Fredricks Reunion Pie Baking Contest and the Winner Is....

MOI!

This year, for the first time, the Fredricks' Family Reunion had a Pie Baking Contest. My entry for Bourbon Pecan Pie was chosen as the winner.  It must have been the bourbon that did it.  I think there were about 10 pies that were entered.  I wish I had written them all down.  I remember the following pies: custard, lemon meringue, pecan, french apple, apple squares, cherry, Grandma Daisy's Orange?, and others.

Signing in for the Pie Baking Contest

The Pie Table 

People who brought pies signed in by name and kind of pie.  Cousin Cheryl cut one piece from each pie to be judged.  Five judges tasted the pies and decided on a winner.  The rest of the pies were placed on the dessert table for others to enjoy.

The judges! Bob, Cheryl, Perry, Aunt Jeannie and Katie

I don't think it is a surprise that I love to cook, but I was very surprised that I won. Here is my Fredricks' Family Reunion Pie Baking Contest Winning Recipe:

Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

Blind Baked 9 inch Pie Crust of Your Choice (see note)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

3 cups toasted pecans (reserve 1 cup of the nicest ones for the topping)

1-2 tablespoons bourbon ( I used two tablespoons of Makers Mark bourbon)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 eggs, lightly beaten.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toast the pecans by placing pecans on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes.  Watch closely to prevent burning.  Reserve the nicest halves for the topping.

In medium saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, and stirring constantly, continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts, bourbon, and the vanilla.  Set the mixture aside to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.  Whisk the beaten eggs into the filling until smooth.  Put the baked pie shell on a sheet pan and pour the filling into the hot crust.  Arrange pecan halves, decoratively, on the top of the pie.  

Bake on the lower oven rack until the edges are set but the center is still slightly loose, about 40-45 minutes. If the edges get very dark, cover them with aluminum foil half way during baking.  Cool on a rack. 

Note:  A blind baked pie crust is a single pie crust that has been baked without any filling.  I put a piece of parchment paper in the pie crust and then dried beans to hold the shape of the crust.  Pie weights or pie chains can be used in place of the beans.

The Fredricks Family Reunion

The annual Fredricks family reunion was held in July and I have yet to blog about it.  The past three weeks have been busy in our household.  A trip to Chicago for the Newberry Library Sale and visiting with my favorite daughter; my sister, her daughter and her grandson visited; my hubby had a few doctor's appointment and a mild breast bone cartilage problem; house and garden projects and a few other things have kept me busy.

My husband, Kirk, and I left on Friday morning.  We picked my parents up at their home in Portage, Michigan.  We made it to Wellston, Michigan and were able to check in at the cabin we were renting for the night.  The next trip was to the Dublin General Store to order a fruit platter for the family reunion.  This store is amazing.  If you like jerky and homemade sausage, this is the place to go.  It is in the middle of nowhere, but was a fully stocked grocery store.

The next stop on our reunion weekend was to Brethren, Michigan for lunch at Traks Bar and Grill.  This is a great place to eat, and one of the few restaurants in Brethren.  It use to be Casey's Bar, which I had frequented a few times in my young adult life.  My mom and I left Kirk and my dad at the bar and went across the street to the Brethren Cemetery, where a lot of my relatives are buried.  My mom and I wanted to visit her sister's, Kathryn 'Kate', grave site.  The sprinklers were on and we thought we were a safe distance from them, but no we got sprinkled with water.  Luckily, it didn't get my mom's hair wet!  I have been to this cemetery a few times, so I showed my mom her parents and Graf grandparents graves, after I turned the water off.

Tritten

Carl H.         Kathryn L.

1909-1970     1918-2012    

Our next stop was to the Family Centennial farm.  My cousin, Rosie, owns it now and I had made arrangements to stop by to visit.  Rosie's daughter, Connie, was there as well.  Another cousin, Nancy, traveled from California to go to the reunion and she was staying with Rosie.  I don't think I had ever met Nancy, so it was nice to meet her and spend time getting to know her.

