Press Accounts of early Merion

[Mike_Cirba]

Hugh Irvine Wilson was born on November 18, 1879 at Trenton, NJ, the son of William Potter Wilson and Ellen Dickson Wilson.  On October 16, 1905 at Philadelphia,PA Wilson married Mary Warren.  It was one of the social events of the year with Mrs. Grover Cleveland attending the wedding.  The Wilson’s had two daughters, Louise,  born October 25, 1906 and Nancy, born September 6, 1910.  Sadly,  Nancy died not six years later on July 18, 1916.


David,

This is more of a stream of consciousness than anything thought through (so please take it for what it's worth), but a couple of things seem to me to make it unlikely that Wilson travelled in 1910 or spring 1912, or that he travelled alone, or that he sailed commercial.

Hugh Wilson was a Princeton grad, a competitive golfer, and well connected to the highest levels of American and Philadelphia Society.

His livelihood was selling Maritime Insurance, yet other than the 1912 manifest you produced, there is not one single other time in any manifest prior or after that shows him coming back to the US from overseas via a commercial vessel.   That to me seems very, very odd.

The membership of Merion was old Philadelphia money...men of wealth and power who had virtually unlimited means collectively.   

In approximately July of 1909, the club, concerned that their old course is outmoded by the new Haskell ball, and desiring a golf course worthy of their lineage, and wanting to own rather than lease their course (as they had been doing), begin to search for properties and identify land near Haverford College, but the land deal takes some time.   During this time they bring down Charles Macdonald, H.H. Whigham, and H.H. Barker to advise them whether the plot they have their eye on is suitable for the purpose, and they evidently confirm that it is.  In fact, they say it can be as good as Myopia or Garden City.

In mid-November 1910 it is reported that the club has worked out a deal as part of a larger real estate transaction involving 130 acres bought by the club, and 220 acres bought by a land development company, evidently brought in my the members as a "sweetener" to the deal.  The development company's intent is to divide the 220 acres into plots of 10 acres each, on some of which they planned to construct houses and sell them for between 35,000 and $100,000 each.   Others would be sold to private individuals wishing to build their own homes.

So, knowing that the property wasn't obtained until November, 1910, it seems less likely to me that Wilson would have been sent overseas that prior summer, but it's still possible.   

Still, let's see what we know if that were the case;

You have perhaps the world's richest membership, and they decide that favorite son, Princeton grad, and competitive golfer Hugh Wilson should go to study the best courses in Europe.   They decide that talks with Charlie Mac and Whigham have been progressing well about the suitability of the property, so what would they do?

Would they send him solo for 6-7 months, while his wife is back here pregnant?   She delivered in September!

Would they have sent him solo at all, or would such a membership send his whole family for an extended stay/vacation??   Given travel in summer, might they not have put them on a private vessel, much like today's private planes?

However, I think it's more likely that he went in 1911, after his child was born and would have then been about 9 months old.   That makes it slightly more likely that they would have sent him then, but I'd still contend that if Merion was going to send their golden boy to Europe for 6-7 months, or really anything more than a couple of weeks, they almost definitely would have sent his family along with him, probably in somewhat luxurious quarters.

The semi-humorous thing about the viability of the property is that the 125 acres in question really weren't unique or any better than the other million or so acres in the rolling outskirts of undeveloped suburban PHiladelphia at that time...in fact, being intersected by a public road, being no more than a mid-length par four wide at its widest point, and having a big freaking quarry taking up the northeast quadrant of the property would NOT have been thought of as advantages.   One member complained that it was going to take $25,000 to fill in the damn thing! 

It wasn't until Richard Francis had his flash of genius  about aquiring some additional acreage that permitted the 16th hole to be some time later that the whole question of what to do with the quarry was worked out.

Another aside..."Far and Sure", as well as other accounts of the time had Wilson going during the summer, with at least one account saying he was sent particularly because of his health problems.   I doubt that spending the cold, windy rainy spring months in Great Britain as the 1912 manifest suggests would have been very good tonic for what ailed him.

Based on the manifest alone, my comfort level would be 50%.

Based on the other timelines I'm aware of, it would be significantly less.

[Mike_Cirba]

I also find it interesting that "Far and Sure", commenting on the course after it opened in Sept. 1912 states that "many of the pits and traps remain to be built."

He also states, "Ever since golf has been introduced in Phil. the city has been in need of a course such as Merion has produced or should I say, is producing, for the work is still in its early stages."

