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Online readers are hard to predict

I’ve been online manager of The Times for more than 20 years. You would think in that amount of time I would have psychic knowledge of what people want to read online and why they want to read it. I don’t. I am pretty good at coming to conclusions as to what the typical reader does with the typical story on a typical day. For instance, our readers love to look at obituaries online. The most local of local news, obits are viewed hundreds of thousands of times per month. There are individual obituaries on our site that have been viewed more than 10,000 times. Readers also ...

Classic American hit has Marietta ties

“MANY A TEAR HAS TO FALL, BUT IT’S ALL IN THE GAME…” Those bittersweet words set to music are probably familiar to those of us who are old enough to remember one of the biggest hits of the 1950s. But did you know that this classic American tune was written by one of Marietta’s ...

Camera give detailed look at Marietta’s past

If you were a photographer in the 1800s you had to have been strong. The cameras were huge and the film that went in them was just as large. Using them required some patience, and a great deal of skill. A strong back would have also been a plus. The large format cameras were made from glass, brass, leather and frequently some wood. The film that went in them was normally 8x10 inches or in some cases 5x7. I have an Agfa 8x10 camera from 1898 that is a joy to look at but must have been extremely hard to use. These cameras captured photos on very large film using in most cases very long ...

Marietta’s first female physician

When Dr. Helen E. Curtis returned to Marietta after medical school in 1881, she certainly must have wondered how the small town of Marietta and surrounding area would receive its first female doctor. Whether that was an issue or not, from newspaper accounts during her lifetime, it appeared ...

We will be led safely through troubles

Our world is addicted to war. How can we live under the storm clouds of war? For followers of Jesus Christ, we turn to our Bibles for answers. Isaiah 9:1 says that in our gloom and despair, we fear that our sorrows and troubles will never end. Isaiah goes on to say that the Lord may not always take us around our troubles, but if we follow him wholeheartedly, He will lead us safely through them. The thing about following Jesus Christ is that belief in Him comes before study and service to Him. We trust this historic man, our Messiah, God with Us, who died a horrible death for our ...

1st wave of Germans hits county

In the first wave of German settlers who came to Washington County in the mid 1830s, many were from the village of Durkheim in the Rhine Palatinate. The small towns of Matamoras, Newport, and Marietta, located along the Ohio River, were stopping places for German settlers. In time, German farmers would concentrate in the townships north and east of Marietta. Fearing, Adams, Salem townships particularly became heavily populated with German immigrants who formed churches and farming communities. One of the most well known stories is about Jacob and Charles Frederick Peters. About 1832, ...