Mar 25
Recently I have been scouring the censuses for information about the inhabitants of the village of Willshire during the last half of the 1800s. Willshire is of particular interest this year because they are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the town by Captain James Riley. Their Bicentennial. As I was going through the 1880 census of Willshire Township I noticed something that I had missed before. Totally missed.
Mar 18
After writing about Willshire’s hotels last week I wanted to see what I could learn about the town’s hotels and their proprietors in the census records. I was primarily looking for information about the best-known Willshire hotel, the one most of us remember as the Straubinger Hotel, built in 1850 by Dr. John W. Pearce and razed in 1964.
Mar 11
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Headington House Hotels, once located in Portland, Indiana, and Celina, Ohio. Soon after I was asked about the hotel that was in Willshire years ago. I remember that old hotel building. Our Willshire School sixth grade class took a field trip there and our class was photographed outside the building.
Jan 15
In recent blog posts I listed the appointed postmasters in northern Mercer County from the 1840s through 1971, in the townships of Black Creek, Liberty, and Dublin.
Today I continue that list with the postmasters in another local town, Willshire, in Van Wert County.
Aug 02
Progress…make way for changes.
A few months ago I wrote about the old train depot in Willshire, Ohio. Near the depot was a railroad water tower that supplied water for the steam engines.
 |
 |
