Susanna M Smith was the eleventh child born to James and Susannah (Overly) Smith. She was born on December 25, 1852 in Nine Mile, Indiana. She was the younger sister of my 2 times Great Grandfather James W Smith who was nine years older than Susan. Susan married Henry Rehnen on June 20, 1872 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They had five children; Katherine M, Edward Bernard, Francis, Elnora, Rebecca.

So by now you must be thinking that, how could Susan (as she was known) be nearly forgotten? Well, let me tell you.

It all started with this picture. It is not one of the pictures that I wrote on for my Grandmother that summer day with all the other pictures.  She obviously continued to try to sort this out well after our picnic. This one she wrote on and it said “Della and her sister.” For the first few years of my research, the woman with the scowl was called Della because that is what Grandma said her name was. I later learned that she was sometime called Ella, Celia, Della and Oella depending upon the census or the record that you looked at. Grandma did not know her, she was her husband, Everett’s, Grandmother. My Grandmother knew that she was James W Smith’s wife but that was all she knew. I think that Grandma assumed her name was Della because she named her daughter Della. In due time I determined she was Oella Denney. I contacted all the Denney family member I could find in an attempt to find out which of Oella’s three sisters this could be in this picture. Each person responded that they did not know her. They said she is not a Denney.

The more I looked at this photo of Oella and her sister, I decided that the Denney family members were right, these two woman were not sisters. They did not look at all alike. I know that all sisters do not look alike but there are always some similarities and these two had none. Oella had a permanent scowl but the other woman had a bright face, maybe she is squinting but what I see is a smile! How could the lady with the scowl and the lady with the smile be sisters…. In my mind it just could not be. Yet this woman was very much apart of the lives of these relatives of mine. This picture is from a family baptism. It is Loydell Malone’s baptism. He is the Great Grandson of Oella Denney Smith and he was born in 1923.

Notice that Oella has the same dress on as in the previous picture. This picture is a four generation photo of Loydell Malone on the lap of his grandmother, Dora Jackson, with her daughter, Ruth Jackson Malone, standing and Oella seated next to her daughter, Dora. This photo was correctly identified, except of course that Oella is called Della. And it clearly stated that this was Loydell’s Baptism. So this told me that once again the smiling woman was invited to family gathering.

She frequented all the Smith Family gatherings it seemed even long after James died in 1913 and Oella died in 1925. In this photo she is seated between Dora Smith Jackson and Della Smith Sparks in the middle of the photo. All of the other family members are Jackson or Sparks family members. I do not know what this family event was but on the back it said “Fort Wayne Smiths”

So who is she? SO I kept looking at her and wondering where she belonged.

I would find clues and not really realize that they were clues. When I found the death record for James’s brother, Joseph, in Chicago, I would get a burial date in Fort Wayne. With that I found an Obit who mentioned a surviving sister, Mrs. Ralhman. I could not find a Ralhman in Fort Wayne. For years I searched for Rahlman, Ralhmen, Ralman, Rehlman, Relman and every version I could think of but no one was found. James and Joseph did have several sisters. All of the sisters which were older than them, had died long ago. They had two sisters who were younger, Susan and Martha. One of these woman must have been Mrs Ralhman I thought. As I continued my search, I found Martha. She had married Henry Hauss and settle in the neighboring county of Huntington where she would die at the age of 21, in 1877. So it is not her. It had to be the sister, Susan, but why can’t I find her.

So I started to search for a woman born between the years of 1850 and 1853 whose first name was Susan or Susanna. Eventually I would add the criteria of a surname (married name) beginning with “r”. After a few weeks of searching, there she was Susanah Rehnen. Could this be her? It would take some time but eventually I would obtain Obits for Susanna, her son Bernard, his son Parnell and Parnell’s son, James who died in Larkspur California in 1994. Eventually I did a search on a website called anywho.com and much to my surprise there was a B. Rehnen who was listed in Larkspur, California. As I recall, this was around 2003. I have used this tool several other time successfully to find children who are still living who had been listed in their parent’s obits. Usually I write down the name, address and phone with a note about who I think they are and how I suspect they are related to me. After finding several, I would write a generic note explaining who I am and that I am looking to confirm information and provide them with information on how they can contact me. Sometimes they do get back to me and sometimes they do not. Not everyone is as interested in their families past as I am.

