Archives

.The Washington Nationals were one of the top amateur teams in Washington, DC in the late 1860s. When the National Association came in 1871, they had 2 teams from Washington, DC, the Olympics and the Nationals. . . .. . . . . . . Peter Morris says that "In March 1865, Hugh McCullough became Treasury secretary and he and Arthur Pue Gorman began appointing baseball players to the clerkships so they could play for the Nationals. By 1867, the Nationals had only two regulars from Washington, with the rest from New York. After that they added Warren White, Studley, Burroughs, etc., all from the New York area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the 1872 Nationals, the players from the District of Columbia were Oscar Bielaski, Paul Hines, John "Holly" Hollingshead and Bill Stearns . . . . . . . . The players from Rochester, NY were Dennis Coughlin, John Glenn, Seymour Studley and William Warren White Bill Lennon was from Brooklyn, NY but played with the Marylands of Baltimore in 1869 and 1870. Edward D Mincher was also from Baltimore. .. . . . . Peter Morris questions whether Joseph Doyle of Cincinnati is the J Doyle who played 8 games with the Nationals "It seems highly implausible that a co-op club of local amateurs went out and hired a prominent midwestern first baseman and converted him to a shortstop." There was a J Doyle from DC who played the other infield positions. He played with the Jeffersons 1867-69 and the Washingtons in 1870. It is unknown what his first name was or if he was the 1872 player. . . . . .. . . . . . . Other players who were with the Nationals pre - National Association were Alfred Valentine Robinson, John A Greason, Frank Prescott Norton . . . . .. . . . . The following players are missing. Here is the progress that has been made on them. . . . . .. . .Dennis Coughlin 1872 This Civil War veteran was born January 1844 in Rochester, NY. After serving until the end of the war. he lived in Rochester until he was signed by the Nationals for the 1868 season and became a clerk for the Treasury Department. He worked for the Government for different departments until 1912 or 1913 when he presumably died in Washington, DC. He never married. . . . . . . . John A Greason 1873 was born 1850 in Washington, DC. He started out with the Creightons in 1868 and then pitched for the Nationals. His father owned and operated the Greason House, a saloon and hotel that John and his brother George later worked for as bartenders. John lives there until around 1888 when he supposedly dies. . . . . .. . . Frank Prescott Norton 1871 was from New York City. He moved to DC in the late 1860s and was a government clerk. He was born 1845 in New York. He stayed in DC for a few years and then disappeared. . . . .. . .. .. .. William H Lennon 1871 was originally from Brooklyn, NY. He was born in 1846 and moved to Baltimore in 1868 where he lived the rest of his life and presumably died in Baltimore around 1890. . . . . . .. . . . . Edward D Mincher 1871 was from Baltimore,Md where he was born in 1851. He lived there until the late 1870s and then moved to Philadelphia. He moved back to Baltimore in 1888 and probably died there around 1890. . . . . .. . .. .. .Alfred Valentine Robinson 1873 was born in Washington in 1848 and lived 2 doors down from Oscar Bielaski. He was a Treasury clerk in DC and moved away soon after he made his appearance with the Olympics in 1873 . . . . . . . . . .. Seymour L Studley 1872 This Civil War veteran was born May 1841 in Rochester, NY. After the war, he moved to Washington where he became a Treasury clerk. In the Death Notice for his daughter in 1875, his wife Ernestine lists herslf as a widow. In 1880 she was living with a son and calls herself a widow. But in 1875 he was living in Rochester, NY. He lived there for many years and the next we hear his widow applys for a widows pension in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1901 . . . . . . . . William Warren White 1871 This Civil War veteran was born 1844 in Rochester,NY. He was posted in Washington DC to do clerical duty. After the War, he became a Treasury clerk. He became the Secretary of the Union Association and had a regular column in The Sporting Life in 1884 listing the transactions of the UA. He was last in the City Directory in 1888 and his wife Susie G White applied for a widows pension July 5, 1890.

This article is written by Richard Malatzky using some ideas from Peter Morris

On this page I'll list previous issues of my e-zine. Here's an example of the format I might use.