wayne township – Tuscarawas County Stories

The Heiress of Strasburg: The Lauer “Kidnapping” of 1909

Postcard image of Strasburg, Ohio circa 1909. (Source: ebay.com)

A Tuscarawas County “heiress” once declared incompetent defied scandal, married for love, and built a lasting family legacy. Josephine Matilda Lauer (1878-1961), known as Tillie, was born in Somerdale, Tuscarawas County, the daughter of farmer Martin Lauer (1856-1929) and his wife Amelia Behnke Lauer (1859-1890). As a child she lived with her family in Ohio,Continue reading “The Heiress of Strasburg: The Lauer “Kidnapping” of 1909″

The “One Dollar Ghost”

Ms. Sills encountering the ghost of Abraham Koons, circa 1819. (Source: Dall-E)

I stumbled across a letter written in 1819 from a Tuscarawas County resident in a Canton, Ohio newspaper that told a fantastical ghost story that I simply had to investigate further. A letter from New Philadelphia, Ohio appeared on the front page of a July 1819 edition of the Canton Ohio Repository newspaper describing aContinue reading “The “One Dollar Ghost””