I had been looking at this photo and getting to know this woman for so many years and I just had to know who she was. She was another lost relative who spoke to me every time I looked at her just begging me to find her. This process of elimination had been so slow that I took a bold step. I picked up the phone one Sunday afternoon and I called the number. A sweet elderly woman answered the phone. I explained to her who I was and how I thought I was related and she quietly listened. Eventually she broke her silence and said, well you know, you are not actually related to me, it was my husband that you were related to and he has been dead for some time. Then she went on to tell me that his sister still lives in the Fort Wayne area and that I should call her. Susan Katherine Brown is her name.

After talking to Susan Brown, I was able to identify this sweet woman as Susanna M (Smith) Rehnen (pronounced Wren like the bird…as she explained), Susan Brown’s Great, Great Grandmother. Susan is named after her. Susan would supply me with several other wonderful photos’ of Aunt Susan and I was able to supply her with a few that she had never seen.

It would be a day that I would solve another one of the “needles in my haystack”. The clue on the photo would have helped if it had said “James W. Smith’s sister, Susan”. She was Oella’s sister-in-law not her sister but as I think of it, that would have made it too easy and I would not have learned so much about this part of my “Haystack”! I thought it was amusing when I received this photo from Susan Brown, there is the Oella scowl and all…

So maybe this post should be about a misprint or a wrong relationship. I have had to solve several of these because my Grandmother was valiantly trying to help me understand who my Grandfather’s family was when he was not really interested in the project. She only knew his family from the current generation not any of them who came before.

So meet Susanna M Smith Rehnen. May she never be forgotten.

Love, Jan

#52Ancestors

My father was Harold Smith. He was born on August 29, 1928.  He was the son of Everett and Lillian (Losee) Smith. Everett was a Methodist Minister  who was ordained in 1932 when Harold was three years old. They moved frequently as many ministers did. Everett’s first church was in Flint, Michigan. His second church was in Genesee, Michigan and at that time he also covered the Richfield Center Church too. His third church was eighty miles east southeast of Genesee in Marine City, Michigan. After Marine City, they would go to Lapeer where Everett would complete his work in the old downtown church and then retiring from Trinity Methodist after it was built.

Harold moved frequently as a child and with each move came new schools and friends. Making friends came easy for Harold. He was a joker, a prankster and always ready for a good laugh sometimes at your expense but just as often at his own expense. He was very involved with his schools and his churches.

When they moved to Marine City in 1943, Harold was fourteen and beginning High School. He became interested in sports.  He played football in the 1943-1947 seasons and ran on the track team for the same years.

In 1945 season for track, he ran barefoot. I am sure that his mother was mortified because she always told us a story about how she cut her foot badly on a tin can and that we should never go barefoot….

He had a large circle of friends from church and school. This picture is of him and his friends at the cottage at Skinner Lake near Lapeer.

He met his future wife, Leah Anderson, when they lived in Marine City.  Not only did they go to school together but they attended the same church.

As a young adult he went to St. Clair Community collage for his Associates Degree and later to Mott Community College in Flint to get his Bachelors degree. While going to college, he worked for JC Penney’s in Lapeer.  It became really obvious that retail was the perfect line of work for him. He loved people and he connected with everyone at every age.

After graduation, Harold first went to work for Egleston’s in Lapeer and before too long he moved to the store in Romeo. We moved to Romeo shortly after I was born in August of 1955. Bill Mitzelfeld married Diana, one of the Egleston daughters and worked in the family business for a time before deciding to open his own store, Mitzelfeld’s in Rochester.  Harold decided to follow Bill to the new store.

While living in Romeo, Harold was very active in the Romeo United Methodist Church where he had many wonderful friends. Our childhood was full of church events every week. Often the fathers took the older children to the church activities while the Moms stayed home with the younger kids in the family.  Dad became good friends with all of the men at our church who were actively involved in their older children’s activities. Through the years we went on camping trips, canoe trips, hayrides, to Fisher Theater to see the release of the movie “The Ten Commandments” and Sunday afternoons trips to the pool at Oakland University. Most of these events were planned by and coordinated  by my father and his friends at the Romeo United Methodist church.

In 1971, Bill Knight, a close family friend, decided to retire, and Harold bought the Ben Franklin store in Imlay City. We had move to Imlay City in 1968.  He was active in Rotary, Imlay City Chamber of Commerce and the Imlay City United Methodist church. In all of these organizations he was a very active member. It was obvious that he was really in his element.

