This story follows the people, places and turns the records can support. The notes beneath each passage show where it comes from; an unresolved lead stays marked as a lead.
Following the Frisby Name
The Frisby story begins with Michael Facchinello’s mother, Katherine Frisby. The family record places her below Thomas N. Frisby and Louise Mixon Pedersen, and Louise’s obituary names “Katherine Facchinello” as her daughter. Louise belongs to the Mixon and DeCuir chapter, so this chapter follows the Frisby side only. It is a narrow trail: Thomas’s living status is unknown, and the public record says only what the official lists say about him.
Two Official Glimpses
Two official lists offer two glimpses of Thomas N. Frisby. The Louisiana State Bar Association’s November 2023 Bar Briefs names him among its 70-year honorees, admitted in 1954. The Congressional Record of 30 April 1959 prints his name among nominations for first lieutenants in the Air Force Judge Advocate branch. Those lists give no date of rank, length of service, suffix or city, so the story does not add one. Both use the form “Thomas N. Frisby.”
Louise's Unfinished Chapter
Louise’s Frisby chapter is still unfinished. A compiled WikiTree profile places her marriage to Thomas Frisby in New Iberia on 30 January 1954 and their divorce in Denver on 20 May 1975, but the records behind those dates have not been opened. Her second husband’s obituary calls her “Louise Frisby Pedersen,” and her own obituary names sons by the Frisby surname; that is indirect support, not proof of the marriage. The Iberia Parish licence and divorce decree are the missing pages. The Mixon and DeCuir chapter tells the same story from Louise’s side.
Two Sons, and a Boundary
Louise’s obituary names two sons, David and Thomas Frisby, but names no father. The family workbook places them below Thomas N. Frisby; no record names that relationship, so the atlas holds both links at conditional. The obituary names Brenda as David’s wife. Nothing more is published about David, Thomas or Brenda: their living status is unknown, and no date or place is entered. Here, Thomas N. Frisby is the man in the official lists; Thomas Frisby is the son in Louise’s obituary.
The Certificate Closes the Gap
Thomas Newton Frisby’s Texas birth certificate names A. J. Frisby as his father and Thelma Jean Karr as his mother, turning the atlas’s weakest direct-line step into a record-backed link. A 1910 census also places Thelma—enumerated as Carr—in M. E. Carr’s household and supports Millard Eugene Karr as her father. The records still do not expand A. J.’s initials or prove that A. J. and Thelma married, so the spouse link remains supported rather than confirmed and the spelling variants Karr, Carr and Kerr stay visible.
Which A. J.?
One memorial offers a possible A. J. Frisby: born 26 August 1908 and dead at Tyler, Texas, on 6 November 1986, with a marker agreeing on the years. Those dates are reconstructed from a contributor-maintained page; the Texas indexes and Tyler obituary that could check them have not been opened. The identity is just as uncertain. Matching this A. J. to the family account depends on name, place and generation, not on a source that says so. Two transcribed obituaries later place an A. J. among the sons of Thomas David and Easter Fay Frisby—a match, but not proof.
The Older Frisby Generation
The older generation comes into view more clearly. Thomas David Frisby was born on 12 August 1886 and died at Waco on 17 May 1952; the death index, cemetery index and joint marker agree. Easter Fay Frisby was born on 17 August 1890 and died at Sweetwater on 9 September 1982, according to the marker and memorial transcriptions. The atlas records no birthplace for either. They married in October 1907, but the day is split: the marker says 22 October, the obituary transcription says 17 October. A Grayson County marriage record could settle it. Two transcribed obituaries name an A. J. among their sons, but no opened newspaper does.
Two Cemeteries, One Open Question
The couple’s burial places do not resolve cleanly. A joint marker stands at Sweetwater Cemetery, and the cemetery index lists both there. For Easter Fay, that is the public account: she is recorded as buried at Sweetwater, with no plot or burial date entered. Thomas David is different. The atlas carries Sweetwater because the marker and index do, but a death-certificate transcription names Rosemound Cemetery in Waco. Until the certificate and cemetery records are read, his burial remains an open conflict. Easter Fay’s name carries another caution: the atlas uses Easter Fay Frisby, while “Easter Fay Saunders Frisby” remains a family-reported variant. Which Joseph B. Saunders belongs beside her, and in which generation, is unresolved.
What Still Needs a Record
The trail ends with a short list of sources and a long list of questions. The sources are two official lists, Louise’s obituaries, a compiled WikiTree profile, a cemetery index and marker, a Texas death index, three memorials and family accounts. No civil, census or vital record read here names Thomas N. Frisby’s parents or identifies A. J. as Thomas David and Easter Fay’s son. The open pages are these: whether A. J. and Thelma were Thomas N.’s parents; whether David and Thomas were his sons; which records confirm the 1954 marriage and 1975 divorce; the day of the 1907 marriage; Thomas David’s burial place; and the Saunders generations.