{"value"=>"<p>George Willis' wife, Margaret Pownall, was born to William Edward Pownall, O.B.E., a lieutenant colonel in the Corps of Royal Engineers, and Ethel Dight in England. The collection includes their wedding certificate dated April 20, 1918 in Praetoria, South Africa, and both of their death certificates. Present also are seven slides and three photographs of her ancestral home, Pownall Hall in Wilmslow, Cheshire, which has been occupied by the Pownall family since 1297.</p> <p>After attending a presentation by Henry Beckwith of the New England Historical & Genealogical Society in 1979, Margaret became interested in obtaining \"authentic or approved representation\" of the Pownall coat of arms. The correspondence folder contains the letters associated with this search, between George, Henry Beckwith and, eventually, John P.B. Brooke-Little of the College of Arms in London. Brooke-Little's 1982 report concludes that while the Pownall family was granted arms, only a specific branch of the family--not Margaret's--is permitted to bear them.</p>"}