June 2023 – Tuscarawas County Stories

One House’s Story: The Ditto Family

The Ditto House on North Third Street in New Philadelphia, Ohio, 2023. (Source: google.com)

This modest home located near New Philadelphia High School was the home of a painter and his family. A working-class tradesman who became a pillar of the New Philadelphia community. Joseph Ditto (1814-1889) arrived in Ohio around 1840 from his birth state of Pennsylvania. A painter by trade, he originally settled in Summit County whereContinue reading “One House’s Story: The Ditto Family”

The Hensel Skeletons and A Wife’s Revenge

Schoenbrunn Mission Church and School, from a postcard, 1941. (Source: archive.org)

A discovery in 1875 on land just south of New Philadelphia helped prove the veracity of a one-hundred year legend from the era of the American Revolution and the mission at Schoenbrunn. In the spring of 1875 Josiah Hensel (1825-1919) was busy trying to determine if there was any iron ore to be mined onContinue reading “The Hensel Skeletons and A Wife’s Revenge”

One House’s Story: The Metzger Family

The Metzger House on North Avenue NE in New Philadelphia, Ohio, 2023.

This New Philadelphia home is difficult to see from the street, almost like its hiding from you behind the trees on its quiet back street. Nonetheless, the home’s history is connected with a family who, at the time, were respected members of the city’s community. A note about addresses: House numbers and street names oftenContinue reading “One House’s Story: The Metzger Family”