We continue with the second page of Katie’s narrative of her family’s years in British Honduras. There’s a lot of good information on this page, specifically related to the Wilsons settlement in Punta Gorda. This place was situated on a creek named after some Englishman — Joe Taylor! There was […]
Although Emmett mentioned in an interview that he was too young to have any real memories about what his life was like when he lived in British Honduras (he was two years old when his family emigrated back to the United States), his sister, Katie Wilson Meade, wrote a narrative […]
I have interesting information — some in the form of primary sources! — about the Wilson family’s tenure in British Honduras. I’d like to start with this article, an interview with Emmett during his first term as a U.S. Congressman, because it is presented as his words. Here’s what he […]
A reporter once wrote that if you really wanted to piss off Emmett Wilson, ask him about his nativity. That is, if he was a REAL American citizen given he was born in British Honduras during his parent’s ‘temporary sojourn’ there. Emmett’s obituary in the May 29, 1918 issue of […]
You want to hear something funny? Or more honestly, ironic? As I sat with my newfound information about Emmett Wilson, I was angry. Pissed, actually. First, this guy. Emmett Wilson, who (from what I had read so far) was from a privileged family; a family who held respectable jobs in […]
That was the question I kept asking as I dug deeper into this stranger’s — Emmett’s — story. I couldn’t keep calling him a stranger, though. For such an obscure guy who didn’t leave much of a mark while he lived, I was turning up dozens of tiny blurbs about […]
About two weeks after following up with Mike Burke with the proper Wilson ancestor information, and approval from Sacred Heart Hospital’s general counsel, I received this email message: Well, there it was: An official hospital record indicating Emmett was an alcoholic. But was that enough? In research, one has to […]
I dug into the Milligan family genealogy right away. With note-taking, it took two days. It’s basically written as a conversation from the author, John Evans Wilson, to his children and descendants. Emmett’s family story is on the second to last page. Here’s what John Evans Wilson said […]
I remember Saturday, June 8, 2013, as one of those glorious late Spring days in Maryland — the sky was clear blue without a cloud in sight, the temperature around 72, the trees were (finally!) all full with fresh green leaves. The plants I’d set out a few weeks earlier […]
Emmett’s funeral was, apparently, a big deal for Pensacola, particularly since folks were ‘surprised’ and ‘shocked’ that he was in failing health. But I wonder about that — I mean, his family and friends were able to put together a large funeral at a big church within 36 hours of […]
Tell my story. 