52 Ancestors Week 28 Reunion: Grandfather Wallis's Portrait

My mother's family (Summers-Sasscer) has always been fond of family reunions and when I was growing up, reunions were a yearly event, at least for Christmas. At first these were held at my great-grandmother's house, then at my grandmother's and my mother's homes.  Later, family reunions with a hundred or more in attendance were held at least every couple of years, sometimes at a family member's home, sometimes in parks or other public venues.

Somewhere along the way, a tradition grew up.  When my grandmother died in 1987, there was discovered in her house an amateur portrait of our 5X great grandfather, Francis Ludolph Wallis (Kent County MD 1804-1855).  It was really not a very good portrait, and no one particularly wanted to have it.  So, we hit upon the idea of "gifting" the portrait to one of our cousins.  It was duly wrapped in gift paper and presented to a cousin who happened to have "Wallis" as part of her name.  The next year, she wrapped it back up and "gifted" it to another cousin.

Eventually, as our reunions were no longer held at Christmas, the tradition evolved into a vote for who should become the next guardian of the portrait.  The voting was completely without rules, stuffing the ballot box was encouraged and bribes to the judges were routine, since the decision of the judges was final, without regard to the actual voting.  There was a requirement that the portrait must be hung in a visible location in the winner's home, with photographic proof of the display available at the next reunion. Some attempts were made to ensure that the portrait visited different families, so if someone was chosen as the guardian, his or her siblings could breathe a sigh of relief for the next couple of years since they probably would not be chosen.

Cousins soon vied with each other on who could devise the most exciting adventures for Grandfather Wallis during his visit with them.  So part of the reunion ritual is a recounting of Grandfather Wallis's year(s) with the current guardian before moving on to his next home. He has gone sailing, climbed mountains, travelled across the country and even across oceans (most recently to Finland), and appeared on television in an episode of Motor Week. In the picture below, he is being toasted at the Merenkavijat Sailing Club in Helsinki.  The Club is inside an old cannonball factory from the early 1800's, so he looked right at home.  

Here is an account of one of his earlier adventures with cousin Tommy Summers. 

 

The photo below shows Cousin Tommy in 2000 handing off the portrait to Cousin David with previous Guardians Cousin Gene and Cousin Elisa.  Notice the spiffy Grandfather Wallis Guardian hats that come with this singular honor.  I'm sure there are still a couple of those floating around in someone's basement. 

For almost 30 years now, Grandfather Wallis's portrait has been a highlight of the Summers-Sasscer reunions.  Not only is it fun, but it also gives everyone an opportunity to review the family history to determine just how they are related to Grandfather Wallis.

Just so you know how seriously the family takes this ritual, see the Rules of Engagement below for this family tradition.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THE GRANDFATHER WALLIS PORTRAIT GUARDIANSHIP VOTING:

Votes are cast by writing the name of a person onto an official 2019 Summers-Sasscer-Scrivener Grandfather Wallis Portrait Guardian Nomination Form or SSSGFWPGNF.

To be considered valid, each SSSGFWPGNF must contain the name of an actual living human being who is related by blood, marriage, coincidence, happenstance or geographical proximity to one, or all, of the Summers, Sasscer, or Scrivener families.

Attempts to influence the voting process through electioneering, gerrymandering, partisanship, bribery, flattery, pandering, trolling, or bullying are highly encouraged, though officially frowned upon.

Anyone CAUGHT attempting to cheat in this esteemed process will automatically and immediately be declared the winner.

Only one vote per SSSGFWPGNF will be counted and the decision of the judges may be completely arbitrary final.

In the event of a tie vote, the Marquess of Queensbury Rules will take effect, and the matter will be settled either by fisticuffs, nerf gun duel, or rock, scissors, paper, as agreed upon by the affected nominees.

Must be present to win, or else it’s no fun for the rest of us!

Previous Whiners Winners are ineligible to win again in their lifetimes.

Vote Early! Vote Often!

By dint of extensive research in the reunion archives, I believe I have a fairly complete list of the Distinguished Order of Grandfather Wallis Guardians:

1993: Wallis Hall Cain

1994: David Scrivener

1995: Gene Dwyer 

1996-97: Elisa Sasscer

1998: Steve Summers

1999: Tommy Summers

2000: David Summers

2001-2002: Paul Summers III

2003: Cathy Baird Blanton

2004: Theresa Gaegler Magnino

2014-2019: Darlene Summers

2019: Phil Scrivener

Grandfather Wallis when he is at home

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 26 Legend: Dr. Emily Hammond Wilson, Legendary Medicine Woman

Emily Cumming Hammond, the oldest of eight children of Christopher Cashel Hammond and Mary Gwynn, (my first cousin, twice removed), was born in 1904, and grew up on a 1000-acre plantation in rural South Carolina.  She described herself as a "headstrong tomboy" who loved to treat and bandage animals as well as helping her mother tend to family and neighbors, both black and white, when they needed doctoring. By the age of 13, she had acquired the nickname "Doc."

Emily ca. 1930

She attended Mount St. Agnes and Goucher College in Baltimore, staying with her aunt, my great-grandmother, Louise Gwynn Scrivener.  She graduated from the Medical College of George in 1927, the only woman in her class and just the second woman to graduate from the institution.  After interning at the Central of Georgia Railway Hospital in Savannah, she accepted a position to do medical research at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  But when she heard that the country doctor in southern Anne Arundel County had died, she took a bus to her future. 

According to her account, the folks in rural Anne Arundel County were not very keen on a woman doctor.  Her first patient was a dog that had been hit by a car.  Fortunately, the dog thrived and so did the young doctor's practice. 

House Call ca. 1950

She made house calls on horseback, or by tractor when the roads were too muddy.  Charging $1 for an office visit or $15 for delivery of a baby at home, she was often paid with bushels of oysters, dozens of eggs, or farm produce.

Obligation Farm 2010

She married John Fletcher Wilson in 1932 and moved her office to her husband's family farm in Lothian.  The couple had two sons and Dr. Wilson often took the boys with her on house calls, leaving them outside while she made her visit. The couple later purchased historic Obligation Farm, built in the 1740's by Thomas Stockett, enlarged by his grandson in the 1800's, and lovingly restored by the Wilsons. 

Dr. Wilson's waiting room was open to both blacks and whites, with patients served in the order of arrival or according to the seriousness of their ailment, a situation somewhat unusual for the times, when the hospital in Annapolis refused to deliver African-American babies. According to her biographer, Therese Magnotti, "she never refused to go out on a call, no matter the time, no matter the weather.  She never played favorites."

Dr. Wilson was denied admission into the Annapolis hospital and turned down when she first applied to the local medical society, but she later became chief of staff at what is now Anne Arundel Medical Center and president of its medical society.  She established clinics to treat syphilis and enlisted the county's help to set up clinics for general medical and prenatal care.  She diagnosed the first case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Maryland shortly after WWII.  The disease was so unusual in the eastern states that doctors from Baltimore came to her office to observe.

Dr. Emily Hammond Wilson, fondly referred to as "Doc," retired after 53 years in practice and died at the age of 103 on July 10, 2007, a beloved legend of Southern Maryland.







References:

Magnotti, Therese. Doc: The Life of Emily Hammond Wilson. Published by the Shady Side Rural Heritage Society.

"Emily Hammond Wilson Walker MD (1994-2007)." MSA SC 3520-14731.  Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series).