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Chapter 172: The Gambler

June 2, 2022Chevy Chase, Maryland Here’s the thing that has puzzled me ever since I started research on Emmett Wilson’s life story: What was the main reason Frank Mayes (and The Pensacola Journal) endorsed Emmett for U.S. Congress? Frank was no dummy; he was a prescient newsman who kept close […]

Chapter 140: Networking, 1907-style

July 24, 2021University of MarylandCollege Park, Maryland It’s interesting to note that Emmett’s comings and goings, specifically after mid-March, 1907, are turning up more often in The Pensacola Journal, the Pensacola Evening News, and any other West Florida newspaper (at least, the West Florida newspapers that a) are still in […]

Chapter 122: Crisis on the Horizon

March 14, 2021Chevy Chase, Maryland At this point in Emmett’s story, he’s been in Illinois three months. Although he’s been Nick Van Sant’s law partner since January 1, 1906, Emmett wasn’t able to ‘practice law’ until he had passed the Illinois state bar examination in February, 1906. That doesn’t mean […]

Chapter 75: Fleeing the Scene

June 4, 2020Chevy Chase, Maryland I want to share with you the story of this research and why it is coming together across different dates, places and times: It took several years to assemble the information I have — I neither have a research assistant, nor the budget for one […]

History of Florida, Past & Present

In 1923, Harry Gardner Cutler published a ginormous compendium of Florida biographies, complete with similarly sized title History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical. Three volumes complete the set, and today, it is available via Google Books at this link. It’s an interesting and informative resource; in fact, […]

that which is most familiar

“We seek out what is familiar and comfortable emotionally, even though what is familiar and comfortable may not be healthy.” — Carolyn Hax, The Washington Post, June 2018 Everyone does this, alcoholic or not. “Fixing” Emmett’s unhealthy drinking habit would have been possible if he’d had help with a competent […]

Henry Lee Bell Photograph Collection

In the University of West Florida Archives, there’s a wonderful collection of more than 20,000 photographs of everyday Pensacolians between 1911 and 1949. Henry Lee Bell opened photography studio in 1911 in Pensacola Florida. Used to be partnered with George Turton. Was Turton & Bell around 1900 to about 1911, […]