1902-Unknown
Adelaide Wilson was raised in Newark and worked as a reporter, as early as 1920, when she lived on Hawthorne Avenue. In 1921 and 1922 she hiked 10,000 miles to San Francisco & back. She became engaged to a rancher in Denver and worked with movie star Dorothy Dalton, among other adventures.
As a reporter Adelaide wrote for papers including the Newark News and Bayonne Times. In 1924 she is credited as the Women’s Page editor in the Bayonne Times. She also worked as a Society Editor for the Newark Ledger in the 1930s.
In 1927, she was still listed in the Newark city directory as a journalist at 208 Goldsmith Ave.
In 1928 she married Samuel Kaufman in Yonkers, but a 1934 article where she spoke about women and careers stated she wass still known professionally as “Adelaide Wilson”.
In 1935, she participated in the Newark Newspaper Guild strike and wrote a letter which was published in the Sunday Call.
That same year she became field secretary of the NJ Birth Control League, advocating for a birth control clinic in Hudson County.
Adelaide also advocated for a shopper’s league for “social justice for both the manufacturer and consumer” and for women to boycott sweatshop products.
There is a record of an Adelaide and Samuel Kaufman divorcing in Florida in 1944. There is an Adelaide Wilson, “Separated” working as a house worker in East Orange on the 1950 census.
Bibliography
“Packed with More Perils Than a Movie New Jersey Girls 10,000 Mile Hike” The Evening World Oct 24, 1922
“New Jersey Girl Finds Many Thrills in West” Bridgeport Telegram Nov 7, 1922
“Go West Flappers” Buffalo Times Nov 23, 1922
“Back from Round Trip to the Coast” Newark News Jul 11, 1922
“For Strike Inquiry” Newark News Jul 19, 1935
“Newark Girl Turns Wild and Wooly West Into Hobohemia” Sunday Call Oct 15, 1922
“Flying Squadron Team Captures Man Who Attacks Young Woman” Newark News Feb 18, 1921
“Three Newark Girls and One From Brooklyn Arrive in Denver on Hike Across Continent” Newark News Aug 2, 1921
1920 US Census, 1940 US Census, 1950 US Census
Wilson, Adelaide F. “Newark Girl Spends Night At Scene of Hall Mills Murder” Newark Sunday Call Jan 28, 1923
Wilson, Adelaide F., “School Pupils Will Take Part in Music Week” Bayonne Times May 1, 1925
Dec 23, 1924 Bayonne Times, Women’s Page
“To Be Speaker” Jersey Journal May 25, 1934
NY Marriage Index
“Plan Birth Control Clinic for Hudson Co.” Jersey Journal Aug 8, 1935
“Principles of Shoppers League Are Explained” Jersey Journal Nov 21, 1936
Florida Divorce Index
“Before and After the Guild Strike” Sunday Call Jan 20, 1935
“All Around Essex” Sunday Call Dec 2, 1934
“Urge Women to Boycott Sweat Shop Products” Newark News Apr 4, 1936