The Wishart Family of Sunderland:Information about John Wishart
John Wishart (b. 10 Sep 1844, d. 02 Jan 1919)
Notes for John Wishart:Brief Synopsis
John (Jack) Wishart was born in Aberdeen on the 10th September 1844. His father was James Wishart, a Master Mason and his mother was Margaret Hamilton. Margaret was the second wife of James who was previously married to Mary McDonald. James had two sons by his first wife and they would have been about 13 (Alex) and 11 (William) when John was born. James had another son (George) with his second wife and a daughter (Ann). Ann only lived for two years and from the dates of birth appears to have been the twin sister of John. Margaret Hamilton only lived for four years with James and died in 1847. In the following year James married again to Mary Young and had a further 5 children with her, 3 girls and two boys.
John went to sea, as did his full brother George, starting as an apprentice in May 1859 at the age of 14 and a half. His maritime career is set out in more detail later. His first recorded contact with Sunderland is the "Catherine" whose port of registration is shown as Sunderland. He served as a seaman on board her for six months in 1865, aged 21. He later served as Mate aboard another Sunderland ship the"John Ritson" for a year between 1866 and 1967. His wife Mary Ann Graham was from Sunderland and her father Thomas was also a Master Mariner so it seems possible that he met her during his visits to Sunderland around this time. He married Mary Ann on the 23rd October 1868 which significantly is just after he gained his Masters Ticket on the 5th October.
Mary Ann was a member of the Roker Congregational Church at the time of the christening of her children from 1869 to 1886.
The 1891 Census shows them living in Dock Street East and having a domestic servant in residence , one Francis Gould aged 21.
John`s naval career was distinguished by two events. The first was the loss of his ship the "Toledo" on August 1898 after which John was required to attend a Board of Trade enquiry into his conduct. He was censured and cautioned to be more careful in future but his certificate was not withdrawn because of his previous good record. More detail are shown later. The second incident was his rescue of the crew of the Ada (?) in 1907 (?). For this action he was presented with a Silver Cup by the Norwegian Government. The Lloyds Register of Captains shows his career lasting until about 1911 when he would have been about 67.
John died on the 2nd January 1919 aged 75 at 42 Featherstone Street, Sunderland. His death certificate shows the cause of death as "Nephritis" and "Senile Decay". His death was registered by his sister Edith who at that time is shown as living at 49 Percy Terrace.
Addresses
Aberdeen
December 1864Application for Mates Certificate34 Catherine Street
October 1866 to Sept 1868Application for Captains Certificate290 George Street
Sunderland
1868Marriage16 George Street
1869First Baptism130 Wear Street
1871Second BaptismDock Street
1881Census54 Dock Street
1891Census75 Dock Street East
1896James Marriage75 Dock Street East
1919Death34 Catherine Street
Naval Career
Apprentice
May 1859 to June 1863VictoriaAberdeen
Able Seaman
August 1863 to November 1864LaurelLiverpool
January 1865 to July 1865CatherineSunderland
Mate
August 1865 to September 1866ValidArdrossan (?)
November 1866 to November 1867John RitsonSunderland
November 1867 to August 1868JessiannaGlasgow
Captain
1869 to 1870Catherine
1871 to 1873John
1874 to 1880Cicero
1881 to 1883Poderosa
1884 to 1898Toledo
1898 to 1911Cordova
Extract from the Sunderland Echo Monday 22nd August 1898 (Note - the Echo also carried reports in the same newspaper of the Dreyfuss Case)
Headline "Fog on the Coast - Narrow Escape of Sunderland Crew"
"The screw steamer the "Toledo"of Sunderland from Galveston for Rotterdam with grain struck the rocks in the Broad Sound Island of Scilly during a dense fog on Saturday night. The Captain and crew of 27 had only just time to launch a lifeboat when the Toledo sunk in 25 fathoms and many of the crew escaped in their night clothes only. The fog lifted and the occupants of the boat burned blue lights. They were seen by the residents of St Martins whose people went to the boats assistance and landed the shipwrecked crew on their island. The Toledo was an iron screw steamer of 2843 tonnes gross built at Sunderland in 1882 and was owned by Mr Tully."
Extract from Sunderland Echo Tuesday 23rd August 1898
Headline "Loss of the Toledo - Arrival of the Crew"
"The crew of the Wear Steamer Toledo reached South Shields today bringing full particulars of the disaster to their vessel. The Toledo was on a voyage from Galveston to Rotterdam when she experienced a dense fog. On Saturday at 4.30 in the afternoon she struck the Crim Rock, the result being the vessel was literally ripped open and she sank in seven minutes.Two firemen ,who were asleep at the time just escaped by scrambling on deck being roused by their companions in the forecastle. The donkeyman who succeeded in saving his watch had to jump overboard to save himself from going down with ter ship. He was rescued. The crew knocked about in boats for seven hours before they were able to land at Scilly."
More About John Wishart:
Occupation: Sea Captain.
More About John Wishart and Mary Ann Graham:
Marriage: 28 Oct 1868, Sunderland.
Children of John Wishart and Mary Ann Graham are:
- +James Wishart, b. 07 Aug 1869, Sunderland, d. 19 Nov 1900, S S Hyades at sea.
- Margaret Graham Wishart, b. Sep 1871, d. date unknown.
- +Edith Wishart, b. 08 May 1874, d. 1953.
- +Mary Ann Wishart, b. 05 Jul 1877, d. 22 Jan 1915, Sunderland.
- Alicia Ann Lynn Wishart, b. 06 Nov 1879, d. date unknown.
- Isabella Wishart, b. Apr 1882, d. date unknown.
- Jessie Wishart, b. 26 Oct 1884, Sunderland, d. 29 Nov 1884, Sunderland.
- +John Wishart, b. 02 Sep 1886, d. Abt. 1962.