Also, "Everything indicated careful, intelligent preparation and painstaking development."

Also, "It is too early to attempt an analytical criticism of the various holes for many of them are but rough drafts of the problems, conceived by the construction committeee, headed by Mr. Hugh I. WIlson."

[wsmorrison]

The Haverford Development Company purchased the land including the property currently owned by Merion Golf Club in June 1909.

[TEPaul]

MikeC:

Interesting post there and I'm glad it's a stream of consciousness instead of a number of hours of research.

With some of the ancillary details we know of or are aware of or can have fairly easy access to, we (Wayne and me) could vet a bunch of the things you mentioned there and either create some interest in a line of inquiry or just shut down some others of those lines of inquiry with 100% certainty.

Obviously those 123 agonomy letters we did NOT copy from 1911 could put Wilson in Philadelphia right through 1911.

[DMoriarty]

TEPaul, 

Not sure it is here or elsewhere, but you keep mentioning my ignorance of the Hugh Wilson Essay and the 1916 Alan Wilson letter.   I assure you I am aware of them and will address them in my In My Opinion piece.     We've discussed them to death in the past, so I'd just as soon address them soon enough.

[RJ_Daley]

Just another small point... have you all agreed that the person that originally entered Hugh Wilson on line 1 is not the same person that overwrote the suspected "I"?  From the manner of the construction of the overwritten "I", it would point to the "Inspector PF Morrison" siged on below and the way he made the "I" in the abbrev., "Insp."

[TEPaul]

"TEPaul,  
Not sure it is here or elsewhere, but you keep mentioning my ignorance of the Hugh Wilson Essay and the 1916 Alan Wilson letter.   I assure you I am aware of them and will address them in my In My Opinion piece.     We've discussed them to death in the past, so I'd just as soon address them soon enough."

David:

I don't believe I said anything about your ignorance of the Hugh Wilson report in 1916 or the Alan Wilson report in 1926, I only said I didn't believe you'd ever seen either one in its entirety. I believe very few people have seen them for the simple reason they may've been buried in some attic somewhere for the last 80 years or so.

I did say that when a few parts of them were mentioned on these threads you seemed to either dismiss their relevance or simply not respond when we mentioned them and their relevance. Somebody on here dismissed the relevance of Alan simply because he was Hugh's brother. I can't remember if that was you or someone else on here.

I was only offering to make them available on here in their entirety. Actually with Hugh Wilson's report that isn't necessary because only the first paragraph is relevant to the subject here but Alan's report is relevant to the subject at hand almost in its entirety, in my opinion.

But if you or anyone else thinks they can do some cogent and credible work on this subject without ever analyzing particularly Alan's report in its entirety that's fine by me. I would certainly never try to do that without it and I never have. Nor has Wayne. In our opinion, it is one of the most important and seminal pieces of historic material we're aware of on the 1910-1915 time frame of Merion's creation.

[DMoriarty]

Tom Paul,

The Hugh Wilson essay is printed in one of the seminal works on Agronomy and even available online, so I dont think I need it.   

As for the Alan Wilson letter, I have the two paragraphs you thought relevant enough to post in the past.  If there is more that you have withheld but now want to post,that'd be great, but I'll probably look at it later, because I am trying not to delay the In My Opinion any further. 

As for the letter's importance, I am sure lots of information will come out shortly that will contradict my essay, but then that is what critical review is supposed to be about.   

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike Cirba:  you're suggesting that the members of Merion would have put a pregnant woman on a ship?

As an alternative to having her stay at home while her hubby galavants around Europe for 6-7 months, absolutely!   

You might as well ask if you'd send a pregnant woman on a cruise today.   

Of course, If you read carefully what I wrote, I state that it's more likely they were sent in 1911, not 1910, but that's PURE, unadultered speculation....

...kinda like your Hugh Wilson talks to Purser Morrison scenario. 

Of course, if he did talk to the Purser to correct him, and the Titanic had just gone down 3 weeks ago, he might also mention that he indeed HAS A WIFE AND TWO DAUGHTERS BACK HOME!!!!! 


Dick,

We may be about to disagree on the HUGEST piece of minutiae this site has ever seen , but I don't see the similarity in those two characters at all!   The I on Inspector is quite well formed, and sweeps all the way up and through and beyond.

I would think someone with that type of flourish in their style would have at least brought the ending point somewhere within a few microbes of the other line, instead of cutting off abruptly.

And both of you..

