Tombstone Tuesday-April Fools’ Day

April Fools! Bet you thought there wasn’t going to be a blog post today.

Often, in older cemeteries, you notice empty spaces, where a tombstone once was or was supposed to have been placed. Most often a tombstone was once there but has since broken off or deteriorated.

What a disappointment that is, almost like a bad April Fools’ joke.

There are unmarked grave plots in two of my favorite cemeteries, Zion Lutheran Schumm and Zion Lutheran Chatt. Most likely individuals are buried in these spaces, but their tombstones did not survive.

Unmarked grave sites, Zion Lutheran, Schumm.

Unmarked grave sites, Zion Lutheran, Chatt.

Although we may never know who is buried in most of these plots, there are a couple things to check that may give clues.

Look at old cemetery readings, often contained in books compiled years ago by genealogical societies or other organizations, such as the WPA or DAR. The tombstone may have been there when their cemetery reading was made years ago.

The cemetery may have a plat map, where all the grave sites are labeled.

What is the location of the unmarked plot? Is it in the children’s section? If so, the individual was probably a child.

Look at neighboring tombstones to see who is buried nearby. Family members are often buried close to each other.     

Happy April Fools’ Day!

The Dark Side of Chattanooga, Ohio

Even though Chattanooga, Ohio, is a little village, it has a dark side, with a few tragedies and misfortunes over the years. Some were accidents, others more nefarious.

1912 picture postcard of Chattanooga, Ohio.

Probably the most infamous incident is the murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Arabelle Secaur in 1872. Mary was raped and murdered on her way home from church on 23 June 1872. Her body was found the next day in a wooded area on Tama Road, a couple miles east of Chatt in Liberty Township. Three men, Alexander McCloud and brothers Absalom and Jacob Kimmel, were taken into custody and were held in the Mercer County Jail in Celina. On 8 July a mob broke into the jail, took the three men to a place near the location of the murder, and lynched Alexander McCloud and Absalom Kimmel. Jacob Kimmel was taken back to jail but was not indicted due to lack of evidence. To this day, there are still unanswered questions about Mary’s murder and the lynching.  

Mary Arabelle Secaur (1859-1872) is buried in Liberty Chapel Cemetery, Liberty Township.

Chattanooga, Ohio, c1890

In 1889, Chattanooga sawmill operator Jacob J. Baker suffered a tragic, untimely death. Jacob, age 49, had moved from Shelby County to the Chatt area with his family in about 1853. Jacob married Caroline Bollenbacher in 1863 and he farmed and eventually ran a sawmill in the village of Chatt. While working in the sawmill on 6 June 1889, he stopped the big saw to make a repair or to change a part. Someone inadvertently threw the belt, starting up the saw again, and Baker’s body was cut in two by the circular saw.

It was said that Baker’s body was the first in the community to be embalmed, embalmed by Chattanooga’s undertaker John Allmandinger, and reportedly the first to be taken to the church and cemetery in the new black, horse-drawn hearse. [1]

Jacob J. Baker (1840-1889) is buried in St. Paul UCC Cemetery, Liberty Township.

Chatt Bar, before 1918. Photo courtesy of Doug Roebuck.

Mrs. Margaret Emrich was found dead in a well at her home at the corner of Schaadt Road and State Route 49 on 5 March 1906. She was found by George Koch, Otto Fickert, John Becher, Adam Kuhn, and Fred Schaadt.

Chatt’s physician, Dr. Price T. Waters, did a postmortem exam that day and an inquest followed. Dr. Waters testified that Mrs. Emrich’s lungs and stomach were void of water and that she had the appearance of having died out of water. He found no signs of a struggle, cuts, or bruises. The finding was that “the deceased came to her death by lack of evidence, the cause of death I (Price T. Waters) cannot determine.”

George Felver, the JP and Coroner, conducted a hearing at the George Koch residence. A.J. Fisher, John Becher, and Adam Bollenbacher were sworn in to examine the residence of Mrs. Emrich and to search all the rooms in the house and the cellar. Their report was submitted to the Court of Inquest and indicated that they found no money, notes, jewelry, or valuables, except for ordinary household goods.

