Frain Family Tree - Illinois Branch

Frain, Joseph Richard and Linda Margeret Broten

My wife Linda, daughter Laura and me.

The Early Years

This section is about my family and me. Since this version of the Frain Family Tree is mostly for documentation, I will write it in the third person.

Joseph Richard was born Dec. 30, 1937 to Joseph William Frain and Evelyn Kathleen Cook. He was purposely given a middle name different from his father's in order to avoid the tag of junior, however, he ended up being called Buddy until he left home at age 18. They lived at 208 Maple Street, Carrollton, Illinois. Joseph was 25 and Evelyn was 16 at the time. His occupation was shown on the birth certificate as C.C.C. Camp.  (He earned $1 per day.)  Hers was Housewife. Besides Joseph R. , Joe and Evelyn had twin girls, Marlene and Darlene, on April 14, 1939. They still lived in Carrollton.

Linda Margaret was born Oct. 7, 1942 to Thorwald John Broten and Julia Margaret Peterson. They lived at 2030 Pratt Court, Evanston, Illinois. Thor was 31 and Julia was 30. Thor was a Credit Clerk with a Public Utility and Julia was a housewife.  Linda has 1 sister, Patricia Evelyn Broten Fier, born Oct. 9, 1937.

Linda graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1961 and attended Kendall College for 1 year.

Linda's father had Norwegian ancestors. Her mother's ancestry was Danish and Norwegian. Click on Broten/Peterson in the left panel to learn more about Linda's family.

Linda has strong Methodist Church ties. Her grandfather, Peter Martin Peterson, was a Methodist Minister as was one of her uncles, Harold (Hula) Peterson. Although Joe was a Catholic as a youngster, his wife, daughter and he attend Methodist church on a regular basis.

Joe's early years, as well as those of his twin sisters Marlene and Darlene, were impacted by their parents' divorce. Although Joe and Evelyn were awarded joint custody of the children, the circumstances were such that they stayed with foster parents for a time. Joe had to enter the Army, since the U.S. was in the middle of World War II. Evelyn did not have the resources to care for 3 small children.

They stayed with the Winn family in Carrollton for a time. This was just a couple houses from their Aunt Virginia, Evelyn's sister. They were able to visit back and forth quite freely. It was during this stay that Joe had a tonsillectomy.

They also stayed with an older lady in Alton for a short time.   She was Evelyn's aunt, her mother's sister.

Shortly before the end of the war, Evelyn decided it would be better for Joe and his sisters if they were to live with their grandmother, Elizabeth Frain, in Tovey, IL. They moved to Tovey, and their mother visited them quite often.

Tovey is a central Illinois town that had about 900 souls when Joe and his sisters were growing up there. The major employer was Peabody Coal Co. at their Mine No. 8. Other business' that provided services to the miners and surrounding farmers were 3 grocery stores, a general store, pool room, and as many as 7 taverns. Miners were a thirsty lot and the taverns  were also places where families went to socialize. Today Tovey only has a couple hundred people. The mine has been closed since the late 1950's.

Although Tovey had telephone service and electricity, indoor plumbing was a rarity. Water was obtained from individual wells. It wasn't until after Joe left home that water mains were put in and most families built bathrooms in their homes.

Tovey had one claim to fame. The lightweight basketball team won the state championship in 1952. The members of the team were Joe's friends and graduation class.

The postmistress, Katherine Hake, was godmother to Joe, Marlene and Darlene. Their godfather was Leon De Brun a miner and friend of the family.

Tovey is now a lakeside community on Sanchris Lake which was built to provide water for a power plant next to Peabody Mine No. 10 a couple miles west of Tovey. That mine closed circa 1990. The lake covers farms of families Joe knew and went to school with and rural areas where he went camping, fishing, hunting and mushroom picking before leaving home at age 18.

After Joseph W. returned from the war, he married Louise Huston. She had a daughter, Hattie Louise, from her prior marriage to Bob Huston. This became the family Joe and his sisters grew up with. 

Click to learn more about my step family.

From this point on, Joe had a pretty normal childhood. His father was a coal miner who was out on strike a lot. Joe was from a poor family, but did not know it until after he left home. His father and step-mother took good care of the children and saw that they were taught proper manners and achieved a minimum of a high school education.

The Boy Scouts was a positive influence in Joe's life. The camping and craft making activities provided much pleasure. He achieved the rank of Star Scout and progressed to the Explorer Scouts. The Order of the Arrow was awarded to him at a summer camp session at Camp Illinek on Springfield Lake.

On many occasions the entire family went on fishing trips to the local lakes and rivers. Some were weekend trips where Joe gained much of his camping expertise and night fishing skills. Eventually, the twins opted not to go fishing so Joe and his dad had to bring home the bacon (fish). Rabbit hunting was another father and son activity. As a youngster, Joe was the one who flushed the rabbits for his dad and sometimes others such as his brother-in-law Earl, cousin Isadore. Eventually Joe was provided a shotgun to use and he became one of the hunters, as well.

