I begin this story with a copyright warning. The photos of George Allen England which I
am sharing in this story are covered under a legal copyright. I have received authorization to share these
photos with my family on this family blog post.
You may view or use these photos for personal use only. Do NOT copy them
to any other online publication nor reproduce them in any manner without first
obtaining written authorization as I have done myself. Now onto the story.
I am often the benefactor of photos, books, portraits, post
cards, family letters and journals of family history. For many years people
have found me on the internet and reached out to me when they find such items
on eBay or in their local antique shop.
I prefer to be a family genealogist, but often seem to take on a role of
archivist to boot.
Today I find that I have over 34,000 names in my online family tree on
Ancestry.com. Many famous names. From actors and authors, to clergy and
politicians. Folks who arrived on the Mayflower or died during the Salem witch
trials, or traveled west on the Oregon trial or during the gold rush years. Military privates and seaman to
generals. An automobile thief to a number of murders! If I want a story I don’t have far to
look than to turn to my family tree. I wish I could write about my
family full time; unfortunately I can’t. Genealogy
isn’t just about the past for me, I have discovered many new famous contemporary cousins as
well. Recently while watching PBS, I discovered that Ashley Judd is my 10th cousin. A couple years back I enjoyed meeting another cousin in my family tree, singer and songwriter Anna Nalick when she came to Austin Texas to perform. Genealogy has continued to bring me much excitement
and interest. But none as much as my second cousin; author
George Allen England.
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| GEORGE ALLEN ENGLAND 14 September 1929 Bradford, New Hampshire
George Allan England poses for Photographer Alton H. Blackington at Camp Sans Souci on the beautiful shores of lake Massasecum, in Bradford, New Hampshire.
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I know I have written many times now about this famous author. I never even knew about him prior to 2010,
and now one of my many book shelves in my home is lined with many of his
novels. It all began in 2010 when I was
visiting one of my sisters. Both she and
I had been corresponding with Merrick Jarod Belknap who had saved photos and
newspaper articles over the years of his great friend, and one of my great
uncles; Gordon England.
That was when I
first encountered a folded-up newspaper article which began my journey and
discovery into this great author, George Allen England.
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| Gordon Philip England |
No one ever contacts me to send me books or photographs of
Robert Louis Stevenson, or the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who are
both among the many other famous folks in my family tree. No, I am always contacted for something
related to George Allen England.
A favorite past-time of mine is to go to second hand book
stores and look for books with dedications in them. I then bring the book home and begin my
research on the journey of the book and who the owner/s of the book were over
the years. When people die their furnishings are often discarded or sold at
estate sales. Family photos are tossed,
but books, they live for another day!
Often out living many generations. Time after time, I have found books passed
down through inheritance in legal wills.
Bibles too, are often-times left in wills to family members, however lately it appears that more and more of them are ending up on eBay for sale. Some of which are quite
old!
Legal family wills always begin with a sentence similar to this; “I
give, bequeath and devise my residence, all my property real, personal and
mixed …. To my beloved wife to have and to hold, and the same to her and her
heirs forever and ever.” There is never any mention as to what happens to our
stuff if there are no heirs, right?
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| Ana Maria Wehbe |
Ana Maria Wehbe (1919- 2009). I would like to know more about her life
story. She was born in Cuba just prior
to the Cuban Communist Party. From there
she moves to Israel and then to Lebanon before moving her family to the United
States in 1977 at the age of 58.
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| Yolanda Dib Wehbe |
Her
daughter, Yolanda Dib Wehbe (1941-2012) was born in the Haifa district of
Israel before she immigrated with the family to Florida in 1977, age 36 years. Somehow, I have yet to discover how these two
women came into the possession of two old family bibles sometime between 1977
and 1985 when Tiz passed away. Or possibly it was later. They might have found the two bibles at a local garage sale, or flea market. Now fast forward
thirty-three years to 2018 when I am just recently contacted in an attempt to find a living
relative to pass the two bibles onto. I am told that someone dropped off two family bibles, and stated that there were no living descendants. Who dropped them off? It is unclear to me at this point, but I can assume that it was possibly one of the children, grand-children or
great grandchildren of the Wehbe woman who saved these bibles in hopes that they
get back to their original family. But
now I am giving it my best efforts to find these two bibles a home for future
generations.
Galen Coffin was the middle son of a farmer. The fourth of seven children of Samuel B
Coffin and his wife Elizabeth Pettengill.
Samuel Coffin was born the 12th of June 1818 in Gilead,
Oxford, Maine. He died at the age of sixty-one in Dummer, New Hampshire. Elizabeth lived on, into her late 80’s. We find her at age 85, in the 1910 U.S.
Census living with the family of Galen’s younger sister Cora Woods in Rumford,
Oxford, Maine.
Galen Coffin married
April 10th, 1875 in Milan, Coos, New Hampshire, Louella Frances
Parker. Louella was born before the
civil war, June 19, 1857 in Bartlett, Carroll, New Hampshire to a poor farmer
Simon Parker and Lydia Keith. Galen & Louella were
divorced fourteen years later in October 1889.
They had two
children; Elmeda Agnes Coffin, and Bernice Ismay Coffin. One Bible was that of Galen, the other of his
wife Louella. From there both bibles
were passed down to their eldest daughter Elmeda. Elmeda, or Almeda as it was sometimes written, went just by Meda. As we know Meda was the first wife of
author George Allen England. They were
married in Boston Massachusetts September 21, 1903.
George & Meda had only one child;
Isabella Pearl “TIZ” England. Isabella
was born in Woodstock, Oxford, Maine on January 24, 1905. George & Meda divorced October 21,
1908 when TIZ was only 3 yrs old! TIZ
lived with her father until she left for college to purse her career and become
a teacher. George Allen England then
married his second wife Blanche Mildred Porter, July 26th, 1921. It was a second marriage for Blanche also. She was first married to William Leo Kennedy.
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| George Allan England and wife, Blanche Mildred Porter sit on the grass at Camp Sans Souci on the beautiful shores of lake Massasecum, in Bradford, New Hampshire. Photo by: Alton H. Blackington 14 SEPT 1929. |
Seeing as I could not find any descendant from TIZ, I looked
at the only other sibling of Elmeda, and any descendants from that line. I know that Galen died in 1902, so the bibles were in probably in his
possession for 27 years. If they
were passed directly to his daughter Meda upon his death, then she had them
for approximately 47 years until her death in 1985. The two bibles are now over 168 years old and
need to find their rightful home. While
I would love to have these bibles, I was a third cousin to TIZ. And from what I can tell, not related to this
line of the Coffin branch.
Were the two bibles ever in the library of George Allen
England? Probably! At least for three years, maybe longer. They have journeyed from Maine to
Massachusetts, then to New Hampshire, possibly to New Jersey and Pennsylvania
before finally ending up where they are today in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Who knows where these bibles have journeyed all of these years. I would like to see them both get back to family
in Maine where they began. I am currently in contact with distant cousins in Maine and Florida. Wish me luck
in finding a family descendant to care for these bibles for the next
generations.
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| Death of Galen and his daughter Bernice |
I'm sure this story will continue as more comes to light of the past journey and the future home.
