Emmett’s grand niece Elizabeth alerted me to another Cephas find the other day. One immediate takeaway from this piece was interesting — Ceph described as gossipy. Honestly, I don’t find that surprising. Cephas knew the value of the media in building one’s political career, as did Emmett. Both Ceph and […]
Emmett’s grand-niece (his sister Katie’s granddaughter) discovered a hidden cache of Wilson family clips the other day, and (God bless her), she promptly sent me copies! Today, I’ll share an interesting one about Cephas. The source is unidentified, but it is likely a West Florida newspaper, because of the way […]
I’ve spent several hours this weekend immersed in a pictorial website, Vanished Washington: An architectural eulogy of what was Washington, D.C. I’ve found several photographs of the buildings and sites where Emmett would have seen and visited when he lived in D.C. as a Congressman between 1913 and 1917. The […]
On April 7, 1913, Emmett Wilson was sworn in as the youngest representative from Florida’s Third Congressional District, and the youngest congressman in the United States. Emmett knew that upon taking office, he was expected to resolve several pressing issues, namely: Reopening the Pensacola Naval Station. Procuring funding to renovate […]
Readers, early on in the Emmett Wilson research, I found this article from The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch: Julia Maxwell, Emmett’s first cousin, was the only daughter of Emilie Cussen and Walker Anderson Maxwell, who were married in 1902, in Richmond, Virginia. Julia, named for Walker’s mother, Julia Anderson Hawkes Maxwell, was born […]
I’ve discovered more about the story behind yesterday’s post, and the article featuring Emmett — a mere Freshman in the world of West Florida politics — in the company of several leading Florida politicians. Apparently this was not a simple tag-along for neophyte lawyer Emmett; there was a specific purpose: […]
Yesterday, I came across this little article, nothing more than a little snippet from a news roundup about weekly goings-on in Washington, D.C. It was something easily overlooked, buried away on the second page of the paper. Actually, I found it about two years ago, when I was busily collecting […]
Today’s Wilson family essay is about Emmett’s older brother, Everard Meade Wilson, 1873-1914. Meade was the fifth son of Dr. Francis C. and Elizabeth Wilson. He went by “Meade;” named for Everard Meade, Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, and husband of her sister, Lucy Brockenbrough Maxwell Meade. Meade was born in Holly Springs, […]
In the early 1900s, if you got your name in the newspaper, it was a big deal. It indicated prominence in your community. If you think about it, the community news blurb columns were a sort-of equivalent to our Facebook. In Pensacola, these columns were mostly found in the Society […]
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