When my husband and I go camping in our RV we head north to the many beautiful free camping spots we have on the Island. There is no TV, no cell service, no internet. I like to read and knit and my husband likes to kayak. We both go walking with our dog Sadie.
After dinner or if it's a rainy day we play games. He mostly beats me at backgammon and I mostly beat him at cribbage. At dominoes it's just about a draw.
My husband just got an email with his certificate that he is now a Junior Master in Bridge. He's so proud to have reached that status, lowly as it is, as he takes his game very seriously, going to lessons and playing at the Bridge Club as often as he can.
Growing up my parents often played bridge with friends, and my Mom belonged to a local bridge club (which included my Latin teacher.. aack!). Before there was television people liked to play games, some being more serious than others and perhaps joining a club. Most every city had a chess club, a checkers club, a whist club and/or a bridge club.
Check newspapers for results of games played at clubs. Perhaps none of my ancestors in Ellon, Scotland played whist but some of his neighbours did.
Do you think your ancestors may have belonged to a club? It seems the most popular were checkers, chess and whist, although loo and euchre were also mentioned in newspaper columns. Check newspapers for members standings in their club. Your local library or historical society may have journals from what clubs there were in your area.
Relevant Links
Australian parlor and club room games: draughts, euchre, solo whist, whist, cribbage, nap, chess; 1887
Chess Checkers & Whist Club of New Orleans
History of Kansas state checker association, 1915
The International draughts magazine, 1888
International match. Complete record of the [checker] games played between plaers of Great Britain and the United States, at Boston 1905
The Manhattan Chess Club of the City of New York, organized 1877
Souvenir of the Bristol Chess Club: Containing 100 Original Games of Chess 1845
The Games of the Intercolonial Chess Match, Melbourne vs Adelaide, 1868
The Bristol Chess Club, its history, chief players, 1883
Liverpool Chess Club
Westminster Chess Club, London
Annals of the Brookline Whist Club, 1873-1907
Proceedings of the... American Whist Congress
Whist sketches and review of the First American Whist Congress, held in Milwaukee,1891
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