John Cleves Symmes was born in Riverhead in the Province of New York to Timothy Symmes and Mary Cleves and lived what most would consider a rather normal childhood, growing up in Colonial America. Little did he know at that time that one day his name would be spoken by school children (probably mostly in […]
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
Augustus West was born into slavery in Madison County, Virginia on March 20, 1814, but moved as either an escaped or freed slave (history isn’t entirely certain to which one it is) to Ohio in 1837. Before long, he built himself a mansion and began to create a settlement for people like himself, which prospered
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History, Ohioans You Should Know, People
The film industry is a weird thing. In some ways, not much has changed in the past one hundred years. Yet, at the same time, Hollywood today couldn’t be more different than it was in the 1920s. Some of the best examples of this can be seen within the memory of an Ohioan You Should
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
In 1996, Jenifer Lee Barrett McCrady was living in Belpre, Ohio (a short way downriver from Marietta) and living a decent life, according to friends. After she graduated from college, she worked as a nurse and seemed to truly enjoy her job. Her husband was a State Trooper, and the couple were raising two kids.
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People, True Crime, Unsolved Unresolved
Clement L. Vallandigham is included in the history books mostly for what happened at the end of his life. Or, perhaps better put, because of how his life ended. He was a lawyer (and probably one of the rare “good” ones) who some say was the kind of guy who would do anything to get
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Ohioans You Should Know
George Robert Dramis was born in 1924 in Ashtabula, Ohio, which is where he spent most of his life. When he was eighteen years-old, just after graduating from Ashtabula High School in 1942 (where he was best known as an athlete and standing six foot one, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds, he was quite
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History, Ohioans You Should Know, People
In a previous post, I raised the question if there had ever been, as many police officers have suggested, that a missing person was in reality someone with amnesia who walked away and came back some time later. I was not able to find a single case where that happened – the closest I got
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
When you think of truly great American writers, what names come to mind? Mark Twain? Edgar Allen Poe? What about Harper Lee or F. Scott Fitzgerald? Steinbeck? Bradbury? Capote? Hemingway? What about Stephen King or Toni Morrison or Alice Walker or Tennassee WIlliams or Arthur Miller or Raymond Chandler? Okay, I can hear you say,
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
Today’s Ohioan You Should Know didn’t start her life in Ohio. In fact Agnes Robertson Moorehead was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts. Her mother, Mary, had once performed as a singer. Her father, John, was a Presbyterian minister. So, you can probably guess that she was raised in a fairly strict, religious
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Ohioans You Should Know, People
When we think about unsolved mysteries, especially ones connected to Ohio, the last thing we’re going to think about is the assanation of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. On April 14, 1865, while attending a theatrical production of Our American Friend, Booth entered Lincoln’s box, shot him, then leapt to the stage for
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History, People, Unsolved Unresolved