Coffin–Perry–Crawford family group: portraits, family tree, and 'Distinctive Churches of Florida' clipping

A composite page of portraits and a hand-drawn Perry-line family tree, with a Cedar Key Episcopal-church feature article and a separate obituary clipping pasted at the upper right.

This page documents the maternal-line ancestry of the compiler, Amy FitzSimons Walker. Amy’s mother Mary Annie Perry married Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons in Columbus, Ga. on April 13, 1887; Mary Annie was one of five children of Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin Perry and Julia Virginia Buselline.

Upper left — oval albumen portrait (with pencil caption beneath)

A large oval portrait of a clean-shaven young man in a dark suit, hair parted on the right, mounted in an embossed cardboard surround.

Pencil caption beneath the mat:

Benjamin Samuel Dunkin Perry. Julia Virginia Buselline.

[The caption names both spouses; the portrait depicts Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin Perry (B. F. D. Perry) — Amy FitzSimons’s maternal grandfather. The caption’s “Samuel” is a misread of “Faneuil”; the clipping pasted above this chart correctly names him “Rev. B. F. D. Perry,” and FAMILY-NOTES treats Faneuil as canonical (he was named for Judge Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin).]

Upper right — newspaper clipping (Florida Times-Union, March 28, 1954, page 67)

Folded headline strip across the top:

MARCH 28, 1954      PAGE 67

Banner headline:

Distinctive Churches of Florida

Body of the article (first column, on the Episcopal Church / Grace Church of Cedar Key — continued onto page 621):

They call this church building “hurricane-proof,” and well it should be, for it is located in Cedar Key, a charming and quaint town on an island three miles from the mainland, which is exposed to windstorms.

This attractive little church is the newest place of worship for the newly organized Church of Cedar Key, which has two of its other buildings damaged or destroyed by hurricanes. One was damaged in 1896 and lost by fire in 1917. The other was destroyed by storm in 1950.

Grace Church has had perhaps as many ups and downs as any in the Diocese of Florida, for it has followed the history of Cedar Key, at one time a lively port on the southern terminal of what was their preaching or contribute to their support."

Bishop Young stated, however, that he found the people attentive and reverent and that not half who came could find room in the building where the services were held. “Among those who stood outside to the end were men who in a residence of years have never been known to go near a place of worship,” he stated.

After his visit, Bishop Young assigned the Rev. B. F. D. Perry of the newly organized Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville, to conduct services there once each month. This same procedure was followed by other rectors from Gainesville. […]

[…] of Cedar Key decreased considerably, due to the fact that the cedar mills had exhausted the timber and moved, with the railroads, farther down the state. By 1895 there were but 10 church families left and the following year only seven. That was the time when a severe and tidal wave swept the town, followed by fire.

After that the church was at times without regular services. Then in 1917 came the disastrous fire that destroyed both church and rectory. The furniture was saved and services held in a vacant store until 1925 when work was begun on a new church with the aid of Bishop Edwin G. Weed, followed by Bishop Frank A. Juhan.

[The Cedar Key article continues onto page 621.]

Upper right (lower clipping) — obituary for D. P. Coffin (likely c. 1957)

A separate, narrower obituary clipping pasted just below the upper article, beneath its own subhead:

Mr. D. P. Coffin

An esteemed, loved and useful citizen of Wadesboro, Mr. Dunkin Perry Coffin, 71, passed away in the Anson County Hospital at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon after a few days of acute illness.

Born in Orangeburg county, S.C., on April 15, 1886, Mr. Coffin was a son of the late Mr. William Dee Coffin and Mrs. Elizabeth Howell Perry Coffin. He came to Wadesboro in 1930 to be associated with the Virginia-Carolina Fertilizer Co. After some years with that firm, he became a retail hardware salesman, having been connected for some time prior to his last illness with the Wadesboro Hardware Co. He was a true gentleman, obliging and diligent, and a lifelong member of the Episcopal church.

[D. P. Coffin = Dunkin Perry Coffin, first cousin of the compiler Amy FitzSimons Walker (his mother Elizabeth Howell Perry Coffin and Amy’s mother Mary Annie Perry FitzSimons were sisters, both daughters of Benjamin S. D. Perry).]

Lower portion — handwritten Perry-line family tree

Drawn in pencil with names entered in pencil and ink. The chart reads top-to-bottom:

Parents row:

Benjamin Samuel Dunkin Perry. m. Julia Virginia Buselline.

Children row (five children numbered 1–5 across, with marriages and grandchildren beneath each):

1. Mary Annie m. Columbus Ga. April 13th 1887 by the Rev. Mr. Hunter S. G. Fitz Simons (Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons) children: Amy, Theodore, Thomas, Samuel C., Mary Ann, Samuel Gaillard.

2. Elizabeth Howell m. William Bee Coffin children: Sarah Lewis, Dunkin Perry, Julia Virginia, Edward.

3. Dunkin Drayton m. Jane Millar

4. James O’Bannon

5. Rosa Aldrich m. Andrew L. Crawford.

Five small head-and-shoulders portrait photographs mounted at the lower edge

Each below the name on the chart:

1. A woman in a dark dress with a high collar — Elizabeth Howell (Perry) Coffin.
2. A young man with light hair and clean-shaven face in dark coat — William Bee Coffin.
3. A clean-shaven dark-haired man with mustache, dark suit, bow-tie — Dunkin Drayton Perry.
4. A young woman in a dark dress with light collar — appears beneath James O’Bannon column (likely his wife or possibly Rosa Aldrich).
5. A clean-shaven dark-haired man with mustache in dark coat and tie, pencil-captioned beneath: Andrew L. Crawford.