My Uncle Floyd Nick Boutrous's father, Attas (Ghattas) Fares Boutrous Sr. can be seen sitting in the lower right alongside his five (Nicola brothers) cousins in the mid-late 1930s. The Nicola's are the brothers of Attas's mother, Miriam Nicola Attiyeh. These gentlemen like many of the Boutrous, Nicola and Nassif family members immigrated from Lebanon to the states in the very early era of the 20th Century.

Attas Sr.’s parents were Miriam Nicola Attiyeh and Fares Boutrous Abu Dakken. They both were born and raised and passed in the same village of Ain Arab in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon/Syria. Ain Arab lies in the shadow of the Biblical Mount Hermon, and is the headwaters for the Jordan River. Attas Sr. later dropped his last name, 'Abu Dakken' after settling in the states.

The Boutrous, Nassif and Nicola families were a very tight unit, having all been born in Ain Arab. Attas Sr. and his wife Della Nassif Boutrous were born on February 12th, 1882 and February 17th, 1892 respectively. They came to the states early in the 1900s. Della immigrated with her cousins via Mexico to unite with her father at his homestead in Sheridan County, North Dakota, near Denhoff. Speaking no English, she made her way by train to North Dakota with a piece of paper that had only the words “Denhoff, North Dakota" written on it.

I recall Della quite well and from the time I met her as a young boy, I came to realize she was indeed the head of the Boutrous Nassif family. Mother Della Nassif Boutrous was known throughout the family as “Queen of the Attiyeh’s."

Della and Attas Sr. were married on September 19th, 1910 in Sioux City, Iowa and had eight children, three daughters and five sons. They first opened 'The Fair Store' in 1917 in Bismarck, ND and then the Boutrous Family 'Corner Grocery' on January 1st, 1929. They ran the 'Corner Grocery' until Attas passed in Bismarck on January 12th, 1944. Della Nassif Boutrous passed away on June 30th, 1985.

Della and Attas's five sons in second photograph below are left to right:

Thomas (Tom), George, Floyd Nick, Theodore (Ted) and James (Jimmie) Boutrous took over proprietorship of the business soon after their father passed away. The store was family run till it closed in the early 1970s and was located at 500 North 3rd Street in Bismarck, North Dakota.

In the last photograph below you can see The Della and Attas Sr. Boutrous Family in 1940:

left to right - top row:
James (Jimmy), my uncle Floyd (husband of my aunt Dian Marcella Erickson), Thomas (Tom), George and Theodore (Ted)

left to right - bottom row:
Sylvia (Trent), Lorna (Michaelson), Della (Nassif), Attas Sr. and Florence 'Flossy' (Nemar)

Attas Sr. called the boys his "stairs" as they went from tallest to shortest in a complete natural order. Shortly after this photo was taken, three of the boys went off to serve in the war in Europe and never saw their father Attas again, as he passed away in January of 1944.