So, I powered up Google’s image search feature and input a variety of search strings until I spotted a picture of a guy who looked like the guy sitting in the car. I got curious about who this guy might be and why the unusually nice photo, for a photo taken in 1933, ended up in a family photo album. Well, my aunt said that there was once this guy with the name of Wild Willy or something that used to be a colorful character around the Spokane area. She said she didn’t either.Ībout mid-day I was talking to my aunt (mom’s sister) and briefly described the photo. I called mom over and asked her if she recognized anyone in the photo, as I didn’t. This morning while looking through my grandmother’s album, which contains images from Fighting Creek, Idaho, the place her parents homesteaded in 1911 (they actually won a land lottery), I stumbled upon the unusual photograph of a man in an early motorcar that I show below. As a part of my self-assumed title, I make it a point to look through the family albums and scan images whenever I’m visiting. It might not surprise you that my interest in history has led me to become the family historian.
He was Willis Ray Willey, while his twin was Willard Roy Willey. UPDATE: Thanks to Mike for sorting out Willis’ real name. Who else had a name that includes both “Willis” and “Willey”? Anyway, this post is full of some great and useful comments. The post covers some of the history about Willis Ray Willey, which is a pretty cool name for a site about vintage jeeps. He passed away in December of that year and left a portion of his estate to the City of Seattle for the construction of a "public hall." Includes the full text of his will, anecdotes demonstrating his personality, and a discussion of the issues around the disbursement of his estate (which dragged on for more than four decades).UPDATE II: This post was originally posted in January of 2011 (yes, hard to believe it was eleven years ago!).
2) of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 1878 he sold his business and moved to Seattle where he bought multiple properties from Henry Yesler and opened the Gem Saloon. Osborne, who had been a globe traveling seaman in his younger days, first sailed into Puget Sound in 1858 and the following year set up a stevedore business at Port Gamble. Biographical sketch of Seattle pioneer James ''Jim'' Osborne (1834-1881) and an overview of his businesses, death, and the proceedings of the disbursement of his estate.
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