2016 Family Reunion

In anticipation of next year's Fitzpatrick Family Reunion (and associated St. Vincent Town Reunion II), I wanted to post information regarding lodging, etc. so if people need to make reservations, they will have that information well in advance.  I've also included area attractions and historical sites for those that want to explore beyond the reunion itself while in the area...

Family Reunion Info:

(July 15-17, 2016)

Lodging

Red Roost Hotel (Pembina) - (701)825-6254

Budget Host Caribou Inn (Hallock) - (218)843-3702

Valley Motel (Hallock) - (218)843-2828

Gateway Motel (Hallock) - (218)843-2032

Restaurants/Bars

Caribou Bar & Grill (Hallock) - (218)843-3740

North Branch Bowl & Grill (Hallock) - (218)843-8868

Gastrak (Pembina) - (701)825-6275 [NOTE:  Deli/Fast Food only]

Corner Lounge (Pembina) - (701)825-6581

LaMoure Memorial Golf Course (Pembina) - (701)825-6619

Places to Gather

Pembina State Museum (meeting room) - (701)825-6840

Pembina Community Center (meeting room/kitchen) - (701)825-6326

Sites to See

Pembina State Museum

805 ND-59

Pembina, ND

701.825.6840

Kittson County Historical Museum

332 E Main St

Lake Bronson, MN

218.754.4100

Fort Dufferin (Emerson, west side of the Red River)

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/fortdufferin.shtml

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/23/dufferin.shtml

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=12688

Established in 1873 by the North West Mounted Police (later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), Fort Dufferin was the headquarters and winter home to the British-Canadian contingent of the International Boundary Commission from 1872 to 1874. A few of the buildings that once sat at the site still exist there today (Officer Quarters, stables, etc.)

A monument at the entrance to the site bears two plaques. One plaque, erected in 1997 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, describes the westward march of the North West Mounted Police. The other plaque commemorates two constables in the force, W. C. Brown and A. McIntosh, who died in 1874 at Fort Dufferin and are buried in unmarked graves near the site.

Travel Manitoba (Information Centre, Emerson)

St. Vincent Cemetery

Pembina Cemetery

Pembina Metis Cemetery

Joe River Cemetery

Lake Bronson State Park

Family Sayings

". . . in a blue moon, spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag, chin up, eye to eye, barking up the wrong tree, hit the nail on the head, kick the bucket, under the weather, piece of cake, when pigs fly, and raining cats and dogs . . ."

I've been collecting family sayings for several years now. I know what I have so far is far from comprehensive let alone complete. But if I wait any longer, I will never get this entry published, so I'm going ahead, and will add more as they are remembered.

My family used other sayings too, as many of us do.  What I tried to do here was to collect those that I had either not heard outside my family, or at the very most, outside my hometown area (regional). There are always variations of sayings, and you may recognize some but know them a bit differently.  I provide meaning where I think meaning is not obvious, or unclear.  For those that should be clear, I do not.

Home Remedies

Mustard Plaster Recipe: This is made of different strengths, depending upon the length of time it is desired to keep it on and the sensitiveness of the skin.

1. Equal parts of mustard and flour.
2. One of mustard and two of flour.
3. One of mustard and three or four of flour. White of an egg added makes it better and not so blistering.

A paste is made with warm water and spread between the layers of muslin and left on no longer than ten minutes. When the skin is red remove the plaster. This is used when you wish a quick counter-irritation.

The above recipe for a mustard plaster - a very commonly used home remedy in the early to mid 20th century - was taken from the medical volume of The People's Home Library: A Library of Three Practical Books; sold door-to-door by salesmen, published by the R.C. Barnum company, "...a well-known subscription book company at that time."  Many is the time I watched my mother make mustard plasters, sometimes for my father, and sometimes even for me (and this was in the 1960s yet...)  When I was small, I tended towards chestiness, and had more than my share of terrible colds, flu, chicken pox, measles, not to mention ear and tooth aches.  My mother nursed me very well through them all, with help from my grandmother who lived nearby, this book, her own common sense, and experience.  It may have been old-hat by then, but old tech doesn't mean irrelevant or outdated.  Sometimes the old cures are very effective.

My Grandma bought a 1920 edition of the first in the series, called The People's Home Medical Book, by T.J. Ritter, MD. It described Dr. Ritter as a "...Graduate of both the allopathic and homeopathic schools; formerly asst. to the Chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Michigan State University, Ann Arbor, Mich."

My Mother grew up under the care of Grandma using the advice of that book, together with her own common sense. In turn, my own family, including myself, came under it's influence in due time. Where some may have learned about human anatomy from National Geographic or girlie magazines, I learned from the People's Home Library.¹

As I raised my own children, I didn't have the book to refer to, but I remembered my mother's examples, and carried on the tradition of common sense home nursing care, and not running to a doctor every time my children sneezed.  I provided simple but effective remedies like gargling with warm salt water when there was a sore throat, providing a comforting (and chest/nose opening) warm 'steamer' (aka vaporizer) at night when they slept, had oil of cloves on hand for tooth aches and ear aches, etc.

¹ - I also learned some interesting facts of life from my Mom's Bible, which was illustrated in color with reproductions of famous painter's renditions of scenes from the Bible. I must admit that I was, even at a tender age, very appreciative of the curve of the nearly nude derriere of Samson as he pushed the mill stone around...but that's another topic altogether!

FBI's Most Wanted

My mother's older sister Irene had eight children, seven of them girls.  One of those girls was named Lois.

Some time in the late 1950s, Lois crossed paths with a man named Everett Leroy Biggs.

Biggs was from another Illinois family, like my cousin.  He had served in the U.S. Marines in post-war Korea.

At any rate, they met, married, and had several children together.  And during their marriage, Everett became a wanted man.  A very wanted man.

He was so 'wanted', that he made it onto the FBI's most wanted list on November 21, 1966, as #240.  The FBI described him as a "serial armed bank robber".

He wasn't on the list long, only two weeks.  On December 1, 1966, Everett was arrested,  taken by surprise outside his Colorado home.  It is said that they tracked him down through his children, who were enrolled in a nearby school.  He served his time, was released, and to my knowledge, walked the straight and narrow thereafter.

I'm not sure when my cousin divorced him, but in 1979, he married again, and he and his second wife were together until his death in 1997.