Mrs. Wilkes' Boardinghouse Cookbook Recipes and Recollections from Her Savannah Table by Sema Wilkes; John T. Edge; Mrs. Wilkes Boardinghouse (Restaurant) ISBN 13: 9781580082570

SEMA WILKES was born in 1907 to Georgia farmers who grew tobacco, cured hams, smoked sausages, and otherwise worked hard to get by. As the oldest of four children, all orphaned, she learned to cook out of necessity. Married at 16, a mother at 21, relocated to Savannah in the name of the war effort at 35, Sema went to work at Mrs. Dixon’s Boardinghouse. Three years later, in 1943, she took over the boardinghouse and began building what would become her legacy. She lives in Savannah, Georgia, and still works at the boardinghouse every day.