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 mixed-race lawyer who grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and was a childhood friend of James Weldon Johnson, who might have introduced Wetmore to Chesnutt. 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 married another White woman named Lucile (or Lucille) Pipes (1894–1966), with whom he had two children. Wetmore died by suicide in July 1930. Both of his wives were aware of his mixed-race status. In official records, he and his children consistently are listed as White, but it was not a secret he was Black (see "Cremate Body of New York Lawyer Whom Many Mistook for White," Afro-American [Baltimore, MD], August 9, 1930, 7; and James Weldon Johnson, Along This Way: The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson [New York: Viking Press, 1968; orig. pub. 1933], 252).
1. Since the mentioned birth announcement for Frances Lucile 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, Lucile (or Lucille) Pipes Wetmore (1894–1966), was a White woman, originally from Louisiana and widowed in 1918 after a very brief first marriage. The couple married in 1921 and had two children: Frances Lucile (1922–1993) and Judson Douglas, Jr. ("Junior," 1923–1995). After Wetmore's suicide, Lucile remarried in 1931 and again in 1945. [back]