Her death was recorded as an accident, and no one was ever tried or convicted for the incident.

However, some in the community felt that her death was not an accident. It was rumored that a man owed her money and that he and his brother may have wanted her gone, so that the note would be canceled. To back up the murder theory, no money, notes, jewelry, or other forms of securities were found in Mrs. Emrich’s home. [1]

An accident or a robbery and a murder? We will probably never know.

From her obituary: Mrs. Margaret [Ulrich] Emrich [1828-1906] was found in the well at her home one mile south of Chattanooga. The deceased was the widow of Philip Emrich and had two children [Maggie & Philip], also deceased. She is survived by two grandchildren, Mrs. William Thompson, and Mrs. Fred Schott, of Chattanooga, and a sister, Mrs. Wendell, near Chatt. A daughter-in-law is in the state hospital at Toledo. The funeral was held at the home of the deceased on Tuesday and interment was in Kessler cemetery. The deceased was born December 1826 [in Germany] and was nearly 80 years of age. [2]

2008 Google Earth street view of former Wendel’s Motor Sales.

Lastly, there was a fatal shooting in Chatt in 1958, when a migrant worker, staying in migrant housing in Chatt, was shot and killed by another migrant worker. The migrant housing was located in the rear of what was the St. Mary’s Packing Company, today the gravel parking next to the fire station.

Gregoiro Prado Valdez, 34, a Mexican field worker, was accused and indicted of second degree murder and found guilty of killing Jesse Gomez, 33, in Chatt on the evening of 26 August 1958. Gomez, also a migrant tomato picker, was a native of Puerto Rico and made his home in Saginaw, Michigan.

Valdez shot Gomez twice, after quarreling over wages, killing him almost immediately. Valdez told the jury that he shot Gomez when Gomez came at him with a knife. However, witnesses did not find a knife at the murder scene.

Guadlupe Callejos, 22, Saginaw, supplied the gun and drove Valdez out of the area after the shooting. Callejos was also indicted on second degree murder charges and appeared as a witness during the Valdez trial.

About a month after the shooting, Valdez, still a fugitive with a 26-state alert, wandered drunk into a Salvation Army mission in Aurora, Illinois. He was taken into custody by the Aurora Police to sleep it off. There he told another prisoner that he was wanted for murder in Ohio. Mercer County was notified and Mercer County Sheriff Bruce Barber left for Aurora immediately to return Valdez to Celina.

Valdez said he had intended to give himself up, as he had done after knife fights in Chicago and Oklahoma City, where he served two years for manslaughter.

Valdez appeared before Common Pleas Judge Paul Dull the day after Callejos’ arraignment. The two murder arraignments were the first in Mercer County in ten years. Dean James was the Mercer County prosecutor. An interpreter was needed for the trial and nearly 40 migrant field workers were tentatively scheduled to testify.

After a four-day trial, the jury of seven men and five women brought in a guilty verdict against Valdez. Sentencing was delayed by Common Pleas Judge Paul P. Dull, pending a possible motion for a new trial. [3]

That is some of the darker side of Chatt’s history.

[1] “Ohio’s Chattanooga: An Oil Town Of Yesterday,” The Daily Standard, Celina, Ohio, 28 Apr 1977.

[2] Margaret (Ulrich) Emrich, Kessler/Liberty Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio, Find a Grave.com, Memorial no. 29280210.

[3] “Murder Suspect Held for Mercer Officials,” The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, 3 Oct 1958. And “Conference Room Need Cited at Mercer Jail,” The Lima News, Lima, Ohio, 6 Nov 1958. And “Valdez Convicted in August Slaying in Chattanooga Camp,” Van Wert Times-Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, 19 Dec 1958; NewspaperArchive.com.

The Origins of Chattanooga, Ohio, part 2

Last week I wrote about the origins of Chattanooga, Ohio, aka Chatt to the locals.

Some of the landowners’ names on the early plat maps in that area are familiar names to us today, while others are not.

