Revision as of 11:05, 12 April 2009

John T. Wilson was six feet tall, of slender to medium build, blonde, blue-eyed, with fair complexion. He enjoyed working outdoors, and thus found his eventual career working in the southern states agreeable. After his childhood and teenage years during the Great Depression, living on farms and helping his father and grandfather at work in the sawmill and at oil drilling, he married his high school sweetheart from a nearby farm. He served in WWII, mainly as a POW, and afterward lived a very mobile life building power lines for TVA - the Tennessee Valley Authority. His later TVA years and retirement were spent in Scottsboro, Alabama.
(See Complete Biography)

 Generation 1               Generation 2             Generation 3
 
                                                 +-- Bert Winiford Wilson
                                                 |   (1891-1971)             
                        +-- John Thomas Wilson --+
                        |   (1917-1985)          |
 Elizabeth Ann Wilson --+                        +-- Clara Mabel Wimer
 (1943- )               |                            (1891-1944)
                        +-- Ella May Beals
                            (1917- )
 Sources: [4][6]

Children

(2 daughters with Ella May Beals)

Places of Residence

Location	Dates	Notes	Sources
Birth & Early Years			[3][4]
Worth Twp., Butler Co. PA	b.1917-~1930	with parents	[4]
Nickleville, Richland Twp., Venango Co. PA	~1930 - 1938	high school in Emlenton, work with REA during Great Depression	[3][4]
OH, NC	1938-1940	line work for REA or private power companies	[3]
Early Marriage			[3]
Laurens, SC	14 Feb 1940 - late spring	line construction, REA/ Miller Baxter	[3]
Polk, Sandy Creek Twp., Venango Co. PA	1940	REA or private power companies	[3]
Cornelius, SC; Lexington & Madison, NC	Oct 1940-1941	REA or private power companies	[3]
Ellwood City, Lawrence Co. PA	late summer 1941	helped a cousin build a house	[3]
Monks Corner, SC	1941-42	REA or private power companies; leased Green Gables Cafe & gas station for 10 wks, $1000 profit	[3] Green Gables Cafe, Monks Corner, SC, April 1942
Smyrna, NashvilleTN Gallatin TN ("Green River Line"), Scottsville TN; Glasgow, Newport KY; Kingsport TN (Nov 42- Mar 43)	1942	Bought 1st trailer worked for REA or private power companies, Holston Defense in Kingsport; laid off in March	[3]
Pittsburgh, PA	Spring 1943	private employer, not recorded	[3]
Military Training	14 Aug 1943, drafted		[3]
Greensboro NC	Aug 1943-?		[3[]
Greenville SC	by Christmas 1943- 1944	Furman Univ.; accelerated officers training; entire class "washed out"	[3]
Midland TX	1944, after Mar	training as tail-gunner	[3]
Alexandria LA	1944, including Dec	training	[3]
Lincoln, NB	1944, including Dec	for shipment overseas	[3]
Military Service, WWII	14 Aug 1943, drafted		[3][4]
Camp Patrick Henry, VA	19 Jan 1945	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Patrick_Henry	[4]
Gibraltar	5 Feb 1945		[4]
Algiers, N. Africa	8 Feb 1945		[4]
Naples, Italy	12 Feb 1945		[4]
Foggia, Italy	17 Feb 1945	base of operation, 483 Bombardment Group, 815 Squadron Pilot, Harvey A. Mitchell	[4]
Lenti, Hungary	14 Mar 1945	taken POW	[4]
Bratislava	19 Mar 1945	POW	[4]
Vienna, Austria	20 Mar 1945	POW	[4]
Nurenberg, Ger.	22 Mar 1945	POW	[4]
marching, location unrecorded	23 Mar 1945	POW	[4]
Nurenberg, Ger.	25 Mar 1945	POW	[4]
Moosburg, Ger.	20 Apr 1945 ; Liberation 29 Apr 1945	POW (camp history website) (Wikipedia's Stalag VII-A site), (description of the events surround the liberation itself) ( 1 May 1945 NY Times Moosburg Prison Camp Liberation)	[4]
Landshut, Ger.	4 May 1945		[4]
Reims, France	6 May 1945		[3][4]
St. Vallery, France	17 May 1945		[3][4]
Richland Twp., Venango Co. PA	1945-1948	Depression Era persisted; worked in brother-in-law's garage in Emlenton; lived with Beals in-laws, then rented Joe Rose house, Mariasville	[3][6]

The following chart serves as a record of the work career of John T. Wilson with TVA; an indication of school locations for his daughters; and a guide to dates/locations for some of the photographs. Locations in parentheses indicate additional work locations while in one residence location. In 1967 he was working with the Rubin R Rubinson/Robinson crew, TVA Western Division, per wedding card to daughter Elizabeth.

