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

Brewster Brothers in the Civil War

Last week I shared a newspaper article and a photo of the first Brewster Reunion, held in Adams County, Indiana, in 1913. Among those in attendance were two Civil War veterans. Brothers James Henry and Daniel M. Brewster served in Company E of the 80th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry [OVI]. According to James Henry Brewster’s …

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Tombstone Tuesday–Sophia & George Byer

This is the tombstone of Sophia Byer and her son George, located in row 6 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is nearly unreadable now but was transcribed by the Mercer County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society in 1990. Their transcription: Byer, Sophia, wife of Jasper, died 10 March 1872, …

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The First Brewster Reunion, 1913

It is always a pleasant surprise when some family-related information unexpectedly pops up right before your eyes. Last Friday I was doing some newspaper research at the Brumback Library in Van Wert. I was nearly finished and was looking through a book of abstracted articles from the Willshire Herald, waiting for a rain storm to end. …

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Tombstone Tuesday–Sixtus and Magdalene Gugel

This is the tombstone of Sixtus and Magdalene Gugel, located in row 6 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The left side of the marker bears the inscription for Sixtus/Father and the right side for Magdalene/Mother. The bases are inscribed: GUGEL, Sixtus Gugel, Born 16 March 1817, Died 2 Jan 1884, age 66 …

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Confirmation Records

One thing you can say about the German Lutherans—they kept very good church records. Although the handwriting can be difficult to read, they usually recorded a good deal of information and left a lot of valuable genealogical data for us today. I refer to the church records of both Zion Lutheran in Chattanooga and Schumm …

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