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

Apr 23

Pleasant Hill Friends Church, Dublin Township

I think it is interesting to learn where old churches and schools used to be located. Some of those old frame structures were later moved to other locations. I have been tracking down the history of once such local church.

Pleasant Hill Friends Church (Quaker) once stood close to where we live and the structure was moved into Rockford in the early 1900s.

I first learned about this church in Annettia (Brubaker) Smith’s 1933 obituary:

Apr 20

Tombstone Tuesday-Broken Flower Bud

A broken flower bud was most often carved on the tombstone of an infant or a young child and symbolizes that their life was cut short. They died too young. Their life ended too soon.

Apr 16

Parents for Maria Seckel

I broke through a brick wall this past week and did the Genealogy Happy Dance. I haven’t done that dance for some time and it was pretty exciting.

All this, thanks to Cousin Ken, my 4th cousin on the Schumm branch of my family. Ken contacted me recently and told me that he was looking at images of the church records from Ruppertshofen, where the Schumms attended church before immigrating in 1833.

Apr 13

Tombstone Tuesday-Sarah Hartzog

This is the tombstone of Sarah Hartzog, located in row 7 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:
Sarah
wife of
George Hartzog
Died Dec 28th
1846
aged 58 Y’rs 9
mo, & 19 ds

Apr 09

A Pressing Matter

Ironing. Or as we used to call it, pressing. A chore I do not enjoy. I don’t think anyone enjoys ironing. Fortunately, most of today’s clothing is pretty much perma-press wash and wear, and doesn’t require ironing. Nice for all of us.