    Nancy, Rosie, and Connie

We spent a few hours talking, looking at pictures, and hearing family stories.  I really enjoyed this part of my weekend.  While we there Canadian cousins, Mari and Ernie, stopped by.  Mari's grandmother, Emma Fredrick, lived on the family farm at one time. 

Next, we drove to Kaleva to kill a little time before dinner.  We went by a home that my aunt once lived in, that might have been a mistake as it looks terrible.  You couldn't even see the front door it was so overgrown.  We ended up back in Brethren and ate at Trak's, again.  The food is good!  While we were eating Rosie, Connie, and Nancy came in and we pulled tables together and had more fun talking.

The night before the reunion has become known as the 'cousins' party.  It is held at the cottage of my Uncle John and Aunt Louise's.  This was my first year for attending the cousins' party.  My parents, Kirk and I arrive and I get my chair set up, and my cousin, Kathryn, hands me a pile of pictures.  I think the family is realizing how much I love old family pictures.  Luckily, I had my flip pal scanner in the car and I start scanning.  As I was scanning, my mom and cousins were looking through the pictures and trying to identify the people in them.  They knew a few, but I was left with more unidentified than identified.  No worries, though, as I was going to see Aunt Lola the next day and she has a terrific memory.  I get the pictures scanned and I hand them back to my cousin and she says, "You can keep them".  That was music to my ears.  Thank you, Kathryn!

 Trying to identify old pictures

The Fredricks Cousins!

The next day, Saturday, was the day of the reunion.  The Fredricks Family reunion is held the second Saturday of July, every year, at the Park in Brethren, Michigan.  The park is just down the street from where my grandparents lived.  My Aunt Kate and Uncle Carl lived next door to them.  At one time, Aunt Kate and Uncle Carl had a store and gas pumps in the front of their house.  It is now a pizza place, which I would not recommend eating at.  Kirk and I stopped there last year to see what it was like and it was nothing like when my aunt and uncle lived there.

The reunion is the highlight of the weekend, for me.  I don't know what the final head count was, but there were more people there than I remember in a long time.  The first part of the reunion is for getting to know people.  I spent the time talking with Aunt Lola, I had brought pictures for her to look at.  Plus, I had all the ones given to me the night before.  Aunt Lola is 92 years young and her memory is better than mine.  She was able to answer all my questions and identified all but four of the pictures.  Amazing!  I especially enjoyed her reaction when she would be in a picture.  As she identified people in the pictures, I asked her what she remembered about the person.  I tried to write as much as I could down, but I would like to spend an afternoon with Aunt Lola and find out more.

Aunt Lola identifying pictures for me.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, visiting, having a white elephant auction, a talent show (no, I did not participate!) and for the first time, a pie baking contest, which I did participate in.  More on the pie baking contest, tomorrow.

This year, I have accumulated and scanned a lot of family pictures.  I put them all on a flash drive.  I took my laptop and plugged my flash drive in to share the pictures, via a slide show, at the reunion.  Luckily, there was electricity and I could leave the slide show going and people could view it at their leisure.  There was even a discussion on who it was in a picture and not every one agreed!

We were trying to figure out how many years it has been since we started having the family reunion at the park.  It has been at least 26 years.  Before that the reunions were held at the family farm or at Aunt Kate's. I remember going to the family reunion as a young child.  There were years when my children were busy with activities that we didn't go, but I am glad that I have been able to go the past few years.  It is one of my favorite summertime activities.

Here are a few more pictures from the afternoon:

Playing ball 

 Kirk being social!

 Looking at a slide show of family pictures

 Grilling the brats and dogs, chicken was cooked also.

Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Rich

 A Fredricks Cutie Patootie

White Elephant Auction

Choices, Choices, Choices at FGS 2013

Since I haven't figured out a way to clone myself, I have spent the last couple of days narrowing my conference sessions down.  I have selected my first choice in 15 of the 16 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday time slots.  I saved one time slot to visit the exhibit hall, when it is less crowded.  It wasn't easy finding a time slot to give up for the exhibit hall, but I did it.