Do you really think that T underneath looks so egregious that Wilson would have spotted that error over Married vs Single as he's boarding 50,000 tons of suddenly sinkable steel on his supposed maiden overseas voyage!!?!?!?  

[Mike_Cirba]

I also find it interesting that "Far and Sure", commenting on the course after it opened in Sept. 1912 states that "many of the pits and traps remain to be built."

He also states, "Ever since golf has been introduced in Phil. the city has been in need of a course such as Merion has produced or should I say, is producing, for the work is still in its early stages."

Also, "Everything indicated careful, intelligent preparation and painstaking development."

Also, "It is too early to attempt an analytical criticism of the various holes for many of them are but rough drafts of the problems, conceived by the construction committeee, headed by Mr. Hugh I. WIlson."

Some more from "Far and Sure" in American Golfer, who played the golf course right after it opened;

"I had heard much of the plans and reports of the progressing work, but not until a month ago did I find the opportunity of seeing it.   Two years ago, Mr. Chas. B. Macdonald, who had been of great assistance in an advisory way, told me that Merion would have one of the best inland courses he had ever seen..."

"Mr. Wilson visited many prominent British courses last summer, searching for ideas, many of which have been used."

"However, I think that the very best holes at Merion are those which are original, without any attempt to closely follow anything but the obvious."

"Merion is a real course in the making - there is no doubt about that and with a continuance of the intelligent handling which is evinced by its present condition, the club and the city will have every reason to be proud."


I find the seemingly unfinished state of the course in September 1912 upon opening very curious.

When was the last known visit of CB Macdonald to Ardmore??

Also, I'm hoping someone can produce the American Cricketer review of the course that Tillinghast did, or at least provide us with the date of publication or any dates/timelines that Tilly refers to in the article.

[TEPaul]

Mike Cirba said:

“I'd simply point out that you can't get around the fact that the manifest is wrong.   There is no room for interpretation.”

David Moriarty responded:

“Mike, the manifest lists him as single and he was traveling alone.

David:

As you know I have always thought this manifest debate is fairly irrelevant but Mike Cirba is right above. Wilson may’ve been traveling alone but the manifest is still wrong. The category on the manifest sheet is not about whether he was traveling alone, that category asks if the passenger is married or single not whether he is traveling alone or not. It really isn’t a matter of what a hypothetical manifest in 1909 or 1910 might say, it’s only a matter of the fact that this one is wrong in that way, and that proves the information in those manifests is not completely reliable even if that really was our Man Hugh Wilson coming home from Cherbourg on May 1, 1912.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom,

I let that one slide because David's answer is clearly disengenous on the face of it.

He's seen enough manifests by now to know that if he was travelling with his family or not that the box should and would still be checked off as "Married", and if his wife and children were passengers they would also be listed on the manifest, with his wife listed as "Married" and his daughters listed as "Single".

Is David telling us that if swinging single Dev Emmett were travelling alone he'd list "Single", but if he were travelling with a Young Teddy Roosevelt he'd be listed as "Married"?   

David knows this to be true if he's examined these manifests in any detail at all.   I'm not sure why he's taking such an obviously inaccurate position when he knows the exact opposite to be true. 

Perhaps he wrote it under Sniper Fire in a hurry to get off the tarmac.

Sorry...man...I just can't help myself these days.   

[Mike_Cirba]

I've been going through some other "Far and Sure" articles, and I'm certain that whoever it is, it isn't Travis and he is a Philadelphian.  With no disrespect intended to Phil, I am not saying it's Tillinghast, but it might be someone like William Poultney Smith, or even William Evans.   Once again, his knowledge of "inside" Philadelphia golf world is way too intimate to be a travelling, tournament golfer like Travis was at the time.

Witness the following comment from the May 1912 issue of American Golfer;

"After one of the most unprofitable - from a golfer's point of view - winter, Philadelphia extended a warm greeting to spring.  It has been years since the links of the Quaker City have been so unplayable as the period from Christmas until the latter part of March...One thing that will be noted by visitors from other cities whether thay play over such excellent eighteen hole courses as Huntingdon Valley and the PHiladelphia Cricket Clubs as representing the larger organizations or the two dozen or more courses of nine holes and that is the growing tendency to improve in a more scientific manner the courses around Philadelphia...Time was when the green committee built courses on a broad principle of the greatest good to the greatest number and as the greatest number in every golfing organiztion is the dub or indifferent player, the really good player suffered..."

