This site is presented with in the hope of preserving the memories of our ancestors, many we know about, and many we will never know, because of records being destroyed by fire, flood, and other disasters. Without them, where would I be? They have made possible the way we live today. We owe them our gratitude and an interest in truly understanding their experiences.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are many people and organizations that without their help we could not have done this research. I’m so thankful to my sister Barbara, brother Jack and my nieces Angela and Patricia for sharing their memories of what mom and dad and aunt Mary told them about our Croatian ancestry. Also, to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh who holds the records of the closed St. Nicholas R.C. Church and the closed St. Paul Orphanage.

Judy’s uncle Bill Fraser, who sent her many years ago, the “Fraser Papers”. Without those three sheets of legal size paper I could not have done the Fraser Family. Joyce Fraser, Janet Fraser Ross and her grand-daughter Jessica supplied much information, as did Mary Ann Northcote who supplied information on her side of the Fraser Family Tree.

Cousin Judy, the Thom historian, shared numerous names and pictures on my mother-in-law side of our family. The records at the Lapeer County Genealogical Society Research Center in Lapeer and the help I received at the Flint Library and the Detroit main library were very valuable.

Bill Delaney sent me a picture CD of the Bearss and Powley families. Marvin Staplin, Brant Gibbard’s web site, Theo Bohms, and Bonnie Rea Ferguson’s research on the Bearss’s that I received from family search.com.

Too all, Judy and I say thank you.

Robert Charles Staplin