Paris Memorial and Community Association

10/16/2026

DID YOU KNOW THAT PARIS HAD A POTTER?

During the 19th century, a notable potter resided and worked in Paris Township, Stark County, Ohio. George W. Heistand (1858–1912) was a lifelong potter, who made crocks and other practical pieces for everyday use.

We would be interested in hearing from you if you have any of Heistand’s pottery or have stories about him. Ruth and Richard Kenny had some crockery that sold at their house auction several years ago, but it is not clear if these pieces came form Heistand’s wheel.

10/16/2026

A SNAPSHOT IN TIME!

Jacob (1827-1912) and Eliza Matz (1825-1906) lived on their farm on Georgetown Road (15354 Georgetown Street Northeast). They were German Reformed. The German records of the union church at Paris show that their son, Aaron (1859-1946) was baptized by Pastor Peter Herburck, a very prolific baptizer in the Reformed tradition. Their tombstones in the Paris Cemetery are pictured here, as is the pencil sketch of their farm, drawn by itinerate artist, Ferdinand Brader (1833-1901), in 1887. As is true for Brader’s other pictures, he numbered this one (no. 545). According to the numbering on other extant drawings, Brader often came back to an area to sketch for neighbors and acquaintances of people he drew for years before. Thus the Josiah Lutz drawing (no. 700) and the John Stimmel drawing (no. 699) were executed years after the drawing pictured here even though these properties were fairly close to each other.

10/16/2026

WHERE DID THEY GO? Some of the earliest Paris records are missing.

CEMETERY RECORDS are far and few between and those that exist are mostly from the 20th and 21st centuries. A few things were written on the back of old oil cloth or degraded by contact paper that one of the sextons believed would preserve them. Sextons John Kinemond and George Speakman had a lot of information in their heads. But the earliest records have disappeared. This is why the only lots in the Paris Cemetery that are for sale today are in the newer sections (on the North and South sides of the cemetery). While there are open spaces in the old part, no one knows if there are bodies buried there or not.

AUXILARY GROUPS (like the Paris Women’s Club and the Lions Club) kept records but their whereabouts are unknown. They likely exist in private hands or were discarded by the children of former members. POSTAL RECORDS were sold at Ruth Kenny’s house auction but they are mostly ledgers with details of money order purchases. TOWNSHIP RECORDS exist. In addition to those held by the township, a late 19th century plat book was held by a life-long member of the community that detailed property lines and ownership.

CHURCH RECORDS are a bit more prevalent. The Embury Methodist Church at the square of Paris gave their record books to the New Franklin Methodist Church when the congregation disbanded, according to their last Pastor, Dr. Paul Froman.

The majority of church records that exist belong to the two other congregations in Paris. The Lutheran and Reformed congregations shared the same building and record books as a “union church” (1813-1880s) until the Reformed congregation split off to build their own building (what is now Paris Israel Church). The Lutherans seemed to have kept the earliest records the union church had and the Reformed congregation was left with nothing that predated the dissolution of the union church.

The earliest union “Church Book” (“Kirchenbuch”) is typical: it was written in a special handwriting that we call “German script,” something few people outside of academia can read today. It was discontinued in Germany by Hi**er and only continued into 20th century America in the Pennsylvania Dutch communities. There has not been a pastor serving in Paris who could read German Script since the 1930s.

Many union churches around Stark County lost their German Church Books either to time or stupidity. St. Paul United Church of Christ in East Canton had a janitor who, according to members of that church, burned the German Bibles, Hymnals and Parish records just after one of the World Wars due to anti-German sentiment.

The earliest extant Paris Church Book starts in 1829, 16 years after the founding of the union church. It is possible that Lutheran and Reformed ministers kept track of the first 16 years-worth of Baptisms, Burials, Communions, Confirmations, and Marriages in smaller books that Pastors carried in their saddle bags.

