uhrichsville ohio – Page 2 – Tuscarawas County Stories

Evil in the Twin Cities: The 1944 Murder of Naomi Freed

AI generated image depicting 10 year-old Naomi Freed on the Center Street bridge in Dennison, Ohio, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

A Dennison, Ohio family was shattered, and a community shocked, when the family’s nearly ten-year-old daughter was murdered on her way home from a movie in the spring of 1944. The Freed family, originally from Pennsylvania, settled in Tuscarawas County after the Civil War with the arrival of Henry Freed (1833-1909) and his wife CatherineContinue reading “Evil in the Twin Cities: The 1944 Murder of Naomi Freed”

“A Bad Man”: The Killing of Henry Bushman

AI image of a sepia-toned photograph set inside a small, rustic bakery in rural Ohio, 1883. The interior is filled with wooden shelves stacked with freshly baked bread, pies, and pastries, with a large stone oven in the background. In the center of the scene, a young 20-year-old baker, wearing a flour-dusted apron and suspenders, is locked in a heated struggle with a rugged, 40-year-old railroad worker who appears visibly drunk, with a bottle in his hand and disheveled clothing. The baker, fists raised, shows determination and anger, while the older man stumbles, trying to regain his balance. The lighting is dim, and the atmosphere is tense, with flour kicked up in the air during the scuffle, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

German immigrant Henry Bushman led a troubled and short life, marred by frequent run-ins with the law and fueled by alcohol, which eventually led to a fatal encounter with his nephew in Uhrichsville, Ohio. When someone lived as short a life as German immigrant Henry Bushman (1852-1883) did in the 19th century, it is oftenContinue reading ““A Bad Man”: The Killing of Henry Bushman”

The “Freak Animal Critter” Hoax of New Philadelphia

An AI generated image of a ring-tailed cat in a cage. DALL·E 2023-03-23 11.23.38

Since April Fools Day is coming up, I thought I would share a story of a time when someone tried to fool the entire Tuscarawas County community and beyond. As Oscar R. Long (1888-1960) told it, he was out hunting racoons in the Stonecreek Valley in early February 1930 when he caught the most unusualContinue reading “The “Freak Animal Critter” Hoax of New Philadelphia”

One House’s Story: The Rhoads Family

The house built by Harry W. Rhoads on North Water Street, Uhrichsville, 2022.

It is hard to miss this home on North Water Street in Uhrichsville with its two-story, corner turret-like feature. While it was once home to one of the city’s most prosperous residents, it was built by a family with much more modest beginnings. A note about addresses: House numbers and street names often change overContinue reading “One House’s Story: The Rhoads Family”

One House’s Story: Philip G. Lanning

2019 520 N Water Street Uhrichsville Philip G Lanning

I decided to take a look into a house outside of my own immediate community. There is no shortage of historic homes to choose from, so I decided to look for a house that was depicted in the 1875 Atlas of Tuscarawas County. This is one of the stories from that house’s history. As youContinue reading “One House’s Story: Philip G. Lanning”

Fallen Heroes: Private Tony Scaffidi, Jr.

graves registration troops recovering us soldiers korea

While many stories of fallen heroes involve deaths resulting from combat or disease, there are also those heroes whose deaths occur in the regular performance of their duties. Perhaps no duty is as significant as that of recovering bodies of other fallen heroes and ensuring their proper burial or return to loved ones. This isContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Tony Scaffidi, Jr.”

Fallen Heroes: Private Clarence Ludwig

When one volunteers for military service, one knows that there is the very good possibility that they may never return home. Soldiers in earlier wars also ran the real risk of dying from disease without ever seeing the battlefield. In cases like this one, the soldier returned home from military service without a scratch butContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private Clarence Ludwig”

Fallen Heroes: Private John Warner Carr

American troops marching into the St. Mihiel salient on the morning of September 12, 1918.

The fields of France claimed a number of Tuscarawas County’s young men in the summer and fall of 1918. The names of those fallen heroes, who advanced across no-man’s land never to return, filled an entire column of the newspaper after the war. This is one of those heroes. The Carr family was one ofContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Private John Warner Carr”

Fallen Heroes: Corporal Arthur T. Friley

Many imagine that only men from the Navy or Coast Guard saw duty on the numerous patrol boats that operated in the rivers of South Vietnam. The Army, however, also played a part in what they referred to as “riverine” operations. The story of this fallen hero is one example of that type of service.Continue reading “Fallen Heroes: Corporal Arthur T. Friley”

Fallen Heroes: Specialist 5 James B. Alexander

The first Tuscarawas County soldier to lose his life in Vietnam was not some young-faced draftee straight out of high school. He was a career soldier who had served in two previous wars and been wounded in battle once. His death, and those that died with him that day, would bring the Vietnam War intoContinue reading “Fallen Heroes: Specialist 5 James B. Alexander”