Journey through Generations is the Federation of Genealogical Societies' annual conference being held in Fort Wayne, Indiana August 21-24th.  If you haven't registered yet, you still have until Wednesday, August 14th to do so online. Registrations will be accepted at the conference.  The advantage to pre-registering is that you get access to the online syllabus.  Trust me, you will be glad you could look it over ahead of time.  It is filled over 150 great syllabi.

The selection of sessions is excellent.  This year, after I made my first choices, I decided to see how many different tracks I was using.  There are 18 tracks for Thursday-Saturday, I selected sessions from eight of those tracks:  Methodologies, Transportation, Midwestern and Neighboring States, Midwest Repositories, Migration/Immigration, Online Resources, British Isles, and Writing, Speaking, and Publishing.  I am heavy in the methodology track with six selections.  The other tracks have one or two selections from them.  There are 16 different methodology sessions to make your selections from.  Most other tracks have four to six choices, except for Records which has 16; Technology has 12 and Midwest Repositories has 10.  I think the selection committee did a great job of providing a variety of choices.

I like to make a second choice for each session, just in case my first choice is filled to capacity when I arrive. I selected sessions from the tracks I didn't pick with my first choice classes.  My second choices come from the Records, Ethnic, Genetics, Midwest Religious Communities, Technology and Military Tracks.

What tracks didn't I selection a class from?  I didn't select European, NARA/Federal, German or African American tracks.  The European track had four choices, I had attended one before, and the other three did not pertain to my area of research. The NARA/Federal had four, but I didn't feel they would further my research goals at this time.  The German track would help me in my research, but I had taken a four hour workshop in German Research at the FGS conference in Springfield and decided to explore other areas of education this time.  Lastly, I thought about taking an African American track session because it is an area of research I know nothing about, but I had a hard enough time narrowing my choices and this track didn't make the list this year.

Overall, I am very happy with my choices, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.  I will try to remain flexible.  I know it seems a little OCD to analyze my selections to this degree, but when sleep evades one at 2 o'clock in the morning, what else is there to do?


I am a Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Ambassador.  My role as an ambassador is to help promote the FGS 2013 conference through blogging and other social media platforms.  I have not received any compensation for promoting the conference.

FGS 2013 and Fort Wayne Indiana Here I Come!

Journey Through Generations  FGS 2013 Conference

It has been two years since I attended my very first FGS conference.  I look back on that experience fondly. Once I heard the 2013 conference was going to be held in Fort Wayne, I put it on my schedule.  Fort Wayne is a quick jaunt down I-69 for me and I wasn't going to miss a national conference being this close to me.

I am in the process of preparing for the conference that is 10 days away.  I have selected most of my class sessions, printed the syllabus for the classes I chose, and updated my google calendar.  I was thinking about what else I needed to do to be ready to go the the conference.  I am a list maker from way back and preparing for this conference will be no different.

I was writing my to-do list (put syllabus in folders, finish library research list, get haircut, etc.) and decided to look over the blog posts I wrote when I went to the Springfield, Illinois conference.  One of the posts I wrote included what I would do differently next time:

After attending the keynote speaker, 16 sessions. one workshop, and one dinner-would I do anything different?  Just a couple of things.  First, I think I would look at the total day before signing up for special events.  Pairing a four hour session with a dinner after, might have been better planned on my part.  I hope I was decent company at dinner.  The other thing I would do differently would be to spend the last night at the hotel.  I decided to leave after the conference and drive to Chicago (through six construction zones!) and spend the night with my daughter.  I loved visiting my daughter, but an extra night to unwind after the conference would have been helpful.  And, lastly, take more pictures.  I was so wrapped up in the conference I didn't take enough pictures.

How am I doing so far?  I forgot to look at the total day.  Friday will be my longest day, I plan to attend morning and afternoon sessions, attend the IGS luncheon, and attend the Friday evening event.  I may decide to skip the last Friday session to get ready for the evening event.  I just want to get the most out of going.  I will let you know how it goes.  If I don't blog on Friday, you will know why.

