david zeisberger – Tuscarawas County Stories

“Mean and Pitiful”: This You Abraham Shane?

AI generated image depicting a Moravian Mission village in Ohio in the early 19th century, 2025. (Source: ChatGPT)

I stumbled upon an interesting reference — one that links a respected Tuscarawas County founder to a moment of sorrow, exploitation, and quiet unraveling at the Moravian mission at Goshen. I recently reread a book that I read while in college and studying the Pennsylvania / Virginia frontier (aka Ohio) and something jumped out atContinue reading ““Mean and Pitiful”: This You Abraham Shane?”

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”