Nellie Browning Mills (1876-1964) was never Emmett’s official secretary, but she did work for Emmett as she was the main stenographer and typist at the San Carlos Hotel in Pensacola, Florida from 1910 to at least 1917. Emmett used Nellie’s shorthand and typing services when he stayed at the San […]
I’ve been reviewing the documents for Emmett’s will for several days, going over all of the names mentioned in the file. Almost all of them are familiar. After four years of doing this project, I thought I had a complete list of the folks Emmett was closest to in his […]
Over the next couple of entries, I’d like to talk about the research process involved in gathering information about an obscure historic figure, and explain the process of reviewing artifacts for use in my research. Most of the time, when I’m visiting an archive to collect documents or artifacts, I […]
There’s Wilson family lore about a silver pocket watch that’s I’d love to prove. I don’t know what it looked like, other than it was smooth, silver, and had Emmett’s grandfather’s initials engraved on it — AEM — for Augustus Emmett Maxwell. It probably had a chain, and maybe a […]
Exactly one week ago, at 2 am, I came out of my writing cave after a few hours of solid writing to take a break, and investigate a strange sound coming out of the store room (which is right across the hall from my home office). I stepped into an […]
Today is Emmett Wilson’s 133rd birthday! I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with something clever, that does not feel contrived, to honor this auspicious day. Most of the reason for the lack of inspiration is the residual mental crispiness of burnout from all the writing this past week. […]
According to my research, Emmett lived at the San Carlos Hotel, on and off between 1913 and 1918, although he gave his permanent address as the J. Walter Kehoe home. Because he spent so much time there, I’ve always been curious about what his room might have looked like. (The […]
