The Warther Family

It all started when…

Ernest "Mooney" Warther was born on October 30th, 1885 in an old, one room school house in Dover, Ohio. The youngest boy of five children, Ernest learned at a young age the value of hard work. After his father passed away when Ernest was just three years old, times were tough for the Warther family, with young mother Anna, five children, twenty cents, and a cow. Upon turning five, Ernest began his first job as the local cow herder, taking cows to pasture for a penny a piece and earning him the nickname that would stay for the rest of his life, "Mooney."

One fateful day, taking the cows out, Mooney found a rusty pocketknife in the dirt. This old knife would ultimately change the course of Mooney's life forever as the young boy began whittling sticks, fence-posts, and anything else he could get his hands on. Because times were tough and money was short, Mooney would only finish the second grade and would eventually lie about his age at 14 to work at the American Sheet and Tin Company which was one of the local steel mills. Falling in love with the railroad and steam engines as a teenager, Mooney found his focus for carving, which became his hobby. When he was not working at the mill, he was carving. If he was not carving he was with his wife Frieda, his own five children, and their neighborhood friends. Mooney's journey is one that is remarkable, with one man creating sixty-four scaled and working representations of steam history. His carvings were created between 1905 and 1971, between the ages of 20 and 86.

Beyond the carvings, Mooney Warther was discovered by the New York Central Railroad, traveled with his carvings, raised a family, opened his own museum, and dedicated his life to the town of Dover, Ohio and educating all people through his works. He was a character, smart as a whip, always with a story to tell, and often told the story while carving a pair of his signature pliers. People from all over the world came to Dover to see the man with the wild hair, the booming voice, and the genius mind who carved so perfectly, you had to see it to believe it.

Frieda Richard Warther

Frieda Warther, born Frieda Richard, was the oldest girl of thirteen children. Born November 12th, 1890, Frieda spent the first four years of her life in Switzerland before she and her family moved to the United States and found home in the small town of Dover, Ohio. Growing up in a big family, Frieda was one of a few girls who wished to hold on to her Swiss roots. Beyond her growing button collection, Frieda raised the children, supported her husband in all his endeavors and opportunities, and often traveled to see him while he was on the road. While the children were growing up, her gardens were filled with vegetables, feeding the family all year. After the children began leaving the house, her gardens slowly turned over to beautiful, flowering plants. These beds, Swiss-styled with some of her original plants, remain on site today. Like Mooney, Frieda had a great passion for educating others and helping the community. She opened her home to many in Dover, holding wreath making classes, flower arranging, and jewelry making. She was a 4-H leader and founder of the Dover Garden Club. In her own right, she became a unrequited legend.

As the oldest girl, she helped her mother immensely at home, learning great patience at a young age, and also earning her the gift of her mother's button box, a European tradition that gave the eldest girl her mother's box full of buttons and sewing tools. Soon after, she began making simple pieces of jewelry and she collected many buttons from other young girls who discarded their own button boxes in the hopes of being more American. Her collection began to grow, and her crafting mind sparked new ideas and designs. Eventually, she would lay these designs out in many patterns, like a quilt, and her collection would grow to over 73,000 buttons mounted, with thousands more she would not be able to mount.

Dave & Joanne Warther

Born on July 2, 1926, Dave was the youngest of Mooney and Frieda’s children. Growing up, he watched his father carve and forge knives in the workshop in the backyard. At the age of six, he created his first knife. Dave was cut from much of the same cloth of his father. His passion for knife-making grew and by the time he turned eighteen, he forged his own Commando Knife and enlisted in the Navy. Serving in World War II sent Dave to the sea and he saw a lot of the Eastern World. Upon his return, he married his lifetime partner Joanne Carl Warther and together they had six children, of which Dave’s oldest daughter Carol is the current museum President. Although Dave was quieter, like his mother, he had visions just like his “pop.” He envisioned a museum, much bigger than the one room museum Mooney was filling quickly. He could see there was a need to expand the idea of a museum and tell the full story of not just steam history but the story of his father as well. Dave would spend the rest of his life creating, building, and sharing the story of his parents to people from just down the street to across the world.

carol Warther Moreland & dana Moreland

Dave was an artist in designing a museum that told the incredible story of a man with nothing who created such a legacy that it withstands the test of time. After the passing of his father, Dave was able to keep the story alive; the spirit of his parents was still a part of every day life at the museum. In his own artistic right, Dave passed down a tradition that upholds our legacy as a museum. Throughout the course of her life, Carol uses this as her guiding principle in implementation and growth in our museum today. Building a sense of community and expanding on the work of her father, she looks forward to the potential that is still held within the legacy of her grandfather. Both Carol and her husband Dana can be found working hands-on at the museum throughout the week. As always, feel free to say hello while you are here.

Kristen Moreland Harmon

As the museum’s present day director, I find myself humbled to be where I am as a thirty-something year old. I tend to write our social media and newsletters, and they are open-ended vantage points of the different aspects that I get the honor to explore as director of our museum. On any given day, I find myself exploring more about the history my great-grandfather captured in his sculpture, finding another avenue that my great-grandmother taught to the children of our community, or understanding the vision my grandfather Dave held for this museum. During your visit with us, you can find me in the warmer months out in the gardens or arboretum and during the colder months cleaning the carvings and exhibits. As always, feel free to say hello. We cannot wait to share our family’s story with you.