In the Imlay City store, he had a well stocked bulk candy counter and a peanut/nut roaster. My father LOVED Spanish peanuts! When he fired up the nut roaster, the people would flock into the store. When the weather was good he would throw open the doors and the roasted nut aroma would flood into the streets of downtown Imlay City.

Through the years there were several articles written in the local newspapers about  him and the type of character he was. The Lapeer County Press once featured him in their “Good Guy” column. In the article, a customer called the newspaper to nominate him for the Good Guy reward after he help her daughter out. Her daughter had saved her own money to buy a pair a shoes. She bought them and after a short period of time one of the shoes developed a hole.  So they brought the shoes back to Harold. He took one look at that shoe and retrieved another pair of shoes for her in her size. He told the little girl to keep the other shoes and use them for play.

In the 1975, he bought the Ben Franklin in Harbor Beach and ran both stores for a time. Once all of his children had completed high school in Imlay City, Harold and Leah closed the  Imlay City store and moved permanently up to Harbor Beach in 1980. His plans was to semi- retire but he jumped into the community and his days looked nothing like retirement.

For the next sixteen years Harold and Leah actively ran the Harbor Beach Dime store. As the article states, Harold had a great bunch of employees, one of whom was my older sister, Pam. He always carried fabric and sewing notions for me! (and all of his other customers) He had encouraged me when I was eight years old to learn to sew. “If you learn to sew, I promise I’ll always have fabric for you! “, he told a crying eight year old after he had to tell me that he could not afford to buy me the Easter dress I wanted.  It was not in his budget.  I did learn to sew and so did my sisters.  He kept his promise. He always carried fabric and notions for us until the day he died.  He expanded his business to offer framing services that would help draw business in the winter months.  Since Harbor Beach was a bit of a tourist town with lots of extra summer visitors,  he always had souvenirs, tee shirts, sweatshirts, and sunglasses. No one could predict when the wind would shifted, turning cold off the lake or the sun would be blazing and you needed to keep it out of your eyes but he was bound and determined to have you covered no matter what.

The last line of the article is rather poignant. My father died suddenly on the morning of August 30, 1996 in my parent’s apartment in the back of the Harbor Beach Store. He was taken out of the store on a stretcher that day for the last time.

A few days later, the church as packed for his funeral with all his friends. I was, at that time, not very comfortable speaking in front of a crowd of people but that day I did, thru my tears. I told the crowd that I had been asking myself, WHY? Why couldn’t he get a second chance? Why don’t I get to talk to him again? Doesn’t MY father deserve a second chance at life. My husband was a paramedic in out town of Fox River Grove, Illinois. He had revived many people who had suffered a heart attack. The medical community had made many strides so why had my father not benefited from all these advancements. After several days of contemplation, I decided that God did not need to give him a second chance, because he lived his life right the first time. He was a friend to all.

So he was indeed the most popular man I have ever known.

Love you and miss you, Dad!

Jan

#52Ancestors

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LUCKY – Webster’s definition of “lucky” is :

having good luck,

happening by chance : fortuitous

producing or resulting in good by chance, favorable

seeming to bring good luck

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In my family history journey, photos have played an huge role in my search. They have been an important resource. Many times all I had was a single photo and it was my only lead.

This lovely photo was one of my first lucky photos. It is of Etta Clare Wert. That was what was written on the back of the photo.  Written in my handwriting all those years ago.

This is a photo of Homer Wert. I knew these two people were probably married. I knew they were probably related to me but I had no idea how.

These photos were a part of those photos that my Grandmother left for me to find. They were the photos that we worked so hard on at the picnic table in Imlay City. We spent the afternoon flash card style showing them to my Grandfather so he could tell us who they were. I wrote about that day in my “Favorite Photo” blog earlier this year. I was the scribe that day. I wrote on the back of the photo in my thirteen year old handwriting because Grandma said that my handwriting was better than hers. I spelled the last names the way I heard them. I did not know these people. I did not care to know them.  I was in a hurry to go be with my friends. Thirty years later, it shocked me to see my handwriting on the back of these photos. Grandma and Grandpa were long gone and so was my Dad.  I had little or no recollection of that day until I looked at the first photo and saw my handwriting.

