Signatures from Zion Lutheran, Chatt, c1855

Last week I showed a list of signatures, members of Zion Lutheran Church, Schumm, back in 1849.

Not to be outdone by Zion Schumm, Zion Chatt also has an old membership list in their old church register. These names appear to be the original signatures since the handwriting is different for each person.

A big difference between the two lists is that Zion Chatt’s list also includes the names of the women members. Often, but not always, the husband and wife’s names are on the same line.

Unfortunately, Zion Chatt’s list does not have a date on it but it was included with their first constitution, so I imagine it would date to about 1855, possibly into the early 1860s. As are Schumm’s signatures, Zion Chatt’s signatures are difficult to read and, just to make it a little more challenging, someone put a line through many of the names when that person died or transferred to another church. The notations after some of the names indicate the person died or left the church.

This may be another opportunity to see you ancestor’s signature, if he/she lived in the Chatt area in the mid-1800s.

Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga, Ohio, early members’ signatures, c1855-60.

Konrad Hafner–Margaretha Hafner
Johann Becher–Maria Becher
Friedrich Becher—Margaretha Becher
Johan Hiller
Jacob Hoffmann—Margareth Hoffmann
Jacob Hoffmann—Carolina Hoffmann
Andreas Fisher–Gertraut Fisher
George Bollenbacher—Barbara Bollenbacher
George Bollenbacher—Henrieta Bollenbacher
Georg Hafner—Sophia Hafner
Christian Kesler—Margaretha Kesler

Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga, Ohio, early members’ signatures, c1855-60.

Jacob Deitsch—Gertraut Deitsch
Friedrich Gable—Chatarina Gable
Heinrich Kuhn—Margareta Callins
Heinrich Kuhn
Friedrich Herzog—Katarina Herzog
Phillipp Stumpf—Barbara Hofmann
Ferdinand Hofmann—Liesabetha Hofmann
Friedrich Betzel—Rosina Betzel
Ferdinand Kable—Cabe [?] Cadarina Kable

Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga, Ohio, early members’ signatures, c1855-60.

Sixtis Gugel—Matlena Gugel
Adam Bollenbacher—Christana Burger
Micael Burger—Katarina Burger
Andraus [?] Branstetter [?]–Catarina Banster [?]
Christoph Hirsch–Ana Hirsch
Johannes Be..[?]
Johan Hiller
Jasper Byer

I enjoy looking at these old signatures and seeing the different handwriting.

6 comments

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    • Andy Gappa on August 31, 2018 at 5:46 pm
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    Look at that!!! There’s my gg grandfather Johann Jasper Byer aka Jasper Byer. Thank you for providing the photo!!

    1. Great to hear from you Andy! Isn’t is something to see your ancestor’s signature? So glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for writing.

    • Brian Brewster on September 1, 2018 at 8:47 pm
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    I have the old register from Mt. Caramel Jefferson Twsp. We were members there till it closed and we moved our membership to High Street Methodist in Geneva.

    1. Those old registers are so interesting! Great to hear from you!

    • Doug Roebuck on December 30, 2018 at 7:34 pm
    • Reply

    The Heffner’s had the German spelling of Hafner! Interesting!

    1. They spelled the name several different ways over the years. It depended on who was doing the writing. That was the case for many other surnames, too. Thanks for writing!

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