Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 Nicholasville, Kentucky:1850—1893
- Chapter 2 Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nicholasville: 1893—1902
- Chapter 3 A Period of Indecision:1902-1904
- Chapter 4 On the Road Again:1904-1908
- Chapter 5 A Pivotal Year:1908
- Chapter 6 The Return to A.&M.
- Chapter 7 The Big Change:1908—1910
- Chapter 8 The Buchanan Years:1910-1920
- Chapter 9 New Presidents and a Reshaped Identity: the 1920s
- Chapter 10 The Omnipresent Professor: 1930—1941
- Chapter 11 The War and Post-WarYears: 1941—1951
- Chapter 12 Coming Full Circle
- Appendix 1 James H. Wilson Journal: January 1—June 30, 1908
- Appendix 2 James H. Wilson Band and Tour Booklet
- Appendix 3 Known Compositions and Arrangements by James H. Wilson
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A Brief Recommended Reading List
- Locations and Acknowledgments for Illustratiions
- Index
Chapter 3 - A Period of Indecision:1902-1904
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 Nicholasville, Kentucky:1850—1893
- Chapter 2 Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nicholasville: 1893—1902
- Chapter 3 A Period of Indecision:1902-1904
- Chapter 4 On the Road Again:1904-1908
- Chapter 5 A Pivotal Year:1908
- Chapter 6 The Return to A.&M.
- Chapter 7 The Big Change:1908—1910
- Chapter 8 The Buchanan Years:1910-1920
- Chapter 9 New Presidents and a Reshaped Identity: the 1920s
- Chapter 10 The Omnipresent Professor: 1930—1941
- Chapter 11 The War and Post-WarYears: 1941—1951
- Chapter 12 Coming Full Circle
- Appendix 1 James H. Wilson Journal: January 1—June 30, 1908
- Appendix 2 James H. Wilson Band and Tour Booklet
- Appendix 3 Known Compositions and Arrangements by James H. Wilson
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- A Brief Recommended Reading List
- Locations and Acknowledgments for Illustratiions
- Index
Summary
James H. Wilson had had enough. He decided to walk away from the minstrel business for good in the spring of 1902 shortly after having been shot and jailed in Missouri on the terrible, frightening night that his friend, Louis Wright, had been dragged from the jail and lynched. He had a wife and a father in Kentucky and he returned home to sort out his life. The Indianapolis Freeman had published information about the shooting and lynching on March 8th, and just one month later the same newspaper posted a notice from his colleagues in the Richards & Pringle's Famous Georgia Minstrels that not only indicated they missed him but unashamedly pled with him to come back and rejoin the troupe:
Notes from the Famous Georgia Minstrels:—We closed our season and have reorganized for the coming season, opening at Rochelle, Ill., March 31, to the capacity of the house as usual …. The entire company sends regards to James H. Wilson, our soloist in the role of Nick Carter and want him to come home and get into the office again. Lots of work here for the office. Beverly cannot keep up. Wake up Jim, cherries are ripe. Our base-ball teams are coming together again.
Wilson paid them no heed, but once home in Kentucky, he discovered he had new problems to contend with. To keep busy in Nicholasville and to make a living, the best he managed to come up with was to take charge of music at his Baptist Church, sell newspaper subscriptions for the Indianapolis Freeman, become involved in the community's affairs, and try to keep his life as a concert band director and cornet soloist going as best he could from a distance.
News Items from Old Kentuck.
Nicholasville, Ky., Special.—Subscribe for The Freeman. The December rally at the First Baptist church was a grand success, …. Our people, the Baptists, are fast learning to patronize home industries, much to the credit of C. C. Goines, our pastor…. James H. Wilson, our musical director, is soon to make a trip to Europe with the famous Armant 8th Battalion Band of Chicago as cornet soloist….
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- With Trumpet and BibleThe Illustrated Life of James Hembray Wilson, pp. 47 - 62Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015