""At any event, the golfing renaissance in Philadelphia has actually begun and before many years we shall have courses which are a credit to us and not a mark of good natured chaffing of others who know what constitutes a good course."

Beyond that clear homerism, he does seem to write a tremendous amount concerning courses where Tillinghast was employed, but that may be attributed to friendship among Philadelphia golf cognescenti.   Perhaps he was part of the earlier Philadelphia Triumvirate. 
   

Also...Dick and Shivas...I keep looking at that thing and it may be the weirdest freaking "I" I've ever seen, if that's what it's spose'd to be.   If you would, go back and look at the pen stroke of Purser Morrison, and it's smooth, and even graceful, with nice rounded edges, and a seemingly full intent on penmanship completion..

This one looks like it was entered by the cave man in the Geico commercials.   Can you say, "stay within the lines"? 




And, as far as the Married versus Single issue, check out the entry just below the one in question where a "Mary Duffy", age 31, has her 3 year old daughter travelling with her.   THe mother is listed as Married, and the daughter as Single.

If David's explanation were correct, they'd both be listed as Married.

[wsmorrison]

The Hugh Wilson essay was not published in its entirety in the Piper and Oakley book, Turf for Golf Courses.  The manuscript we have contains additional passages.

We also have the original Alan Wilson manuscript with revisions that many have not seen by many.

[RJ_Daley]

CSI Phillie...

I think the overwritten "I" is an I and made by Morrison, and it may be part of an overall notation he was making associated with the other overwitten on a slant, that looks like something smudged followed by what looks like "CN" and then "Dany of 2/7"  or "Daug. of 2/7" and then they are all checked off, and then why are there overwritten letters of "B" or "C" over the nationality column?  Probably none of that means anything relevant.  But, if you are going to be a forensic document examiner, you gotta get some competent help... (not me) 

You also have to go to other near pages of that manifest and find similar letters written in other entries, and compare the original initial, to determine if it was a "T", "F", "I" or "J". 

So far, IMHO, none of the theories, on the meaning of these manifests or the true indicated identity of the entries on these manifest would be allowed in court.  They are all tainted, and vague, without expert analysis of a handwritting expert.

[TEPaul]

"Tom,
I let that one slide because David's answer is clearly disengenous on the face of it."


MikeyC:

I wouldn't say he was disingenuous exactly. But you sort of put it in the context of evidence being offered in a court of law as being seemingly reliable or irrefutable by him.

If that were the case, you, assuming you were the opposing counselor, shoulda, coulda, sort of woulda slammed him right then and there in front of the judge and jury.

You ain't no lawyer, are you MikeyC?

Well, don't answer that as you've already be denigrated enough on here but I'll tell you right now you ain't a bad one if you wanted to be one! 

Hey Mikey, do you think they have a Rule 6-7 penatly (Slow Play) in court? If they did I think poor David or maybe both of them have probably seen some over-night jail time for slowing down the courtroom process.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom,

Nope, not a lawyer.   I'm just a poor small-town boy clinging to my God and guns and Cabernet. 

But, yes, this thread is taking on that courtroom type of drama, don't you think?

O.J. Simpson didn't have as much legal help as Charley Macdonald is getting with first David, and now Shivas piling on.   I feel like poor Marcia Clark, but the bottom line is this;

If the manifest don't fit, you must aquit! 

We even have law enforcement on the stand (Dick Daley), and if Patrick jumps in, can I call him a hostile witness?!   

[TEPaul]

"... and if Patrick jumps in, can I call him a hostile witness?!   


No, I don't think so. I don't think the New Jersey police and court system who are the ones mostly exposed to him look at Patrick as a hostile witness so much as just a legitimate bother. The reason for that is they understand he just talks too damn much and his theories of whether or not he was speeding or whatever are bizarre in the extreme. Patrick basically gave new meaning to the use of the gavel in the New Jersey court system. Most of us don't have much experience with judges in a courtroom but I believe it can be pretty amazing how dictatorial and energetic they can get in there with witnesses. Patrick has probably heard more "GET THE F...OUT OF MY COURTROOM" than any other man in America!

[Mike_Cirba]

Of course Tom, since we Philadelphians are being lumped together, I'm starting to wonder if there isn't such a thing as a "California Conspiracy".  

Recalling the OJ Simpson trial makes me wonder about the nature of facts and evidence in California, and what it takes to convince a jury on the left coast.

But here in the cradle of liberty, we take a different, more stringent and probably more accurate threshold on the burden of proof.

