• General Notes

  Emmitt and Millie divorced in 1961.
  Emmitt had an acute eye problem and suffered from a lung disorder.
  
  This story was written by his son, Richard A . (Rick) Wilkin:
  Emmitt Richard Wilkin was born November 16. 1911 in Highland County, Ohio on a farm operated by his father, Henry Richard Wilkin. He was the first of two sons and the second child that was born to this marriage of Henry Richard and Lola May Cadwallader Wilkin.
  
  One of Lola's older brothers, Ira, had married one of Henry's older sisters which seemed to be the way things went in families of the Period.
  
  Emmitt graduated from High School in New Vienna in 1931 and was farming with his father on a farm near Mt. Sterling, Ohio.
  
  In 1934, Emmitt married Millie Mabel Hunt in New Vienna. He and Millie set up housekeeping on a farm belonging to his Aunt Eli located between Danville and New Market south and west of Hillsboro, Ohio.
  
  Shortly after their first child Betty Louise Wilkin, was born, they moved to Licking County, Ohio. There on a farm rented from Mrs. Montgomery of Newark, Ohio near the village of Toboso, in Licking County, along the Cicking River and on the Old Railroad Tracks for the BO, they remained for several years. This farm was also located near a very famous landmark called "Black Hand Gorge". Emmitt became friends with a man named Guy Shrider, who was involved with the oil wells that were on the Montgomery farm and struck a deal with him to rent and operate his farm just 2 miles south of the Village of Homer, Ohio. This farm was still located in Licking County and was situated on the Lake Fork Creek, that divided the farm horizontally from the east to the west. Emmitt remained on this farm until the winter of 1969 when he retired from farming.
  
  Emmitt, like his grandfathers and father before him, was a very successful farmer. He was very strict about hard work and always challenged to be the best at farming. He was a very religious man and shared that with his family. He was always the first to work his ground and the first in the area to plant. He always seemed to be the first one to finish and then was off doing custom work for other farmers in the area that depended on him for their work to get accomplished also. He would put his hay in the barns before anyone could and then was off to bale the rest of the farms in the area it seemed. He always kept his farm and equipment in top notch order and was always ready to work when required.
  
  In the middle of his adult life Emmitt went to Welding School in Cleveland, Ohio. When he returned to the farm with his new skills he started making farm wagons as he could not buy any to his specifications at any of the farm supply outlets in all of Ohio. So he went to salvage yards throughout the area and purchased used heavy auto parts from the steering devices of Buick, Cadillac, or from used trucks. He then purchased steel I-beams and H-iron and constructed the wagon chassis from scrap. His wagons were soon in hot demand and through the winter months when the farming was at a standstill, he soon was making more from building wagons and selling them to others than the farm was making at the time. It was a supplement to the family income and he did well with it. Finally one day New Holland Company came to the farm to see this new kind of wagon that they had been hearing about and bought the designs that he had for his wagon. These wagons could be turning around in the barnyard so short that one back wheel would almost pivot. Another great feature was that these wagons travel down the roadways being pulled by a pickup and never wander like the manufactured farm wagons of that era. Two could be connected together and pulled at highway speeds without swerving from side to side and out of line with one another.
  
  Emmitt always was looking for ways to improve on his farming and his prize Yorkshire hogs were always the talk of the area, also his prime herds of Hereford Cattle were always a topic of discussion because many people could smell the feed lot well before they ever got to the house along the road. In about 1963 he sold the last of the livestock that was on the farm and went to farming crops from fencerow to fencerow. He planted the whole farm except for the 30 or so acres of woods that was on the place. He let the crops be sold instead of feeding it all and having to grind the feed for all the livestock as in the past. He was very successful at this and the rest of his farming life this is the way that he farmed.
  
  Throughout his life Emmitt had been very active with the Church of Christ in Utica and had held several positions such as Deacon and Elder. He had at the same time served as President of the Licking County Farm Bureau and member of the council; as Master of the Licking Valley Grange and several offices thereof; he attended State and National Conventions as a delegate; had been on at least one trip to represent local farmers to the Secretary of Agriculture and Congress in Washington, D. C.
  
  All through Emmitt's life he was an avid hunter and really enjoyed hunting deer on the farm in Licking County. He really enjoyed hunting with his sons and in later years looked forward to those times very much. He had a passion for communicating with his CB radio and had it on most of the time except when he was listening to the gospel music or watching/taping those or wildlife programs. He did not watch TV much except for those programs. Emmitt had an acute problem with his eyes and kept the house quite dark and always wore dark glasses outside. According to his eye doctors this condition could have been caused by snow blindness he had suffered while on a hunting trip to West Virginia, the dust from the farm, or the welding that he had done for years. Whatever the cause he suffered with it for many years and was not able to enjoy a lot of Events or even watch TV much as his eyes would blink hard and constant and he was always having to put drops into his eyes to get by much at all.
  
  He discovered late in his life that he really enjoyed going to places like the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. He agreed to go on several trips with his son Richard and his family and surprised himself at how much he had missed of this country.
  
  Emmitt and Millie had gotten a divorce in 1961. Millie and the Twins then in their teens moved to Croton, Ohio. Emmitt remained alone on the farm until he quit farming in 1969 when he sold all of his equipment and moved to 121 Waterworks Road which was his residence until September of 1992. He sold his house in August of 1992, then on Labor Day weekend Emmitt drove to Pueblo West, Colorado to join his youngest son Richard and his wife there.
  
  Emmitt's son Richard, had relocated his belongings and furnishings to Colorado just a week or so earlier. The last of September he purchased a small home in Pueblo West, just a short distance from his son's home.
  
  Just as he was really getting settled into his new home and all the activities for the Seniors in his new town, he had a fatal heart attack and died on his 81st birthday at about 5 AM in the morning. Richard respecting his wishes had Emmitt returned to Newark so that he could be interred at Wilson Cemetery, just two stones south of Lola and Henry, and next to his older sister Loree.
  
  His life was almost always the hard way but it was his way and the Good Lord granted Emmitt his repeated request. He always said, "if the Lord would grant him one request in this life it would be that when my time comes, he would let me just go to bed one night and just not wake up the next morning." On the very day of his 81st birthday the Lord did just that.
  
  Story By Richard Wilkin
  

Details of Emmitt's family with Millie Mable Hunt