The Newcomerstown Public Library may hold the answers
Gary Little, left, William Casteel, Chris Kincaid, Cody Addy and Elaine Mayenschein look at a book from the library's history and genealogy collection.
The history and genealogy reference section at the Newcomerstown Public Library holds many documents, microfilm, photographs and books that trace the past of Newcomerstown and the surrounding area, but they have one resource they couldn’t do without — their volunteers.
The volunteers at the Newcomerstown Public Library have done much to unravel the history and mysteries of the past, and they plan to do more.
For volunteer Elaine Mayenschein of Newcomerstown, it started with genealogy. She researched her own family and placed her findings in the library.
“We encourage anybody who is working on their genealogy to give us a copy of it,” Mayenschein said, noting they have received as many as five or six 2-inch notebooks full of information on some families. “Other notebooks are not even an inch, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever they can give us helps everyone else who is researching their family.”
They have had researchers from as far away as California visit the library to use the genealogy resources. They also have regulars who stop by the library to talk history.
It also helps Mayenschein in another project she is working on to determine who is buried in the East State Street Cemetery, which was opened in 1860 in Newcomerstown. She’d like to determine the names of those in the unmarked graves or those who have unreadable headstones. She is hoping to get at least some of the veterans’ graves marked in the future.
“This history has been a big help,” Mayenschein said of being able to research people who are buried in the cemetery at the public library. “I know where to go to look at the information, so it’s an extension. The people I’m researching here are buried down there. And I love it.”
You don’t have to be into genealogy to volunteer.
“I wanted to get in on the history side because that’s my passion,” Gary Little of Newcomerstown said. He worked on a project to catalog the businesses in the village from 1870-1980, even completing an index for the information to make it easier to find.
Little credits the other volunteers for their help.
“I couldn’t have done it by myself. Every time I come in, they are giving me stuff,” Little said. “I started out with the street directory, looked up where all the businesses were located and how many different ones were in that same location over the years. I kind of branched out there. I now have 20 binders full of stuff I have collected. They’re all up here but the last two, and I’m still working.”
The volunteers try to meet one day a week at the library, but they also put in hours working on research at their homes.
One of their favorite resources is a book put together by the late David Agricola, who began clipping obituaries from the town back in the 1960s and published a book with the collection in 1987. Agricola lived out of state at the time.
“He did these over many years because he had to get copies of all the original papers. And there were some that were hit or miss because there were some missing. We are not sure that these are actually 100% complete because there may have been an edition missing somewhere in there. We found that in the originals, but they’re as complete as they can possibly be,” said William Casteel, the historian of the Newcomerstown Historical Society.
In the future the files and photos from the historical society will be moved to the library so more people will have access to them.
Chris Kincaid, assistant director and tech support at the library, heads up the history and genealogy department. He’s digitized many of the materials, and some are available online.
Cody Addy, director of the Newcomerstown Public Library, said he’s pleased with the work of Kincaid and the volunteers to get the materials put together and online. Since the pandemic more library patrons are using services online.
One of the things they collect is Newcomerstown High School yearbooks, and they are missing a few from their collection, specifically 1984, 1986 and 1987. They also have photo collections of high school reunions, programs and similar things that have been donated to them.
The volunteers have one piece of advice — don’t throw stuff away.
“We will take anything. Then we’ll decide,” Casteel said.
To find historical materials online, visit www.nctlib.org/research.