I am still getting information from the 5 May 1904 edition of the Willshire Herald that my great-grandfather Louis J. Schumm saved. The Willshire Herald was the predecessor of today’s Photo Star.

Years ago local newspapers included personal items—information that included some of the happenings around the neighborhood–what the neighbors were doing, who visited who, who was sick, who was new in town, and other such information.

I enjoy reading these little personal items, hoping to see some familiar names. Perhaps one of your ancestors was mentioned.

Items of interest from 5 May 1904, The Willshire Herald:

Mrs. Peter Schafer visited her parents in Decatur last Friday.

J.F. Baucher and Chris Byer were Van Wert visitors yesterday on real estate business.

Mr. And Mrs. Nelson Hook, who live southwest of town, spent Sunday in the home of Clarence Kohn in the town.

Alex Johnson is employed temporarily by the Ohio City Telephone company as an expert electrician, at $2 a day and expenses.

Mrs. Peter Frysinger, of Wren was reported lying at death’s door last Friday, the attending physician having announced that her recovery is impossible.

Mr. Sol Hetler, of near Berne, was an agreeable caller at the Herald office last Saturday. Our readers will observe that a “star” precedes his name in The Herald’s “roll of Honor.”

Will Case came home Saturday and remained until Sunday evening, visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jud Case, and other relatives. He is now located at Versailles, Ohio, employed at his trade, that of harness making.

W.H. Stults and J.L. Moser, of Wren, were Willshire visitors Saturday afternoon. The latter is president and the former, cashier, of the Bank of Wren. They are both hustlers, and the leading financiers of their bailiwick.

Frank Detter made a business trip to Decatur yesterday.

L.L. Heaston spent several days last week in Ft. Wayne, visiting relatives.

Albert Weinmann, of Schumm, has accepted a clerical position with G.M. Syphers, the grocer, and began work on Monday. Jas. O. Chilcote arrived yesterday from Jamestown, Ohio, and is now domiciled at the home of Mr. And Mrs. John Hofstetter.

Mr. John Davis, who lives out Chattanooga way, is a new subscriber to the Herald. He has the appearance of being a prosperous farmer. Mr. Davis is an uncle of Reed and H.M. Davis of this town.

Mrs. L.L. Syphers and two young daughters, who spent part of last week visiting their relatives in this town and in the vicinity of Steele, returned Monday to their home in Van Wert. They are as yet undecided just where they will locate after they retire from the conduct of the Wayne hotel, though they will remain in Van Wert for an indefinite time, at least.

Rev. J.H. Walters was over from Lima, Ind., the first of this week. Rumor has it that he will shortly move on to his farm a short distance west of this town.

The ten-year-old son of A.T. Baldwin, the Baldwin Oil company, operating in the territory southeast of this town, is dangerously ill at his home in Buffalo New York.

Billy Stetler, the outside hustler for trade for G.M. Syphers rounded up 1703 dozen eggs last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. That’s going some, we guess, and it surely must be a record-breaker.

A bunch of Willshireites went to Ohio City Sunday afternoon to see a game of ball, but as there was no game scheduled, they failed to see one. There was a game played at Delphos, however.

Little Vivian Closs, a decidedly interesting young miss, accompanied her father, Jacob Closs, the watch-repairing artist, over from Decatur Monday, and remained until Tuesday, taking in the sights.

The district conference and missionary convention of the M.E. church, Lima district, will meet at the first Methodist church in Van Wert next Monday and Tuesday, May 9^th and 10^th. Rev. P.B. Cuppett, formerly of this town, has a place on the program and will preach the sermon for the Tuesday afternoon session.

A.J. Shoemaker, who a little over a year ago moved from the W. H. Hunter place east of town to the Bowen farm, near Decatur, Ind., was in town Monday, and called at this office. He is now living at Bobo, farming for Henry Colter, the saw-mill man. Mr. Shoemaker says he is getting along well, likes his job and the community in which he lives. He recently bought a couple town lots in Bobo and expects to make that town his permanent home.

F.G. Roehm was on Saturday appointed by the trustees to the position of supervisor on road district No.5. A better appointment could not have been made.

Mrs. James Bonames and children have gone to the home of her mother, Mrs. Sarah Parnell, at Petersburg, Ind., for a prolonged visit and she says she will stay until her husband can secure a dwelling house for their accommodation. Mr. Bonames, who is pumper for Clover Leaf, might as well call himself a widower.    

We acknowledge an invitation and complimentary ticket to attend the ball game at Delphos Sunday, between the Dayton Reserves and the Delphos clubs, but we are not going. We have our short-comings, but attending Sunday baseball games is not one of them.

W.A. Spiegel, the Ft. Wayne piano tuner, will be in Willshire May 16. Make your wants known to Jas. B. Stogdill, if you want your pianos and organs tuned and repaired.

Judge David Studabaker, of Decatur, died late Tuesday night, aged 77 years. He was distinguished as a lawyer, jurist, agriculturalist, and financier.

Mrs. E. Brown and a couple of the children went out to her mother’s, Mrs. Hoffman, near Ohio City, and remained until Monday evening.

Mrs. John Stetler is in town this week, looking after her property interests.  

Fred Detter and Otis Passwater attended the commencement of the Convoy High School last Friday night They speak highly of the exercises and of the work Prof. I.F. Alexander is doing in that town.

The village council, at its meeting Monday night decided to make substantial improvements to the public park. They are badly needed. The present condition of the park is an eyesore to the town.

Willshire has a very nice park today, but back in 1904 it must have had some issues, as mentioned above. The following may have been part of the planned park improvement:

Public Sale
The mayor and council of the village of Willshire, Van Wert County, Ohio, have authorized the village marshal, S.H. Sims, to offer at public sale the fence enclosing the Village Park, to the highest and best bidder, at 1 o’clock p.m., on Saturday, May 7, 1904. Terms of sale made known on day of sale. By order of the Village Council, Monday, May 2^nd, 1904.

And lastly, a different way to announce a marriage:

Another Couple mated
Last Wednesday evening, at the residence of Rev. and Mrs. H.H. Kohn, occurred the marriage of Benjamin F. Loop and Mrs. Parmelia King. Prior to the wedding a nuptial dinner was served at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. H.H. King, in this town, only members of the family being present. This ante-nuptial arrangement was a fad of the groom, who believes in scattering the good things incident thereto all along the wedding journey and his wishes were acceded to. A portion of the cake and other delicacies of the feast found their way to the supper table of The Herald family, and their excellence was real. The groom is foreman of a department in Wabash railroad shops at Ashley, Ind., and is a man of excellent parts. The bride is a daughter of Mr. J.C. Ault, who lives two miles northeast of this town and is well known to many of The Herald readers. We are sure that the people of this community generally wishes them all the prosperity and happiness that is due worthy people.

They used a few terms that are rarely used today—“bailiwick” for one. And the term hustler seems to have had a different meaning back then.

I noticed a few spelling errors in the paper but I copied the names as they published them.