Welcome to Karen’s Chatt!

Karen Miller Bennett, CG

Welcome to Karen’s Chatt!

Like many of the people I hang around with, I am hooked on family history and genealogy. I have been researching my family history for nearly two decades now. Although I don’t know the answers to all of our families’ mysteries I have gathered quite a bit of information about my family and my husband’s family.

I am from the little village of Chattanooga, in northern Mercer County, Ohio. “Chatt” is in west central Ohio and is only one mile from the Indiana state line. I actually grew up in the suburbs of Chattanooga, which means I lived one mile north of the village, in the farmland of Mercer County. I am married to Joe and we have one son, Jeff. We currently live near Celina.

I am a Board-certified genealogist and the registrar of the Lima Chapter NSDAR. I am a past trustee, officer, and chair of First Families of Ohio, all part of The Ohio Genealogical Society.  I am also a Registered Dental Hygienist and I work at Grand Lake Family Dentistry in Celina, Ohio. You can read more about that in my Dental Section.

On Karen’s Chatt I plan to share information I have gathered from my genealogical research. By doing that I hope to make contact with other researchers who might share common ancestors with my husband and I and who are interested in the same areas of research. I also plan to write about my genealogical activities and endeavors. Look for lots of old family photos in the Gallery section.

My particular areas of interest include: National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), lineage societies, cemetery research, German research, and technology (especially when it pertains to genealogy).

Most of my ancestors settled in west central Ohio and north east and east central Indiana. Watch for information about the counties of Mercer and Van Wert in Ohio and Jay and Adams in Indiana.

I do have a few interests that are not related to genealogy that I will blog about from time to time. They include music, reading, bird watching, and gardening.

I hope you enjoy the blogs, the genealogical information, the photos, and other items that will be contained in Karen’s Chatt.

Karen

4 comments

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    • Karen Casey on June 17, 2018 at 3:14 pm
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    The driver of the Spitler Grocery huckster truck is my
    Grandfather Vernon Hoblet. The truck is in front of
    My Great Grandparents Wm and Ada Jewell’s
    Farm. We are not aware that he ever drove the
    truck as a job. May just be having his picture taken.
    I used to ride my bike to the grocery store and get
    groceries for my Mom and sometimes Glen delivered
    them in the pick-up truck.

    Karen Bollenbacher Casey

    1. This is great that you are able to identify the man in the truck as Vernon Hoblet. Thank you so much for writing with that information! That fits in with the name on the mail box! So many people have fond memories of the stores and people in Willshire and the surrounding area. Thank you for sharing!

    • Marilyn Mir on March 10, 2024 at 10:01 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen, this is Marilyn Miranda in Fort Wayne. Back in 2020 or there abouts I was going to send you copies of a couple pictures I had. But then I moved and haven’t located the pictures since. I decided I’d just ask . My grandparents were Karl and Clara Reidenbach. Last living in Convoy. Karl died in 1943. The picture I have somewhere has my grandma Clara and several other people including a man with a fiddle. It’s a small picture and old so I cant tell if the man is my grandfather Karl. It looks like it could be. When I found the picture my father and his brother were both already deceased. I am curious if Karl played the fiddle when he was younger. My grandma was born Clara Koch and her mother was Emelie Schumm. Just thought maybe in all your research you might have knowledge of the young people and their family gatherings that might have a clue to who would play fiddle for them. Thank you for any help you might give me. I so enjoy all of your family stories.

    1. I do not know if he played a fiddle, but if I run across some information about him I will let you know. I am working on a Schumm project right now and who knows what I might find. Thanks for writing!

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