A Fortean of tremendous accomplishment, whose life is fully told, except for the parts most relevant to his Forteanism.
Gilson VanderVeer Willets was born in New York City on 19 November 1898. His father, also named Gilson Willets, was an author; in 1904, he exchanged letters with the Fortean founder Booth Tarkington. Willets’ moth was Daisy May VanderVeer, known in the family as Dean. In 1900, the Willets lived with Dean’s father, John Vanderveer, a manufacturer. The New York census from five years later still had the Willets living with Gilson’s maternal grandparents, but now in Bedford, New York. Apparently, they were well off. Gilson recalled that he attended St. Anne’s Academy before moving on to the New York Military Academy, a private institution near West Point.
Gilson would later say that he learned Morse code before he turned ten, which would prove prophetic for his future careers. The timeline of his life does get a bit messy after 1910, though. That year the census had him, aged 11, living with his grandparents, now in New Castle, New York (which is in the same county as Bedford: Westchester.) His father was not with the family at the time. The New York census for 1915 has him living as a lodger in Yonker, attending school. According to one article from a later date (preserved in a clipping file at the San Jose History Museum), he set up a one KW radio station in his room, with the call letters GW. He was tall and strong, 6’3” and 225 pounds. Other articles from the same source have him leaving school and heading out to sea in 1914; one even has him working with the radio pioneer Lee De Forest in that year. A family history on ancestry.com has him marrying in November 1917. I cannot verify that, but it is true that in the 1930 census he put down his age at first marriage as 19, which would track.
Gilson VanderVeer Willets was born in New York City on 19 November 1898. His father, also named Gilson Willets, was an author; in 1904, he exchanged letters with the Fortean founder Booth Tarkington. Willets’ moth was Daisy May VanderVeer, known in the family as Dean. In 1900, the Willets lived with Dean’s father, John Vanderveer, a manufacturer. The New York census from five years later still had the Willets living with Gilson’s maternal grandparents, but now in Bedford, New York. Apparently, they were well off. Gilson recalled that he attended St. Anne’s Academy before moving on to the New York Military Academy, a private institution near West Point.
Gilson would later say that he learned Morse code before he turned ten, which would prove prophetic for his future careers. The timeline of his life does get a bit messy after 1910, though. That year the census had him, aged 11, living with his grandparents, now in New Castle, New York (which is in the same county as Bedford: Westchester.) His father was not with the family at the time. The New York census for 1915 has him living as a lodger in Yonker, attending school. According to one article from a later date (preserved in a clipping file at the San Jose History Museum), he set up a one KW radio station in his room, with the call letters GW. He was tall and strong, 6’3” and 225 pounds. Other articles from the same source have him leaving school and heading out to sea in 1914; one even has him working with the radio pioneer Lee De Forest in that year. A family history on ancestry.com has him marrying in November 1917. I cannot verify that, but it is true that in the 1930 census he put down his age at first marriage as 19, which would track.