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Genealogy

Karen Miller Bennett, Certified Genealogist®, Retired 2024

I am a Board-certified Genealogist, certified in 2003 by the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. Certification requires being examined by the BCG review committee and meeting the standards set forth by the BCG Board. I have also agreed to abide by the Board’s Code of Ethics.

Activities

  • Registrar, Lima Chapter NSDAR (2003-2017)
  • Vice President of Development, Ohio Genealogical Society (2008-2010)
  • Trustee, Ohio Genealogical Society (2002-2008)
  • Chair, First Families of Ohio (2005-2010)
  • Co-Chair OGS Conference (2008 & 2010)
  • Program Co- Chair OGS Conference (2006)
  • Vice President, Mercer County Chapter OGS
  • Planning committee, NW Genealogical Workshop, featuring George Schweitzer (2005)
  • Speaker at Auglaize County Cemetery Preservation Workshops (2007 & 2012)
  • Speaker at numerous local chapters and groups

Memberships

  • Board for Certification of Genealogists® (BCG)
  • NSDAR (National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)
  • National Society United States Daughters of 1812
  • National Genealogical Society (NGS)
  • Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS)
  • First Families of Ohio (FFO)
  • Society of Civil War Families of Ohio (SCWFO)
  • Settlers and Builders of Ohio (SBO)
  • Century Families of Ohio (CFO)
  • First and Pioneer Families of Mercer County, Ohio
  • First and Pioneer Families of Van Wert County, Ohio
  • Mercer County Chapter OGS

Publications, Articles and Awards

  • Zion Lutheran Church, Chattanooga, Ohio, the First 75 Years (2000) (church records translation)
  • OGS Simon Kenton Award for Zion Lutheran Church, the First 75 Years (2005)
  • The John George Schumm Family, 1568-2010 (2010) (technical advisor, editor, historian)
  • “Mary Whiteman: Proving Parentage with Indirect Evidence.” OGSQ, volume 44, No. 2 (June 2004)

Conferences Attended

  • 2012, NGS, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • 2011, FGS, Springfield, Illinois
  • 2007, FGS, Fort Wayne, Indiana
  • 2005, NGS, Nashville, Tennessee
  • 2004, NGS,  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 2003, NGS, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • 2001, FGS, Davenport, Iowa
  • 2000, Millennium, Fort Wayne
  • 2002-2011, 2013, 2015 Annual OGS Conferences

The words Certified Genealogist are a registered certification mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

(Last updated Jab 2024)

7 comments

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    • Patricia collins on May 30, 2013 at 3:26 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen – I’m so pleased at stumbling across Becher information. My mother is a Becher, daughter of Albert and Mary R. (Neptune) Becher. I was able to obtain a copy of Patty (Granger) Bradford’s genealogy research, along with your work – Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church – before she passed away.

    1. I am happy that you found the information useful. There were a lot of Bechers in Chatt at one time and most of them attended Zion Chatt. It is interesting to try to piece the family together. Thanks for writing!

    • Paul L. Kouts on November 26, 2013 at 4:32 pm
    • Reply

    I’m so pleased to find a cousin (albeit, an in-law) with similar interests from my old neck of the woods. I have three (3) Pioneer lines in Van Wert County that passed through Mercer, Hancock, Putnam, & several other Ohio counties.

    I am currently the State Genealogist for the NMSAR, Albuquerque Chapter and now working on the my Bennett & Elsea lineage.

    My GG-Grandmother was ‘Rebecca (Bennett) Elsea; b. 1833 in Delaware Co., OH; daughter of Jacob Bennett b. 1810, OH & Elizabeth Powell b. 1811, VA.

    I have registered with Karen’s Chatt and seeing your credentials will probably cross paths with sometime in the future. Especially with my present focus on sorting out Jacob,s lineage. Right now, I’m struggling through early 19th Century OH records in Delaware County.

    Looking forward to your next Chatt. Paul

    1. Nice to hear from you and thanks for writing. How interesting that you are the State Genealogist for the NMSAR. I also like lineage societies and am registrar for the Lima Chapter NSDAR. I don’t believe there is a Jacob Bennett in my husband’s line. There were other Bennetts in Mercer County and the surrounding counties and it is worth looking into. Some day I will have to blog about the Bennetts… Thanks for following Karen’s Chatt!

      • Teresa Haines Rigney on October 1, 2015 at 4:22 pm
      • Reply

      Hi Paul
      I am researching Rebecca Bennett Elsea daughter of Jacob Bennett. She was the mother of my gr gr grandmother Sarah Elsea Haines. Would love to talk with you about this line. Please contact me at teresar1248@aol.com. Thanks Teresa Haines Rigney

    • Roma on November 22, 2020 at 8:30 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen,

    Are you related to the Siegel/Seigel family or Catharine Schlemmer?

    Roma

    1. Maybe. My great-grandfather John Scaer’s sister Mary (1866-1937) married Henry Schlemmer. They had a daughter Katharine (1893-1894). I am not sure if this is the Katharine you are referring to. I see some Siegels in my database (Anna, Elnora, Richard, Roland) but I think they married into the family.

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