1. The Wrestler

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Did you know that you have an ancestor who was a wrestler?  You have. He didn’t do it for a living. Except for a few other jobs, in those days most men were either farmers or worked for farmers.  Nevertheless, he “was a wrestler of “no mean standing,” meaning he was very good at it.  “He frequently met in contest any wrestler coming through his part of the country who threw out challenges.”¹ His name was William (Shakespeare) White² and he was born at Hinton-on-the-Green, in Gloucester, England.

We don’t have a picture of him but we do have one of his wife, Sophia Ainge or Haines³ our dear great, great grandmother (or more greats depending on your generation).  She was “a good hard-working woman who always helped him supply the family’s needs.  They were market gardeners.”⁴ William would have had to arise very early in the morning, before the sun was up for much of the year, to take the things they had grown in their garden to the market town of Evesham about three miles away. This work made him very strong, and that’s probably one of the reasons he was such a good wrestler. In those days farm workers dressed differently, too. Many wore leather breeches, boots, and a smock-frock, with a round black felt hat on the head.

William and Sophia became the parents of eleven children.  After having their first son and then a daughter, they had another son who they named William White who we will call Will.  Will never went to school, but at a very young age started working on his father’s land, helping raise the crops for market.  He did, however, have help to learn to read and write by attending a class with a group of boys taught by the parish priest.  In that class he progressed  from simple reading to being able to read newspapers and do fairly well at writing⁵.

One time he was excused from working in the fields because of some upset and was not feeling well.  Soon he began to think that it felt so nice to loaf for a few days.  However, on Sunday, he wandered to the fields where the boys were playing ball.  They asked him if he would join the game and he did.  When his father came along and saw this, which was dead against his rules for Sunday conduct, he told William to be prepared to go to work in the morning.  Will said he could have kicked himself for doing that!