July 16, 1941 (Wednesday)

Edna gets house in order for Nash Reunion

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Very warm.

Hank and Orlo started

cutting oats field west

of woods.

Henry went away on Right

of Way.

Did general cleaning all

over the house - getting

"house in order" for Reunion

Company. Two loads coming

from Ill.

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Edna is getting the "house in order" for the 25th Reunion of the Nash family.

Eleanor Louisa Nash married James Chandler Johnson on Independence Day in 1865. James and Eleanor are Henry's parents (Edna's in-laws).

James and Eleanor (Nash) Johnson

Eleanor was born on May 1, 1847 in Troy, Ohio to Alden Nash and Olive Noyes Poole.

Alden Nash was born in 1811 in Ohio. His parents, John Nash and Polly Thayer, were both born in Massachusetts.

In 1840, Alden Nash built the Nash Hotel in Troy, Ohio as a stagecoach stop between Youngstown and Cleveland.

In 1852, Alden sold the hotel and moved his wife and five children (ages 1 -14 years) in a covered wagon to Michigan.

Daguerreotypes of Alden and Olive Nash

Their journey was long and hard. Alden, Olive and their children settled in a log cabin in the woods of Bowne Township. When presented with an opportunity to purchase 160 acres of heavy timbered farmland and four or five acres of cleared land that included a house, Alden traded his wagon, a buggy, and several horses to make the purchase. Alden eventually sold that land and moved to Muskegon where he died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1871 at the age of 60.

During the Civil War, the hotel Alden Nash built in Ohio was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The building, now called the Welshfiled Inn, still stands today. It has been in continuous operation as an inn/hotel or restaurant since being opened by Alden Nash in 1840.

My birthday is just around the corner and the Welshfield Inn is just a three-hour drive away from my home in Milan, Michigan. The Inn currently houses a restaurant with a fabulous-looking menu. My birthday wish for this year is to enjoy dinner at the inn built by great, great, great grandfather Alden Nash. I will be sure to share pictures if it all works out.

The inn that Alden Nash built as it has appeared over the years; including an interior image showcasing the beams that Alden himself must have crafted when building the Nash Hotel in 1840.