Hendrick Frosbythe

Hendrick Frosbythe
Basic Information
Full Name	Hendrick Frosbythe
Series Data
First Appearance	Meet Kit
Family Relationships
Sibling(s)	Sister (deceased, Margaret's mother)
In-laws	Jack Kittredge (nephew-in-law)
Niece(s)	Margaret Kittredge Lucille's Mother
Other Family Members	Charles Kittredge (great nephew) Kit Kittredge (great niece) Lucille (great niece)

Hendrick Frosbythe is the great-uncle of Kit Kittredge.

Personality

Hendrick is Margaret's uncle; the family refers to him as Uncle Hendrick. Margaret's mother (who is deceased) was his sister, though it is not specified if she was Hendrick's older or younger sister. Hendrick is the only living older relative Margaret has left. He is tall with gray hair.

Uncle Hendrick disapproves of the way the Kittredge family handles money, being especially critical of Jack Kittredge and Margaret's lesser class level. He never misses a chance to be critical of Kit's parents, especially Jack due to his lower-class background, and feels that Margaret married below her status and her current lifestyle--especially during the Depression--would break her mother's heart if she were still alive. He lives alone in a tall grey house near downtown and owns a huge black car but does not like to drive. He often calls upon Margaret for personal care and makes unplanned calls to the house.

Uncle Hendrick is wealthy and well off, but is a miser and skinflint. He's exceptionally selfish and doesn't believe in giving money away or helping others who are struggling, instead thinking people must earn their money even when it is clear there are few ways for them to do so. He shows no compassionate to those who have lost their jobs and homes; for example, he is against the Covington Hospital being turned into a homeless shelter. Uncle Hendrick also is against President Roosevelt, whom he disparagingly calls "that man in the White House" or by his full name, and feels that FDR is milking taxpayers' money to fund his useless and handout programs. His selfishness and refusal to assist others extends to personal relationships as well; when the Kittredges end up behind on their mortgage, he refuses to help them and tells Margaret that he won't give them any money, often saying he won't "throw good money after bad" and instead telling her that the family can move in with him instead once they lose or sell the house. He considers the family's investment in Jack's car dealership and and the purchase of their house--which he considers extravagant--as throwing away their money. He does however, say he doesn't care who does a job as long as it's done to his satisfaction, allowing Kit and later Charlie to make money by doing his errands. He is not accustomed to being contradicted and becomes flabbergasted and angry when he is.

Kit describes Uncle Hendrick as a sourpuss and always in a bad mood; she hates the way he speaks about her father Jack. and Kit and Ruthie claim him to be the ogre of Cincinnati. Uncle Hendrick always greets Kit with drills of math problems and state capitals which leave her feeling flustered and fumbled, and she always feels foolish around him. He is a stickler for time. Even though Kit finds Uncle Hendrick to be crabby, cranky, and cantankerous, she admits that Uncle Hendrick taught her how to properly write to the newspaper through all of the letters he had Kit write when he was injured. Kit also admires the way Uncle Hendrick puts words together. Hendrick also plays backgammon.

He has a black Scottish terrier named Inky who is fat, just as cranky as him, and barks extremely loud.

In the Books

Meet Kit: An American Girl

Hendrick arrives to visit a week after Jack closes his dealership. When his large black car pulls up, Margaret recognizes it's him and sends Kit into the kitchen with the peas they're shelling and to bring iced tea to the terrace for them. When Kit returns to the terrace Hendrick is pacing back and forth; he stops and then asks her the capital of North Dakota without saying hello. She answers correctly--Bismark. He then asks her to calculate how much to pay for two bushels of Brussels sprouts if they are selling for five cents a peck; when she incorrectly guesses fifty cents, he declares her wrong and dismisses her. Kit overhears him from the dining room. He says to Margaret that it was a mistake to sink their money into the car dealership, that it's why they're in the fix they're in, and that he won't help them by throwing good money after bad. He dismisses that Jack will find another job during these hard times, implying he is not skilled enough (or of high enough class) to. He then asks what they will do in the meantime, suggesting they sell their "extravagant" house even though he can't think of who would buy it and saying they must owe the bank thousands. He then questions what Margaret will do to keep it. He is aghast at the idea of them taking in boarders and ends by saying that if his sister, her dear mother, could see her now it would break her heart. He then returns to his car and drives away.

Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit

Hendrick's grand-niece, Lucille, is coming to stay with him; she is one of the two options the protagonist can pretend to be after arriving back in time. Her mother went to college rather than staying home and has a job, which Hendrick thinks put "thoughts" in her head. Lucille's suitcase has been sent along to his house, since she is expected to be staying there; Hendrick has instead asked the Kittredges to host her, paying them for her room and board, and sent a letter to them (including one for Kit) which is rather insulting.

If the protagonist and Kit end up in jail in Lewis Falls, Kit calls Hendrick to pick them up; he angrily agrees and he and Charlie go to get the girls. Kit explains who he is while they wait and how he's always criticizing their family; the protagonist says he sounds annoying like her Aunt Shelly. Hendrick is the back, and the protagonist describes him as a cranky-looking codger sitting like a king. He barks without even getting out of the car that he doesn't have all day; he then orders Kit to hold Buddy in her lap, calling him a mutt he doesn't want shedding on the upholstery. On the way back, Hendrick scolds the girls, making the protagonist wish she were back at the more peaceful jail. He complains that since he hates driving he had to talk Charlie into driving them down to fetch the "two hooligans," and asks who the protagonist is. He mocks her assumed name, saying it sounds like a bird call and he's not pleased to meet her, saying she ought to pay him back for the collect call since Kit and her family don't have the money. He talks over her, complaining about the Kittredges' house and the money they owe on it, that Jack still has no job and Margaret is a housemaid in her own house, and Charlie is now a common laborer since he can't get a job at home (angering Charlie) and likely never will. When Kit argues Charlie will go to college, Hendrick says that he never will. When the protagonist argues the Kittredges will find some way for it through resourcefulness, Hendrick is shocked at her talking back as if it were Buddy talking. He then explodes into a rant that Charlie's job isn't a real job, merely a "make-work boondoggle" made by FDR. He calls the president a lunatic and his wife Eleanor a busybody, and that the sooner they're gotten rid of the better as they're ruining the country.

The protagonist (who, being from the present day, knows that FDR will be elected four times) then uses this knowledge to make a bet with Hendrick: if FDR is re-elected, Hendrick will then pay himself for Charlie to attend college--and if he's re-elected twice after that, he'll subsequently pay for Kit to attend. Hendrick takes the bet with Kit and Charlie as witnesses--he believes that FDR is such a terrible president he's more likely to be impeached rather than re-elected--and that no president has been elected to a third term, much less a fourth. The protagonist add that if she's wrong, then Kit and Charlie will instead do chores for Hendrick for a year for free. Hendrick shakes on the bet, with Kit and Charlie as witnesses, then chuckles merrily to himself the rest of the way. When they arrive at his house, Hendrick says he'll go no further as he doesn't like to drive; he won't pamper them by taking them to their house (or as he puts it, "delivering [them] to [their] doorstep"). Kit then finagles a job for Charlie: he can drive Hendrick around for the next two weeks before his return to Montana. Hendrick agrees and snaps when Kit says Charlie has to be paid, saying it can start to pay back the owed money. He's impatient but the protagonist thinks he's happy about it or he wouldn't have agreed so fast.

In Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

He is played by Kenneth Walsh.

Trivia

• He lives on 210 Chestnut Court.
• As the events of the Journey Books are considered part of the character's canon stories (often set at a time that doesn't contradict with events of the central series), and FDR was in fact re-elected three times, then it can be extrapolated that Hendrick will end up paying for both Kit and Charlie to attend college.