Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Billy Robert Wilson

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Ancestors of Billy Robert Wilson

Generation No. 1

1. Billy Robert Wilson, born February 13, 1933 in Montgmery, Grant Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of 2. Tom Cicero Wilson and 3. Grace Annie Haire. He married (1) Marilyn Cargle¹ August 30, 1951 in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She was the daughter of Leon Cargle and Delilah Clark. He married (2) Susan Henshaw¹ June 24, 1976 in Gretna, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. She was the daughter of Gordon Henshaw and Agatha ?. He married (3) Verna Ruth Shaw November 26, 1981 in Boyce, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. She was the daughter of Clarence Newborn Shaw and Jewel Gladys Knight.

Notes for Billy Robert Wilson:
I am Billy, the author of this book. My brother, Harry, named me Billy Robert so nobody could ever give me a nickname like his, "Fuzzy." Then he started calling me Bill. Others tried calling me Billy Bob. Finally I was able to stop all of them. Daddy said that I was a slip-up. Dick had been born puny; one could see through his ears, and it was months before he began to gain weight. Then he turned out to be a fat boy. Daddy said he always wanted to have a fat boy. He and Grace decided no more. But, I was a result of prolonged reuse of their birth control device. I sure am glad Tom was a tightwad.

I was born in my mother's bed, 1.9 miles north of the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and La. Highway 34 in Montgomery, LA. I was a happy youngster. My brother, Harry, taught me to recite the alphabet and count to 100 at age 4. My teachers realized my above average ability to learn in early grade school. But, like most children I was not too interested in the things they wanted to teach me. So, my grades although above average did not reflect my true abilities. My teachers told my parents about this, but it didn't affect my lack of desire to put forth the effort they wanted. I enjoyed playing with my older brother, Dick, and my many first cousins who lived close by. But, I was content with my own company when no one else was around, playing underneath the house with make shift toys such as bottles that doubled for cars or trucks. I built bridges, roads, houses, barns, and ponds in the dirt that always seemed cool underneath the house.

A few weeks after my eighth birthday, I was given a "Purgative" by my parents. All the children took these each Spring to "purge their systems of poisons that accumulated over the Winter." The Epson Salts that concluded the purging proved to be too much. I developed a stomach ulcer the size of a goose egg. Dr. Frances M. Brian Sr., had treated me from the day of my birth. But, he was unable to stop my stomach from bleeding. After three weeks of trying, Dr. Brian relinquished treatment to my grandfather, Carroll C. Wilson. Carroll harvested black berry roots, pine roots, and sassafras roots and cooked them in a mixture of one quart of sugar and one quart of water. In volume, all five ingredients were equal. When this cooked down to a thick syrup, he gave me a tablespoonful three times a day. In three days, I was out of the bed and beginning to get my strength back. My muscles had atrophied and I suffered from "Charlie Horses." Within a week, I was back to normal. That herbal medicine worked faster than any that has been developed in these next 58 years, including Tagamet, Zantac, Prilosec, Propulsid, Prevacid, Carafate, and Pepcid. All of which I have taken between 1985 and 1999.

When I was 15 or 16 years old, Mr. Tom and I were clearing some of the wooded area on Clifford's place, as we called it. The cattle needed more pasture. We cut everything the cows hadn't eaten or killed. We piled it in huge piles, and let it dry for three weeks while we cut other trees and brush. Then we burned the dry piles. Good Winter-time entertainment, as Daddy called it. One day we worked longer and harder than we ever had before. At about 4:00 P.M. or so, Daddy dragged himself up to the trunk of a large tree and just sat there. He said, "Well I have never been put in the shade by one of my sons." I could see he was mighty tired. I felt sorry for him as I knew he was getting old (53). But, at the same time I felt proud that I wasn't as reluctant to work as Dick had been. Harry grew up when Daddy was young so he had more competition, a younger Daddy. I said that I was about burned out too and suggested we quit. We rested a few minutes there in the shade, then we loaded our crosscut saw, wedges, axes, sledgehammers, and gloves into the wagon and drove home.

In case you are unfamiliar with a crosscut saw, it is about seven feet long, thin metal with large teeth, and has perpendicular handles on each end. It is used by two people, one holding one handle while the other holds the other. One person pulls one end, then the other person pulls the other end. Back and forth the saw is pulled through the tree until the tree is cut down, or if it is already down, the tree is cut in two or more pieces. The saw is used horizontally to cut the tree down, and vertically to cut pieces off.

When Mr. Tom and I got home and did our chores around the house, I bathed and got dressed to go to town. Daddy asked me if I was going off after a hard days work like we had done. I told him I felt fine. He said, "If you have that much spunk you'll need this," and he handed me a five dollar bill. I near about flipped. He had previously given me a dollar. Maybe a little more on rare occasions and for special reasons, but never this much. I had fun that night. The money renewed what little vigor I had left.

A few days later, I was standing close to the fires in the brush pile, picking up bits and pieces of unburned wood and throwing them back in the fire. I breathed a lot of smoke. The smoke contained residue from poison oak vines. I had never had poison oak before. I guess I wasn't allergic to it up to then. It broke out in my lungs, intestines, and every square inch of my body. The doctor said, "You couldn't just rub up against it, or get it in a scratch like normal people, could you?" He said that breathing the smoke was the worst way to catch it, that it went all through my system by catching it in that manner. He recommended Calamine lotion to rub on it and cutting my nails short so I wouldn't scratch. Yeah right! I celebrated my fifteenth birthday by scratching. I needed two more hands. That was a thrill; but painful. In a week or two I was okay. I didn't burn anymore wood and Daddy took care of all the trees with poison oak vines on them.

While I was recovering from the poison oak, Uncle Lloyd, Aunt Wilma, and Grandmother came for a visit. We were sitting in the front yard under a pecan tree. Daddy, in the course of conversation, told Uncle Lloyd how proud he was of me, what a good worker I was, and how I had "worked him into the shade." I didn't know it then but that would have a strong bearing on my future. In those few words, Mr. Tom set the stage for my Post Office career and the secure future I have enjoyed to this day. Years later Uncle Lloyd suggested that I take the civil service examination for Postal Clerk and Railway Mail Clerk. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Twenty five days before my eighteenth birthday, I enlisted in the Navy. The Korean Police Action was in progress. You know, they never declared that a war but more men died in it than in the Vietnam War. After six months of loneliness in the Navy, I married Marilyn Cargle. She was a sister of Dick's girlfriend and they introduced us while I was on Basic Training Leave in April 1951. We corresponded until August. I took another leave and we were married. Marilyn, or Lynn as I called her, went to San Diego, California where we started our life together. Gwen was born there and Debbie was conceived there but born in Louisiana. I spent my last 5 months in the Navy aboard a ship that didn't go very far. Just dry docks in Honolulu, Long Beach, and San Diego, California. The Korean cease fire got me a 90 day early release for the convenience of the government. I got a job with Convair Aircraft Corporation in San Diego and worked two months as a dispatcher. We realized that we didn't want to live that far away from our family so we moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

I tried to go to college, but the $160 a month I would get from the Veteran's Administration to go to school was not enough for the four of us to live on. I got a job as a shipping and receiving clerk. After about 2 years, Linda was born. I had a vasectomy so we would not have more children than I could buy food and clothes for. About this same time, Lynn and I could not get along. We decided to separate. I drove her to her parents and unloaded her things, and the children. Then the old car wouldn't start. There I was, stuck in front of my in-law's house with no way to get away. Lynn came out and showed sympathy, which was unusual for her. I got emotional. We both cried. By the time I could get the car going, we were reconciled. We loaded up our belongings and went home.

Then I took a job as an Insurance salesman. I couldn't sell, so I had to go back to being a shipping and receiving clerk. At the same time, I was attending Alexandria Business College at night and I received a certificate of completion of a course in Business Administration. I tried selling oil and grease, but again I was not a salesman. Suddenly I was out of work for two weeks. Uncle Lloyd took me under his wing. I moved from Alexandria to Shreveport, got a temporary job as a shipping clerk, and took the civil service examination for the Post Office.

Then on January 26, 1957, I was appointed to the position of US Post Office Clerk in the Shreveport Post Office. Three months later I received a promotion to Railway Mail Clerk and worked with my Uncle Lloyd for the next six months. There I learned about Postal Inspectors and the work they did. I had always wanted to be an FBI agent and this was a similar job. Uncle Lloyd advised me to get into a small First Class Post Office and learn as much as I could. He said that I would need that knowledge to pass the examination for Postal Inspector.
So, I transferred to Natchitoches Post Office as a clerk in September 1957. There were four openings there at once due to retirements. The Postmaster and I had an understanding from the start. He needed his clerks trained in how to distribute Louisiana mail, and read schemes and schedules. I had learned that much very well in my short 9 month career. The postmaster expected me to train his new clerks and I expected the postmaster to train me in every aspect of the post office operation, to help me qualify for the job of Postal Inspector. We had an agreement. Both of us worked hard toward keeping that agreement.

In January 1961, I had four years service and a good employment record. That was the basic requirement I needed to apply for the job of Postal Inspector. In May 1961, I took the examination and scored about average, 83.8 percent total. The Inspector that tested me said that he would much prefer an average grade. Then he said, "Lord deliver me from all brilliant men." I didn't understand until years later just what he meant. Brilliant people can be a pain in the behind. What helped me most was a score of 96 percent on Interpretation of Instructions, and 90 percent on Arithmetic and Postmasters Accounting. I was placed on a list of eligibles and started a long waiting process for a promotion that would give me a 50% pay increase, followed by several other increases of slightly lesser percentages. It would double my income in three years.

The stress of waiting got to my stomach. I had another ulcer and no grandfather to cure it. The doctor tried anti-acid medication which was totally inadequate but it was the best they had at that time. Two months later, October 16, 1961, I had two thirds of my stomach removed. The doctor said I had 20 year old scar tissue the size of a goose egg. That was from my ulcer at age 8. That surgery made me have a changed attitude toward life. I realized without my good health, I could not support my family. I decided that good health was my first priority. I didn't take anymore nagging from my wife and developed a different attitude toward my fellow workers. These changes no doubt delayed my promotion until April 5, 1963. By that time I was so bored with sorting mail that I swore to myself that I would never return to being a clerk, no matter what I had to do.

After six months of strenuous training, I completed my probationary period and was fully accepted as a Postal Inspector. We moved to Jasper, Alabama for my first year. I had to buy a home there because none were for rent. I bought it without Lynn ever seeing it. That was a big mistake. She hated it, and Jasper. Well, she hated most everything. Then a year later we moved to Mobile, AL for the next four years. We searched for a place to live for two days. Then late that second day I pulled into a public park, got out and went over to a picnic table. The rest of the family gathered around. I explained to them that we had to find a place to live and be quick about it. None were going to be perfect, but one would have to do. I cried as a result of my desperation. Then and there, I decided that somehow I was going to have to get out of this marriage. Nothing could satisfy Lynn and she would not listen to reason or accept professional help.

Three years later, after we rented a house, bought a house, rented another house, and built a house, I was no longer capable of pretending to be her husband. I sought comfort and solace from another woman. That too was a bad mistake. My affair was discovered and I was disciplined by being reassigned to another location. I was told that Postal Inspectors were not permitted to get divorces. To be able to support my family, I decided that I would live with Lynn until the children were grown. Then I would leave her and the Postal Service.

My reassignment was to Greenville, Mississippi for a year. Again, Lynn was not satisfied with our new home. Gwen, Debbie, and I managed to get Lynn and Linda interested in going to Church. They, Lynn and Linda, were baptized in the Southside Baptist Church. I thought things would be much better. But, the religious conversion, if it ever took place, didn't help. Lynn was dissatisfied with our home. We sold it and rented a house until I could request and get a transfer to Alexandria, LA, close to the place of our birth. We stayed in Alexandria all of 1970 and half of 1971. Gwen and Debbie graduated High School and promptly got married. Well, they spent about half a semester at LSUA before dropping out.

In 1971, I moved my wife and Linda to Baton Rouge to accept my first real promotion as an Inspector. There had been others but they did not change my job description. This was a full time criminal investigators assignment. No more inspecting Post Offices, or surveying rural routes for additions, consolidations, or extensions. No more investigations of employees for non-criminal offenses, accidents, immoral activities, back ground investigations on Postmaster applicants, or installing Postmasters, etc.

When I took over this new job, there were 812 checks per year being stolen from the mail, forged and cashed in Baton Rouge. Within three years, I had reduced that to 350 checks per year. I worked closely with the Police detectives, U.S. Secret Service, and Deputy Sheriff's investigators to put most of the thieves in jail. That got me another promotion without having to change my job description. Within a year, my Post Office burglaries and robberies had been cut by 50 percent. The Inspector in Charge decided to promote me to Memphis Tennessee Headquarters to a job I had coveted for 10 years or more. The job was Division Criminal Projects Coordinator. I would be responsible for training and leading other Inspectors in criminal investigation throughout the Division (Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Shelby County Tennessee). This was a level 24 position. I had worked my way up from a level 4 clerk.

There was only one problem here. I had decided to divorce my wife. We had separated two previous times - in 1955 and 1968. But both times I just couldn't leave my children. Now, the children were adults and gone from home. Linda had run away several times and finally she got old enough that I could not bring her back. I made my situation and these intentions known to the boss. I was quite surprised that he approved my promotion anyway. Things had changed in the Postal Inspection Service since 1968 and I had not been informed. Apparently, divorce was acceptable now. But, he withheld my promotion until my separation was declared "legal" by the courts in Baton Rouge. That took from January until April 1975. Then I moved to Memphis, alone.

My boss, Neil Benson, promptly got promoted from Inspector in Charge to Regional Chief Inspector. His replacement, Hugh Carter, was not a man of my liking. We just couldn't see eye to eye on anything. He was the only superior with whom I ever had that difficulty. I struggled for a year and a half but then gave up that level and went back to a level 23 job, heading up the office of Inspectors in New Orleans, LA. I still had the same boss, but he was a long ways away. I got married and settled in to enjoy New Orleans. But, he kept disagreeing with most of my decisions until 1978 when I requested reassignment to a non-criminal work assignment, level 23. This was called an Audit Assignment.

Hugh Carter thought for sure he had me where he could get rid of me. But, he didn't know that I excelled in non-criminal work as much as in criminal investigations. He soon realized that he had "thrown brer-rabbit in the briar patch." After that he slowly got off my back and let me produce numerous savings in man-hours and other expenses for the Postal Service. I was a traveling Auditor of Post Offices. I flew out of New Orleans to all points in the Southern Region, which encompassed all of the states that had formerly comprised the Confederate States of America. My savings to the Postal Service would equal my retirement pay for 30 years, after April 15, 1983. I have now been retired 16 years. If I can make it another 14 years, I'll will have collected what I was worth to the Post Office those last 5 years that I worked. My pay when I started in 1957 was $1.82 an hour, or $3,669 per year. When I retired April 15, 1983, my salary was $43,781 per year. My retirement pay was 69 percent of my high three year average, or $26,910 per year with Cost Of Living Allowances annually. I could live on that and at age 50, I could still find other work.

In the midst of that last five years of work, I realized that my second marriage wasn't going to work out. As a matter of fact, I realized that fact the day of my second wedding. We had lived together in a trial marriage for sometime and everything was great. But, the day of the wedding things turned sour. It went from bad to worse. I divorced Susan by establishing residence in Little Rock, Arkansas and filing for a quickie divorce. There would be no more of those long drawn out divorce cases for me, like that first one, which took 3 months to get a legal separation, then a year of waiting in that status, then another 3 months to get my request for a final divorce decree before a judge. A year and a half in all. The Arkansas divorce took only three months from the day I established residence to the final decree.

While traveling out of New Orleans weekly to various points, I was assigned to an audit that would require three months of work at the Jacksonville, Florida Bulk Mail Center. The plan was to fly back and forth weekly, but my work took a different turn. I met Verna and immediately fell in love. I didn't go back to New Orleans on weekends after that. By the time the assignment in Jacksonville was over, we were committed. Verna quit her job and started traveling with me. We traveled by car and stayed at my temporary duty stations on weekends. I went back to New Orleans only when absolutely necessary. We were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1981. We spent the next year and a half on our government subsidized honeymoon. I was drawing expenses for my travel and our only living expenses were Verna's meals and a little entertainment now and then. We have been best buddies ever since.

When I retired, we moved our few possessions to my boyhood home in Montgomery, La. After a few months, we decided to stay and build a home. We built across the Highway, from the old home place of my parents, on a 30 acre estate. I planted 1,000 Christmas trees and promptly lost 500 of them. I didn't keep the roots damp until I got them under ground. I lived and learned. The next year, I got most of the 1,000 trees to live. By the third year, I had decided to quit planting as I had gotten a little job driving a School Bus. That would be enough to keep me busy. But, I kept pruning and pampering the Christmas trees until they were five years old. Then I was able to sell them for about $25 each.

We were members of First Baptist Church at Montgomery, the church where I was saved in 1942. They needed a Treasurer, and I knew accounting, so I volunteered. That got me into various committees where I had influence upon the business of the church. I couldn't help much winning souls for Christ but I could help this way. The pastor taught me to use a Word Processor. I was a good typist but had never tried my hand at the new High Tech equipment. Later, I bought a Word Processor which whetted my appetite for a computer just as they were coming into their popular role in our lives. Now, you are reading the result of that venture.

We made enough money on Christmas trees to buy the first luxury car either of us had ever owned, a 1988 Cadillac Sedan Deville. We toured the West in it - Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico, The Petrified Forest in Arizona, Grand Canyon, Red Canyon in Utah, Yellowstone National Park, Sheridan, Wyoming, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, St. Joseph, Missouri (home of the Pony Express and Jessie James), and finally Branson, Missouri for some good old Ozark Mountain music. Since we had made a circle around Colorado without seeing it, we returned there the following year and saw the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and went up on Pikes Peak. We returned home by the way of Dodge City, Kansas and watched an old west shoot out that was staged for the tourists. Then we visited my fourth cousin Jack Smith in Weatherford, Oklahoma, and a former Postal Inspector, Les Dickerson and his wife at Leonard, Texas.

After ten years of the country life, Verna and I decided to move to Jacksonville, Florida and be close to her family for awhile. I fell in love with the weather here, as well as the way of life. We found a wonderful Church and became active members, of Deermeadows Baptist Church. We joined the Live Wires which is a group of senior members who have lots of social activities to keep us from being bored in our old days. I became the Tour Coordinator, planning all the trips we take. I wanted to put down some roots and spend the rest of my life here. It was a long way from my children who lived in Shreveport, LA and Conway, AR. But, like my daddy use to say, "Son you just can't get all the coons up the same tree." He was a hunter of raccoons in his younger days.

More About Billy Robert Wilson:
Baptism: July 1942, McCain Bridge Swimming Hole
Census: Bet. 1940 - 1950, Montgomery, Grant Parish, LA
Education: 1951, Montgomery High School
Medical Information: Plagued with stomach disorders from age 8 until his old age. Wore glasses after age 25. Inherited mothers respiratory disorders and fathers bad teeth. Wore dentures after age 25. Hypothyroid at age 63
Military service: Bet. 1951 - 1958, US Navy & US Naval Reserve
Occupation: Bet. 1957 - 1983, Railway Mail Clerk, Post Office Clerk, Postal Inspector
Religion: June 1942, Baptist
Residence: January 1993, 11048 Reading Road, Jacksonville, FL
Retirement: April 15, 1983, US Postal Inspector, New Orleans, LA

Marriage Notes for Billy Wilson and Marilyn Cargle:
Marilyn and Billy were married by Reverend M.B. Atkins in the Parsonage next door to Robeline Road Baptist Church in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Rev. Atkins had previously been Pastor of the First Baptist Church at Montgomery, La. which Billy joined in 1942.

Lewis Thompson was best man and Bobbie Jean Barnes was bridesmaid. She was Marilyn's best friend. Lewis was Billy's best friend.

The two day honeymoon was in a cabin at Nakatosh Courts on Grande Ecore Road in Natchitoches, La. At the end of the honeymoon, Billy left to return to his duty station at the U.S. Navy Destroyer Base, San Diego, California. Marilyn had to stay in Louisiana until her first allotment check arrived. Then she joined Billy, on October 16, 1951, in San Diego. They made their first home in an upstairs two-room apartment in the home of Mr. Canutt at 555 D Street, Chula Vista, California.

On October 31, 1951 their family began to increase and hasn't stopped yet.

Marriage Notes for Billy Wilson and Susan Henshaw:
The relationship between Billy and Susan began as a "living together trial marriage." This seemed to be going well and they were married at the Court House of Jefferson Parish in Gretna, Louisiana. Billy could tell when they left the Court House that a change had come over Susan. She no longer seemed to have a desire to please. She began to stop the pretense that she had put forth during their trial marriage. Consequently, the relationship faltered and grew more estranged as time passed. Five years later, the marriage collapsed.

Marriage Notes for Billy Wilson and Verna Shaw:
Verna and Billy were married at the home of Billy's brother, Richard, in Boyce, Louisiana on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1981. Both have been thankful every year since. They get to celebrate two wedding anniversaries, most years. Once on November 26 and once on Thanksgiving Day.

Richard's daughter, Martha, played the wedding march on their piano. She and her mother, Freda, prepared and served the reception treats there in their home. Billy's daughter, Debbie, had a friend who was good at photography. He recorded the event on film. Photographs of this event are in the wedding scrapbook which is a part of this file.

Billy's mother had never attended any of her son's weddings. But this time, she was 85 years old and served as bridesmaid. Richard served as best man. The wedding was performed by a Justice of the Peace.

Ten years later, Verna and Billy were remarried in the First Baptist Church at Montgomery, Louisiana by Reverend Rick Henson, their pastor and good friend. This gave that little something extra to the marriage that only God can provide, a Sacred Vow.

Children of Billy Wilson and Marilyn Cargle are:

		i.		Gwendolyn Sue Wilson, born July 31, 1952 in San Diego, California; married (1) William Brodnax June 25, 1971 in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana; married (2) Olan Hodge 1983 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
		ii.		Deborah Gail Wilson, born August 24, 1953 in Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana; married (1) Tom Hutto in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana; married (2) Michael Leach 1981 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
		iii.		Linda Faye Wilson, born October 29, 1955 in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana; married (2) Zee Kelly 1986 in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

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