October 21, 2021
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Because we have very little primary information (letters, journals, scrapbooks, personal testimony) from Emmett, the next best thing is primary information from Emmett’s friends, family, and colleagues, in addition to the secondary information (newspaper articles, books, other research). Emmett spent a lot of time with specific individuals outside of the law office and the courthouse; so, it makes sense to get to know his friends and what their lives were like in 1910 Pensacola.
Who better to study than one of Emmett’s actual housemates and best friends?
===
In the last post, we learned in 1910 Emmett boarded at the home of a friend, Shelley Graham Richardson, located at 908 N. Spring Street, in Pensacola. The house was in the North Hill District (now the historic district), which was considered an upperclass neighborhood. There were (and are) large homes and spacious yards.
Also, the neighborhood was convenient. Not only was the Richardson house within walking distance to downtown (Emmett’s office was on North Palafox, which would have been a nice walk on any day), but the neighborhood was also close to the streetcar stops.
According to the 1910 Pensacola City Directory, Richardson was a purchasing agent — likely someone who managed supplier and vendor relationships and contracts — with the Pensacola Electric Company. Prior to that, Richardson was a railroad clerk in Malden, Massachusetts (according to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, and in the 1906 Malden Massachusetts City Directory. He moved to Pensacola around 1907, and in 1909, his mother Sarah relocated from Malden to Pensacola (she was listed as a widow in the 1908 Malden Massachusetts City Directory)
We know that Emmett and Richardson were friends from at least 1909; they attended a large number of the same social events, and frequently, when the cousins Stella and Edna Avery were present. I don’t know how Emmett and Richardson met; after all, they didn’t work in the same industry. But because they seemed to be invited to many of the same gatherings from 1908 onward, it makes sense that they met at one of the parties.
Richardson met and courted Edna Lord Avery, the daughter of Judge and Mrs. John C. Avery during this time; they became engaged in 1910. Edna was 34 when she married Richardson; I thought this was interesting as the median age for women’s first marriage was 21 in 1910. I wonder if, when Edna married, she felt relief, as the local media, family, and friends often encouraged young people to settle down, before ‘it was too late.’
What also seems likely: A hopeful pairing of Edna’s cousin, Stella Avery to Emmett Wilson at that wedding. Emmett was the best man; Stella was the maid of honor. Stella and Emmett seemed to be paired at a lot of different local events. But here’s the thing: Richardson and Emmett were close friends. Richardson likely knew that it wouldn’t be a great idea to push Emmett towards matrimony — he had other, more immediate goals to accomplish before settling down.
Also, it was at this point in Emmett’s life that gossip was out about how Emmett spent a lot of time at The Osceola Club; how he seemed to enjoy drinking a bit too much; how he seemed to be making a lot of money but for some reason was never able to save it, or to purchase his own home….
….and that, maybe, it was best that Emmett was not settling down with one of the local society girls for awhile.
After the wedding, the Richardsons honeymooned, then moved to Boston in May, which was the plan all along. There were a few clues in the contemporary articles that Richardson’s interests in Pensacola were not permanent.
Edna and Shelley moved to Malden, Massachusetts; Richardson became a poultry farmer; Edna was active in women’s clubs and the local congregational church. Other interesting details about the couple from the historic newspapers: Richardson was a tenor in community choirs; he took part in the occasional community play; he enjoyed public service, he was elected to public works offices (one year terms) in Malden.
Edna and Shelley had two sons; Shelley Graham Richardson, Jr., and John Avery Richardson.
Shelley Graham Richardson, Jr., the youngest son, born in 1919, died after a lengthy (unspecified) illness in 1930.
John Avery Richardson was educated at Georgia Tech as an engineer. He married Mary McDonald in Lexington, Kentucky in 1940; the information trail is cold except that John Richardson died in 2000, and is buried in the family plot in Malden, Massachusetts.
There’s another sad story about the Richardsons: Edna Lord Avery Richardson died in 1936, apparently of medical malpractice. The obituary and subsequent news articles provide some detail, but nothing about the original diagnosis of Edna’s final illness, or what happened, exactly.
It would be great to have found a journal of Shelley Richardson from those days, if he kept one. It would be nice to read about what they thought about the dating scene, how Richardson liked or disliked Pensacola, his thoughts about his family… his thoughts about his friendship with Emmett. Perhaps some of this primary data exists. But even without the letters or journals, we know that Shelley and Emmett were good friends; he thought enough of Emmett to ask him to stand up for him at his wedding. That’s a gesture typically reserved for the closest of friends.
Categories: Book Congressman Family Florida History Interesting & Odd
jsmith532
Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus
Tell my story. 
Leave a Reply