The “Freak Animal Critter” Hoax of New Philadelphia

Since April Fools Day is coming up, I thought I would share a story of a time when someone tried to fool the entire Tuscarawas County community and beyond. As Oscar R. Long (1888-1960) told it, he was out hunting racoons in the Stonecreek Valley in early February 1930 when he caught the most unusualContinue reading “The “Freak Animal Critter” Hoax of New Philadelphia”

One House’s Story: The Rhoads Family

It is hard to miss this home on North Water Street in Uhrichsville with its two-story, corner turret-like feature. While it was once home to one of the city’s most prosperous residents, it was built by a family with much more modest beginnings. A note about addresses: House numbers and street names often change overContinue reading “One House’s Story: The Rhoads Family”

One House’s Story: Philip G. Lanning

I decided to take a look into a house outside of my own immediate community. There is no shortage of historic homes to choose from, so I decided to look for a house that was depicted in the 1875 Atlas of Tuscarawas County. This is one of the stories from that house’s history. As youContinue reading “One House’s Story: Philip G. Lanning”

Fallen Heroes: Private Tony Scaffidi, Jr.

While many stories of fallen heroes involve deaths resulting from combat or disease, there are also those heroes whose deaths occur in the regular performance of their duties. Perhaps no duty is as significant as that of recovering bodies of other fallen heroes and ensuring their proper burial or return to loved ones. This isContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Tony Scaffidi, Jr.”

Fallen Heroes: Private Clarence Ludwig

When one volunteers for military service, one knows that there is the very good possibility that they may never return home. Soldiers in earlier wars also ran the real risk of dying from disease without ever seeing the battlefield. In cases like this one, the soldier returned home from military service without a scratch butContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Clarence Ludwig”

Fallen Heroes: Private John Warner Carr

The fields of France claimed a number of Tuscarawas County’s young men in the summer and fall of 1918. The names of those fallen heroes, who advanced across no-man’s land never to return, filled an entire column of the newspaper after the war. This is one of those heroes. The Carr family was one ofContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private John Warner Carr”

Fallen Heroes: Corporal Arthur T. Friley

Many imagine that only men from the Navy or Coast Guard saw duty on the numerous patrol boats that operated in the rivers of South Vietnam. The Army, however, also played a part in what they referred to as “riverine” operations. The story of this fallen hero is one example of that type of service.Continue reading “Fallen Heroes: Corporal Arthur T. Friley”

Fallen Heroes: Specialist 5 James B. Alexander

The first Tuscarawas County soldier to lose his life in Vietnam was not some young-faced draftee straight out of high school. He was a career soldier who had served in two previous wars and been wounded in battle once. His death, and those that died with him that day, would bring the Vietnam War intoContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Specialist 5 James B. Alexander”

Fallen Heroes: Private Carl Ankrim

Often times the death of a soldier in a far-off land is, unfortunately, politicized by some to support their arguments for or against a given conflict. We tend to think of this as a modern practice, but there are ample instances of it from history. The loss of this fallen hero is but one example.Continue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Carl Ankrim”

Fallen Heroes: Corporal Charles W. Newton

Many of the men covered in this series of profiles were young men, in the prime of their lives, when war took them away from their friends and families. This profile illustrates that point better than many, the “young man” was barely a man when he went off to war. The ancestors of Charles W.Continue reading “Fallen Heroes: Corporal Charles W. Newton”