One hundred years ago today, almost exactly a year to his death, Emmett wrote his will. I have a copy of Emmett’s original will; the document was typewritten by Emmett himself, on old Banking and Currency Committee stationery that he had saved from his tenure as a U.S. Congressman. Emmett […]
If you’re just now joining us, we’ve been dissecting a letter from Emmett’s brother and law partner, Cephas Love Wilson, addressed to his brother-in-law Emmett Augustus Meade (husband of Katie Wilson Meade), dated January 10, 1910 (here, here, and here). Today, we’re finishing up our analysis of the message itself. […]
Picking up where we left off in our last post: Cephas’ letter to Emmett Meade (Cephas’ brother-in-law) also mentioned a woman named ‘Jeanet.’ She was not married to Jhon Burton; she never married, in fact. Jeanet Love McKinnon (1880-1940) was a member of the Wilson family by marriage; she was […]
In the last post, we took a close look at a letter written by Cephas Love Wilson to his brother-in-law, Emmett Augustus Meade in January, 1910. Today, we’ll do what I think is the fun part of corresponding research — dissecting the text of the letter! I’ll take a few […]
As promised in the last post, I’ll now walk you through the process I use to review artifacts that inform my research on Emmett Wilson. Here’s a document I received from Emmett’s grand niece, Elizabeth, who is the granddaughter of Katie Wilson Meade. Elizabeth’s original note with this document said […]
This morning, I had a great exchange with several colleagues and friends on the Washington County (Florida) Genealogy Facebook page. I hang out there with several fellow historians who have been extremely helpful with Emmett Wilson’s research over the past four years. It started with a post I shared (and […]
Meet Buell Cook: Lawyer, Insurance salesman, Realtor, Mayor, Statesman. Another man, like Emmett, who died too young, and whose death could have been avoided. Buell was elected to represent the 25th district in the Florida State Senate in 1909. He was reported to be an excellent lawyer who chose principles […]
I’ve always had a feeling new information might emerge just as I was putting the manuscript to bed, and sure enough, that’s what’s happened. I’m not upset or dismayed — quite the contrary. But it does make me anxious for the future as I get close to publication. I want […]
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 […]
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