indigenous – Tuscarawas County Stories

The Lenape “Old Town”: Roots of Tuscarawas County

AI generated image depicting an eastern woodlands indigenous village in eastern Ohio in the 18th century, 2025. (Source: Google ImageFX)

Before European settlers arrived, Tuscarawas County was home to a thriving indigenous community that gave the county its name. Like many people, I spend a great deal of my time researching my family history. I try to discover who the “first” ancestor of mine was to settle somewhere, whether that’s my family line in Ohio,Continue reading “The Lenape “Old Town”: Roots of Tuscarawas County”

William C. Mills and the Newcomerstown Mounds

Amateur archaeologist and druggist William C. Mills excavated two indigenous burial mounds and other locations around Newcomerstown in the late 1880s. What he discovered during these excavations altered how historians and archaeologists viewed native culture in the region forever. Archaeology as we know it today did not exist when William C. Mills (1860-1928) became interestedContinue reading “William C. Mills and the Newcomerstown Mounds”

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”