Playing fast and loose with Manifests seems to be contagious out there.   Earlier in the thread, my friend David Kelly produced the following manifest which purports to show George A. Crump's trip to Europe in 1910.




I'm sure everyone here took a quick perusal and nodded their heads...yep, that's it.

However, take a closer look.   The "George A. Crump" listed on that manifest is 50 years old, and a citizen of her Majesty, the queen!!  

Oops...I guess the inability of anyone to find the right Crump manifest means that George Crump never went overseas in 1910 either.  

[TEPaul]

Top of the Morning to you, David.

My, you're up early this fine morning! Would-ya be working on your "White Paper" per chance?

[TEPaul]

"Rcalling the OJ Simpson trial makes me wonder about the nature of facts and evidence in California, and what it takes to convince a jury on the left coast.

But here in the cradle of liberty, we take a different, more stringent and more accurate viewpoint."



Interesting point and comparison there MikeyC; From what I recall of "justice" and things like evidence and facts in California, it really isn't a matter of the reliablity of evidence and facts or even justice out there---it's more a matter of the art of "jury picking". 

I hope David doesn't take that personally too as that really would be a stretch.


In 1910 Crump was about 37 years old but he always looked pretty old for his age. 

What is the date on that ship manifest?


"In 1910 we made a three months trip to Europe, playing on various golf courses---Walton Heath, Sunningdale, Turnberry, Prestwick, Hoylake (where he played with John Ball, champion of England---who beat him two and one) and St Andrews (where I bought my first golf clubs). I bought a corduroy bag and five clubs for about $15.00 and then we went to Cirgere in Dover, where there are three golf courses, and he played fifty four holes in one day. From there we went to Carlsbad, Luzerne, Nice and the Cagres Club. Rome and Paris completed our trip to Europe and we returned home."
Joe Baker, the man who went abroad with Crump in 1910

[TEPaul]

MikeyC:

These ship manifest listings that've been found seem to be getting so screwed up with other fairly well documented facts about these people do you think there is any possibility the likes of Wilson and Crump and Baker and the like were really a bunch of undercover terrorists working with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda or something who were trying to cover their whereabouts and their tracks to give the Feds the slip?

Hell, they all knew Tillinghast damn well, he was from Philadelphia and we sure do know he got interested in some pretty heavy explosives. I would submit Alpine as evidence of that.

I think I should also submit as evidence that both Macdonald and Wilson apparently started collaborating with the US Government via the US Dept of Agriculture and started fooling around with some pretty suspicious material like nitrates of this and that and fish emulsions and whatnot at Merion East which became something of an early OJT agronomic laboratory.

But it sounds to me like this could've been some kind of massive conspiracy and maybe the US Government was in on it too.

We've got to hand it to David Moriarty for inspiring all this. He inspired some of the world's best golf architecture researchers and it looks like we might uncover some world-wide conspiracy about a hundred years ago out of Philadelphia!

[TEPaul]

Mike Cirba:

I've got to tell you this research is starting to make me a little nervous. This may actually connect somehow to the Da Vinci Codes, The Knights Templar, that weird couple of thousand year old Masonic group and maybe even the truth about Jesus Christ hisself and some nefarious goings-ons with the Catholic Church through the centuries. Those people make me nervous particularly now that they're getting accused of pedophilia and such.

Do you think we need bodyguards and this point, Mikey, before we stumble onto some motherlode and need to make the case that Merion's architectural attribution should lead directly to Christ and Christianity somehow?

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom,

Quit filling up this thread with your idle speculation, or I'm going to tell you what my seer told me about the Hugh Wilson drawings and sketches and send you on a mission;

Hint:   She said it's in the basement.....of the Alamo!!!    


The George A Crump 1910 manifest cannot be found.

The Hugh I? Wilson 1912 manifest is WRONG.

Phil has pointed out any number of Tillinghast overseas visits he has documented that can't be found.


I'm not seeing where these are a good source of information, frankly.

[TEPaul]

"BTW, Mike, I'm not piling on.  I'm being fair and impartial in all of this.  If you read back through the 30 page Merion thread, you'll find plenty of places where I state - quite overtly, as a matter of fact - that the weight of evidence is clearly against DaveM on a number of points and that, thus, I was disinclined to agree with him as to those points."


Shiv:

Even though you think the weight of evidence in this particularly ship manifest on Hugh I. Wilson is against David Moriarty, I feel pretty certain that it was him on that manifest. Have any of you sleuths picked up yet why that might be?