My Uncle Floyd's father and mother, Attas (Ghattas) Fares & Della Nassif Boutrous shown here on their wedding day on September 19th, 1910 in Sioux City, Iowa. Both were born in Ain Arab, Lebanon, Syria on February 12th, 1882 and February 17th, 1892 respectively. Attas Sr. and Della had eight children; three daughters and five sons. A family photograph taken in 1940 is below:

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

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

Attas Sr. called the boys his "steps" 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.

The family first opened 'The Fair Store' in 1917 and then the Boutrous Family 'Corner Grocery' was opened on January 1st, 1929. The family acquired real estate in the area and were a well respected family in Bismarck. Attas and Della ran the 'Corner Grocery' until he passed in Bismarck on January 12th, 1944. Della passed away on June 30th 1985 in Bismarck.

The Boutrous, Nassif and Nicola families were a very tight unit, having all been born in Ain Arab. They came to the states early in the 1900s. Della immigrated with her cousins via Mexico to unite with her father, Jirji (George) Nassif Attiyeh 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.

The last photograph was taken in front of the Dakota Territory Marshall's Office in Bismarck during one of my trips to visit the family. Fortunate to have my five cousins together in this shot. They are the sons of Dian Marcella (Erickson) and Floyd Nick Boutrous. And I am proud to say here are the six grandsons of Attas (Ghattas) Fares Sr. and Della Nassif Boutrous and Clara Amelia (Nelson) and Frank Gustaf Severin Erickson.

left to right:
Mark Jon Erickson, Allan Frank (Al), Steven Philip, Attas Jr, Nick and Michael Joseph Boutrous.