Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Wilson, Albert Edwards September 8, 1933 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dorothy Strawhand http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008405 June 20, 2023, 4:43 pm Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark September 9, 1933 DR. ALBERT WILSON, CITY COUNCILMAN, FATALLY STRICKEN Funeral Services for Popular Norfolk Physician To Be Conducted Tomorrow Dr. Albert Edwards Wilson, popular physician and member of the City Council, died suddenly yesterday afternoon at 3:10 o'clock at a local hospital after an illness of two weeks. He was 65 years old. Funeral services will be conducted tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock at Park Place Methodist Church, to which the body will be taken from the funeral home of E. Lee Cox & Brother, 631 Westover Avenue. The Rev. H.P. Myers, D.D., pastor of the church, will officiate. Burial will be in the family plot in Magnolia Cemetery. Dr. Wilson had been suffering from a complication of heart and kidney ailments and attending physicians were undertaking to build up his strength preparatory to an operation. His condition, while regarded as serious, was not regarded as critical, and apparently he was much improved yesterday before the relapse which preceded death. He died in a wheelchair in the hospital balcony. Dr. Wilson was elected to the City Council June 14, 1932, by a large majority and was to have served a four year term. He was a charter member of the Business Men's Bible Class and a member of Park Place Methodist Church. Also, he held membership in the Norfolk Association of Commerce, the American Medical Association, Seaboard Medical Society, Virginia Medical Society, American Genealogical Society and Lions Club. He resided with his family at 1019 Westover Avenue. Besides his wife, Mrs. Grace Hammersley Wilson, he is survived by a son, Albert Edwards Wilson II; a sister, Mrs. John G. Wallace II, of Wallaceton, Norfolk County; four brothers, Benjamin Franklin Wilson III, of Nashville, Tenn.; Dr. Nicholas G. Wilson and Dr. Franklin D. Wilson, of Norfolk and Charles B. Wilson, of New York City and a number of nieces and nephews. Born in Surry County Dr. Wilson was the second son of the late Benjamin Franklin Wilson II and Mrs. Maria Frances Edwards Wilson and was born June 23, 1868 on Chipoax Farm, on Lower Chipoax Creek, in Surry County, across the James River from Jamestown. He was a great-great-great grandson of George and Mrs. Ruth Wilson, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1741 from the County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The family subsequently located 10 miles north of Gettysburg, took up farming and merchandising, and formed the nucleus of a community known as Wilsonville for nearly 100 years until its incorporation as Bendersille in 1832. Dr. Wilson' father was born there in 1834, in the log house built by his immigrant ancestor and resided there until at the age of 19 he and a cousin, Franklin Davis, moved to Virginia. They engaged in the nursery business at Staunton and later in Richmond and shortly before the War Between the States moved to Surry County. Dr. Wilson's mother, the only daughter of Dr. Albert Sterling Edwards and Mrs. Maria Louisa Seawell Edwards, was a great-granddaughter of Judge John Tyler and a grand niece of President John Tyler, both of whom were governors of Virginia. She was born in 1846 at the home of her parents, "The Borough," near Surry Court House. When Dr. Wilson was about a year old, the family moved to Norfolk and settled on a tract on the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River adjoining the present site of the Ford plant. Dr. Wilson received his early education from his grandmother Edwards at his home, spent two years in the county public schools and then was sent to the Heminway Private School in Norfolk, from which he graduated in 1886. The school later became the city's first high school. Graduated With Honors During the next six years, Dr. Wilson engaged in truck farming during four of which he was general manager of his father's farm. From May to September, 1893, he studied medicine under his uncle by marriage, Dr. Edward W. Mumma, of Bendersville, Pa. He then entered the medical department of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, from which he received the degree of M.D. in 1896. While there he was a member of the Rush Medical Club and in his senior year served as intern in the University Hospital. On graduation he received honorable mention along with another Virginian for standing second in his class. After a year in special training at the Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, Baltimore, Dr. Wilson returned to Norfolk and opened offices in the old Columbia Building, on Granby Street, January 21, 1897 for practice in eye, ear and throat diseases. On June 27, 1899, he married Miss Grace Hammersley, of Baltimore, whose paternal forbears settled in Maryland early in the Colonial period. From the beginning of his professional career, Dr. Wilson manifested a keen interest in civic and political affairs in Norfolk. In 1906 he was appointed to the Seventh (Park Place) Ward Local Board of Improvement, and served until 1917, when affairs of the board were taken over by the City Council for administration. Active in Politics Dr. Wilson participated actively in political moves for the betterment of the city. He championed the cause of State prohibition and was strenuously in the fight to unseat "ring" politics and politicians. He also was active in the campaign that culminated in adoption of the present city charter. Born a Democrat, he remained steadfast to the party in all national, State and local elections. Though ardently in favor of some method of prohibition and personally dry, he worked whole-heartedly for the Democratic nominees for President and Vice President in 1928. He was an active admirer and supporter of Senator Harry F. Byrd. During the World War, Dr. Wilson was a member of the Medical Advisory Board and also assisted in the Norfolk County draft. At the age of 17, Dr. Wilson became a member of Oaklette Methodist Church. After his marriage, he and his wife for 11 years were members of Epworth Methodist Church. In 1910 they removed their membership to Park Place Church, and in the same year Dr. Wilson became a member of the board of stewards, a position which he held the remainder of his life. In addition, he was chairman of the building committee of the church from 1913 until 1925. During this period, a new church was built on Colonial Avenue between Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Streets and dedicated October 7, 1917. This church was destroyed by fire in 1923 and the present structure, immediately began, was completed the same year. Dr. Wilson served in the clinic at St. Vincent's Hospital and on the hospital staff for a number of years. He was a charter member of the Lions Club and in connection with the welfare work of the club examined the eyes of all public school children suspected of having refractive errors. During his long and busy career, Dr. Wilson found time to compile and publish valuable family records. In this connection, he prepared a sketch of his father's family from 1741 down to the present. He wrote a similar sketch of his mother's family which was published in Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine in 1928 under the title of "William Edwards VI and His Descendants." Dr. Wilson was a founder member of the Institute of American Genealogy and of the Thomas Rolph (Surry County Branch) Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Additional Comments: Magnolia File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/w/wilson8037nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/vafiles/ File size: 8.1 Kb