One House’s Story: The Herron Family

This New Philadelphia home was built in the 1920s by a respected painter and wall paperer before his crime would make him infamous in Tuscarawas County history.

The Herron family arrived in Tuscarawas County from Maryland in the early 1820s with the arrival of Richard Herron (1780-1857) and his family. They settled principally in Warren Township and started farming but, by the time of the birth of Richard’s great-grandson William David Herron (1887-1960), William’s parents were living just outside New Philadelphia, Ohio along Beaver Avenue in Goshen Township.

William’s father, David E. Herron (1856-1926), married Rebecca Johnson (1863-1938) in in 1883 and raised their family on their small family farm. William and his siblings attended school in their youth and, following that, William originally found work in a coal mine before becoming a painter. William’s painting ability permitted him to be awarded contracts to paint local bridges as well as ones as far away as Newark, Ohio.

William married Anna Bucher (1891-1923) in August 1908 and in the next ten years the couple had three children, two daughters and a son. William augmented his painting income by working in local manufactories until the family eventually moved to a home near Anna’s parents in York Township, Tuscarawas County. Fourteen years after their marriage Anna contracted typhoid fever and, after over six months of suffering, died in February 1923.

A year and a half after Anna’s death, and possibly using residual money from her estate, William purchased two lots on the west side of Kaderly Street in New Philadelphia and began the construction of a home there. The home William built on the northern most of the two lots was a story-and-a-half, side-gabled, Craftsman style home, a manner of home commonly built between 1905 – 1930. Shortly after completing the home William married his second wife, Bessie May (1903-1988). Bessie was the daughter of a neighbor of William’s from the time he lived in York Township.

Shortly after moving into the new home on Kaderly Street William and Bessie welcomed their first child, a son, in the summer of 1926. William continued to work as a respected painter and wall paperer in the community while Bessie stayed home and raised their son. Bessie’s younger sister, who worked in New Philadelphia as a nanny for a prominent store owner, often visited the Herrons at their home. One visit to the home, on a cold evening in February 1928, would be her last.

William Herron was accused of killing his sister-in-law that evening while ostensibly driving her home from the Herron residence. After a sensational trial that received coverage all across the state, he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Bessie tried to sell the home on Kaderly in order to pay William’s debt to his defense attorney, but at the time there were no interested buyers in the murderer’s home. The house eventually went to Sherriff’s sale in October 1928. Bessie and their son would move to Columbus to be closer to her incarcerated husband, leaving the Kaderly Street house to its next owners.

I will be presenting a program on the 1928 Herron case at the main branch of the Tuscarawas County Public Library in February 2024. Click here for more information.

© Noel B. Poirier, 2023.