Documentary evidence shows that there were at least two other German Church Books that the Lutherans loaned to someone outside of the church. Olen Lutz (1913-2010) [Photo], who was the treasurer of the Lutheran Church at Paris for 55 years claimed he never saw an early property deed, an early constitution draft, or other Church Books in the Lutheran Church’s safe. In fact, he claimed that his Grandfather, Josiah Lutz (1849-1936) [Photo], who had been the treasurer of the Lutheran congregation for 50 years, told him that someone had borrowed the records—promising to translate them and bring them back after he retrieved the information he was seeking in them. A letter sent to Josiah Lutz in 1891 [Photo] from Albert H. Conrad corroborates Olen’s story.

A German annotation in the 1829 Church Book also confirms that the joint Lutheran and Reformed congregation had other records that have been lost—possibly some of what Conrad referred to in his letter. In the Reformed Baptisms section of the 1829 Church Book, it says “Das obrige ist in das neuen Kirchen Buch eingeschrieben” (“the above was written in the new Church Book”) [Photo].

We would be interested in hearing any stories you have about records and record keeping in Paris Township.

10/10/2026

10/03/2026

LARGEST FUNERAL IN PARIS HISTORY

Some of you know the Mong family is an early family of Paris Twp. They settled on the farm where Jim Kiko lives today (at Fox and Rt.172).

Steve Tibrea, the descendant of Valentine Mong, has provided this interesting information on his ancestor:

If you are familiar with the Paris Cemetery, you may have noticed a rather large marker at the front left of the Lutheran church for Valentine Mong. He was my great-great-great grandfather. Born in Bavaria Germany, he came to the port of New York at age 8 with his parents and 2 younger siblings in 1836. He was a leader in the agriculture community of Stark county, Served as Township Trustee, Church Deacon and held other various offices. Tragically, his carriage was hit by a train in Louisville and the news of his horrible death resulted in a funeral that was estimated to have over 1000 people in attendance. Here’s the text of the News article about the event from the Louisville Herald newspaper:

THE MONG FUNERAL

Held at the Lutheran Church at Paris, Saturday Morning.

One of the largest funerals ever held in Paris township was that of Valentine Mong, who was killed at the Main street crossing of the Pennsylvania Lines, Thursday morning. Mr. Mong was one of the foremost citizens of that section and was esteemed by everyone. (picture with Caption) The funeral services were held at the Lutheran church at Paris of which Mr. Mong for many years had been an active member. The services were conducted by Revs. Lautzenschlager and Schmucker and it is estimated that one thousand people were in attendance. From the house to the church 275 carriages were in line. Six nephews of Mr. Mong acted as pall-bearers and the remains were entombed in the cemetery adjoining the church.

Thank you, Steve!

10/03/2026

KLU KLUX KLAN in Paris?

In the 1920's a group of men approached Homer Stier (1878-1961), who was the undertaker in Paris. According to Doris Myers (1915-2005)--Stier's daughter--these men hired Stier to embalm and show their friend who had just died. Stier found it a little strange that he did not know the deceased or any of the men who approached him. Nevertheless, he received the body and prepared it. Myers stated that her dad found their request strange for the calling hours and funeral to be held at a very late hour, then was scared when those who gathered at the funeral home were all dressed in white hoods and robes. They were all members of the Klu Klux Klan! Myers told me that her dad reassured himself that they would not harm him because he was hired to do a service for them.

This story raises questions. Where did these people come from? History shows that Ohio was a hotbed of the K*K (especially Dayton). Up the road in Louisville, there was a big chapter that held parades and rallies in the streets every year! [See attached pictures of Louisville Herald clippings from the 20s.] But, to our knowledge, Paris did not. Why did these klansmen come to Paris? It seems like maybe Paris at night would have been a place for the K*K to hold a funeral quietly. It certainly would not have been welcome in Paris during the day! While there were racist people everywhere, Paris does not seem to have had any klan presence. Was the deceased buried in Paris? Myers stated that after the funeral, the klansmen took the deceased to be buried somewhere else (Stier likely had to know and may have accompanied them to the place of burial since he would have likely been responsible to the state for the disposition of bodies he embalmed).

