This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hc.2ADE/803 Message Board Post: I'm not related to this family, but found this article from the Paulding New Era, 14 Nov 1884. Hope it helps someone out. Good reading too! A Romance from Acworth. The Return of a Long Lost Husband after an Absence of Thirty-Three years. Atlanta Consitution. Acworth, Ga., Oct 20, 1884. The arrival of a strange gentleman in this village early last week, and the developments consequent thereon, has furnished such a sensation as has never been felt here before. A way back in 1849, while the gold excitement in California was at its height among the most brawny young miners in north Georgia was Mr. H. W. Wilson. In the town of Nuckellsville, which was at that time a town of great commercial importance, it being the trading point of north Georgia miners. Wilson was looked at as one of the bravest of a desperate ___ of them. But the bright eyes of the winsome daughter of a brother exerted a gentle influence upon him. The lady was one of the few in a rough mining town; and as a result had admirers without number. Wilson, therefore was envied when her decided preference was known for him, and the weddin! g of the couple is still spoken of by old miners who still linger upon the scene as having been one of the most notable incidents of those early times. Although the young husband was envied by all of his associates upon his acquisition, yet there seemed to be a cloud hanging over him. He could not bear to think that his wife reigned so favorably in the wants of others, and although her devotion to him was of the most wifely character, yet the thought that she still reigned the belle of the camp embittered his mind. The year following a child was born, a boy, whose coming was the occasion of great revelry among the neighbors. Dark and moody, Wilson announced to his wife that he was going to California, and that she might never hear from him again. The young mother pressed her babe closer to her bosom, and prayed long and fervently that her husband, whom she loved so dearly. It was the age of uncertain mails and slow coaches so that one or two letters a year was consid! ered marvelous. The letters ceased after a while, and it was only upo n the return of some disappointed Georgia miner that a word could be heard about the absent one. It was stated that he had been unfortunate, that he never spoke of home, and that he would never return to Georgia. These words burned the heart of the young wife as with iron yet she never gave up the hope that her husband would in time relent and return to her. The little boy, who was growing up, was remarkably like his father. Thus years passed away, until eleven years had fled, then the war cut the country in two, and all communication was stopped. Even the horrors of the war seemed to bring joy to the abandoned wife. She fondly indulged the hope that her husband might return in one of the western regiments. When Sherman was burning his way from Chatanooga to Atlanta, and the ladies along the way were fleeing to places of refuge, Mrs. Wilson stood at her place in Acworth. As regiment after regiment passé by she stood with her boy closely seeing the faces of the ! boys in blue, to erect, if possible the feature of the one she loved. It was only when the last regiment had passed on its way south, and the last camp-follower had gone on its way, that her heart sank and she bowed her head in submission to the inevitable. It must not be supposed that one who had so many admirers wore without offers of marriage. They urged him to procure a divorce from an unworthy husband; when news of his existence failed to come they urged that he was dead, but to no purpose. When the war was over, and it had been fifteen years since the departure of her husband, one of the most favored of her old lovers sought her hand. She declined. One day reading a western paper in the Litchfield house, he over saw an item which greatly agitated him. Eagerly rushing with the paper to the fence of Mrs. Wilson he let her read the item for herself that her husband was dead and buried. Then she agreed to become the wife of one who had for years befriended her whi! le she was deserted by the man from whom she had the right to expect p rotection. Three years ago she died and was buried in a little graveyard a few miles out, where her second husband erected a modest monument to her memory. Last week the early morning train brought a gentleman of about sixty years of age. He registered at the Litchfield house as R.W. Wilson. He found that Mr. Litchfield was dead. He then began a enquiring of other citizens, but as he would recall their names he would be told that they had been buried ten, twenty, thirty years and others had never been heard of by the present inhabitants. He hired a carriage to drive out into the country to seek some one who belonged to the era of 1850 Passim, by the plantation of Captain O’Neal, he saw a young man engaged in picking cotton, whose appearance strangely impressed him. Calling the young man to the fence he scanned him closely, and in reply to the question as to his name responded reality: “Wilson, Sir.” “Where is your father?” � 80�He ran away to California 33 ! years ago.” With tears rushing to his eyes the stranger declared himself to the young man as his father. Young Mr. Wilson took his new found father and introduced him to his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Then the old times were gone over. Mr. Wilson had at first met with reverses, and it was not until the bonanza excitement of ten years ago that he had laid the foundation of his fortune. Since that time he had been accumulating until now he is a millionaire. The approach of the World’s Exposition at New Orleans revived the desire in his breast to revisit the old scenes, and make up the quarrel in a generous__g__ (note: very faint)___with his wi___the governor of California hearing of his intended visit appointed him commissioner for that state to the centennial. He was there for the purpose of taking his family to California where he should make amends for past neglect. In company with his ! son’s family, visited the grave of his wife. It was an affec ting sight to see the mound of earth and the penitent husband. He left for New Orleans yesterday, and will return in December and take the family to California with him.