogy
Death Records: Vital to Your Research by Miriam J. Robbins for MyHeritage Blog
At the Wheel: The Life of Jessie Merica, Part 1 AND At the Wheel: The Life of Jessie Merica, Part 2 by Cynthia Berryman, author of We're All Relative
"The Cemetery" in Viksjö, Sweden by Cheryl Palmer, author of Heritage Happens
Audio File Upload Feature Now Available on Family Tree by Brad Young for FamilySearch Blog
Legacy announcement by Michele Simmons Lewis, author of Ancestoring
German Genealogy Tip #8: German Umlaut Names Became Double-Vowels in America by Josiah Schmidt, author of The German-American Genealogist Blog
Tuesday's Tip -- Sunrise Calendar and Evernote by Shannon Thomas, author of Our Life Picture By Picture
MyHeritage partners with EBSCO Information Services to bring MyHeritage to libraries and educational institutions worldwide AND A Great New Addition announced by The In-Depth Genealogist by Thomas MacEntee, author of GeneaPress
5 Steps to Proving Your Family History by Lynn Palermo, author of The Armchair Genealogist
Creative Ways to Get Your Kids Excited About Family History Month – Part One by Jessica Murray for Ancestry.com Blog
Announcing FGS Ambassadors by Linda McCauley for FGS Voice Blog
DNA Day with Ancestry by Roberta Estes, author of DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy
Collection of Wedding Invitations by Caitlin Gow, author of Genealogically Speaking
When less is more by Judy G. Russell, author of The Legal Genealogist
STRIKING PAY DIRT ON GOOGLE by Karin Hadden, author of THE ART OF GENEALOGY
Watch Videos Highlighting the Preserve the Pensions (War of 1812) Effort by Randy Seaver, author of Genea-Musings
Your Online Genealogy Tips by Janet Hovorka, author of The Chart Chick
Finding Della (The Power of Social Media) by Schalene Dagutis, author of Tangled Roots and Trees

The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge by Amy Johnson Crow, author of No Story Too Small -

52 Ancestors Challenge: Week 40 Recap

This week's "May I Introduce To You" Interview

May I Introduce to You . . . Shannon Thomas

New Blog Discoveries

In Case You Missed Them….My Contributions to the Blogosphere This Week

Jana's Genealogy and Family History Blog

Grandpa's Postcards

Prickly Pear Cactus – A postcard sent from my grandparents to their children

Jana's Place

Meet the Mormons

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

My Interview on the WikiTree Blog

A while back I was interviewed for the "Meet our Members" series on the WikiTree Blog. Yesterday my interview was published. And I'm so excited to share it with you!

I hope you'll pop on over to the WikiTree Blog and read my interview. Here's the link ~

Meet our Members: Jana Last

Also, I'd like to thank Eowyn Langholf, a.k.a. the "Forest Elf" at WikiTree, for interviewing me.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, October 6, 2014

52 Ancestors: #40 ~ Samuel Waterman, A Revolutionary War Surgeon's Son

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

In last week's 52 Ancestors post I shared a photo of Dr. Luther L. Waterman's grave marker. Luther was my 4th great-grandfather and served as a surgeon in the American Revolutionary War. He and his wife, Phebe Barker, were the parents of nine children. Samuel Waterman was their oldest child.

Samuel was born on 4 April 1778 in Connecticut. He married Lydia Edgerton, daughter of Zebulon Edgerton, Jr. and Abigail Palmer.

Samuel and Lydia were the parents of eight children.

Betsey M. Waterman (1804-1869)
John Barker Waterman (1806-1845)
Luther Waterman (1812-1852)
Anna Waterman (1814-After 1869)
Caroline Waterman (1816-1851)
David Waterman (1820-1896)
Zebulon E. Waterman (1823-1883)
Reuben Waterman (1828-?)

In 1850, Samuel and Lydia Waterman were living in Troy Township, Athens County, Ohio.¹ The image below is a cropped portion of the 1850 federal census for Troy Township, Athens, Ohio. At the time this census was taken Samuel was 72 years old. His occupation was listed as a farmer, his property was valued at $1,000, and his birthplace was Connecticut.

Some of Samuel and Lydia's children were living with them in 1850 – Betsey, Anna, Caroline, David and Reuben. David's wife, Mary Ann, and their baby, James, were also living with them as well.

The image below shows the full page from the 1850 census that lists Samuel and Lydia Waterman and their family.

When looking at census records, it's important to see who's living next to or near our ancestors. On this page we see that Samuel's younger brother, David Bassett Waterman, was living next to him. He's listed as D. B. Waterman.

Samuel Waterman passed away on 28 May 1857 in Coolville, Athens, Ohio.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

1 "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11779-141880-28?cc=1401638 : accessed 04 Oct 2014), Ohio > Athens > Troy > image 14 of 34; citing NARA microfilm publication M432.^↩