Photo Gallery

1936 high school graduate

31 July 1936, age 19

31 July 1936

20 July 1937, age almost 20

John & Ella Wilson at Beals farm, 1940

John & Ella Wilson ~1940

1940 at New River, SC

1941

with daughter Betsy, possibly Kingsport TN

Fathers Day, June 1943

John with Betsy, 1943 at Bert & Clara Wilson farm, Nickleville, Venango Co. PA

14 Aug 1943, day of swearing-in; with dau. Betsy and nephews John & Jim Vergis

Oct 1943 Greensboro NC

3 June 1944, Greenville SC

John Wilson at right, back row, with crew of B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber
(Click photo for names)

in training, 1944

1944, 1st trailer, at Beals farm

~1945; lesson in "rub your tummy, pat your head"

at Bert Wilson farm, ~1946-47

1948, new trailer for trip south; l. to r. Ray Wilson, Ella and John Wilson

John T. Wilson in work khakis & TVA badge, ~late 1950's

Christmas ~1949-50

with beard grown for 1954 centennial, Corinth MS

weekly cookout, ~1959, at the minnow ponds, Scottsboro, AL

with Joubert, mid-1970's, log house in Scottsboro

Russ, John, Allene & Ruth, ~1984, during John's final illness

Sources

1	1920 United States Federal Census, Worth Township, Butler County, PA, Enumeration District 66, Page 7, lines 84-88 lists Bert W. Wilson, 28, married to Clara M. Wilson, 28. Their daughter, Ruth M. Wilson, 7, and two sons, Edwin D. Wilson, 4, and John T. Wilson, 2 years and one month, are listed as well. Bert is listed as having been born in PA. His profession is listed as "Laborer" on a rented farm. His census record is immediately followed by that of his father, James L. Wilson, suggesting that they lived on adjacent property. This census page is dated 23 and 24 January 1920.
2	1930 United States Federal Census, Richland Township, Venango County, PA, Enumeration District 61-40, Page 6, lines 65-73 lists Birt W. Wilson, 39, married to Clara M. Wilson, 38. They live with six children and a live-in farm laborer: daughter Ruth M. Wilson, 17; son Edwin D., 15; son John T. Wilson, 12; son Russel W. Wilson, 9; son Ray B. Wilson, 6; daughter Allene N. Wilson, 3 years and 10 months; and laborer Lester Lawrence, 43. When Birt W. Wilson and Clara M. Wilson got married, he was 20 and she was 19. All of the children except Allene attended school within the census year. Everyone but Allene can read, write, and speak English. Everyone and their parents were born in PA. Birt W. Wilson's occupation is listed as "Farmer." This census page is dated April 15th, 1930.
3	Memoirs of Ella May Beals (Wilson) ,wife of John T. Wilson, including the WWII training locations, and listing of TVA locations & landlords.
4	Research manuscript of John T. Wilson, family history compiled by 1985, from family interviews, family records, Slippery Rock borough centennial history & Butler County histories. This manuscript transferred to daughter Elizabeth Wilson Williams in 1984.
5	WWII war record written on souvenir wooden shoe by John T. Wilson, now in the collection of Elizabeth Wilson Williams. The inscription (in graphite) includes dates & places stationed & imprisoned during his war service
6	Personal correspondence from Elizabeth Wilson Williams, daughter of John T. Wilson, including transcription of WWII service locations and dates from the wooden shoe, and family photographs. Personal recollection includes living on the Beals farm in Venango Co. PA, the TVA locations, and high school in Scottsboro AL. Her notes include John T. Wilson's war stories and his descriptions of his early life in Butler Co. PA.