Karen Bennett

Greetings from the Chattanooga, Ohio, area. Yes, Ohio has its very own Chattanooga, aka Chatt, a small village in west-central Ohio, near the Indiana border. I have been doing family history research for over 20 years and am a Board-Certified genealogist, certified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. My main genealogical interests are family research, cemetery research, and historical and genealogical research of the Chatt area, with a focus on two area Lutheran Churches, both named Zion Lutheran, one in Chatt and the other in Schumm, Ohio. Family names I am researching include Miller, Schumm, Brewster, Rueck, Reid, Headington, Huey, Bryan, Whiteman, Schinnerer, Scaer, Breuninger, Bennett, and a few others. I belong to several lineage societies, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, U.S. Daughters of 1812, First Families of Ohio, and First Families of Mercer and Van Wert Counties. I am also a retired dental hygienist and our church organist. I hope you enjoy Karen's Chatt.

Most commented posts

  1. Golden Wedding Anniversary — 37 comments
  2. Haunted Mercer County? — 34 comments
  3. The Old Willshire Hotel — 30 comments
  4. Metal Cemetery Monuments — 25 comments
  5. The Milligan Painting — 24 comments

Author's posts

Early Liberty Township Earmark Descriptions

I have written about Mercer County’s old Liberty Township Estray Book three other times. [1]  The book dates back to the mid-1800s and pertains to livestock in the township. The Liberty Estray Book has two purposes. The first part of the book describes the township estrays, i.e. found or missing livestock. The first entry is …

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Pleasant Hill Chapel, Dublin Township

Pleasant Hill. Pleasant Grove. Pleasant Valley. Pleasant Chapel. Mount Pleasant. Pleasant Green. Pleasant Mills. Pleasant was certainly a popular, and pleasant, name. Especially for a church. When East Bethel church was organized in Black Creek Township in 1855, they planned to name it Pleasant Bethel but decided not to because there were seven other churches …

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1913 Topography Map: Hopewell & Union Townships

Below are two more Mercer County townships, Hopewell and Union, from the 1913 Topographic Map of northern Mercer County. I featured Black Creek, Liberty, and Dublin Townships from this map a couple weeks ago. Apparently I have just a portion of a map. The sheet I have includes northern Mercer County, with the eastern portion …

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1913 Topography Map of Northern Mercer County

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We certainly did and things are pretty much back to normal here. This winter seems more like the winters we used to have, colder with more snow, making it the perfect time to work indoors on some genealogy projects. As I mentioned late last year, I still …

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Happy New Year!

Yet another year comes to an end and at midnight we welcome 2026. A new year, a new beginning, with new resolutions and new hopes. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026, filled with love, peace, and joy.  Happy New Year!