Catherine Menke Fraise was born on January 23, 1853 in Iowa. She is related through the Wellman side of the family.

Catherine Menke was born to Johann Deidrich and Christina Kruse Menke. Both parents were born in Prussia. The family lived in Lee County, Iowa at the time of the 1860 census. There is an older woman, Aliede Menke, age 60, living with the family. I am not sure of the relationship. It could be his mother or an aunt. The 1870 census lists the family as Menka, and we find two older women living with the family. Adelade, aged 69 and Caty, aged 60.

On February 15, 1876, Catherine married John Fraise at St. Mary’s church in West Point. John was a farmer and continued to farm for the rest of his life. Catherine and John had seven children. I found this picture of the family. It doesn’t have a date, nor are the children identified.

Catherine Menke Fraise died on March 7, 1922. She was buried with her husband in Calvary Cemetery in West Point.

I wrote about Catherine’s cousin Cecilia in this post.

Research quirks

Researching this post was had several interesting points. I found 2 Johann Deidrich Menkes in my research, both in living in Lee County, Iowa, one born in 1816 and this one born in 1828. It took a bit of time to sort out both lines and make sure I had the right children with the right parents. I also found Catherine spelled as Katherine and listed as Katy, Caty, and Cathy on various documents.

Interestingly enough, the 1910 census says that Catherine was born in Germany and arrived in the U.S. in 1860. It says that her husband John was also born in Germany and arrived in 1855. The information I have is that they were both born in Iowa. This was the only census to show this information.