I enjoy looking at old postcards and a while back I acquired some old postcards of Willshire, Ohio.
Yesterday I scanned them onto my computer and enlarged and looked at them closely. There are people in the photos and detail on the postcards is good.
Written on the postcard below is “bank and drug store Willshire, O.”
I believe these buildings were on the west side of State Street, in the first block south of today’s signal light.
As I looked at the photo closely I was able to read the store signs. The building to the far was the Drug Store. It looks like they had a telephone there because there is a bell-shaped sign hanging from the Drug Store sign. Unfortunately I cannot read the sign on the side of that building. The next business in that building was evidently the bank.
The small middle building was a meat market–S. Lotter’s Meat Market. Perhaps the store owner is one of the men standing in front of the store.
The name Lotter got my attention because I have recently been writing about the Lotters who are buried in Zion Chatt’s cemetery.
I am not sure if this S. Lotter who owned the meat market was connected to the Lotters who attended Zion Chatt, but he probably was.
There was a Simon Lotter mentioned in the church records several times. The first mention was in 1876 when Simon and his wife Maria Wilhelmine were baptismal sponsors for Maria Wilhelmine Zeillinger.
On 9 July 1876 their own child, Emilie Elisabeth Lotter, was baptized at Zion Chatt. Emilie was born 24 February 1876 and that record indicates Simon Lotter’s wife was Wilhelmine Preus/Preuss. Emilie Elisabeth died 9 July 1876 at the age of 4 months and 13 days. She may be buried in Zion Chatt’s cemetery but her tombstone does not remain.
Simon and Wilhelmine Lotter had another child baptized at Zion Chatt on 20 April 1879–Louis Peter, born 27 February 1878.
Those were the only times that Simon Lotter was mentioned in Zion Chatt’s records but they did have several other children, which included a son Samuel (1886-1973). Depending on when this photo was taken, this may have been Samuel’s Meat Market.
In 1880 Simon and Wilhelmine “Minnie” lived in Willshire and Simon was a butcher. In their household: Samuel, 33; Minnie, 32; George, 6; Lue, 2; and Minnie, 1 month. Also in the household was a 19 year-old male, born in Bavaria, whose occupation was butcher. Simon and Wilhelmine were born in Bavaria and their children were born in Ohio. Their daughter Minnie’s name was crossed out. [1]
The Simon Lotter family remained in Willshire and in 1900 Simon’s occupation was “provisions dealer.” Their son Willie, 16, was a “provisions salesman.” Their household in 1900: Simon, 53; Minnie, 51; Emma, 19; Willie, 16; Samuel, 13; John, 11; and Carl, 8. They had been married 26 years and six of their nine children were living. According to this census Simon immigrated in 1873. [2]
By 1910 both Simon and his son Samuel were butchers in Willshire. This census enumeration indicates that Simon was the store owner and that Samuel worked in the “home shop.” Daughter Emma was a clerk in a dry goods store. The family lived on State Street in Willshire: Simon, 63; Minnie, 61; Emma, 29; Samuel, 22; John, 20; and Carl, 18. [3]
Simon Lotter (1847-1913) and his wife Wilhelmine (1848-1926) are both buried in Willshire Cemetery.
Simon died in 1913 and I imagine this photo was taken before then, when he owned the market. By 1920 his son Samuel had moved to Fort Wayne, where he was a meat cutter in a butcher shop there.
What an interesting postcard!
[1] 1880 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED 154, p.460B, family 57, Samuel Lotterer; Ancestry.com (accessed 26 Jan 2017); NARA microfilm T9, roll 1074.
[2] 1900 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED 97, p.3B, dwelling 59, family 63, Simon Lotter; Ancestry.com (accessed 26 Jan 2017); FHL microfilm 1241329, NARA microfilm T623, roll 1329.
[3] 1910 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED 114, p 14A. dwelling/family 118, Samion Zoller; Ancestry.com (accessed 26 Jan 2017); FHL microfilm 1375251, NARA microfilm T624, roll 1238.
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Karen,
If you can find a FedEx/Kinko’s, they have a machine there that can and blow up that photo to just about any size you want. I find that the older, black and white photos blow up with an amazing amount of detail. You can crop it down to just those three guys and probably see their eyes. Good luck and keep these kind of stories coming–very interesting indeed!
Andy Gappa
Author
Thanks for that information, Andy!
Karen,
S. Lotter was Simon Lotter, son of Johann Michael Lotter and wife, Anna Margaretha Amm. Anna Margaretha (Amm) Lotter is buried in the Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery in Chattagooga, Ohio.
Transcribed to English from German records of the Zion Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio.
Anna Margaretha Lotter, b. 21 May 1807 in Zweifelheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, died 26 Mar 1890. Age 82 years, 10 months, 5 days. Sickness: weakness of old age. Burial on the 27th in the parish churchyard. Rev. Chr. Reichert.
Thank you for posting the photo of the S,. Lotter Meat Market.
Author
Thank you for the additional Lotter information and I see that you found a copy of my translations for Zion Chatt. If you haven’t already, you can read the Tombstone Tuesday blog post I wrote about Anna Lotter, published 27 December 2016. Thanks for writing!
Karen, in a different postcard view of those same buildings that I have, the printing on the north side of the building reads W.W.PARKS
DRUGS
SCHOOL SUPPLIES & STATIONERY
TOILETRIES
WALLPAPERS, OILS, ETC.
I believe the drugstore part of the building with 3 windows above is currently where the Photo Star is located, and at one time Clouse’s Grocery. The part of the building with two windows above where the bank was located (with a telephone office located upstairs, I was told) partially collapsed later and was torn down, according to historical accounts. There were numerous fires that destroyed many of the original downtown buildings over the years. The Parks Drugs building dates from about 1908 and is the only business building from that time period that still stands on the west side of Willshire’s main (State) street today.
Author
Thanks for the information, Sondra. So this section of buildings is north of where I thought. I am not familiar with the old buildings in Willshire and I appreciate you writing. I have some postcards showing the aftermath of the 1908 fire and I will post them sometime.