Karen’s Chatt 2015 Wrap-Up

Here we are, one week into the New Year, but before I move on I want to summarize the year 2015 for Karen’s Chatt.

Karen’s Chatt began its 5th year in 2015 with the news that a story about my great-grandfather, immigrant Jacob Mueller, was published in the Saarbrücker Zeitung, a German newspaper. Thanks to Kerstin Rech who wrote “Von Bierbach nach Chattanooga,” the story of Jacob after he left Bierbach and settled in Mercer County, Ohio, in 1871.

"From Bierbach to Chattanooga." "The Bierbach emigrants Jacob Mueller (sitting) in 1900 with his large family. In 1871 he went to the USA, where he was a farmer in Ohio."

“From Bierbach to Chattanooga.” “The Bierbach emigrants Jacob Mueller (sitting) in 1900 with his large family. In 1871 he went to the USA, where he was a farmer in Ohio.”

During the year I had the opportunity to meet a couple distant relatives.

In July I met up with Suzan Whiteman Pinciotti. Suzan traveled from Texas to attend the Whiteman reunion in another northern state and I lunched with her and her sister in Berne, Indiana.

Karen & Susan, July 2015

Karen & Suzan (Whiteman) Pinciotti, July 2015.

In October Joe and I met up with Schinnerer/Schumm cousin Paul Valentich-Scott and his wife Lynne, who were visiting from California. Paul wanted to see the Schumm area, where his great-great-grandparents Martin and Rosine Maria (Schumm) Schinnerer lived in the early 1900s, before moving to California. We took them on a tour of Zion Lutheran Church at Schumm, Zion Schumm’s Cemetery, the towns of Schumm and Willshire, and showed them the farm Martin Schinnerer once owned. I also had a couple more surprises for Paul. More about that next week…

Karen & Paul VS, Oct 2015.

Karen & Paul Valentich-Scott, Oct 2015.

I started a series of biographies of Zion’s ministers and showed photos of Zion Chatt’s 2015 cemetery repair work. Zion Chatt celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2015 but the church building itself is 100 years old this year (2016). Zion’s small double-hung basement windows, likely the original windows, were replaced in 2015 and Joe and I placed one of those old windows on our fireplace mantle. This is how one of Zion’s old basement windows looked on our fireplace this past Christmas.

2015 Christmas

2015 Christmas, using Zion’s window. (2015 photo by Karen)

I spent a lot of time on the 4-part Carrie (Edgington) Eichhorn Friedell mystery series. Although I learned the identity of the unreadable broken stone next to Carrie’s resting place there are still unanswered questions about Carrie and her family. In the future I hope to learn more answers.

In December I posted two unhappy photos of myself as a child and our granddaughter Chloe with Santa. Since that time I found another family Santa photo, a photo of our son Jeff with Santa, taken about 1983. Being scared of Santa must be a female thing or else it skips a generation, because Jeff was certainly not scared of Santa. I don’t know what Santa was telling Jeff, but he seems to be listening very carefully to Santa’s every word.

Jeff talking to Santa, c1983.

Jeff talking to Santa, c1983.

What were people reading and looking for on Karen’s Chatt? Here are some interesting statistics about the website in 2015:

There were 30,532 page views in 2015. Wow! Below are the most popular page views in 2015, although some of the posts were posted before 2015.

“About DAR” (static page; 1,336 views)

“Haunted Mercer County?” (Oct 2013; 459 views)

“Livin’ the Dream in Chatt” (Oct 2013; 415 views)

“Bollenbacher Grocery, Chattanooga, Ohio” (May 2015: 251 views)

“Tombstone Tuesday—Jacob Miller” (March 2011; 232 views)

“Family Pedigree” (static page; 223 views)

“Remembering the Blizzard of 1978” (Jan 2013; 220 views)

“Willshire Bearcats Basketball, 1955 & 1956 (Jan 2015; 216 views)

“Chattanooga Mausoleum Interments” (Oct 2015; 200 views)

“More 1910 Plat Maps of Blackcreek Township” (March 2015; 150 views)

“Roads are Beautiful in Chattanooga, Ohio” (May 2015; 146 views)

“Von Bierbach nach Chattanooga” (Jan 2015; 146 views)

Before I close today, I leave you to ponder what some people may been searching for on-line. Below are some interesting search terms that brought individuals to Karen’s Chatt in 2015:

Oriole feeder

Hear the pennies dropping

Deep fried pizza Ohio

Best shave Chattanooga

Where to get a great haircut in Chattanooga

What jewelry can a new DAR member wear (plus lots of inquiries about the cost of DAR membership and dues)

Porch swing Chattanooga

Zion Orlando Oklahoma cemetery

Denver omnibus

Truth or Consequences with Bob Barker

Chattanooga local antique doll buggies

Kil-so-quah Native American

Karen Foley 5782 porch swing place hoschton ga

Inside mausoleums

Gourd nativity

Gary Kessler from Willshire Ohio, did he go to college

Flour on tombstones

Why was very large Zion Lutheran Church built in the small village of Schumm Ohio

What did hixon tn use to look like in 1978

 

Hmm…I wonder if they ever found what they were really searching for??

 

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