--- title: Don't fence me in description: I grew up on this long-time family-owned property next door to my paternal grandparents, Rex Church (1883–1956) and Winifred Lee (1884–1980). image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Winifred-Lee-217x300-3.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Don't fence me in [September 14, 2018](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/09/dont-fence-me-in) [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [Photographs](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/photographs), [Genealogical Writing](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/genealogical-writing), [American History](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history), [Smack Down!](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/smack-down), [Serendipity](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/serendipity), [Family papers](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-papers), [Object Lessons](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/object-lessons), [Family stories](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) [Jan Doerr](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/jdoerr) [![](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Winifred-Lee-217x300-3.jpg?width=217&height=300&name=Winifred-Lee-217x300-3.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Winifred-Lee-3.jpg)I grew up on this long-time family-owned property next door to my paternal grandparents, Rex Church (1883–1956) and Winifred Lee (1884–1980). I saw them almost every day until their deaths, ate lunches and holiday meals with them, slept overnight there with my cousins, and saw them only as my grandparents. I suspect that, like many other people, I’ve only come to really know them as I piece together family stories. Long after my grandparents’ deaths, my brother and I took on the task of clearing out the house in preparation for his renovations. I began to learn more about my grandparents the more old photos we found between pages of every book or magazine (I’m not sure who was reading the collected speeches of Andrew Jackson, but there it was), and taking down framed photos, mostly of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It was the photos of Rex and Winifred in fencing suits that caught my attention: they had never said anything about being fencers, no stories or newspaper articles were in evidence, and of course, I never asked about the framed photos that were always on the wall in the den, probably because they were always on the wall in the den. [![](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Rex-Church-225x300-1.jpg?width=225&height=300&name=Rex-Church-225x300-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Rex-Church-1.jpg)Once again, old newspapers have surfaced to shed more light on their activities as young adults.  In the *Boston Globe* archives, my son found an article about Rex Church’s participation in the Pianelli Fencing Club in Augusta, Maine. Apparently my grandfather, long after his marriage, continued to fence in Augusta, and competed against the Bowdoin College and the Bangor Y.M.C.A. teams. I suspect that my grandparents met at the Pianelli Fencing Club: Fred Lee, one of the judges, was my grandmother’s father. (I never knew he could fence!) Winifred was also a member of the Club, although she received considerably less press coverage. However, in one of her marriage announcements, the writer noted her accomplishments as a fencer. The articles are a wealth of family information on addresses, employment, and relationships (the Rev. J.R. Clifford was Winifred’s uncle by marriage). [![](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Clippings-1.jpg?width=813&height=562&name=Clippings-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Clippings-1.jpg) Rex Otis Church, farmer and superintendent of burials, and Winifred Sturgis Lee, stenographer and woman with a sword, were married on 7 November 1906, a union which lasted for fifty years with or without weapons, until my grandfather’s death in 1956. That was a nice bit of fencing (in). ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/09/dont-fence-me-in](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/09/dont-fence-me-in) - - - More - - ![Jan Doerr](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported%20images/Doerr-Jan-Headshot.jpg) ## About Jan Doerr Jan Doerr received a B.A. degree in Sociology/Secondary Education from the University of New Hampshire, and spent a long career in the legal profession while researching her family history. She has recently written and published articles for WBUR.org’s Cognoscenti blog: “Labor of Love: Preserving a 226-Year-Old Family Home and Preparing to Let It Go” and “The Value of Family Heirlooms in a Digital Age.” Jan currently lives with her attorney husband in Augusta, Maine, where she serves two Siamese cats and spends all her retirement money propping up a really old house.[View all posts by Jan Doerr →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/jdoerr) [← Snail mail](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/09/snail-mail) [Further ancestors of the Princess of Wales →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/09/further-ancestors-princess-of-wales) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? 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