January 18, 1906Van Sant & WilsonSterling, Illinois The clock in the outer office chimed 8 pm. I had been reading the newspapers in the package from home for almost two hours. I admit it; I was homesick and lonely. I devoured everything in all of the newspapers from Pensacola, Marianna, […]
Wednesday, January 3, 1906Sterling, Illinois It was breathtaking, the snow, all blinding white, crisp, clean, cold. White fluffy drifts and dunes everywhere. I felt light hearted. “This is wonderful,” I said to Sydney Anning, as I looked around at the blinding whiteness that was everywhere. There had been a fresh […]
November 2, 1905The U.S. House of RepresentativesOffice of Congressman William Bailey LamarWashington, D.C. “Come on, Emmett,” Paul said, smiling at me, holding open the door to the House Chamber. I felt the hairs along my arms stand up as I walked through the door; I gaped. “Desks?” I said, turning […]
The date? March 3, 1908, the day after Mardi Gras. The place? The private dining room in the The Osceola Club, Pensacola, Florida The occasion/connection? Good question. This is another oddball jigsaw puzzle in the life of Emmett Wilson that I like to work out. Not to sound disparaging of anyone sitting around […]
Emmett’s best friend, Paul Carter, was the original valedictorian of the Stetson University Law School Class of 1904. But fate — a job opportunity as private secretary to U.S. Congressman William Bailey Lamar — intervened. It was the opportunity of a lifetime for a smart, ambitious 23-year-old not even out […]
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 […]
The Internet says today is National Puppy Day, and with that, I give you a little story about a dog in Emmett’s life, named Grits. While Emmett attended Stetson University from 1902 to 1904, it turns out that he had group ownership of a yellow Labrador Retriever/pit bull terrier mix. […]
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 […]
With all the protests going on in and around Washington lately, I wondered if Emmett Wilson ever participated in a march or protest? At first, I couldn’t have imagined it; certainly not in Chipley or Marianna, Florida. What would there be to launch a protest in either of these small […]
For the past week, I’ve been working on the section of the book about Emmett’s graduation ceremony from Stetson University, and searching for Emmett’s valedictory speech. While the archive has a few things from 1904, such as Emmett’s commencement program, Emmett’s speech isn’t there — and unless his Elusive Scrapbooks […]
