Obverse, Silver Medal Awarded to LT Robert Deane, RN

Private family photo collection from family genealogist and historian Elsie Deane Taylor Finn, who sent it to her cousin, another family genealogist and historian, Raymond Irvine Dawson, Jr.. This photo was found in a file in Ray's estate, an now it is in the family archive of Marion Ceruti, the current family historian as of 2022.

The chain of custody of this medal is as follows. Lt. Robert Deane, RN, gave it to his oldest daughter Mary Sophia Deane Taylor, who then passed it on to her daughter, Elsie Deane Taylor Finne, who is known to have had the medal. Then, Elsie passed it to her nephew, Eric Mitchel Rodgers, who predeceased Elsie on 5 Oct 1989. Elsie re-acquired it and gave it to another nephew, Donald Hoyt Taylor who is known to have had the medal in his custody on 8 Dec. 1992, when he reported to Ray Dawson, Jr. In this letter, he offered to show it to Ray. Upon the death of Elsie Deane Taylor Finn, Donald was obliged to do something with the medal according to Aunt Elsie's wishes. However, Donald did not agree with his Aunt Elsie's choice of where the medal was supposed to go. This we know because Don wrote this to Ray. No mention was made of what exactly was the disposition of the medal "in its velvet case."

Unfortunately, its whereabouts is uncertain at this time. Most likely the medal was not passed to Robert's youngest daughter, Blanche Deane Dawson. Instead, she inherited her parents house "because she needed it" with four children.