A variety of stories from the long history of Tuscarawas County, Ohio.
“Negligence Born of Familiarity”: Tragedy at the Penn Iron and Coal Company
I am often drawn to tragic stories because, in many cases, the individuals involved end up being lost to the historic record. This often happens because many tragedies occur when people are younger and have yet to establish themselves or create a family to carry on their names and stories. This is one such tragedy.…
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The White Bridge Murder
It was 2 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, February 8, 1928 when Blicktown farmer John Hinig heard knocking at his front door. Cautiously he opened the door and saw a man, soaking wet, freezing, and seemingly in distress standing in his doorway. The man, William Herron, told Mr. Hinig that while he was driving…
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Who Was Alfonso Stewart?
If you’re like me you thumb through Fred Miller’s book Images of America: Tuscarawas County Ohio, published in 2000 by Arcadia Publishing, a lot. I love just spending some time seeing the county as it once was. On the last page of the book is an image of men who served as patrolmen in the…
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Samuel F. Hensel and the Hensel Transfer and Storage Building
This large building has dominated the first block of South Broadway in New Philadelphia since its construction and, when it was built, was considered state-of-the-art. I thought I would explore its construction and tell the story of how it became the focal point of an early 20th century Ohio Supreme Court case. The Hensel family…
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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 unusual…
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A Tuscarawas County Find: The Journal of George H. Zimmerman
The other day my wife came home from visiting local thrift stores with an interesting item. She purchased what appeared to be the journal of a person named George H. Zimmerman (1889-1946) and I, being me, needed to learn more. How George H. Zimmerman’s journal for the year 1912 ended up in a Tuscarawas County…
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Ruffled Feathers: A Gunfight at the County Jail
Early in the evening on a cold February night in 1912 neighbors of the Tuscarawas County Jail on East Fair Street in New Philadelphia heard the sounds of gunfire ring out. It was the exclamation point on a busy and successful weekend by local law enforcement, having broken up a large gambling event two days…
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Unsolved and Forgotten: The 1901 Murder of Mrs. Martha Hensel
A particularly grizzly murder took place in New Philadelphia, Ohio in the fall of 1901. Despite the violence of the crime, and the fact that there were a number of potential suspects, no one was ever brought to justice. The victim’s death, and life, were subsequently forgotten. It was a Wednesday afternoon in late October…
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A Fort Laurens Soldier’s Life and Death
Many of us are familiar with the many struggles faced by the short-lived garrison at Fort Laurens. Rather than focus on that, I thought I would look at the life, and death, of one soldier in particular. He was a Virginian and his name was Private George Osborne. This branch of the Osborne family has…
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William Watson, Gold Mining, and a California Tragedy
While recently writing about a Murder in Klondike, it got me wondering if there were any people from the Tuscarawas County area that decided to try and find riches in the gold fields of the American West. In doing so, I stumbled upon the sad story of William Watson. A note: Names are often misspelled…
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A Murder in Klondike
Many immigrants arrived in Tuscarawas County at the turn of the 20th century to work in the industries that dominated the local economy at the time. Among them were coal miners who came to work the county’s numerous coal mines, leading to the creation of “company towns” like Klondike. Many of the stories of these…
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© Noel B. Poirier, 2023.
Noel B. Poirier 