Dr. Gay Ludwig Hitler (1882–1948), an Ohio dentist and the son of George Washington Hitler... Dr. Gay Ludwig Hitler was born on January 13, 1882, in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, to George Washington Hitler and Ida May Lutz. He worked as a dentist in Circleville, Ohio, for over four decades (practicing from 1922 through 1946). . . . The Hitler family (originally descendants of George Hitler, who emigrated from Germany/Maryland to Ohio in the late 1700s) was a prominent, long-standing farming and pioneer family in Pickaway County. The family had been in America for generations. The first was George Hitler, a German immigrant born in 1763, who settled in Pennsylvania before moving his family to southern Ohio. Some roads in Pickaway County still carry the Hitler name today. Then, in the 1930s, a man with the same surname rose to power in Germany. By the time WWII ended, it had become the most infamous name in the world. Due to the family's deep local history long before the 20th-century German dictator rose to power, several local places—including Hitler Road, Hitler-Ludwig Road, Hitler Park, and the Hitler-Ludwig Cemetery—were named after them. Many Americans with the name changed it. Gay Hitler never did. He lived through WWII and passed away on October 27, 1948, in Worthington, Ohio. He was buried under a gravestone that still reads “HITLER.” His story went viral more than 70 years later, when an old newspaper clipping with his name began circulating online. Even his first name was a family tradition. It came from Susannah Gay, the wife of the original George Hitler who brought the family to America. #archaeohistories