John & Sallie Hitshue

June 27th marks 110 years since the death of John W. Hitshue, Jr.

John W. Hitshue was born in Reisterstown on July 29, 1861, the son of John W. Hitshue of Carroll County and Christiana Gies of Germany.  His father, John Sr., was a hotel keeper at 1 Hanover Road in Reisterstown.  In the 1870 census, the Hitshue family and several employees were residing at the hotel.

On January 21, 1875, John Sr. purchased the hotel property from George Ducker.  George was the son of the original owner, Jeremiah Ducker, a captain in the War of 1812.

By the 1880 census, John Jr. was 18 years old, and he and his younger brother Thomas assisted their father in running the hotel.

The Hitshue Hotel became "a favorite summer resort for Baltimoreans on vacation", but it was also an "important public gathering place in Reisterstown".  Elections were held there;  one story tells of a single man voting for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and of him being chased out of town.

Sometime around 1886, John married Sallie K. Thomas, a daughter of Harry Thomas and Harriett McGill of Pennsylvania.  John and Sallie had one daughter, Ethel, who was born on December 23, 1887.

John Hitshue Sr. passed away on September 21, 1895 of pneumonia.  An inventory of his estate gives a description of the hotel:

"There was a parlor, sitting room, dining room, Chambers 1 through 14, a garrett, kitchen and bar room.  Contents of the bar room were:  bagatelle table, cues and balls, counter, shelving, ice cooler, stove, four benches, 13 chairs worth 15 cents each, screen door and lamps.  There was also a wash house and a stable housing seven vehicles, a binder and three plows.  The barber shop contained a marble-topped stand, harness cupboard, and double harness nets - but no barber chairs or accessories of the trade."

In 1896, John Jr. sold the hotel to Frederick Wineke, likely the father of Joseph Francis Wineke, who would later marry John's daughter Ethel.  John did stay to manage the hotel, and so the 1900 census finds him still working as a hotel keeper.

John Hitshue died on June 27, 1903 of chronic nephritis at the age of 42.  Only a brief notice appeared in the Baltimore Sun:

Joseph Wineke and Ethel Hitshue were married a few years later in a quiet ceremony on November 2, 1907.

Ethel's mother Sallie came to live with the couple.  Over the years, Joseph's occupation varied from one census record to the next;  he was listed as an ice cream manufacturer, a farmer, a poultryman, and president of a retail restaurant.  His death certificate gave his occupation as "retired tavern owner," suggesting that possibly at some point, he worked in his father-in-law's hotel.

The Hitshue Hotel changed hands a few times after John's death.  It eventually came to be owned by James Leonidas Gies.  Sadly, the hotel was one of the many buildings damaged in the "Great Fire" on May 29, 1930.

Below are pictures of the Hitshue Hotel, before and after the fire, courtesy of the Reisterstown Library.

Sallie Hitshue passed away on April 7, 1937 from stomach cancer at the age of 74.

John and Sallie's daughter Ethel Hitshue Wineke lived to 1951.  Ethel had one surviving son:

• John Frederick Wineke, 1910-1977, husband of Alice.

The Hitshue Hotel's former location is now a Royal Farms gas station, at the intersection of Routes 30 and 140.

Sources:
Ancestry.com (census records)

• Year: 1870; Census Place: Reisterstown, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: M593_569; Page: 279A.
• Year: 1880; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 495; Page: 566D.
• Year: 1900; Census Place: District 4, Baltimore City, Maryland; Roll: 606; Page 7B.

Baltimore Sun

• "Died." Date: 28 June 1903; Page: 4.
• "Wineke-Hitshue." Date: 12 November 1907; Page: 7.
• "Reisterstown Business Block Swept By Fire." Date: 30 May 1930; Page: 22.

Maryland Archives (marriage, death & land records, Historic Sites Inventory Survey)

Reisterstown Library

• Hotel Photos
• A History of Baltimore County by Neal A. Brooks & Eric G. Rockel, 1979.
• Reisterstown by Gayle Neville Blum, 2010.

Cemetery Photos © AgateGS