Margery Freas, 84, died at a Florida hospital Monday from injuries she suffered in a crash on Friday. She helped the York County Heritage Trust launch an oral history program in the early 1990s. Freas offered the trust numerous historical books she owned to the York County Heritage Trust when she and her husband sold their home. “She had all these historical and genealogical reference books,” June Lloyd, trust librarian emerita, said. “She was always thinking of people and organizations that she could benefit.” Buying a condo in York County, Pennsylvania, the Freas spent their winters on Amelia Island, Florida.
To read more about Margery Freas, see the article in the January 29, 2009 edition of the York Daily Record.
The following is excerpted from her obituary published in the York Daily Record & York Dispatch on 1/28/2009:
AMELIA ISLAND, FL – Margery Huston Freas, formerly of York and Felton, died peacefully on Monday, January 26, 2009, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She was born in Greenfield, Iowa, on October 28, 1924, the daughter of the late Frank and Marie (McDonnell) Huston of Des Moines, Iowa. She and husband, Arthur Freas, who survives her, were married, June 19, 1948, in Des Moines…
Interment will be private at Rohrsburg Cemetery, Rohrsburg, Pa., where three earlier generations of Freases are buried. In lieu of flowers, Margery requested that contributions, if desired, be made to York Co. Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market St., York, PA 17403; or Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center, 315 S. George St., York, PA 17403.
I’m very sorry to hear this. She and I had recently been emailing back and forth concerning the various Staats families and my current research in Delaware. She was incredibly helpful and kind in the brief time we corresponded. If she helped me that much in such a short span, I can only imagine her contribution to the genealogical community as a whole.
I know that there are many genealogists, including myself, who are thankful for Margery’s contributions, help and guidance. Her work will continue to help the genealogy community for quite some time. She will truly be missed.
I am so sorry to hear about Margery. We have corresponded for over ten years on genealogy and I can’t think of anyone who knew more about the Staats and related families. I always looked forward to hearing from her because all of her information was so well documented. I know that she will be missed by everyone who every had the pleasure of corresponding with her.
I will always be grateful to Margery Freas. When I first began researching my Staats Family (and we were related) she helped me so much and so generously share her information. She was a wealth of information to genealogists. Her greatest advice to me and I’m sure to all was, “Even though you receive information from someone, always look it up to make sure it is correct”. Margery, you will be missed so much. Your friend and cousin, Nancy A. Hausch
Margery will forever be in my memory.
She contributed so very much to the proving or our Williamson line.
May she rest in Peace.
Richard & Mary Williamson
Deeply grieved by delayed information about cousin Margery. She
was a Holland Dutch cousin of my wife and an Irish cousin of mine.
William R. and Florence A. Doud
Long Beach, California
I am so sorry to hear of Margery’s death. I corresponded with her several years ago on Staats genealogy. I was checking to see if her book on the Staats Family had been published when I learned that she had died. Dorothy Staats Kerns, Ripley, West Virginia
Sorry for your loss. My mother was a Freas in Simpson County,KY