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 and genealogy research for over 35 years and am Credentialed as a Board-certified genealogist by the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, 2003-2024, retired 2024. My main genealogical interests are family research, cemetery research, and historical and genealogical research of the Chatt area. I also 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 U.S. Daughters of 1812, First Families of Ohio, and First Families of Mercer and Van Wert Counties. I am a retired dental hygienist and our church organist for over 60 years. 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

Dear Mom & All–WWII Letters from Herb (part 21)

Memorial Day is about a week away and a good time to post a few more transcriptions of my dad’s WWII letters and photos. Today’s letters are from May and June, 1945, 73 years ago. [1] My dad, Herbert Miller, was trained as a replacement troop during the fall of 1944. After he arrived in …

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Tombstone Tuesday–Christian & Mary A. (Bollenbacher) Fisher

This is the tombstone of Christian and Mary A. (Bollenbacher) Fisher, located in row 6 of Kessler (aka Liberty) Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed: Mother MARY A. His Wife Mar. 7, 1848 May 2, 1920 Father CHRISTIAN FISHER Aug. 29, 1839 Mar. 26, 1909 FISHER John “Christian” Fisher was born in Germany …

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Flowers for Mother’s Day, 1945

I wrote this a couple years ago but thought it timely to post it again since Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. In addition, I have been transcribing my dad’s WWII letters and I found a letter my dad wrote that mentions these Mother’s Day flowers. [1] An excerpt from a V-Mail letter my dad …

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Tombstone Tuesday–Otto and Margery (Schott) Bollenbacher

This is the tombstone of Otto and Margret (Schott) Bollenbacher, located in row 10 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed: BOLLENBACHER Margret 1895-1979 Otto 1888-1970 Married March 27 1913 Otto Bollenbacher was born 28 February 1888 in Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio. His mother Louisa Bollenbacher married Frederick Berron …

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Chattanooga, Ohio, 1912

A few weeks ago I received the Holy Grail of postcards—an honest-to-goodness, authentic, 1912 picture postcard of Chattanooga, Ohio. Mary Anne Bollenbacher gave me the postcard a few minutes before the beginning of our church service and I was so excited I had a little trouble concentrating on my music. I knew there were probably …

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