Convoluted Connections

Throughout the fifteen years or so of genealogy research I’ve run into many families that interconnect with my own lines.  However, I’m not sure that I’ve ever come across one family that connects through marriage with three of my separate family lines.  It doesn’t hurt that they all lived near the same small town (Lyons) in Burt Co., NE.

I’ve always grown up hearing the Frey surname.  I knew that I had cousins who were Freys and a couple of aunts who were married to Freys.  I assumed that they were probably related…but not closely, and I had not examined the lines to look.  A few years ago, a cousin asked me to look into my great great aunt’s family line.  Aunt Fern was born on 7 Apr 1916 to Lenn Craig and Edna A. Frey.  That was really all I had to go on.  So, I first started exploring the census records and came across a family file that said that Edna Frey was the daughter of John Wellington Frey and Matilda Augusta Eichler.  Those names were familiar…so I checked census records and that was the family that Edna was recorded with as their daughter.  However, I noticed several other names that were familiar.  I checked my database and found out that I had two different John Wellington Frey’s and two Matilda Augusta Eichlers and they suspiciously had the same dates.  After merging these duplicate records, I started to try and fill in the blanks.  Working through census records, I entered each child and their birthdates or years as the case may be.  So here is the family that I came up with:

• Howard E. Frey b. 23 Aug 1890 d. 1 Jun 1960
• John Edward Frey b. 9 Sep 1892 d. 5 May 1971
• Charles Wellington Frey b. 26 Oct 1894 d. 11 Mar 1972
• Edna A. Frey b. 23 Nov 1898 d. 9 Mar 1990 m. Lenn Craig m. Hank Suhr
• Lewis A. Frey b. 19 Feb 1901 d. 28 Aug 1988
• Arthur Glen Frey b. 1902 and d. 5 Aug 1938
• Harold P. Frey b. 1906 d. 1998
• Mildred E. Frey b. 1909
• Grace H. Frey b. 1911 d. 1934 m. Herbert Suhr

Howard Frey with wife Alice Gage and son Orlando Frey.

There were definitely some familiar names.  The Howard E. Frey was someone I had hear about often from my grandmother as Uncle Howard.  He was married Alice Irene Gage who was my great grandfather’s youngest sister.  I think I might have met her when I was quite young, but I know that I heard often about her and their son Orlando Frey.  I’m almost a little scared to look much into John Edward Frey’s wife, Nellie Inez Peterson…because there is another Peterson connection with the Gage’s (I think that I will leave that until later).  Next comes Charles Wellington Frey.  His third son, Marvin Dean Frey, was someone I got to know some as Mark Frey.  As I remember, he had a great sense of humor and nice smile…although I must admit that I spent more time visiting with his wife…my cousin Edna Ilene Gage (daughter of Pete Gage and Elizabeth Pearl Mathison)  So…thus far Howard as married one Gage sister (to my great grandfather) and his nephew has married a Gage niece.

As I mentioned earlier, Edna Frey married Lenn Craig.  Their daughter, Fern was married to Ernest Shawver – the younger brother of my great grandmother (Florence Shawver Gage). 

Fern Craig and Ernie Shawver

To complicate things further, Charles Wellington Frey was married to Lenn Craig’s sister, Ilene.  At least Lewis Frey brought in another line…sort of.  He married Edna Elizabeth Gallup who was the daughter of Hugh Gallup and Jessie Shawver.  Now it gets even more confusing.  Hugh Gallup was my great grandfather’s uncle (Ora Silas Gage) and Jessie was my great grandmother (Florence Shawver Gage)’s sister. Then we come to Arthur Glen Frey…he married Aida Elizabeth Shawver – younger sister of my great grandmother (Florence Shawver Gage).   He tragically died at the young age of 36 years old in a car accident…and he was killed with John Bacon, his brother-in-law…who was the previously mentioned Jessie Shawver’s second husband (after Hugh Gallup.)

 

Edna Gallup & Lewis Frey

Let me summarize…Howard Frey m. Alice Gage.  His nephew (Mark) married Alice’s niece (Edna).  Alice and my Great Grandfather (Ora Gage)’s uncle’s (Hugh Gallup) daughter (Edna Elizabeth Gallup) and thus are the tie-ins on the Gage/Gallup side of the family.

On the Shawver side…it might be just as complicated.  Edna Frey’s daughter (Fern) married Ernest Shawver.  Edna’s younger brother, Arthur married Aida Elizabeth Shawver – who was Ernest Shawver’s older sister.  Arthur was killed in a car accident with John Bacon, who was the second husband of Jessie Shawver (she was previously married to Hugh Gallup – mother of Edna Elizabeth Gallup)  Jessie was also the older sister of Ernest and Aida Shawver.  Her younger sister (Florence Shaver Gage) married my great grandfather (Ora Silas Gage).  So you might understand why it took me a while to try and understand…this convoluted mess!