Category: Brian

A Letter From Frank

Frank, age 86, and Wilda, age 82, in Tempe, AZ 2006

In or about 1996 Brian gave Marc Rector the basic genealogy of the Rector clan in the US going back all the way to “1666 in Truppich, Germany 2 kilometers east of Siegen.” Brian had stumbled onto the “Rector Records” book and other documents and copied out our line. Given that both his parents had died, this inspired Marc to write to his Rector uncles and aunts for additional information:

Son Brian has been bugging me again about the RECTOR genealogy…Seems he found a book on RECTOR in the New York Public Library a while back and wants to know more…me too.

The following is the Genealogy in a direct line, taken from a much broader genealogy that Frank sent me a few years ago. That one ended with MARCUS CLAY being the son of MARCUS in the mid 19th Century. I have continued it to the best of my knowledge…Many gaps need filled and specifics filled in…PLEASE FILL IN AND RETURN THE COPY TO ME.

There followed is the first outline of our Hilltop lineage that we’ve now added to and compiled in The Begats.

I’ve recently come upon the folder in which Marc stored this information. I have found (so far) responses from Frank Hodgson Rector, as well as Jane Rector Breiding. Jane glossed the MARCUS CLAY outline that Marc had sent her, including the addition of sister Margaret who died tragically (as you will read below) at age 1 1/2. Frank, however, wrote a four page single-spaced letter describing his knowledge of the family background. It was so informative, and colorful, I thought it would be good to add it to this archive:

Continue reading “A Letter From Frank” →

Hunting Hans Richter

Dr. Brian Rector (PhD UGA) notes the following with regard to the reporting of Ruth Y. Rector posted on rector.org who says —

Hans Richter was the earliest ancestor (discovered) of the Virginia Rector family. He was probably born about the year 1550 in Saxony, and the Siegen city records show that he paid the fee for Siegen citizenship in 1585, being ‘from the country near Miessen’, from the city of Freiburg.

In response Dr. Rector notes:

Both of those town names are almost certainly misspelled because (according to the Google Maps) there is no such place as “Miessen” — only Meissen — and near Meissen there is a small city called Freiberg (with two e’s).  Both are in Saxony — not in Lower Saxony, where the “Freiburg near Hamburg and Denmark” is located, as you can see in the attached snippet.  Now why isn’t he described as being from “near Dresden”?  Well, that information was almost certainly provided by Hans himself and I’m guessing he didn’t have any kin in Dresden; only in Freiburg and the country near Meissen and it would have been a good day’s walk from either of those places to Dresden.  Then again, it’s almost 500 km from there to Siegen, so there’s no telling how he got there.  Bottom line though, is that he was almost certainly from that area of Saxony, as reported by Ruth Y. Rector, not from Lower Saxony.

Meet the Players Dinner

Reno Aces
Harrah’s Nevada Ballroom

Brian got the Aces road jersey because it says R E N O across the front in very large letters. That way, when he’s traveling, there won’t be any doubt about where he’s from.

What a perfect shirt to wear to the Aces Meet the Players dinner.

Eric and Alison got me and Brian two 12-game partial season tickets to the Aces for our birthdays last year. We liked that, so we re-upped for 2014. As partial season ticket holders we get many season ticket holder perks; one of them being this Meet the Players dinner.

It’s an intimate affair for 800 with fine food and drink in the Nevada Ballroom of Harrah’s Casino Resort.

the front of the Nevada ballroom from our table — there are 3 rows of tables behind me

the rear of the Nevada ballroom from our table

my plate — Brian’s was similar — good stuff, including greens, roast beef, a wonderful pasta salad, mushroom ravioli, chicken cutlet, redskin potatoes… and that’s a Dos Equis draft

Continue reading “Meet the Players Dinner” →

Hot August Nights

Reno’s Hot August Nights — a 10 day homage to cars, especially vintage and classic — will be televised on the SPEED channel, for those of you who get lots of TV channels. Featured will be the 3 nights of the Auction. Check it out.

This first part was sent in an email to various folks… I repeat that here and add stuff from the auction. Good times. According to the RGJ, “…about 5600 cars were registered for the week-long celebration… Already, 3400 vehicles have been registered for next year’s event.”