I made hotel reservations for Saturday night, this time, which will be good.  The only other thing I have to remember is to take more pictures.  My husband got a nice camera for Father's Day and I plan to use it this time.

I feel more confident about going this time as I will not be a conference goer newbie.  Are you going to Fort Wayne?  See you there.

If you would like to read my blog posts from Springfield, Illinois, click here.

Where in the World is Louise Fredrike Zastrow Fredrich?

One of the first place family historians search for their ancestors is in the United States Census records.  I am compiling my census information in a table format.  Each month I share a Where in the World post.  This month I am sharing my great grandmother, Louise Zastrow Fredrich.  Louise Zastrow married Johann August Fredrich in 1875.  Her name can be found in the census as Fredrich, Fredrick, and Frederick.  

Where in the World is Louise Zastrow?

FACT	DATE	PLACE OF RESIDENCE	ENUMERATION DISTRICT/PAGE ID./DWELLING
Birth	9 Apr 1856	Probably Prussia
Immigration	1875	Manistee County, Michigan, United States
Census	1880	Manistee, Manistee, Michigan, United States	2/19/158
Census	1900	Manistee, Manistee, Michigan, United States	33/9A/133
Census	1910	Dickson Township, Manistee, Michigan, United States	32/3B/67
Census	1920	Dickson Township, Manistee, Michigan, United States	61/4A/71
Census	1930	Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, United States	41-32/13A/224
Census	1940	Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, United States	86-58/10B/226
Death	24 Jul 1940	Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, United States

Wednesday's Child-Baby Boy Klingelsmith

My great uncle and aunt, Harry and Maggie (Graf) Klingelsmith, suffered the death of their only son in 1923. A death record can be found on Family Search for their child.  No name was given to the infant male that was born 30 May 1923 and died the same day in Dickson, Manistee, Michigan, United States.  Dickson is Dickson Township, which the community of Brethren is a part of.

Harry and Maggie Klingelsmith lived in Brethren, Michigan most of their lives.  Harry and Maggie are buried in Brethren Cemetery, in Brethren.  I do not know where Baby Boy Klingelsmith is buried.  The information for Baby Boy Klingelsmith is from an index.  My next research step is to find the actual death certificate.

Below is the information found on Family Search:

Name:
Event Type:	Death
Event Date:	30 May 1923
Event Place:	Dickson, Manistee, Michigan, United States
Gender:	Male
Age:	0
Marital Status:
Birth Date:	30 May 1923
Birthplace:	Dickson
Birth Year (Estimated):	1923
Father's Name:	Harry Leroy Klingensmith
Mother's Name:	Maggie Graf
GS Film number:	1972862
Digital Folder Number:	005237827
Image Number:	00333

Source:  "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KFQQ-7ZS : accessed 07 Aug 2013), Harry Leroy Klingensmith in entry for , 1923.

School Days 1925 in Brethren Michigan

This picture was taken during the 1925/1926 School Year at Dickson School in Brethren, Michigan.  Two of my aunts are in the picture.  Lola Mae Fredricks is in the top row, second from the left and Kathryn Louise Fredricks is in the front row, second from the right.  Both daughters of Otto and Daisy (Graf) Fredricks.  Aunt Lola was in Kindergarten and Aunt Kate was in second grade at the time.  The teacher on the left was Miss Anderson, Aunt Lola's kindergarten teacher.  Another relative, Lloyd Tritten, can be found in the middle row, sixth from the left.  Lloyd Tritten is the son of William and Mary Ann (Graf) Tritten.  My grandmother, Daisy Graf Fredricks and Mary Ann Graf Tritten were sisters.

Dickson School is located at the corner of High Bridge Road and Coates Highway.  It is the school that my mother attended.  Sadly, it is in need of repair.  A group of alumni are trying to raise money to make the building a cultural center.  One of the Dickson School alumni is James Earl Jones, the actor and voice of Darth Vader.  He has helped to raise money for the school.

