Charles W. Chesnutt to Judson Douglas Wetmore, 28 October 1922
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October 28, 1922.1
J. Douglas Wetmore, Esq.,
152 West 58th Street,
New York City.
My dear Douglas:
I received, several months ago, your and Mrs. Wetmore's card with the cute little card attached of Frances Lucille Wetmore, whom I presume was your, at that time, new-born daughter.2 Upon receipt of this I imagine you will think I was waiting until the young lady grew up before I acknowledged her card. Kindly explain to her, if she has yet arrived at an age to understand it, which, being your daughter, would not be surprising, that such was not the case.
Permit me to congratulate you and Mrs. Wetmore upon the addition to your family.
I have not had occasion to visit New York for several years, and therefore have not seen you. I hope to visit the metropolis again before very long. With best wishes.
Yours sincerely, CWC/FLCorrespondent: Judson Douglas Wetmore (1871–1930) was a lawyer who was born to mixed-race parents in Florida and grew up in Jacksonville. He was a close friend of James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) from childhood ("D-" in his autobiography), and possibly met Chesnutt through Johnson. They corresponded throughout the 1920s, and occasionally met in person. After getting a law degree at Michigan Law School in 1897, Wetmore worked in Jacksonville, but moved to New York City in 1906 to open a law practice. In 1907, he married and later divorced a White Jewish woman, Jeanette Gross (1888–?), with whom he had a daughter, Helen Mable (1908–?). In 1921, he remarried; he and his second wife, Lucille (1894–1966), who was also White, had two children. Wetmore committed suicide in July 1930. In official records he and his children consistently appear as White, but it was not a secret he was Black (see “Doug” Wetmore, Prominent Lawyer, Commits Suicide...,” The New York Age, Saturday, August 2, 1930, p. 1; and James Weldon Johnson, Along This Way: The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson, New York: The Viking Press, 1968; orig. pub. 1933, p. 252).
1. Since the mentioned birth announcement for Frances Lucille Wetmore (1922–1993) has not been located, this is the first of ten letters between Chesnutt and Judson Douglas Wetmore (1871–1930) that survives in the archives, but it is clear from context that there were likely more letters and that the Chesnutts and the Wetmores visited each other occasionally in person. [back]
2. Judson Douglas Wetmore's second wife, Lucille (Pipes) Wetmore (1894–1966), was a White widow from Louisiana. They married in 1921 and had two children: Frances Lucille Wetmore Land (1922–1993) and Judson Douglas Jr. (1923–1995). Both Wetmore and Chesnutt mention little Frances, born on April 26, 1922, multiple times in their letters. After Wetmore's suicide, Lucille remarried in 1931. [back]
