William Shinn, Esq.
The Shinns are of English extraction, immigrating to America about the middle of the last century, and located in New Jersey. Here William Shinn, Sen., was born in 1787. He married Jane Peacock, and moved to Warren County, Ohio, in 1815, and remained there until the fall of 1834, when he came with his family of seven children to Shelby County, and located in Orange Township, where he died in 1862, his wife having died in 1834.
William Shinn, Jr., was born in Warren County in 1818. Came with his father, William Shinn, Sen., in 1834. In 1839 he married Denithia Stoker, a daughter of John Stoker. By this union there were five children. Mrs. Shinn died in 1878. The names of their children were Jane, Brendella, Milton R., Welford E., and W. Ross. Esq. Shinn has been unfortunate in the loss of his property, but has had the esteem of his neighbors. He has filled the office of justice of the peace for four terms, besides having filled almost all the other important ofiices in his township. Such has been the confidence of the people in the county in Esq. Shinn that he has had the nomination of representative twice, commissioner twice, and treasurer once. Although the party to which he belonged was largely in the minority, yet he only failed in being elected by a small minority.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883