If anyone has knowledge of this event, we would like to hear what you know. At this point all we have is what Doris Myers stated.

09/26/2026

Did you hear stories about the old mill that sat at the fork going North out of Paris? We'd love to hear your stories!

The first historic image of the mill was taken around 1900 and, as you can see, lettering was added by the photographer to identify it so that the image would be suitable as a real photo postcard. Thelma Powel sold copies of this card with some other historic images from her collection for several years on Memorial Day at Paris.

The Second picture is from the Betty Speakman collection showing what was left of the mill after it burned.

What did you hear about this historic milll?

09/25/2026

Robert Estep
Rev. Daniel Grimminger, PhD, MLIS

Robert Estep was one of Paris’ earliest tradesmen. He came to Paris at the very beginning and apprenticed with William McNeely, a silversmith in the village, who settled in Paris in 1814. Unlike George Deuble, Sr., in Canton, and Martin Withington in Massillon, who worked with other metals and also made watches and clocks, Estep became skilled only as a silversmith. McNeely did, however, make clocks and watches in his shop in St. Clairsville in the late1820s after leaving Paris.

Estep was like most of Paris’ early inhabitants: he was from Pennsylvania (Fayette County). John Danner’s history of Stark County states that Estep came to the village in 1818 while an authoritative checklist of early Ohio silversmiths by Elizabeth Beckman claims he settled four years previous. Regardless, Estep became a physician “for which he exhibited more than ordinary aptitude . . . he very soon acquired a reputation not only as a successful practitioner, but as a bold and skillful operator in surgery.” (Danner, 68) He was one of the earliest doctors to deliver babies by cesarean method in Ohio. After leaving Paris in 1834 to practice medicine in Canton, he was succeeded in Paris by Dr. Preston. Estep’s son would also become a physician and later a legislator in the state of California.

Very few of McNeely and Estep’s pieces survive because of Estep’s quick departure from the silversmith trade, but most of his extant work is teaspoons made from coin silver—90% pure silver and 10% alloy (usually copper) with a .900 fineness (unlike modern sterling that is 92.5% pure and .925 fine). Much of the time early coin silver spoons, knives and forks were engraved with a monogram. These details evince Ohio’s evolving demographic shift! People in the region and in Paris had a shift in identity from “pioneer” to “Urbanite.” Coin silver pieces also served as a sort of savings account or insurance policy that allowed the owners to cash them in to be melted down into bullion or cash if needed.

The attached pictures show two coin silver teaspoons signed by McNeely and Estep, with the monogram “M.” Since Beckman’s checklist of early Ohio silver indicates that these silversmiths only operated in Paris in 1814, it is likely that these two spoons are the oldest things we still have that were produced in early Paris.

Bibliography

Beckman, Elizabeth D., “Ohio Silversmiths and Related Trades working outside of Cincinnati,” comp. Maurice R. Meslans, ed. William Erik Voss, accessed online 9/24/26 (rootsweb.com).

Danner, John, Old Landmarks of Canton and Stark County, Ohio (Logansport, IN: B. F. Bowen, 1904).

09/24/2026

Printing in Paris, Stark County, Ohio
Rev. Daniel Grimminger, PhD, MLIS

As a thriving community on the stagecoach route, Paris, Stark County, Ohio had a population that desired reading material. Most of the earliest residents brought with them German-language books, which came from the presses of Pennsylvania and Germany. These included Starck’s Handbook (a very popular prayerbook in the nineteenth century), the New Testament, and hymnals. Parisians needed books for their church services, their schools, and for their own learning and growth. Over time, as was true in nearby Osnaburg and Canton, printers produced books and newspapers in Paris.

Henry Kurtz, a German Anabaptist, ran a press in Osnaburg (now East Canton) in the 1830s, mostly turning out hymnals and devotional books for local Christians who spawned from the Radical Reformation of the 16th century (the same wing of the Reformation as the Amish and the Mennonites).
Such materials would have appealed little to Paris people, who were predominantly Lutheran and Reformed. Yet the layout of Kurtz’s publications looked like other regional printing of the time.

