Freddie Whitehouse 1882-1888

 

Does anybody living remember little Freddie Whitehouse? 

This dear soul rests in a remote part of Greenwood Cemetery in Spokane. The inscription reads:  FREDDIE, son of L.M. and H.M., died July 28, 1888, aged 5 years, 7 months, 27 days. He was likely named after Lewis's brother, Fred, who died in 1872. 

In the summer of 1888, there was an epidemic of typhoid fever in Spokane. Is this his cause of death? 

A (well sourced) family tree found on Ancestry shows him to be the son of Lewis Hanson Whitehouse, born 1844 in Maine, died 1919 in California, and Hannah Mein, born 1845 in Scotland, died 1926 in California. Little Freddie had siblings Lewis, Herbert and Eva. Lewis and Hannah had married on 17 Aug 1871 in Port Townsend, Jefferson County, WA. 

Somehow Lewis and Hannah migrated unmarried from Maine and Scotland by 1871. So the Whitehouse family was in Washington Territory well before statehood and were living in Spokane by 1885.

Does anybody remember little Freddie Whitehouse?

This is why it is so important to record family stories. Not one child deserves to be forgotten. Take part of your day-after-Christmas to write down a memory from yesterday, Christmas Day, 2025. 

More Christmas

 

Grandma Google, with help from AI, told this story far better than I could. Read on:

Puritans banned and discouraged Christmas celebrations, viewing them as unscriptural, pagan, and a source of social disorder. They believed the holiday was an excuse for excessive behavior like feasting, drinking, and revelry, which distracted from religious discipline and threatened the social order. In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony outlawed the holiday, and those who observed it could be fined five shillings.

• Unscriptural and pagan origins: Puritans argued the Bible never commanded the celebration of Christ's birth and that the date of December 25th was chosen to co-opt pagan festivals.
• Social disorder and "excesses": They were strongly against the carousing, gambling, and public revelry that often accompanied Christmas, believing these activities allowed people to "do what they lust" and caused public scandal. Traditions like "wassailing," where the poor would demand food and drink from the wealthy, were particularly offensive as they disrupted social hierarchy.
• Pagan origins: The Puritans saw the holiday's roots in paganism and felt that its modern celebrations dishonored Jesus Christ.
• Legal ban: The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law in 1659 banning Christmas, fining anyone who observed it. Governor Bradford even declared December 25th a workday.
• Lingering effects: Even after the ban was repealed in 1681, the cultural aversion persisted in New England for decades, and the day was not made a federal holiday until 1870. 

Christmas Tree Factoids

 

One of the most recognizable symbols of the holiday season is the Christmas tree. They can be seen in homes, public spaces and many prominent locations everywhere during December. 

Did you know that most Christmas trees that we buy from those corner lots are raised on tree farms? Christmas trees are an agricultural product with roughly a million acres dedicated to tree farming. The top tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. 

Did you know that approximately 25-30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year? 

Did you realize it can take as long as 15 years to grow a typical tree?

Did you know that the Germans are credited with bringing the first Christmas trees into the home and decorating them in the spirit of Christmas. The first recorded reference dates back to the 16th century.

Did you guess that the most common Christmas tree species are balsam fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine. (Why some capitalized and some not??) 

Why not be different this year and have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree? You could find a little scraggy pine most anywhere and "rescue" it from oblivion. It's one of my favorites!

Collateral Research: DO NOT OVERLOOK!

 

To me, this candle-lighted village epitomizes the concept of collateral research. Everybody in the village knows everybody and most of them are related.

Pamela Bell Dallas gave a super presentation to EWGS in October, 2025. She defined Collateral Research as a common term in genealogy, meaning investigating relatives who are not direct line ancestors..... like aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings ...... to hopefully find information about a direct ancestor.

"Why do this?" she asked. "To help us over come so-called brick walls by finding the answers and information you've been seeking "forever." 

Dallas explained that people can be tied together by blood, circumstances, law, emotions, common beliefs and common experiences. Two little girls of the same age formed a bond that lasted a lifetime even though they were cousins with different parents and surnames. "The strongest family ties are between women," Dallas quipped. 

Rather than turn this bit into a 20" long column, I'll refer you to Grandma Google. Ask her "how to do collateral research" and you'll have enough hits to occupy a full day of your time.

I want to share my story: While researching James, the youngest son born in the early 1800s, I concentrated on him like most all beginners do. WELL.  The oldest child, a daughter, born 20 years before James, never married but cared for siblings and parents all her life. She joined DAR and was very proud of her ancestry. Her obituary reflected this passion for it was inches long listing all her ancestors! Which of course, were James' ancestors too. DUH on me and please learn from my silliness. 

Go Zags & Other Trivia

 

How many ardent Zags fans known where the name Gonzaga originated? I did not, nor did my rapt-BB-fan-son-in-law. 

"Gonzaga was named for Aloysius Gonzaga who was born in the castle of Castiglione on March 9, 1568. As a youth, and often with his father, he traveled widely in Italy and Spain. In 1581 he formed the resolution of becoming a Jesuit, renouncing his noble family's wealth in favor of his brother (to their father's dismay). Before the end of his novitiate, he passed a brilliant public act in philosophy...... when he was in Spain he distinguished himself in philosophy. 

"In 1591, while in Italy, a famine and pestilence broke out. Though in delicate health, he devote himself to the care of the sick and while serving others he himself fell ill in early March.

"Aloysius Gonzaga died on June 21, 1591."

It was Father Joseph Cataldo who, in 1887, was the founder of the school in Spokane, named the school after his fellow Italian saint. St. Aloysius Gonzaga is known as the patron saint of youth. 

More Random Thoughts

 

"Speaking kindly to others can be a challenge if we are convinced that we can clean up the world with the mop and pail of our own knowledge and opinions."  (unknown)

"Worry is a blob monster, slowly and relentlessly engulfing everything it touches."  (Matthew 6:31)

"Money, even if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort."  (Helen Gurley Brown)

"The trick is to stop thinking of it as your money."  (IRS auditor)

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you an prove that you don't need it."  (Bob Hope)

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination."  (Oscar Wilde)

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of payments."  (Earl Wilson)

"A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist." (Franklin Jones)

"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life unless I buy something."  (Jackie Mason)

"What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin."  (Mark Twain)

And lastly, my favorite:  "Recognize and beware that our time is short and life has a way of consuming the time we have."  (Ephesians 5:16)

Random Thoughtful Thoughts

 

"If you aren't where you are, you are no place."  (Col. Potter, M*A*S*H)

From Henry David Thoreau:

• The universe is wider than our views of it
• It's not worthwhile to go round the world to count cats in Zanzibar
• Things do not change; we change
• Money is not required to buy the necessities of the soul
• Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?

"The counsel of fools is all the more dangerous the more of them there are." (King Olaf of Norway, 938-1006 AD)

"Never suppress a generous thought."  (Camilla Kimball, 1894-1987)

"Too often we hear what we want to hear instead of what we should have heard."  (Brent L. Top, author)

"Disappointment comes to visit on occasion but should never be allowed to stay."  (Richard Norby, author)

"The defects of great men are the consolation of the dunces."  (Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, British Prime Minister)

"Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."  (Chief Seattle)

"They were such seriously futile people that she found herself wanting to cry out against their ready-made justifications for pointless lives."  (Frank Herbert, Children of Dune) 

You may quote any of these, anytime and to anybody. (smile)