Joe graduated from Tovey Elementary School in 1952 and from South Fork Township High School in Kincaid in 1956. While in high school his major interest was the band in which he played a variety of percussion instruments.

Joe likes to tell the story about how he got into the band. During his first year of high school he took classes in base horn and snare drum. In his second year there was a new music and band instructor. The new instructor, Mr. Mazzara, held band tryouts which Joe attended. Joe knew he was not ready to play base horn or snare drums but still wanted to be in the band. He decided he could handle the cymbals, which he had never touched before. During the first song of the tryouts, Joe merrily clanged away on the cymbals. The punch line by the band instructor after he stopped the music was "What do you think you are playing, dishpans?" Fortunately, the instructor had a sense of humor and patience (plus the fact we were a small school and band members were hard to find). He provided Joe with the basics and allowed him to stay with the band.

Joe had a couple of jobs during High School.  He sat pins at the Brandis bowling alley in Bulpitt for a couple of years at 8¢ per line (individual game).  During a couple of summers he worked at Maton's Florist and Greenhouse in Taylorville for 50¢ an hour.

Young and Single

After high school Joe found it hard to get a job in central Illinois. Although he got one working on the highways for the state of Illinois for about a $1 an hour he decided it would be better to join the service. His brother-in-law, Hattie's husband Earl, had been in the Marines as had his cousin Jimmy Glazebrook. Joe took his cue from them and joined the Marine Corps Reserve and went immediately on 2 years active duty. He served from July, 1956 thru July, 1958 on active duty and then through July, 1962 on inactive reserve duty. He was granted an honorable discharge.

He got his "boot" training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego, California which also included rifle training at Camp Mathews. He achieved the level of Sharpshooter.  Camp Mathews is gone now. It has been replaced with housing tracts on the north side of San Diego. During this time, Joe qualified for the Naval Air Cadet program, but the dummy was too young, dumb and naive and passed up the opportunity.

During his active duty, Joe worked in various headquarters offices of the 1st Marine Division stationed at Camp Pendleton, California which is between Oceanside and San Clemente, Calif. He obtained the rank of corporal before his active duty ended.

The 2 years in Southern Calif. were quite fun for Joe, even though he was in the service. Many liberties were spent between Tiajuana, Mexico and Los Angeles, Calif. Actually, only 1 liberty was spent in Tiajuana, most others were spent either in the nearby towns of San Clemente and Oceanside, San Diego or in the Los Angeles areas of Long Beach and Pasadena. This is what prompted Joe to eventually move to California.

After his discharge, Joe found that it was still hard to find a job in central Illinois. His Uncle Bud (Patrick Frain) and Aunt Alice advised him that there were plenty of jobs in Chicago. Joe moved to Chicago where his aunt and uncle helped get him on his way in the big city.

Joe lived in the Chicago/Oak Park area from Sept., 1958 thru Feb., 1965. He had fun there, as well.  He held a variety of jobs. His first was as a mail clerk working for Standard Oil of Indiana on south Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. The job was nice, but the pay was low so he got a job working as a salesman in the Spaulding Mens' Clothing Store in Oak Park. He then moved there. This job did not provide the opportunities he had hoped for, so at the urging of a local restaurant manager, he accepted the position of short order cook. This turned out nice, since it provided him with meals. All he had to do was pay his rent and the rest of the paycheck could be utilized for pleasure. Saving money was still a foreign concept to Joe. As time went on, Joe tried his hand as an assistant to a chef at a dinner restaurant, a cab driver and postman.

Eventually, the hot summers and cold winters started waking up the memories of California. In Feb. 1965, Joe obtained a drive away delivery car destined for Los Angeles, pulled up stakes and moved to Calif. The day he left, Chicago had an ice storm. Everything was covered with ice. Joe laughed hysterically as he left town.

Upon arrival on Feb. 2, 1965, and after delivering the car, Joe joined a friend in West Covina. He had known Bob Trepanier for a while in Oak Park and maintained the contact after Bob moved to Calif. His first act was to put on his swimming trunks and jump into the apartment building pool. The air temperature was 85 degrees.

Joe got his first job with General Telephone as a repairman. This was an interesting job. He had his own truck and a large area to service. There was both indoor and outdoor work and a chance to meet people.

The Family Man

Joe met Linda that summer when she came out from Evanston, Illinois to visit her sister, Pat. They went out together and fell in love. Linda returned to Evanston to resign from her job and take care of business. She returned to California. Joe was able to get the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend off. Joe and Linda, and her sister Pat with her boyfriend went to Las Vegas to get married. They had a double wedding ceremony on Nov. 24, 1965 and witnessed for each other.

One interesting sidelight of the Las Vegas marriage was that a few years later there was a scandal that exposed a number of "reverends" that performed marriage ceremonies but were not authorized. Those marriages were not legal. Joe and Linda decided that after all the time they had been married, it was irrelevant whether it was legal  and decided not to check it out.

After a couple years of marriage, Joe decided to take the advice of his father-in-law and mother-in-law and use the G.I. Bill to obtain a college education. Although not originally eligible, President Johnson passed a bill making all service men eligible, even those that served in peacetime only.

