QUAKER-ROOTS-L Archives

From: "Gay R Davis" <>
Subject: [Q-R] Coffin
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 13:12:14 -0000

I ran across this obit for Ruth Coffin Allman in my Wickersham files and
thought some of you Coffins might be interested. She was the niece of Grace
Vrooman Wickersham, so I am assuming that her mother was a sister of Grace
Vrooman who m a Coffin. Grace Vrooman Wickersham co-authored the book "The
Vrooman Family in America."

The Seattle Times,
Tuesday, September 26, 1989

Ruth Coffin Allman, 84, Alaska pioneer, author, teacher, inventor

Juneau - Alaska lost one of the leading custodians of its history with the
death of Ruth Coffin Allman, an Alaska pioneer, author, educator and niece
of Alaska territorial Judge James Wickersham. she died of heart failure in
her Juneau home Friday. She was 84.

Wickersham served as Alaska's first territorial judge, first territorial
delegate to Congress, statesman, writer and historian. Before being
appointed by President McKinley to a federal judgeship in Alaska, Wickersham
had been a Pierce county probate judge, Tacoma city attorney and a member of
the Washington state House of Representatives.

Wickersham died in 1939, and Allman eventually became the caretaker of his
records and memorabilia. She conducted tours of the House of Wickersham,
the judge's home on a hill overlooking the Capitol, for more than 25 years.

"She lived to preserve the history of Judge Wickersham and Alaska, but she
rose to a personality of significance in her own right," said Bob Giersdorf,
longtime friend and former state legislator, who now has a residence in
Seattle.

Allman was born Ruth Coffin in Boston in 1905 and was raised in Alaska. She
graduated from the University of Washington school of music and for about 20
years she taught art and music in Juneau schools. She organized the first
Southeast Alaska Music Festival in 1934.

In 1949, she married Alaska pioneer Jack Allman, a prospector, author,
foreign correspondent and founder of The Matanuska Valley Pioneer newspaper.
They made their home in Excursion Inlet and established the Tongass Lodge,
where she developed many of her famous sourdough recipes, Giersdorf said.

"During that time they had invented a fishing lure, called the Alaska
Silversides, that became quite an item in the Alaska fishing industry," he
said. "They patented it and were doing quite well producing and
distributing it from Excursion Inlet."

Jack Allman was diagnosed with cancer and they left Excursion Inlet in 1952.
He died in Juneau a year later.

Ruth Allman may be best remembered by thousands of visitors, many of them
from the Northwest, as hostess and caretaker of the House of Wickersham,
where Alaska native carvings, glassware and other historical items are
displayed. She often gave tourists a taste of her "flaming sourdough
waffles."

The state bought the house in 1984, designating it as Alaska's first
historical home, and Allman retied from giving tours.

In 1976 she wrote "Alaska Sourdough, The Real Stuff by a Real Alaskan." It
remains a top-selling Alaska book in its 10th printing. She called
sourdough "a magical food" and developed many variations on its use. She
maintained a starter that dated back to her husband's prospecting days.

She is survived by a cousin, Daniel Vrooman of Spain, and a nephew, Hartmut
Allman of Germany.

A funeral will be tomorrow in Juneau.

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• [Q-R] Coffin by "Gay R Davis" <>