Muncy Historical Society and Museum of History

Book Review:
Author Recounts Time at Muncy Farms

By DANA BORICK
Williamsport Sun-Gazette
November 17, 2006

Brian Bohun Barlow’s book, “Only One Child,” recounts the author’s tale of being a World War II child evacuee who, along with his three siblings, came to Muncy Farms from England in October 1940.

HARDBACK: $29.95
PAPERBACK: $15

Signed, limited edition true story of four young siblings from England during World War II and their adoption and life in the United States.

PAPERBACK, $15

For those not old enough to live through WWII, this book is a heart-warming story of the youngest victims of that war — the children.

On the jacket cover forward by U.S. District Judge Malcolm Muir, “Owing to a bureaucratic mixup, a complete stranger, Margaret Burgwin Brock (Aunt Peggy), offered all four children her home in Pennsylvania for the duration of the war and as it turns out — her heart forever.”

The hardcover book includes family photographs and newspaper accounts as well as excerpts from history books to accurately tell Brian’s story. On the back cover is a proclamation from Queen Elizabeth I honoring Aunt Peggy and the other families who hosted evacuee children in the United States.

The tale begins in late 1940 with 12-year-old Brian recalling a “very satisfactory day” at his school in Devonshire, England, when the headmaster comes to tell him he is going by train to Canada to escape the danger when Hitler invades England. He knew England declared war on Germany in 1939, but like most children, he didn’t fully understand how that would affect him, or his family.

Brian the child assumed he was moving to Canada because of an engineering project his father was involved in. He thought the move would involve the whole family — his parents, Horace and Violet, and his four siblings, older brother Derrick, twin sister Sue, younger sister Sheila and toddler Malcolm. But he soon found out he was wrong. Derrick and his parents couldn’t go because the British government would not let persons over the age of 16 leave the country. At 17 they could be called up for military service, which happened to Derrick.

“My parents must have been greatly relieved to know exactly where the four of us would end up in Canada,” Brian writes in Chapter 2. “In many cases the parents were sending their children to Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa without knowing who would give them refuge.”

While his parents were moving to London, an American couple had responded to an appeal issued by the United States Committee for the Care of European Children to enable a child or children to secure asylum and refuge in the U.S. The couple was Henry Gibson Brock and Margaret Burgwin Brock, a wealthy family who offered their farm, Muncy Farms, for the children. But before the children could move to Muncy, Mr. Brock died from complications from appendicitis. Mrs. Brock would end up taking all four children to raise on her own.

Brian researched this book for nearly 30 years to gather the necessary letters and paperwork exchanged between the families until the children were eventually adopted by Aunt Peggy in 1946.

“ ‘Home’ for the four of us had come to mean Aunt Peggy and Muncy Farms,” Brian wrote. “Aunt Peggy never intended this outcome, but too much time had elapsed after our departure from England to bring about a different result.”

The book’s title, “Only One Child,” remains a mystery until the last line of the book: “Even though Aunt Peggy and Mother would share us for the rest of their lives, because of World War II, in Mother’s heart she really had only one child — Derrick.”

Luckily, Aunt Peggy was a great influence on the children, as Brian went on to attend Lycoming College and enlist in the U.S. Army once he became an American citizen in 1947. Brian graduated from the Wharton School of Economics of the University of Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree in education. He taught history and English in Pennsylvania and also has collected an extensive library about WWII with interests in English evacuees.

Although Brian and his wife, Marie, now reside in Maine, he and Malcolm will be available to sign copies of his book from 4 to 8 tonight at Otto Book Store, 107 W. Fourth St.

“Only One Child” is a limited-edition book published in August by Just Write Books.