Ruth Trost Welles’ husband was Thomas Welles, was thegrandson of Gideon Welles’. There are several valuable civil war artifactsmissing from Ruth’s Coventry house. Some of the missing artifacts include: awood carved cane that Abraham Lincoln reportedly gave Welles, the flag from theship Alabama, and what some believe was a ticket to the Gettysburg Address.Although the probate controversy has been going on for years, it has ended recentlyover a two-day period when four family members of the Gideon Welles familytestified in Superior Court. Unfortunately, the locations of Lincoln-eraartifacts at the heart of the Gideon Welles probate battle have not been found.Wednesday was the close of trial for the battling descendants of Welles. Thejudge will finalize the probate matter within 120 days.
See Christine Dempsey, Testimony Wraps Up In Family Feud Over Civil War Artifacts, Courant, Oct. 9, 2013.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