One land owner, Tobias Plants, spelled Plantz on the 1853 Liberty Township map, caught my interest. Plants purchased 80 acres on what is now the northeast corner of Chatt, the east corner of State Route 49 and Strable Road, described as the N½ of the NW¼ of Section 5, Liberty Township. He purchased the land on 12 September 1850 from Albert Cortelyou of Hamilton County, Ohio, for $200. [1]    

Tobias Plants and his wife Maria were enumerated in Liberty Township in 1850, 1860, and 1870. Tobias gave his occupation as grocer in the 1870 census and was likely one of Chatt’s first businessmen. Then they disappeared from the area.

1912 picture postcard of Chattanooga, Ohio.

Tobias Plants sold his 80 acres in Chatt to Jacob Deitsch for $3300 on 8 October 1870, witnessed by John Schlenker and Eli D. Plants. [2] Then Tobias and his family moved out of the area.

I wondered what happened to Tobias Plants, so I continued to research his family, with hopes of learning a little more about Chatt. You never know where you may find some new information, new information that may change previous assumptions.

Tobias Plants did something a little unusual. Most people migrated westward when they moved on, but Tobias moved eastward, to Crestline, Ohio. Crestline is roughly 40 miles west of Wooster, Wayne County, where Tobias was born. He and his wife Maria remained in Crestline the rest of their lives.

Tobias Plants died of paralysis in Crestline on 12 July 1888, aged 69 years. Information from his obituary:

Tobias Plants was born in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, 11 March 1820. In 1828 he moved to Ashland County with his father and remained with him until he was of age, then left to work as clerk in a mercantile establishment in Tennessee. He married Miss Mariah Neville on 6 June 1850 and that same day they moved to a farm in Mercer County. After twenty years, he tired of farming, sold out, and moved to Crestline in October 1870. He became a druggist and was a druggist until his death on 12 July 1888, a few days after having two strokes. He was survived by his wife and son William. [3]

Tobias’ widow Maria (Neville) Plants died in 1903 and her obituary was just as informative:

Mrs. Maria Plants died at the home of her sister, Mrs. Anna Carney, on Seltzer Street, on 3 March 1903. She was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania on 3 March 1819. She married Tobias Plants on 6 June 1850, and shortly after that moved to Mercer County, Ohio, where they conducted a general store for 17 years. In 1870 they sold out and moved to Crestline, buying a drug store and continuing in that business until the death of Mr. Plants in 1888. Mrs. Plants was the mother of three children, all deceased. She was survived by two grandchildren, one brother, William Neville, and two sisters, Nancy Neville, and Anna Carney. [4]

Those two obituaries, from across the state, give a little information about Chatt.

From that information, I am rethinking how old Chatt really is. Maria Plants’ obituary indicates that they ran a general store, probably in Chatt, for 17 years, which would have been 1853-1870. That is much earlier than I speculated in last week’s post.  

There were small stores scattered about in rural areas so people would not have to travel far to get goods and supplies. Stores in locations such as Skeels Cross Roads, Hinton, Brehm, and Chatt.

I wonder what they called the village back then. Was it always called Chattanooga?

It is also very interesting to learn that Tobias Plants worked in a mercantile store in Tennessee before he married and moved to Mercer County. Where in Tennessee? Chattanooga, Tennessee?

Lots of conjecture and theories. We may never know. 

Here is a little timeline and some additional information about the Tobias Plant family:

1850 census, Liberty Township, enumerated 16 September 1850: Tobias Plants, 30, born in Ohio, Mariah, 31, born in Pennsylvania. Tobias was a farmer and his real estate was valued at $200. [5]

Three children were born to Tobias and Maria while they lived in the Chatt area. Two of their children are buried in Duck Creek Cemetery, north of Chatt, in Black Creek Township.

