Letter From England

The Wisharts and Wilsons are my Scottish ancestors. My maternal grandmother was Elsie Wishart, referenced in the first paragraph.

I've been recommended to get in touch with you by Lisa, who has a similar family tree on the Wisharts to yours, as she informs me you are related to Elsie Wishart (b. 1886). I'm researching Jessie Wishart (b. 1881) as part of a project I've been doing for a few years about famous swimmers of the 19th and early 20th century. Both the Wishart and Wilson families were famed in swimming circles in Scotland - I've made a brief note about them below:

William L Wishart (b. 1852) was a a noted prize swimmer - his position as Baths Superintendent etc. ran alongside his career as a cabinet maker, and this is why it has the appearance of career changes; in fact by 1878 he was Hon. Secretary of the West of Scotland Swimming Club, and organised swimming galas as well as donating trophies for competition. It was quite normal for a professional swimmer or swimming instructor to have another career, as the baths were generally closed for the winter months and income from swimming dwindled. A couple of leading English professional swimmers were pianoforte tuners, and one world champion ran his own painting and decorating business, for example. At various times, therefore, they would list their profession as either the swimming-related one, or the other one. But William was first and foremost a swimmer, however good a cabinet maker he was!

The whole family, indeed, appear to have been good at swimming - as one might expect given their parents' prowess. Catherine McKinnon Wishart was also a swimming teacher from the 1901 Census as you'll have noted. Glasgow's School Board also gave decent swimming tuition to its pupils during this period, which was not the case throughout Britain - some towns taking the matter of teaching its young to swim more seriously than others. So these things converged to make the Wishart children well-placed to shine at swimming.

William Lindsay Wishart junior (b. 1880) swam for Glasgow South Side S.C. and represented them in the 1898 Scottish Life-Saving Competition; he also swam for Glasgow Amateur S.C. in the 1908 Scottish Team Championship, and played water polo. In 1904 he was Hon. Secretary of the Scottish branch of the Life-Saving Society, so was also a prominent official. In 1900 he took part in the Scottish Graceful Swimming Championship - I suspect he took part in other Scottish championships I've yet to research - for he has not been my main focus.

Janie Wishart (b. 1884), as she was known when swimming, also swam for Glasgow's South-Side S.C., and in 1910 swam 3rd in a handicap race in which her sister, Annie, took part. Elsie also swam in such competitions - the handicaps in Glasgow were generally over 50yds (typically two lengths of the baths).

Ina Wishart (Catherine b. 1888) was entered for the 1907 Scottish Ladies' Championship - I'm not yet sure if she in fact swam in the event, but she wasn't placed in the first three if she did so. I'll keep looking for more info on this event.

Annie (b. 1893) swam second to her sister, Janie, in a 1910 handicap; and in 1908 at Whitevale Baths, Glasgow, she won a 50yds handicap race, receiving an 8sec start from the reigning Scottish lady champion.

But the star swimmer in the family was Jessie Wishart (b. 1881) - she was the Scottish champion (the race was over 200yds) in 1901 and 1902, and 200yds Scottish record holder in the latter year, and was one of the first great Scottish lady swimmers.

The family's fame doesn't end there, however. Catherine's brothers were also famous: Robert Wilson was Scotland's half-mile champion 1876, 79, and '80 (when his brother, William officiated as starter for the race), winning the trophy outright for his third win, and simultaneously finishing the championship until it was revived in the 1890s. He was in charge at Glasgow's Townhead Baths in 1878.

William Wilson, Scottish Graceful Swimming Champion, was in charge of the Victoria Baths, Glasgow, in 1878, and clearly both the Wilsons and Wisharts would have known each other well. His wife taught the girls' of Glasgow to swim and was herself well-known. William is in the International Swimming Hall of Fame as the man who originated water polo, wrote seminal books on swimming, and invented the Life-Saving Society drills which were practised around the world - by this he must have saved thousands of lives - and has his own Wiki page!

I'll keep trying to find out what happened to Jessie, and hopefully one day get a photo of her for my project. I've researched hundreds of prominent swimmers of the period, and contacted many families, so I probably have as good an idea as anyone about the life and times of the Victorian and Edwardian swimmer - if you have anything you feel you'd like to ask, please feel free. I have quite a bit of info about the Wilson and Wisharts swimming I can share but am out of space here.

I'm based in Epsom, Surrey, England...

Regards,
Kevin McCarthy"

Weekending Happily

So Aidan found a car with the help of his friend who knows about cars and his girlfriend. He bought it, and he got an insurance policy. This feels like one of those growing up moments for him. Cars are definitely cheaper in Missoula than out here.

Dylan's still searching for a job; no luck so far. he is reading tons of books, including Faulkner's Light in August, which has always been among my favorite American novels. It can be a tough read, but captures much of what life was like in the South 83 years ago.

Julia turns 17 soon. We are planning a family dinner or lunch up in Napa to celebrate. She seems to be loving her life up there, texting me today that she was going out for coffee with a friend.

At work, the online news group I supervise is thriving. Traffic is strong and many of the stories we produce are significant in the sense that most other media outlets around here don't cover them.

It's the weekend -- a time for me to breathe and sleep in a bit. Irony is I usually wake up early on days I don't have to. I wonder why that is?

At this hour, the boys are playing video games via their xboxes here and there. I'm watching baseball, even though my team is out of it.  The final four teams in the race for the World Series include one in New York (the Mets), Toronto (the Blue Jays), Chicago (the Cubs!), and New York (the Mets!)

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Political Question

Hillary Clinton won tonight's debate, hands down. Carly Fiorina won the recent GOP debate. Could we be facing the first election where a woman will definitely be elected President net year?

Sunday Matters

Long conference call with my 21-year-old and his mother today as we try to help him navigate the treacherous waters of incurring debt while at college. I've worked with him the past few years to try and prepare him to handle these matters on his own.

Sometimes, for all parents, it feels like the deck is stacked against our kids. The loan system itself is extremely opaque. You cannot easily tell which loan is for which kid, how much the interest rate is, and when what is due.

In other words, it is a racket. Of that I am sure.

But we are slowly and methodically figuring it all out. The basic point here is he, and all of our kids,  will need these skills going forward.

He also is trying to buy his first car. Out there in Missoula, that would improve his lifestyle immensely. So we talked about Consumer Reports and Kelly Blue Book. But his greatest asset locally may be his friend Johnny, who knows about cars.

He is also talking about moving into an apartment next semester with his girlfriend. It would be university-based housing.

Ah...You know, when it comes to your kids as they reach these ages and stages, all you can do is sit back and hope for the best.

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