Canton printers, like Peter Kaufaman and Jacob Sala, on the other hand, printed a wider variety books, many of which would have been of interest to a wider swath of German speakers and to those living in Paris. While John Saxton, who came to Canton in 1814, printed English-language materials—particularly the Canton Repository starting in 1815—these German printers catered to German-speakers almost entirely. Kaufman’s German edition of the Heidelberg Catechism and Sala’s 1821 German Lutheran hymnal were likely used by Parisians. Regardless, the time came when Paris would have books from its own print shops.

J. Wilkinson White was the earliest documented printer in the village. Historian, John Lehman, states that White published a newspaper that played a role in the Campaign of 1828. There was enough political interest in the village to warrant the paper’s publication for documentary evidence teaches us there were political rallies in the village in the first half of the century.

In 1833, the press and type used for the Paris Newspaper were purchased by a man named Leonard, who resumed printing the newspaper in Canton as The Stark County Democrat from June of that year until March of 1912. In addition to the weekly edition of this paper, it would also be published in multiple editions under the titles Canton Daily Democrat (1884–1888), News-Democrat (1888–1903), and then it would be consolidated into the Canton Daily News.

David Huston is the only other printer who worked in Paris. We know little about him other than he did various things to make a living. An extant receipt shows that the Lutheran and Reformed congregations in Paris paid Huston to deliver coal to the church for their furnace. Other than that, he printed at least two books. The first is Geschichte der Ver. Staaten con Nordamerika vom Jahre 1497 bis 1841 für deutsche Familien und Schulen (History of the United States from 1497 to 1841 for German families and schools). [See Picture with this post] The title page tells us that this book was printed in 1841, and that Huston was a “printer and bookseller” [See title page].

The Paris school likely used this book in the local curriculum because the Pennsylvania Dutch refused to use English for as long as they could. In fact, the Lutheran and Reformed people, who worshiped together in the same building until the late nineteenth century did not stop using German in their services until about 1877, but continued speaking Pennsylvania Dutch in their homes long after German in their liturgies ceased. The fact that there are only a handful of copies extant of Huston’s History of the United States in our day seems to tell us that Huston printed a modest number of these—a limited “print run”—maybe just for the Paris schools and homes! The Grimminger copy is highlighted in the Arcadia Press book on Paris. It is one of only a few copies known to exist.

While Huston does not state it anywhere in the book, this imprint is basically a reprint of a popular history that was printed by a number of other presses. What makes Huston’s edition special, however, are the small engraved pictures throughout the book. Their simplicity and size made them an ideal window into the world of American history, especially for children and youth. These pictures in their rough details hearken back to German woodcut printing, something that flourished for a very long time, hundreds of years before the founding of Paris in 1814.

The second imprint Huston printed was an English-language book on “Popery.” It would have appealed to the Lutheran and Reformed people’s bent against Roman Catholicism—something that persisted into the 20th century, but waned after the advent of the ecumenical and liturgical movements in American mainline churches.

The fact that there were printing presses in Paris helps to substantiate Paris as more than a backwoods place. It was a village that valued history, culture, and the arts. It reminds us that the Pennsylvania Dutch people there valued education and learning; they maintained their connection and continuity to Europe and the bustling towns and cities of Pennsylvania through these presses.

Bibliography

Cazden, Robert E., A Social History of the German Book Trade in America to the Civil War (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1984).

Durnbaugh, Donald F., “Henry Kurtz: Man of the Book,” Ohio History 76, no. 3 (Summer 1967): 114-131.

Durnbaugh, Donald F., “The Salas: A German-American Printing Family,” Yearbook of German-American Studies, vol. 38 (2003): 43-58.

Eck, Reimer, and Karl Arndt, The First Century of German Printing in the United States of America: A Bibliography based on Studies of Oswald Seidensticker and Wilbur H. Oda (Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, 1989).

Grimminger, Daniel Jay, Paris (Arcadia Publishing, 2010).

Lehman, John H., A Standard History of Stark County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the Past (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1916).