Tag Archives: midvale ohio

One House’s Story: The Herbert Family Tragedy

The Herbert family’s story, rooted in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, is one of immigration, hard labor, wartime service, and unexpected tragedy. Content warning: This post contains references to suicide. If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to get help. Click here forContinue reading “One House’s Story: The Herbert Family Tragedy”

Bullet in the Night: The 1928 Murder of Charles Eggan

On a September night in 1928, a stable boss at Midvale Mine #4, was found dead with a bullet wound to the head—setting off a decades-long mystery. Charles Orland Eggan (1898-1928) was the son of James Early Eggan (1872-1939) and Olive Matbell Ryan (1870-1940), a farming couple rooted in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Raised on theContinue reading “Bullet in the Night: The 1928 Murder of Charles Eggan”

Fallen Heroes: Specialist 4 Donald Eugene Allan, Jr.

Typically when I look at the short life of a fallen hero, I trace his roots in the community along his paternal line. In the case of this Vietnam War fallen hero from Midvale, I chose to follow his mother’s family instead. The Chaney family arrived in Ohio in the early 1800s with the migrationContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Specialist 4 Donald Eugene Allan, Jr.”

Fallen Heroes: Private Roy W. Emhoff

This Tuscarawas County fallen hero’s coal mining family lost their first son to illness before his eighteenth birthday and, exactly twenty years later, lost their second son on a far-off battlefield. The Emhoff family arrived in Philadelphia from Switzerland in 1837. There were four children in the family and, among them, was a son namedContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Roy W. Emhoff”

Russell Lowell Shively: Clean Living and a Cheerful Disposition

One of my mantras is that every person, historical or living, has a story to tell us. Occasionally, just to remind myself of that, I look for a random person in a historical record and dive into their life to discover their story. The other day I found myself virtually leafing through the 1913 NewContinue reading “Russell Lowell Shively: Clean Living and a Cheerful Disposition”