Since October is Archives month in Ohio, I thought it would be a perfect time to introduce a new feature of my local history blog: “From the Cellar.” About once a month I will choose an item or collection from The Roots Cellar in the basement of Dover Public Library to highlight in the post. Today I am excited to talk about a special donation we received from Phyllis Van Horn, and it takes us back to the very beginning of the place we call Dover.
Many Doverites might be able to tell you that Christian Deardorff was one of the co-founders of Dover, but know little beyond that basic fact. Did you know his house was the site of the first store in Dover, and the site of the first township election? Did you know he was the first postmaster?
Thanks to the dedicated research of Walter and Phyllis Van Horn, all Doverites can now visit Dover Public Library to easily learn more about the man who carved Dover out of the wilderness. In one carefully constructed notebook one can find photos of Christian Deardorff and his family, copies of plat maps and handwritten land deeds, excerpts from different published histories including “The Portrait and Biographical Record of Tuscarawas County, Ohio – 1895” and W.W. Scott’s “Reminiscences of Dover,” prints and sketches of early Dover, transcribed and photocopied newspaper articles, Census and vital records, obituaries, copies of all of Deardorff’s land patents, tax lists, issues of the Dover Historical Society newsletter featuring articles about Christian Deardorff, and a copy of Margaret Deardorff’s will.
Walter and Phyllis spent years compiling this information from repositories around the state, and they generously donated the result to our local history archives here at Dover Public Library. As we bring Archives month to a close, I want to give Phyllis and her late husband a big H/T for being a champion of archives. Thanks to their tireless efforts, Doverites don’t have to work nearly as hard to learn more about their town fathers.
The featured collection is on display in The Roots Cellar at Dover Public Library and can be viewed Wednesdays and Thursdays 1-4 and 5-8.
To learn more about Archives month in Ohio, visit http://www.ohioarchivists.org/archives_month/
And don’t forget our digital record! Look here for digitized photos and collections from around the state: http://www.ohiomemory.org/
-Claire Kandle, Local History & Genealogy Librarian