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Allen
Counter is Matt's best friend!
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Polar
Legacy: Black White & Eskimo 1991, by S. Allen Counter, Ph.D.
Henson & Peary both had Eskimo sons.
Counter informed the world in the 1980s that there were descendants of
Matt and Peary among the Northern Greenland Eskimos. Dr. Counter
brought them to the United States to visit their American
relatives. |
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An amazing discovery, and a wonderful story.
Counter has a big heart for Matt Henson. An overview of
the book is available at his personal website at Harvard.
In addition, our site has a special page devoted to Allen Counter.
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Additionally, Dr. Counter achieved the
reinterrment of Matt and his wife
Lucy at Arlington National Cemetery, buried next to Robert E. Peary. The Henson family and the Henson-Inuit families
were present at this ceremony.
Dr. Counter published a book; North Pole Legacy: Black, White & Eskimo. His
book is factual, historical and
contains ample photo documentation.
It is an essential update
on the Henson story. His
writing is filled with warmth for the Inuit relatives he reunited
with Henson's American family relations. His reinterment efforts completed
a spiritual path for the two great explorers; after Peary died Matt
traveled from New York City every year to lay a wreath on his friend
Peary's Arlington grave. Now they are buried next to each other at
Arlington, and all their their descendents united.
Dr. Counter requested
that the US Navy name a ship in honor of Henson, which they did in
1996 by christening the USNS Henson, an oceanographic
survey vessel. Want to see it? More
recently Dr. Counter petitioned the NGS to award the Hubbard
Medal, posthumously, to Matt.
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| About "Henson relatives" |
From: Harvard Foundation <harvfoun@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: response from Dr. Allen Counter
Thank you for your email letter of inquiry regarding the living
relatives of Matthew Henson. Through my years of research on
Matthew Henson, I learned that he (Matthew Alexander Henson)
identified one family in Washington DC as his legitimate family
members. This family was that of Mrs. Virginia Carter Brannum,
daughter of Henson's sister Eliza Carter of Washington DC. This
family and that of Mrs. Olive Henson Fulton of Boston (the
daughter of Henson's brother) had letters of authentication and
photographs certifying their kinship to Matthew Henson. They were
also the only family members to attend his funeral in 1955 with
Henson's wife Lucy Ross Henson.
Henson himself noted cynically in 1947 that as he gained celebrity
he seemed to gain more previously unknown family members. I have
had numerous people contact me over the years asking me to confirm
their consanguinity with Henson. In many instances, I have felt
that this request was simply an effort to gain notoriety from
Henson's celebrity, at the expense of the legitimate family
members whom Matthew Henson himself identified and wanted to share
his legacy. So, my response to your inquiry is that the only
Henson family members authenticated by Matthew Henson himself are
the family of Mrs. Audrey Mebane, a retired school teacher in
Washington DC and Mrs. Olive Henson Fulton, a retired Veteran's
Administration employee in Boston. Matthew Henson, who had no
American children with his wife Lucy (or any other American
children that he identified) fathered a son in Greenland (with an
Inuit woman named Akatingwah) named Anauakaq, who died in 1987.
Anauakaq Henson is survived by five sons and over twenty
grandchildren.
I have recommended Mrs. Audrey Mebane and Mrs. Olive Henson Fulton
to the United States Navy and the National Geographic Society to
represent the legitimate Henson family at all previous ceremonies
that honored Matthew Henson. Unfortunately, I do not have Mrs.
Olive Henson Fulton's new address, but Mrs. Mebane's address is
listed below:
Mrs. Audrey Mebane
1911 S Street SE
Washington DC 20020
tel 1 202 678 6931
I hope that I have been of some assistance. Thank you and best
wishes,
S. Allen Counter, Ph.D., D.M.Sc.
Director of the Harvard Foundation
Professor of Neurology/Neurophysiology
Harvard Medical School
allen_counter@harvard.edu
TEL 617-495-1527 FAX 617-496-1443
Notice: this email was sent via the Harvard Foundation email
account. All responses should be sent to: allen_counter@harvard.edu |
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