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Emmerson children, fifth generation
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| The Emmerson children of this generation were first educated
in a primary school conducted by Miss Mary Anne Bingley
in the basement of the John Cocke home at the corner of
Middle and Queen streets in Portsmouth. John wrote, "If
Mark Twain had been in my place, and had written a history
of Mary Bingley's school, 'Huckleberry Finn' would be the
second-best American novel." Miss Bingley educated
three generations of Portsmouth children by means that can
only be described as Dickensian. A woman 'of high spirit
and fine intellect', she kept house without help well into
her 100th year, passing on at 102 as a resident of the Home
for Aged Women. |
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| Arthur Emmerson and John Cloyd Emmerson |
| Arthur Emmerson V, above, and John C.
Emmerson, right, as a student at Bethel Military Academy,
in Fauquier County, Va. He wrote home after a visit
to Washington, D.C. in 1883: "I thought that the
House of Representatives and Congress were no better
looking than an ordinary school house, but I do not
compare it to the Bethel School." |
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John C. Emmerson V and Claudia-Mildred
Vaughan
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"The elite and fashionable of Elizabeth
City, N.C. assembled at Christ Church yesterday afternoon
to witness the marriage of Miss Claudia Mildred, the charming
and accomplished daughter of Frank Vaughan, Esq., to Mr.
John C. Emmerson, of this city. Promptly at half-past two
the bride entered the church leaning on the arm of her father,
and was met at the altar by the groom, when the solemn and
beautiful marriage ceremony of the Protestant Episcopal
Church was solemnized by the Rev. M. H. Vaughan DD, a cousin
of the bride. The bride was handsomely arrayed in a dark
brown traveling suit, while the groom appeared in conventional
black. A brief reception followed, after which the happy
couple took the train for Portsmouth and left on the Bay
Line last night for New York. Mr. Emmerson and his bride
will reside in Portsmouth in the handsome residence he has
just erected in Dinwidie Street near High."
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Claudia Mildred Emmerson later in life. Although
the couple had six children, the marriage does not
appear to have been a happy one, and they separated
in about 1924. Mrs. Emmerson took her youngest child
abroad to live for about a year, then returned to
Portsmouth and her native Elizabeth City to fend
for herself. She chronicled her struggle in a long
exchange of letters with her brother Hal.
The sixth generation was the last to be born in
Portsmouth.
Back to Emmerson lineage
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