Meanwhile, Carol and I, Brian and Natasza went to some events at the Nugget last (Wednesday) evening. Here are a few pictures:

Brian and Natasza and a Dodge built before either of them.

Continue reading “Hot August Nights” →

somethin’ for sittin’

…(and nappin’) in the fine mountain air.

Kind of a funny place to plant roses, under the only covered part of our front courtyard.

So Brian and Natasza volunteer to take the roses home…

And we have that rose bed paved over.

A month or so later, Craig’s List Reno NV sez:

Futons are on sale at K-Mart, — $89 without mattress. But they’re kinda cheesy, so I thought I’d give Craig’s List a shot. Jason’s apartment was so full of furniture — from a friend who moved — he could hardly walk around and decided he had to get rid of the futon.

So his fortune became my fortune. Later that day, after a shout-out to Brian to help me with his truck…

The futon found a home on our front courtyard.

The preparation and thinking about our front courtyard took weeks and months, but actual getting the futon happened very quickly. Monday after dinner, we were able to sit and relax and watch the sunset. We were treated to these amazing clouds, something we would have surely missed had we not a comfy place to sit.

It’s 7:30pm. The sun — as usual — sets in the west. Our courtyard is on the east side of the house, so we don’t see the actual sunset; we see the effects of the sunset.

Two Guys Traveling

Eric in New York City
Brian and Natasza in Belize

Eric and Brian went traveling and made the mistake of sending me emails with pictures. I thought the juxtaposition was great, so I threw them up here. Brian is still out there, so if he sends me any more stuff, I’ll add it.

Swut im tawkinuhbout… 1.14 3.06

Every time I visit Bennett Midland I get a new seat (the *empty* one), and thus a new view. Today the peak of the New York Life building burns through the mist. 1.15 5.32a

Takin’ it Belizey

Tight connexion to Belize flight in DFW turned into 30-min “security check” delay (which was originally called a “cleaning delay” when it looked like it would only be 10 min). This carried over to our arrival in Belize 30-min late, giving us one hour to get our bags, clear customs, & drive 30 minto th last water taxi to Caye Caulker, where we had prepaid for our hotel & needed 2 b at 8:30 tomorrow morning to catch our 3-day sailing trip. It was quite likely that the 30 min delay was going to screw up our first 3 days in Belize. Well, as u can c by th photo, we made it to th water taxi (of course nothing here happens on time) escorted by our warm, cheerful taxi driver Solano who didn’t even have to speed. It would’ve been completely out of character for th place (although th water taxi threw up a righteous rooster tail for 45 min straight). Got a golf-cart taxi from the pier to th hotel and was greeted by proprietor Rob, a US transplant about my age with th permanent spacey smile of one who makes a good living hanging out in a tropical Eden. We decompressed for a minute in our rustic room before changing into flip-flops & parrot-head shirts and ambling down one of the islands three dirt roads to find a grilled fish.

Quest for fish

If yer looking for a grilled fish big enough for two that was minding its own business on a tropical reef this morning, walk ~4 blocks thru th salty, steady sea breeze down th main drag of th island (see below) & turn right across from th pier. U may decide to stop along th way at one of several mom & pop stores for some bottled water that is sold at a refreshingly sane price (50¢ for a half-liter) in a place where a) u can’t drink tap water & b) there’s absolutely nowhere else to buy clean water. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Continue reading “Two Guys Traveling” →

Rock out in Reno

Reno has the Rodeo, Hot August Nights, the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off, The Great Reno Balloon Race and now, Petty for Cash.

Hot August Nights, Packard on Virginia Street

Ribs… Yum

In celebration of their 22nd Anniversary on the air, KTHX, 100.1 THE X, threw a concert in the John Ascuaga’s NUGGET Celebrity Showroom. Tickets were 20 bucks each and ALL proceeds went to “Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful” and the Washoe County School District Fine Arts and Music Program. Surely a worthy cause but I was hooked by the music concept:

20 Bands play 1 Tom Petty Song each.
How cool is that?

I didn’t waste time before ordering tickets for me and C, Brian and Natasza.
Continue reading “Rock out in Reno” →