Frates Genealogy

Molly and Jerry

Bill (Jr), Alice, Peggy, Bill, Dorothy, and Cindy.

We spent the afternoon and evening poring over books and lists and charts of Frates and Lawrence ancestors. My 2nd cousin, Cindy, came from Paradise to Bill and Dorothy's in Auburn, CA. Alice, Cindy's aunt, was there from Grass Valley. Bill (Jr) was there from Seattle.
Bill, Dorothy, and Alice are Frates great grandchildren. Cindy, Bill Jr, Jerry, and I are Frates 2nd cousins. Molly is Jerry's daughter and our 2nd cousin once removed. Genealogy can be so mysterious and so much fun. We think we pieced together the relationship of those 5 Bettencourt boys who were raised by Tom and Mary Lawrence Frates. They were really Cardoza children of Mary Lawrence Frates' sister, Nellie Lawrence, and her first husband, Mr. Cardoza. Maybe you had to be there to see how the puzzle came together. We had a lot of laughs; plenty of entertaining stories; and a delicious chicken dinner that Bill Jr made and Dorothy topped off with her lemon meringue pies. Oh, such a happy day! It was terrific to meet Cindy--after several months of exchanging email. Now that Cindy has the Nellie connection figured out she's starting on Annie Lawrence. She just doesn't quit! Perseverance is an essential virtue for a genealogist!

Thanksgiving weekend at the lake

Peggy and Susie at the airport as she was leaving to return to Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday afternoon.
Susie and Bob at the airport.
We arrived at the lake around 2 in the afternoon. Bob set right out to fill the hot tub. The water is 46ºF coming out of the well. When there was sufficient water to surround the stove, he fired it up to start heating the water. When the tub was filled, Bob pulled out the water hose and put it away. B U T, it became apparent that the water level was decreasing! The plug came out accidentally when the hose was withdrawn. Bob got out of his clothes and jumped in the 46º water to replace the plug!! When the plug was firmly in place (it took two tries!) he hustled into the house for a hot shower. Here he is in his parka and hat, sipping a hot toddy before we went to dinner at the County Line Tav.

All this manuevering paid off on Saturday night when we enjoyed a soak in the hot tub with our friends, Colleen and Rich. It was a clear night with a full moon---spectacular setting even though the temperature was around 25º with a pretty swift breeze.

Thanksgiving in Minneapolis

First thing in the morning, Bob's got the bird stuffed, stitched and ready for the oven.
Susie starts the squash soup.
Bob's dressing is going in the oven.Susie finishes up the soup and it tastes darned good.
The table is set.
Guests start arriving: Susie and Susan
Sam and Serena pose for a photo. Sam and Ethan arrived sporting mohawk hairdos.
Bob basting the bird.
Ethan, Susie, and Sam make the punch.
Ethan, Susie and Sam showing off the lime punch.
Bacha (Shirley's grandma moniker) found a new board game, "You Gotta Be Kidding," to try out. It was a lot of laughs and provided a lot of entertainment. Figuring out how to play it was pretty entertaining in itself. Susan, Peggy, Serena, and Grandpa Bill are looking it over.
Bob with the roasted turkey. He made the gravy for the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Uncle/Grandpa Bill made the traditional chicken pot pie. There was also Shirl's creamed onions, Susan's green beans in a spicy yogurt sauce, Bob's brown-sugared baked and mashed yams. Shirley brought a Parisian green salad and Susie found sour dough bread to accompany it.
Bill and Tom tackled the first bunch of dishes to make room for the dessert to follow.
For the beginning of dessert, Ray, Joe, Ethan and Sam presented Peggy's birthday cake.
Mary and Shirley start serving the pies, cakes, whipped cream, and ice cream for dessert. Bill and Serena made pumpkin and pecan pies and brought a big box of cookies with icing. The cookies looked like turkeys and cornocopias. Tom and Mary arrived with pumpkin pie, carrot cake and whipped cream. Hmmm...it's a good thing there are some sweet teeth among us!
Bingo 5 is another new game introduced today. This is the dessert session. Bob is calling in the lower right. Peggy is observing and eating delicious pecan pie. The players are Ethan, Joey, Tom, Serena, Sam, Bacha, Ray, and Bill.
Sam was down to one card three times. Here he is hoping to win. Finally, in the 7th round he did it! Everyone was happy for him.
Bingo 5 players: Ethan, Joey, Tom, Serena, Sam, Mary, Bacha, Ray, and Bill.
Bill, Susie, and Bob: Distributing leftovers, forgotten items, etc, on Friday morning.

An Oskaloosa visit

Liz and Barbara drove from St Cloud to meet Peggy in Minnetonka.













Before Barb returned to St. Cloud, she snapped this photo of Liz and Peggy as they were getting ready to drive to Oskaloosa to see the Siebens family and their great aunt, Theresa.












Before dinner, Theresa and Liz look over some old photo albums.








After dinner, Theresa watches Linda and Liz hang a string of Halloween lanterns.




John, Alan, Josiah, Linda, Luke and Anthony surround Theresa for a family photo.

Great great nephew Josiah doesn't like to miss a photo op! Here he is with Liz, Peggy and Theresa.

Linda says to mark Saturday, July 19, 2008, on your calendar to have supper in Oskaloosa to celebrate Theresa's 98th and a half birthday. Plans are in the making. Now is the time to make suggestions if you'd like. We welcome all ideas. Peggy will email you within the next few weeks with the initial thoughts.


Liz' friend, Shadow, was very happy to see her when we returned to St. Cloud on Friday afternoon. It was a quick visit to Iowa but we had a good time and talked and talked and talked while we were driving down and back. We are looking forward to doing it again!