Fred was raised by Lula’s sister Fanny Chapman Deets (sister of Ella Chapman Cairns) and Aaron Deets at birth. He was given the last name Deets originally. His real family could not afford to raise him, or weren’t married yet.

Had a general merchandise store in Devil’s Lake.
When he was 14 he moved to Devil’s Lake, ND and changed to his real name, Cairns.
He left when he was 16 or 17, to go to Minneapolis, MN. He lied about his age so he could work for the railroad, like the rest of the men in the family.

June 14, 1900 the census shows his age as 27, when he was really 24.
The census says that he married Emma (cairns) Kennedy, she was born in Canada. She was 29.
Fred and Emma had one daughter named Dorothy, age 2- according to census.
They had been married for 2 years according to census.

He met Lula Smith at Oxford, MS, where she was at college.
They lived in Shreveport and Laffayette.

Fred was good friends with Ralph Deets, son of Aaron Deets and Ella Cairns’ sister. They all moved to Houston together, and this is where Fred I. Cairns, Jr. was born.


OBIT
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123648342/fred...view-photo=244872734

GRAVE
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123648342/fred...#view-photo=954340093
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123648342/fred...#view-photo=95433981