By Danny McCarthy
Southold Bayview resident Wayland Jefferson was born on February 17, 1884. It’s terrific to note that Wayland Jefferson was raised right here in Southold. He and his brother Cephas were students of the Bayview School that was on the corner of Jacob’s Lane and Main Bayview Road in Southold. (That school was entered on the Southold Historical Society Museum Grounds in 1990 during Southold’s 350th !)
He always loved writing. And as a matter of fact, Mr. Jefferson started writing as a young student. He got definite charm learning about local history. Peconic attorney Jesse Lewis Case influenced Wayland Jefferson in getting his drive for enjoying local history.
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Wayland Jefferson was Southold’s first official historian in the years that included 1931 through 1961. “It’s relative to note” that Wayland Jefferson was African-American. Mr. Jefferson was a Columbia University student who earned a Master’s degree. He authored, among others, Southold and Its People in Revolutionary Days.
One of his other publications was a humorous newspaper titled The Old Filibuster that he and a group of friends while in their teens and even in later years pursued composing. Mr. Jefferson was also rumored to have been a drama critic in Manhattan. He gave talks to school children on local history, and also having offered classes for adults, he had many stories printed in The Suffolk Times. (Some of which are printed in the Greenport Yesterday and Today and The Diary of a Country Newspaper volume by Elsie Knapp Corwin in collaboration with her husband Frederick Langton Corwin. That volume is available from the Southold Historical Museum.) -https://www.southoldhistorical...
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Wayland Jefferson also is renowned for his Cutchogue, Southold’s First Colony. That volume too is available from the Southold Historical Museum.
It is rumored that he did not earn a salary until 1960 for being Southold Town Historian!
He married twice. Wayland Jefferson died of cancer in December 1961. He is buried in the Southold First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
His successor, Florence Kramer, was appointed Southold Town Historian on February 6, 1962.
It’s a true pleasure going “way back” in time to pay tribute to Wayland Jefferson. As a matter of fact, he was nicknamed “Wayback” {plus “Jeff”}.
HERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT ARE DEFINITELY NOT THAT FAR FROM A MISSING LINK{S}!:
Southold And Its People In The Revolutionary Days:
Here's a link from the findagrave.com website:
https://www.findagrave.com/mem...
Definitely friendly, theatrically, artistically, and historically speaking,
Danny McCarthy