Daughter Ann E. Plants was born 2 August 1851 and died 24 August 1851, aged 22 days. She is buried in Duck Creek Cemetery. [6]

Son William A. Plants was born 22 November 1852. [7]

Son Francis Plants was born 29 Nov 1856. [8]

1860 census, Liberty Township, Skeels PO: Tobias Plants, 41; Maria, 42; William, 7; Marion F, 5. [9]

Tobias was a Liberty Township Justice of the Peace, beginning 6 October 1860, per the 1882 Mercer County History.

Son Francis Plants died 2 March 1864, age 7 years, 3 months, and 2 days. He is buried in Duck Creek Cemetery. [7] He was probably the Marion F. enumerated with the family in 1860, 

1870 census, Liberty Township: Tobias Plants, 50, grocer; Maria, 51, keeps house; Susan, 20, school teacher; William 17, attends school; and Jane, 14, attends school. All born in Ohio except Maria, who was born in Pennsylvania. [10] At this point I am not exactly sure who Susan and Jane were, but I have an idea.

Tobias sold his 80 acres in Liberty Township to Jacob Deitsch on 8 October 1870 and moved to Crestline, Ohio. [2]

1880 census, Crestline, Crawford County, Ohio, 470 Thoman Street: Tobias Plants, 60; Maria, 61; and William, 27. Tobias’ occupation was druggist. [11]

Tobias died 12 July 1888, age 68 years, and is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline.  [12]

Their son William died 5 December 1890, age 38 years, and is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline. [7]

The widow of Tobias Plants, Maria (Neville) Plants, died 3 March 1903, age 84 years, and is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline. [13]

People may live in an area for a while and then move away, and it is wonderful when they leave a trail that shows their contributions to the community.

There was another Plants who lived a few miles north of Chatt, in Black Creek Township. Was he related or connected to Tobias in some way? I am working on that…

Chattanooga, Ohio.

[1] Albert Cortelyou to Tobias Plants, Mercer County, Ohio, Deeds Vol. P:48, 12 Sep 1850; Mercer County courthouse.

[2] Tobias Plants to Jacob Deitsch, Mercer County, Ohio, Deeds Vol. 16:441, 8 Oct 1870; Mercer County courthouse.

[3] Death of Tobias Plants, obituary, Crestline Advocate, Crestline, Ohio, 20 Jul 1888; Newspapers.com.

[4] Mrs. Maria Plants obituary, Crestline Advocate, Crestline, Ohio, 12 Mar 1903, Newspapers.com.

[5] 1850 U.S. Census, Ohio, Mercer, Liberty, p.287B, dwelling 27, household 28, Tobras [sic] Plants; Ancestry.com.

[6] Ann E. Plants, Find a Grave memorial no. 26808905, Duck Creek Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio; Find a Grave.com.

[7] William A. Plants, Find a Grave memorial no. 100998965; Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline, Richland County, Ohio; Find a Grave.com.

[8] Francis Plants, Find a Grave memorial no. 26800209, Duck Creek Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio; Find a Grave.com.

[9] 1860 U.S. Census, Ohio, Mercer, Liberty, p.359, dwelling 1007, family 1012, Tobias Plants; Ancestry.com.

[10] 1870 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, p.149B, dwelling 124, family 112, Tobias Plants; Ancestry.com.  

[11] 1880 U.S. Census, Crestline, Crawford, Ohio, ED 103, p.468D, dwelling 470, family 503, Tobias Plants; Ancestry.com.

[12] Tobias Plants, Find a Grave memorial no. 100998955; Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline, Richland County, Ohio; Find a Grave.com.

[13] Maria Plants, Find a Grave memorial no. 100998934; Greenlawn Cemetery, Crestline, Richland County, Ohio; Find a Grave.com.

Tombstone Tuesday-My Irish Roots

Yesterday I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. A little. Although I am about 75% German, I believe I have a few Irish ancestors. Most of my ancestors were not O’Millers or O’Schumms.

But there is one side of my family, through my Grandma Miller, nee Brewster, that brings Hueys and Bryans into my family tree. I suspect that the Hueys had Irish origins and the Bryans may have had as well.

So, this past weekend was The Wearing of the Green for me.  

