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

Christmas in Chattanooga, 1933

In 1933 Chattanooga, Ohio, was home to a number of businesses and many of them advertised and sent Christmas greetings in The Willshire Herald. There was nearly a full page of Chattanooga ads in the paper and below are some of them. Christmas Greetings from S.S. Egger, grocer, undertaker, and postmaster, whose business was south …

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Tombstone Tuesday–David & Mary R. (Hiller) Berger

This is the tombstone of David and Mary R. (Hiller) Berger, located in row 8 of Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed: BERGER David 1869-1962 Mary R. His Wife 1872-1921 Maria Rebecka “Mary” Hiller was born 17 September 1872 in Adams County, Indiana, the daughter of Jacob and Martha (Sundmacher) Hiller. She …

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Sitting on Santa’s Lap–It’s a Family Thing

In our family it sometimes takes a while to warm up to someone, especially if that person is Santa Claus. This is the time of year when children stand in line to meet Santa, sit on his lap, and tell him what they want for Christmas. We all remember how exciting it was to see …

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Tombstone Tuesday–Elizabeth Wilhelmine (Hiller) Huffman

This is the tombstone of Elizabeth Wilhelmine (Hiller) Huffman, located in row 8 of Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed: Elizabeth Wilhelmine Wife of Frederick Huffman Died Oct. 9, 1895 Aged 20y. & 18d. Elizabeth Wilhelmina Hiller was born 21 September 1875 in Jefferson Township, Adams County, Indiana, to Jacob and Martha …

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Dr. B.F. Edgington, Physician in Chattanooga, Ohio

Ok. I admit it. I am still haunted by the mystery surrounding Carrie (Edgington) Eichhorn Friedell and her mother Eliza (Bobo) Edgington. Regular readers will recall those names and that I devoted four blog posts last summer to these two women who are buried in Zion Chatt’s cemetery. [See Zion Chatt’s Mid-Summer Mystery, Parts 1-4, …

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