In early May, 1906, Nicholas Van Sant was worried. His law firm with Emmett was not doing as well as he’d hoped. Although they had won cases and were building a client base, there was a negative cash flow. Emmett seemed to be doing well enough; but Van Sant hadn’t […]
Emmett’s best legal education came not at Stetson University (where he was the valedictorian of the 1904 law class; it came not at the hands of his esteemed and experienced older brother, Cephas Love Wilson, Esquire. It came when he was, essentially, fired from his dream job in Sterling, Illinois […]
I’m back after a brief hiatus. I’ve been deep into the writing for over a week; also, I’m teaching three classes at the moment, so I’ve let the poor blog wither a little. Sorry about that! The good thing is that Emmett’s manuscript is making excellent progress. The not so […]
Earlier today, a reader emailed me about a photo of pharmacy bottles embossed “Hargis Pharmacy”. The photo originated from a historic bottle collection website, http://www.mrbottles.com; unfortunately, the website hasn’t been updated in awhile. So, I referred the reader to my colleague, the excellent archivist Jacki Wilson, of the Pensacola Historical […]
Emmett’s story is still moving forward; as reported a few weeks ago, I’m nearing the end of the first installation of the book, which covers 1899-1906. At present, I’m deep in the last half of 1905, around Labor Day. It wasn’t a big, last-summer-hurrah vacation for Emmett, because in 1905, […]
Readers, I have to say that I’ve been surprised not only at the amount of information I’ve been able to find about dear obscure Emmett, but where I’ve found it. Last week, I did a wild-card search on Ebay for anything about Emmett, or Emmett’s colleagues. Lo and behold, I […]
Friends, today I made a random check of historic newspaper databases, and I found a set that has been recently added to the University of Florida George A. Smathers Library Archive. This one: A totally new-to-me source that I haven’t seen either in microfilm or in hard copy to date. […]
I’m pleased to report that not only have I located Emmett’s doctors (both in Pensacola and Washington, D.C.), but I’ve also located his pharmacist. Pretty damn good History Detective work, huh? I’ll have more on the doctors in another post, but I thought I’d introduce you to the pharmacist first, […]
Good news: I’m nearing the end of the first installment of Emmett Wilson’s biography. There is definitely some light shining in the tunnel, even though I still have quite a way to go before the journey is complete. In January, I decided to break the story of Emmett’s life into […]
For the past week, I’ve been working on the section of the book about Emmett’s graduation ceremony from Stetson University, and searching for Emmett’s valedictory speech. While the archive has a few things from 1904, such as Emmett’s commencement program, Emmett’s speech isn’t there — and unless his Elusive Scrapbooks […]
Tell my story. 