My 5th great-grandmother Hannah Huey (1773-1850), the daughter of James and Elizabeth Huey, married Christian Whiteman (1762-1827). Hannah was probably born in Pennsylvania and is buried in Cheshire Cemetery, Berlin Township, Delaware County, Ohio. Her remains were removed from Berlin Township House Cemetery to the current location around the 1940s.

Hannah (Huey) Whiteman, Cheshire Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio. (2002 photo by Karen)

My 4th great-grandfather Peter Bryan (1796-1854) is buried in Pingry Cemetery, Bear Creek Township, Jay County, Indiana.

Peter Bryan, Died Aug 14, 1854, age 57y, 11m, 17d; Pingry Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana

Peter Bryan married Mary Huey (1799-1864), who is also buried in Pingry Cemetery. They were probably from Pennsylvania, too.

Mary, wife of Peter Bryan, Died 10 Nov 1864, Aged 64y, 10m, Pingry Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana (2001 photo)

The Hueys and Bryans intermarried, so there is some pedigree collapse in this branch, making fewer ancestors in my tree. For example, Mary Huey’s brother Isaac Huey (c1801-aft 1870), my 4th great-grandfather, married Mary Whiteman (c1810-1855), daughter of Christian Whiteman.

Yes, it is complicated.

Joe is much more Irish than I am, with ancestors named Milligan, Cain, Monroe, and Lee.

For the day after St. Patrick’s Day, here are a few Irish sayings and blessings:

May your troubles be less and your blessings be more,
And nothing but happiness come through your door.

If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.

May you be in Heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you are dead.

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

May the good Lord take a liking to you, but not too soon.

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon our face.
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day.

The Origins of Chattanooga, Ohio

Chattanooga, Ohio, aka Chatt, is an unincorporated village in the northwest corner of Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio. It is the only village in Liberty Township and the adjacent Black Creek Township.

Chattanooga, Ohio.

Chatt lies between Sections 5 and 6, in Liberty Township. Black Creek Township lies to the north and Indiana is a mile to the west. Liberty Township was organized on 1 March 1841. Henry Robinson was reportedly the first settler in the township, settling in Section 31 in 1830.

The word Chattanooga is derived from a Creek Indian word meaning “rock rising to a point” or “bend in the river.” That word is probably more relevant to the other Chattanooga, the one down south. Was our Chattanooga named after that city in Tennessee?

Chatt is a one-road town. One state highway, State Route 49, runs right through town. There are no side streets and no traffic lights, just a couple speed signs to slow down traffic down. Strable Road borders Chatt to the north and Tama Road is at the southern end of town. Today there are about 30 houses in the little town.

When did Chattanooga, Ohio, originate? When did the wilderness and farmland turn into a little village?

To try to answer that question, I looked at several sources, mainly history books and maps.

The 1853 Mercer County plat map shows the Chatt area to be tilled farmland, trees, and meadow. There was a farmhouse or two, a cabin, and a barn. In 1853 State Route 49 was called Willshire to Recovery Road, and sometimes Recovery to Willshire Road. It probably depended on what part of the road you were on and where you were going. [1]  

In 1853, the northwest corner of Section 5, what would become the east side of Chatt, was 80 acres of farmland owned by Tobias Plants. His property was described as the N ½ of the NW ¼ and his 80 acres included 10 acres of cleaved plow land, 20 young trees, and some old buildings. [1]

Old buildings? One wonders how old those buildings were if they were considered old in 1853.

1853, Section 5, Liberty Twp, Mercer Co, Ohio

The 80 acres just south of him was owned by Jacob Deitsch, the S ½ of NW ¼. Deitsch’s 80 acres included 14 acres of cleared, plow land, 15 young trees, a house, and a new barn that was up, but not yet finished. Jacob Deitsch came to the township in 1840 with two other families, Philip Deitsch and Adam Bolenbaugh [sic]. [1] Although the land was a wilderness in 1840, there were already 4 cabins in the township. [2]

