{"id":518,"date":"2005-11-26T01:35:35","date_gmt":"2005-11-26T08:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stefangeens.com\/?p=518"},"modified":"2005-11-26T01:35:35","modified_gmt":"2005-11-26T08:35:35","slug":"googliography-honor-holland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/2005\/11\/googliography-honor-holland\/","title":{"rendered":"Googliography: Honor Holland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in January of this year, I wrote about Viola Ilma<\/a>This post makes more sense if you first read Viola’s googliography.<\/span><\/span>, an older woman who influenced my childhood and who, it turns out, had a fascinating past.<\/p>\n

Six months later, because the internet really is a giant serendipity dispenser, another person who knew Viola — Stu Gitlow — came across my post, as anyone googling Viola Ilma<\/a> is now bound to do. He left a comment<\/a> in which he mentioned Honor Holland, a frequent companion of Viola. She was often present when Viola and I spent those rainy afternoons researching stamps in her kitchen. Like Viola, Honor also wrote a book on philately, The Art of Postage Stamps<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Three months after that comment, I got the following email in my inbox:<\/p>\n

Hello,
 
I am Elisabeth Reich from Geneva, Switzerland, and I believe you may know my grandmother’s half sister, Honor Holland, a philatelist in New York.
 
Unfortunately, since I have lost contact with her, I wondered if you might be in a position to give me her address.
 
She was 10 years older than my late mother and should therefore be about 88.
 
I hope to hear from you and thank you in advance for your kind attention.
 
Best regards,
Elisabeth<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I did not have Honor’s address, but I was able to forward her Stu’s email address, and asked to be updated on the progress of her quest. The very next day I got a reply, which I reproduce verbatimLinks in the correspondence below were added by me.<\/span><\/span> (with permission), as the story she tells is fascinating:<\/p>\n

Hello Stefan,
 
I have written to Stu Gitlow and am now waiting for a reply.
 
However, I think I can give you some update on the reason of Haile Selassie’s photograph.In my original post on Viola, I had written: “I vividly remember a picture of Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, hanging on a wall. I was under the impression she was related to him, for some reason.”<\/span><\/span>
 
Honor’s grandfather (my great-great-grandfather) was a Swiss missionary in Ethiopia by the name of Theophilus Waldmeier.Here is a interesting description of his autobiography<\/a>, on sale online for \u00a3500.<\/span><\/span> He married Princess Yubdar and they had eight children, among them my great-grandmother Hannah and, I suppose, Viola’s mother or father. The family moved to Lebanon<\/a> later-on and my great-grandmother was raised there. Mr Waldmeier founded the Brumana High School<\/a> in Lebanon (still existing) and a psychiatric hospital<\/a>The Lancet report<\/a> on Waldmeier’s efforts in 1903.<\/span><\/span>. My great-grandmother married a Mr Newson (who was Irish) and they moved to Cork. At my great-grandfather’s death (my grandmother was 8), the family moved to England where Hannah met Algernon Holland, Honor’s father.
 
When Haile Selassie was in exile in England<\/a>, my great-grandmother spent a lot of time with him, as they were far away cousins. Therefore, she had the title of Princess Asfa Yilma. She even wrote a book about Ethiopia, Haile Selassie and their discussions. It’s title is Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia<\/em> (published in 1936)Found on this page<\/a>, third book from the top. It, in turn, is mentioned in other books on Ethiopia<\/a>.<\/span><\/span> and can still be bought today. It was recently reprinted.
 
After World War II, Honor moved to Ethiopia with a woman, perhaps already Viola. She lived in the palace as far as I know, but started a revolution against Haile Selassie<\/a> with the crown prince as she felt something had to be done for the poor and hungry. Well, as history tells you it went wrong<\/a> and she had to flee to New York, where you have met her.This part is just stunning.<\/span><\/span>
 
I hope above will lift some of your childhood mysteries. However, I will keep you updated on the success of my research.
 
Best wishes
Elisabeth<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A day later, I received a third email from Elisabeth:<\/p>\n

Hello again,
 
Here is the reply I got from Stu Gitlow:<\/p>\n

I’m sorry to be the bearer of sad tidings, but I now understand that Honor passed away several years ago. I’ve asked Dick Beresford to provide me with any details he may have so that I can pass the information along to you. I worked closely with Viola Ilma, Honor, and Dick for quite a few years while I was in high school. They were all always friendly and supportive, frequently surrounding themselves with young people sharing similar interests. I lost touch with them all after I left for college in 1980 but more recently began to hear from Dick again.
 
My apologies for this sad news.
Stu Gitlow<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I had the pleasure to meet Honor several times in Switzerland. She used to come and visit us from time to time when I was a child and young adult. As I moved several times, and as my mother passed away at a relatively young age, we unfortunately lost track, but I always found her a fascinating personality. […]
 
Best regards,
ElisabethFuture Googlers, email me for Elisabeth Reich’s email, or she can leave it in the comments if she wishes.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in January of this year, I wrote about Viola IlmaThis post makes more sense if you first read Viola’s googliography., an older woman who influenced my childhood and who, it turns out, had a fascinating past. Six months later, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7eNhC-8m","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}