I’ve been spending the last few days of 2017 checking in with old databases and past sources, to tie up any loose ends, or to check on any updates.
Surprise! A ‘new-to-me’ publication found on Google Books, The Train Dispatcher (1950, Vols 32-33, p. 674), has a retirement article on Emmett’s twin brother, Julian Anderson Wilson!
Source: The Train Dispatcher, Vols. 32-33, 1950, via Google Books
There’s good information in this brief bio about Julian’s retirement in 1950. One thing that stood out was that Julian spent almost a half-century working for the railroad.
Another interesting fact is that he started out as a clerk-operator on the P&A (Pensacola & Atlantic) division of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in December 1900 — this means he started working for the railroad AFTER Emmett did. I’d had the impression they started working for the railroad at the same time, but Emmett began first, when he was about 15 or 16, about 1897.
Emmett also started out as a clerk-operator, eventually working his way up as a telegrapher/manager of smaller train stations along the P&A line. Likely it was big brother Meade or Frank Jr. who helped Emmett get the position. By1899, Emmett was no longer with the railroad, as he was enrolled at West Florida Seminary (now Florida State University) as of December of that same year.
The retirement article also mentions a three-year period when Julian wasn’t working for the railroad; this is confirmed by Julian’s family members who told me he became a Morse code expert (a telegrapher) on a steamship during this time. In fact, Julian’s steamship was the Gertrude, which plied the Chattahoochie River.
A side view of the steamboat “Gertrude,” taking on a supply of wood, about 1905. Source: Florida Memory
Categories: Family Research Status
jsmith532
Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus
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