Across the road, on the west side of Willshire to Recovery Road, Frederick Baker owned 5 acres in the northeast corner of Section 6, described as the NE corner of the NE ¼. His land included 3 acres of cleared plow land and old unoccupied buildings. [1]

1853, Section 6, Liberty Twp, Mercer Co, Ohio

In 1853, just to the south of Baker, Peter Fisher owned 64.72 acres, the S pt E ½ of NE ¼ 64. His 64 acres included 30 acres of cleared land, 23 acres of plow land, and 7 acres of meadow, with 30 young trees, some bearing. He had a house and a double cabin. [1] Peter Fisher was an original land purchaser in Liberty Township, purchasing 78 acres in 1838, and was the first settler in Section 6. [2]

To the west of and adjacent to Baker’s land, was J.H. Chapman’s 9 acres. Chapman’s land was uncleared and there was no road to his property. Eventually Strable Road would go by that property, extending to the State Line. [1] I am not sure if there was a road going to the east of Willshire to Recovery Road at that time.

That farmland would eventually become Chattanooga. If there was anything there, such as a trading post, I speculate that it could have been on Peter Fisher’s property. Fisher reportedly had a house and a double cabin, while there were old unoccupied buildings on the lot north of him.   

Zion Lutheran church, located on the south end of Chatt, was established in 1855. Their earliest records give the church’s location as Liberty Township, not Chattanooga. That leads me to believe there was no village of Chattanooga in 1855. The first time their church records name Chattanooga as a place was in 1882.    

Just about everyone in Liberty Township in 1860 was a farmer. There was a cooper, carpenter, saddler, minister, some laborers, and a couple school teachers scattered throughout the township, but not really among the names associated with the Chatt area. Tobias Plants, who owned the property on the north end in 1853, was a farmer.

The 1870 census indicates that Tobias Plants, still at the north of what would become Chatt, was a grocer. Was Tobias Plants the first businessman in Chatt? [3]

According to the 1876 plat map of Liberty Township, Chattanooga was still farmland, with fairly large farms. J. Deitsch still owned the 80 acres on the northeast corner. G.J. Weinman owned 80 acres to the south of him and the Lutheran Church was on the southwest corner of his property. It is unclear who owned the northwest corner lot on the west side of the street, to the north. Immediately to the south of that lot, J. Shunk owned about 15 acres, and P. Fisher owned about 50 acres south of Shunk, all along what is now State Route 49. C. Heffner owned 80 acres to the west of those properties. [4]  

1876, Sections 5 & 6, Chatt area, Liberty Twp, Mercer County, Ohio

Dr. Benjamin Franklin Edgington, an early physician at Chatt, gives some good information about the town and his time there in the late 1870s:

The Huntington Herald, 6 April 1929, p.1.

…I needed money so badly that I decided to leave there [Geneva, Indiana] and go where people would pay promptly, so I jumped on my horse and rode over into Ohio to do a little prospecting for a location. I stopped in a village called Chattanooga, tied my horse and left my pill-pokes (saddlebags) on the horse while I would look around. I hadn’t a red cent in my pocket. I was simply destitute of funds. I was a total stranger to everybody, but people could look at the pill-pokes on the saddle and guess that I was a doctor. I found there was a resident doctor in the place but he imbibed liquor so freely that people told me they were afraid to take his medicine for fear he was drunk and might not know what he was doing.

A fortunate circumstance just then came to me. A man hunted me up and showed deep concern when he said he saw my pill-pokes on the horse and wondered if he could get me to call and prescribe for a man who had taken down with a high fever. I responded promptly and found the patient had malarial fever. I likewise learned that he was the leading merchant of the town and a man with strong influence. I put up at the hotel and remained to see what might happen. The fact that I was treating the merchant spread all over the neighborhood and I was soon as busy as I could be. When the merchant recovered he gave me a fine send-off to all who came to his store. I was soon on my feet in money matters and the result was I remained at Chattanooga several years…the first Mrs. Edgington [his wife] died at Chattanooga where the family was living at the time of her fatal illness. On February 13, 1879, occurred Dr. Edgington’s second marriage… [5]

Unfortunately, Dr. Edgington did not give the exact year they lived in Chatt or when his wife died, but he married a second time in February 1879. His first wife Eliza (Bobo) died about 1878, so it appears he was in Chatt a couple years around 1878. From the doctor’s account, Chatt was an actual village with a hotel, a merchant, and a doctor. Actually, two doctors after he came to town. It is also interesting that Chattanooga provided more paying patients than Geneva.