Joe went 2 years, fulltime, to Mount San Antonio Junior College (MSAC) in West Covina, CA taking mostly data processing courses. He graduated in June 1969. In the meantime, Linda continued to work to help with the expenses. After all, Uncle Sam provided some money, but not enough to live on. Joe was not a deadbeat and managed to contribute by taking part-time jobs.

After the graduating from MSAC, Joe got a job with Security Pacific National Bank (SPNB) as a computer programmer. In order to improve his abilities and chances for advancement, he continued to attend the California State University at L.A. on a part time basis. He completed all the core requirements for a B.A. in Business Administration, however, he did not complete the elective courses. He ended up with the equivalent of 3 1/2 years of college.

Joe and Linda moved to an apartment in Sierra Madre, Calif. after he got his job with SPNB. A couple years later they purchased their first home in Pasadena.

Things changed for Joe and Linda real fast in 1974/75. Joe took a computer programmer position with United California Bank (then 1st Interstate Bank, and later merged with Wells Fargo). Their daughter Laura Suzanne was born on May 10, 1975 and they purchased their second home in Walnut, Calif. At this time Joe's father  was very ill with cancer. Joe and Laura flew back to Illinois to see him and introduce him to his new granddaughter. Laura's grandfather died a few months later in Dec. 1975.

Eventually, Joe went back to SPNB (for a better position, but still in computer programming). Joe, Linda and Laura lived in Walnut until 1989. They purchased their third home in Alta Loma, Calif. where they resided until 1992.

Once again, things changed drastically in 1992. SPNB was acquired by Bank Of America and most SPNB employees were "displaced", including Joe. Since this was happening to many people in Southern Calif., there were not many jobs available. Joe, Linda and Laura decided  to relocate.  Illinois, Carson City, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona were considered as possible future homes.

They ended up in Springfield, IL in April of 1994,  Joe's sister Darlene worked at Franklin Life in Springfield.  She recommended him for a computer programmer job and was accepted.   He experienced deja vu when Franklin Life was purchased by American General and then American General was purchased by AIG.  Joe worked there until he retired in Dec. 2002.

Laura moved "back home"  to Southern California after living with us for a little over a year.

One of the things that Linda and Joe enjoyed, was having the opportunity to travel. For the 13 years from 1986 thru 1999, they made 8 trips to Europe. Linda and Laura made 1 trip to Hawaii, but Joe could not go.   Linda's sister Patricia accompanied them on their  last 2 trips.  They  did them several different ways.   Formal tours and on  your owns.  They  always started and/or ended in London, their  favorite city.  Visited several others on their own  like Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris.  They loved the train ride from London to Edinborough.  One visit included an overnight ride with a sleeper  compartment.  Dining on the train was always enjoyable.  Covent Garden was Joe's favorite place in London.  Besides all the shops and restaurants, the "Underground" museum was there and on Sunday's the street performers entertained.  They also visited and liked Durham, York and Chester.  Since they always purchased a 1st class train pass they visited many other great cities and towns in England, Ireland and France..... and so much more.... you should see all their pictures.

On most  of the trips Joe and Linda went alone. Laura preferred to visit her family in Illinois. On the 4th trip, they insisted that Laura accompany them for a week in London. Laura begrudgingly admits that she had a good time. Of course they made sure to see sights she would enjoy such as Madam Taussaud's Wax Museum and the London Zoo. Laura picked out the most interesting tour while they were there, "The London Murder Tour". It took 3 hours and they saw places where Jack the Ripper murdered the ladies, where there were ghosts from other murders and they stopped at 2 pubs plus more. Laura especially enjoyed riding the London buses and subways. Sometimes we would ride them with no particular destination in mind. (Ask Joe and Linda about their other trips, they love to talk about them and show pictures.)

The trip to England and Ireland in 1993 was especially memorable. Linda and Joe stayed in a house in London for 2 weeks and an apartment in Dublin for 1 week. From there they took several side trips by train and bus. Of special note was the day spent in Durham where Joe's grandfather was born and the day in Ballaghaderreen where it is presumed his great grandfather was born. Ballaghaderreen is a small town of about 1200 people in the northwestern part of County Roscommon, Ireland. It is in the valley of the Lung River where it meets Lough Gara. The local librarian confirmed that many Frains still live in the area. One picture was taken of 2 shops on one street with the names M. Frain and D. Frain on the signs. It was not possible to visit the shops since they were closed at the time. While in London, Joe visited the General Registrar Office of England and was able to obtain the information on the marriage of Luke Frain and Mary Sweeney. 12 rolls of pictures were taken. Although they were developed and placed on standard photos, they were also put on CD-ROM. Now the pictures can be viewed on a TV and/or PC.

The Retirement Years

As of March, 2003, Joe and Linda retired to Henderson, NV.  They visit their daughter and her family in Apple Valley, CA and Linda's mother and sister in Sun City, CA quite often.  Although they like to gamble, it is kept in perspective, don't bet the house payment.   They enjoy going to the various malls and eating at the great casino buffets.

We still like to travel and have taken a couple of cruises with more planned.