Dickson School in 2010.

The class picture was taken outside of the school.  You can see the basement windows and brick, much as it was in 1925.

Packing for the FGS 2013 "Journey Through Generations" Conference

Clip Art Courtesy of Microsoft Office Images

It is August 1st already!  You know what that means don't you?  It is the month of the FGS 2013 Journey Through Generations Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I have less than three weeks to get my act together and get organized for the six days that I will be in Fort Wayne.

One of the ways, for me, to be organized is to start thinking about packing now. Here are the items, besides personal ones, I need to have a successful conference experience:

• Light sweater or jacket-the room temperature varies in the conference hall and I like to have something for the cold rooms.  Dressing in layers works, too.
• Comfortable shoes-I hate when my feet get tired!  I may not be the most fashion forward of the bunch, but my shoes have to be comfortable.  
• Tote bag-I don't bring my purse to the conference hall, I like to carry a tote bag and tuck my ID and other essentials in the bag.  I use the tote bag to carry my syllabus and schedule.  If I make a quick trip to the exhibit hall, it is wonderful to have it to store my goodies in.  I have a thicker canvas tote bag with straps that fits comfortably on my shoulder. It has room for my light sweater,too.
• Water bottle-I don't know about you, but I like to have water throughout the day.  I start the day with a full water bottle and refill it as needed. 
• Snack-you know the Snickers commercial?  My husband has mentioned that I resemble that sometimes!  So, I like to carry a snack of some sort to have if I find myself getting a little ornery-not that I ever do, mind you.  My go to snack is almonds.
• Printed copy of my schedule and syllabi-I organize my day's schedule and syllabi into individual folders, prepared before I leave home.  That way I can just grab the day's folder and be out the door. I select my sessions before I leave and print the syllabi.  I keep my schedule electronically on my phone, but in Springfield in 2011 my phone's battery would drain so fast, that I want to make sure I have a paper copy of it.  I put my entire schedule on my calendar and print two copies.  One for my folder, and one I keep in the hotel room.
• Notebook-I take a spiral notebook to my conference sessions with me.  I usually take notes on the syllabus, but sometimes I like to have paper available for notes.  I am still a paper and pencil type gal.  I don't want to have to worry about the power of my electronic gadgets dying, as very rarely is a power source available in the conference rooms.
• Address Labels-I have tons of free address labels lying around my house and I throw a few in my bag.  Many exhibitors hold free drawings and an address label can be used in place of writing the information out numerous times.  This is a tip I learned from my daughter when she went to a bridal show.  It works wonders.
• Business Cards-Even though I do not have a genealogy business, I take business cards.  You never know when you might meet someone that you would like to exchange information with.   I have my name, contact information, blog information and surnames I am researching on my card.  I bought inexpensive ones at vistaprint.com  If I receive a business card from someone at the conference, I write FGS 2013 on it, so I don't forget how I met the person.

The above items are what I carry to the conference rooms with me.  In addition, I have a few must have items for the hotel:

• Chargers-I bring my phone, computer, camera, etc.  chargers with me.  I don't want to be disappointed when something isn't charged so I bring them all.
•  Laptop-I don't want to carry my laptop to the conference, but I like to have access to it at the hotel.  I don't have a tablet (hint, hint, honey) so I bring my laptop.  I haven't figured out if I had a tablet if I would take it to the conference rooms or not.  
• Fort Wayne Visitors Information-A few weeks ago I sent for the Visit Fort Wayne Indiana Guide.  I will tuck that in my suitcase.  My husband is traveling with me, but not attending the conference.  The guide will come in handy for him.

Lastly, with the conference being held in Fort Wayne, Indiana I will be bringing my research plans and list of resources to check at the Allen County Public Library.  I am fortunate enough to live with driving distance of Fort Wayne and can visit the library at other times.  I keep a running list of resources to check on my computer throughout the year.  I will be bringing that list with me.  IF, I get time to research I will have everything I need with me.

Are you going to FGS Conference in Fort Wayne?  What is your must have item for conferencing?