From that account, it appears that Chatt was a thriving community by the mid-late 1870s. The timeline from the next account differs:

Sutton’s 1882 History of Van Wert and Mercer Counties indicates that there was a place with the name of Chattanooga that was basically a trading post. That 1882 history, concerning Liberty Township, Mercer County: …There are no villages of note or size in this township, but a post-office, known as Skeel’s Cross Roads, serves as one convenience to the citizens. Chattanooga, in the northern part, furnishes something of the conveniences of a trading point. [2]

Conflicting information, but I tend to go with Dr. Edgington’s account. We know that his wife died there about 1878 and she is buried in Zion Lutheran Chatt’s graveyard. We don’t know who provided the information for the 1882 history book.

Another contradiction in Sutton’s 1882 history: Samuel Francis Kelley, of Chattanooga, was born at Zanesville, Ohio, Nov. 4, 1861, and came to this place in 1880, when he opened the restaurant and saloon in which he is now engaged… [2]

If, according to that account, Chatt had a restaurant and saloon in about 1880, it would have been more than just a trading point.

In addition, Chattanooga had a postmaster in 1882. Philip Hill was appointed postmaster of Chatt on 18 September 1882.

The 1888 Liberty Township plat map shows Chattanooga as a village, complete with a Post Office. Jacob Deitsch and [?] Zillinger owned the bulk of the land on the east side of Chatt and J. Schlenker, and Fred Betzel owned the bulk of the land on the west side of Chatt. [4]

1888 Map of Chatt

Some small lots were owned by others and had businesses on them. Rebecca Landfair owned land on the northeast edge of town, the former Plants property, and there was a handle factory in that area, probably about where the elevator used to be. A little south of there was the residence of Louise Cordier [?], the P. Hill residence, a shoe shop, and the F. Hartsog [sic] residence. J. Deitsch owned the farmland behind, to the east. [4]

On the west side of the street, to the north, was Wick & Byer’s and J. Schlenker. A little farther south was the store and post office. Then a couple more buildings, and the property of M.E. Kelley. Next was a store, then the property of P. W. Deitsch, possibly his home, the Betzel residence, the Jos. Merkle residence, and the F.O. Koonz residence. It appears Chatt was a mix of businesses and homes. Behind and west of all that, from north to south was farmland owned by Welsch & Miller, J. Schlenker, and Fred Betzel. [4]

The map may not include all the businesses that were in the town.

In conclusion, appears that Chatt was probably a trading point in about 1870, when Tobias Plants called himself a grocer but area was mostly farm land. The town continued to grow and by about 1875 there was a hotel, saloon, store, and a couple doctors. The village boomed when oil was discovered in the area in the late 1800s.

And I wonder, since it appears that Chatt started after the Civil War, if perhaps it was named after Chattanooga, Tennessee, where some Liberty Township men may have fought during the Civil War.

Something to think about…

[1] 1853 Plat Map of Mercer County, Ohio, Liberty Township.

[2] History of Van Wert and Mercer Counties, Ohio, Sutton, 1882, p.422-24.

[3] 1870 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, p.149B, dwelling 124, family 112, Lobius [sic] Plants; Ancestry.com.  

[4] Mercer County Chapter OGS, Mercer County, Ohio Combined 1888, 1900 Atlases and 1876 Map of Mercer County, Ohio, (Mt. Vernon, IN : Windmill Publication, Inc., 1999).

[5] The Huntington Herald, Huntington, Indiana, 6 April 1929, p.1 & 7, “Dr. Edgington Tells of Trials and Tribulations of Old Time Physicians,” Newspapers.com: accessed 1 Dec 2015.