Ernest warther biography

Ernest "Mooney" Warther was born on October 30th, 1885 in an old, one room school house in Dover, Ohio.
Ernest Warther was born on Oct. 30, 1885, to Godfrey and Anna, who settled in Dover like many other Swiss immigrants.
Ernest “Mooney” Warther was born in Dover on October 30, 1885.

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Warther Family History

Godfrey and Anna Warther, my great-grandparents, immigrated to Dover, Ohio from Switzerland in 1883. Five years later Godfrey died at the age of 44 leaving Anna with 5 kids under the age of 6, a cow and 20 cents.

Great-Grandma Anna kept the family together and as the children grew they all took on jobs to support the family. The girls worked in the homes and gardens of town folk who paid them and the boys began working full time. When grandpa, Ernest, was 5 years old he tended milk cows and at age 14 he began working full time in a local steel mill.

At age 17 he made his first knife and then his first pocketknife at age 20. In time grandpa became most known for his wood and ivory carvings but his knife making continued to garner attention. He made knives throughout his life and today his pocketknives and WWII commando knives are highly sought after by collectors.

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The Warther family has had its share of characters over the generations. Great Uncle Otto was a gymnast and actor. He achieved his greatest fame in

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Ernest Warther Museum woodcarvings are a Tuscarawas County treasure

Ernest “Mooney” Warther was an esteemed son of Dover, Ohio, and a master wood carver. The work of this turn-of-the-century artist is the foundation for the Tuscarawas County museum in his name.

The Ernest Warther Museum and Gardens includes an array of Warther creations, from his wooden steam engines to his celebrated plier tree to his steel mill miniatures to his wife Frieda’s Button House.

The museum is celebrating a new historical marker on June 8 in honor of being added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

'Mooney'

Warther was a showman according to his granddaughter, Carol Warther Moreland, the museum CEO.

“He knew no strangers, and he had a big, booming voice. He talked to anybody about anything, and you could hear him a mile away,” Moreland said.

Jean-Marie Papoi

Ideastream Public Media

His personality helped sell his art according to his great-granddaughter, and museum director, Kristen Moreland Harmon.

“[Dover’s] a small town. He had to advocate for hi

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It was a different time, and growth occurred more gradually than we’re accustomed to in our modern, hurry up world. In fact, it would be 20 years before Mooney would quit working in the steel mill to devote his life to making and designing knives. Soon he had a family of his own, and, by the 1940s, began teaching the art of making knives to his sons, Tom and Dave.

Through it all, however, Mooney continued to pursue his true passion, woodcarving. Over the years his fascinating, intricate carvings of the evolution of the steam engine traveled across America. The immense popularity of his work, and demand for more, led him to establish the Warther Museum beside his home in Dover, Ohio.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy was booming, and Dave was expanding the knife business by introducing Warther Knives to a growing market of discerning American consumers. He eventually incorporated the business under the name the family had been using for more than a decade: E. Warther & Sons Inc.