March 26, 2015Chevy Chase, Maryland Back in the mid-1980’s, when I was a year or so out of journalism school with some experience writing for daily newspapers under my belt, I got the itch to move on to a bigger newspaper market, with a more interesting beat, and more exciting […]
I often wonder what kind of employee or boss Emmett was? Was he considerate and competent? Quiet and hardworking? A lunch-stealing backstabbing jerk, perhaps? An excellent source of information on Emmett-as-colleague would be the office records — a desk calendar, case files, or even an office journal. I don’t doubt […]
Yesterday afternoon, I was going through my notes (looking for something else, naturally) when I found an article from the July 26, 1906 issue of The Chipley Banner, which reported Emmett’s twin brother Julian, “… a purser on the steamer ‘Gertrude’ was in town visiting his father at home, and left […]
Last time I checked, I realized that I’ve collected over 500 individual newspaper articles about Emmett Wilson. That’s pretty good, considering that when I started this project, I didn’t expect to find more than a few dozen, given his obscurity in Florida politics. Granted, most of these newspaper articles aren’t […]
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 […]
One of the reasons why I started this blog about Emmett’s book was (is!) to locate his scrapbooks, correspondence, or anything that exists out there that may not be already digitized. Crowd sourcing the research has worked fairly well; last year I wrote about Emmett’s sister, Katie Wilson Meade, and […]
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 […]
In one of the Wilson family genealogies, there’s a curious statement recorded by Emmett’s nephew. It says: “…my mother always said that Emmett fell in with some rich Northern lumberman who started him drinking, and he drank himself to death.” Hm. A rich Northern lumberman. Who could that be? Over […]
One of the reasons why Emmett left Florida and moved to Illinois in January of 1906 (in the middle of a blizzard) is because he was desperate. He wanted to get away from his family, because his loved ones were in his face about his life — and especially his drinking. Emmett […]
Emmett’s law office in Sterling, Illinois, in January 1906, was located at 102 East Third Street, on the second floor of the two-story Wolf Building. The law firm was located atop the Killen & Peters shoe store, which also did a brisk business in boots, according to ads in the […]
Tell my story. 