So, I’ve reached a brick wall in my exploration of A. Maxwell Wilson’s descendants and the elusive Wilson family Bible. It isn’t insurmountable, but I’m hesitant to push further without help from other family members. Here’s the story:

The three-out-of-eleven remaining children of A. Maxwell Wilson in our study are: Warren, Harry, and Edith.

There’s not much information about Warren and Harry; this is not to say that they didn’t live exceptional lives. But, there’s just not a lot of information out there to tell their stories completely at this point.

Here’s what we know so far:

It seems that Warren was blind. He’s enumerated in two of the 1930 U.S. Census documents: In the first, he is in the Wilson family home headed by his mother, Belle, in Blountstown. In the second, he is enrolled as a student in St. Augustine at the Florida State School for the Deaf and Blind. Max Wilson’s family was already familiar with the FSSDB — oldest daughter Lalla attended this school also, and eventually became a teacher there.

Warren eventually moved to Pueblo, Colorado; he died in 1988.

There’s less information on Harry Wilson: He worked as a clerk in a hardware store (according to the U.S. Census), he served in the military in World War II. He married, had children, lived in Alabama, and died in 2010.

But Edith…

…Edith, bless her heart, is still with us! She is the same age as Julian’s daughter, Jule, who is ALSO still with us.

And, get this: They both live in the same town!

Here is why I’m hesitant to press forward:

I’ve already sent Edith a snail mail letter, and it has been a few weeks. I haven’t heard back from her. I understand she may be hesitant to reply to a message from someone out of the blue; she’s a senior lady and doesn’t know me yet. But, I’d love to contact her, if nothing else, to let her know that, hey, she has a first cousin exactly her age, who (probably) lives close by, who (maybe) attends the same church as she does — and she may never have realized it all these years.

The least path of resistance, I feel, is for Jule and her daughter to let me know if they already know her, and perhaps initiate contact. I reached out to Jule and her daughter yesterday. And if they don’t and/or they are hesitant, then, my plan B is to contact her through her church.

I hope I hear back from Edith. I get a little anxious and antsy dealing with 98-year-olds. I don’t want to miss a chance to talk with them, to hear their stories directly from them.

I always figured that the odds of finding any of Emmett’s nieces or nephews still around, given the fact that most of the Wilson children were born in the 1870s and 1880s, would be small.

But finding two of Emmett’s nieces still with us?

Way cool.

Categories: Family Interesting & Odd Research Status

Tagged as: A. Maxwell Wilson Florida State School for the Deaf and Blind Julian Wilson Lalla Wilson

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus