The Standard Holiday Family of Columbus, Ohio:Information about Frank Cornelious Wilson
Frank Cornelious Wilson (b. September 3, 1896, d. September 16, 1982)
Notes for Frank Cornelious Wilson:These notes are taken from a photocopied "newspaper" article, titled "Too Long To Remember", headlined " 'Cotton Candy Man' spins tales of his days with gay carnival". Supplied by Franks daughter Elizabeth.
Frank Wilson went to work with a carnival when he was about 13. His mother had died when he was 9 and he saw little future in the wages a farm boy earned in those days (1910?).
He said his new "wealth" was not a good thing. Instead of 60 cents a day, he was earning sometimes as much as $90 a week. But "And I'd be broke pay day" he said, "thats no good for a kid".
Frank recalled the family who gave him his first carny job as "the finest folks in the world". "They treated me just like I belonged in the family" he remembered. "I'd always been taught, 'carnival people are sorry people", he said, "but show people are just like all people. There's good and there's bad."
His first job was taking tickets and "selling popcorn and peanuts in the buzzard roost."
At the time of this article he said "there weren't hardly any cotton candy machines outside of circuses then" when he started. He currently operated 3 cotton candy stands, 2 snow cone stands, and 2 popcorn stands in the Sweetwater Coliseum. In addition, he had 2 Kotton Kandy wagons.
Frank said he'd worked at it "too long to remember". "They tell me at Hale Center that I've been coming there 25 years and I started coming to Olton just a few years later" said the veteran concessionaire.
Big towns and little towns - California to Florida - in just about every state in the U.S., Frank has spun cotton candy.
The article contains more stories on his cotton candy stand.
Elizabeth DaGraf lists him as a WW I veteran on his family group record.
More About Frank Cornelious Wilson:
Census: 1930, Fisher Co., Texas.
More About Frank Cornelious Wilson and Maudie May Lewis:
Marriage: August 28, 1918, Henderson County, Texas.
Children of Frank Cornelious Wilson and Maudie May Lewis are:
- Alton Belton Wilson, b. December 30, 1919, Texas, d. February 11, 1944, Italy.
- Wilmer Dayton Wilson.
- +Ollie May Wilson, b. January 23, 1923, Trent, Texas, d. November 14, 1970, Columbus, Ohio.
- Calvin Frank Wilson.
- Devirl Ray Wilson, b. August 29, 1926, Trent, Texas, d. February 2, 1980, Louisiana.
- Elizabeth Fay Wilson.
- Wanda Nell Wilson, b. September 28, 1933, Trent, Texas, d. June 3, 1935, Trent, Texas.