I am writing about Etta Clare today because I am “lucky” to have found her. She got lost in time. She was born in 1882 well after the 1880 Federal Census was taken. In that Federal Census, there were four children listed in the James W and Oella Smith household; William, Alvin, Della and Dora. Then, of course, there is no 1890 Federal Census to look at because it was destroyed in a fire at the Archive in Washington DC.  I thought for the first few years of my researchers that James and Oella Smith had five children; William, Alvin, Della, Dora and Frank (Francis). I had plenty of family photos and supporting information to confirm these people. I did not find the family in the 1900 Federal Census early on in my research.

Oella’s name was often misspelled because it was unusual and since I had no family Bible to work from I “assumed” the information that I had was complete and correct. This was pretty early in my research and Ancestry had much less data to work with than.

In those early days, I used the USGenWeb.com website a lot. Unfortunately the pages are not always maintained today but I still used it as a resource. SO when I found this photo of the 1895 Splinter School  posted on the Wells County site, I took a good look at it. There were a several family names that I recognized. The photo was originally owned by Grover Patten. Grove Patten married my cousin, Nora Sparks in 1912. Nora was the daughter of Della Smith and her husband, William Sparks. So that was the first name I recognized. Then I saw Frank Smith and realized that this was my 2^nd Great Uncle Francis Smith. Uncle Frank, whom my Grandfather often fondly talked about!

As I continued to read through the names, I saw Etta Smith. I looked at the face and all of a sudden I realized that I had seen that face and that name before! Where had I seen that? I went to my pictures and there she was. Etta Clare Wert but first she was Etta Clare Smith!!??! I found you! The goosebumps consumed me and I choked back tears. ” I know who you are, Etta! ”  I told her! My physical reaction even today is the same.  As I write this I get goosebumps! Sure enough, James W and Oella had a sixth child and her name was Etta Clare. She was born on October 26, 1882. In this photo she was thirteen years old.

In 1903, at the age of twenty one, she married Homer Wert. The photos that I have are their wedding photos.  They had a son whose name was James Frank Wert. I have a photo of him too. He was born in 1903. In 1905, Etta Clare tragically died during child birth on July 11^th. at the age of twenty three.  Her daughter was delivered alive and Homer named her Lulu Etta Wert.  Etta Clare was in one census, the 1900 Federal Census and in one Marriage record that was not available when I began my research. She was nearly invisible due to her short twenty three year life.

In this Smith family photo take around 1910, the two children seated in the front row on the left are Etta and Homer’s children. James Frank and Lulu Etta. Standing in the back row fourth from the right is Homer Wert.  After Etta died, Homer took his children and went to live with his parents. These small children were raised by his mother. They lived near Uniondale, Indiana. In June of 1909, Homer married Allie Fergunson.  Allie died in 1912, a short three years later, of Tuberculous. In 1919, Homer married Josephine Potee. She and Homer had two daughters; Margaret and Mary.

In my family information I had very little evidence of this family. Only Etta and Homer’s wedding photos and a photo of James Frank when he was a few months old. This family photo above, I received from a cousin a few years ago and after I solved the Etta Clare mystery.

This is a photo of the Buckeye School from 1915 in Wells County, Indiana. The fifth child from the left standing in the back row is , a ten year old, Lulu Etta Wert. (with the braid over her shoulder) and her brother is second from the left kneeling in the second row, Frank Wert. This school was in or near Uniondale, Indiana because I have other family members in this photo that I know lived in Uniondale.  They were the Meeks children, Velma (who is standing next to the boy who is behind Lulu) and Paul ( first boy seated on the left in the front row).  It was these Meeks children that drew my attention to this photo. And I had not expected to find the Wert children.

So these photos have been the key to my “luck” in discovering this family.

Happy Hunting,

Jan

%52ancestorsin52weeks

 

This week I am going to write about my grandmother, Addie Densmore Anderson.  We  never got to met because she died four months before I was born of breast cancer. Addie was the oldest daughter of Charles Densmore and Mary Morgan Hayner. They had eleven children and Addie was the oldest child. She was born in Cottrollville Township, Michigan on October 12, 1890.

As a young woman of 17 years old, Addie was working on a milk delivery wagon and delivered milk to the Gustav Englehart home. It was there that she met handsome Norwegian sailor who was a rented a room from Gus and his wife.  She quickly fell in love with him.  And soon after, she married Andrew on December 9, 1907 in Windsor, Ontario. The marriage record states that she was nineteen but all my other records indicate that she was seventeen.

After she married Andrew, she took a job as a cook on the ship where he was working. Being a cook on a ship in the middle of the Great Lakes took real courage. At that tender age, all she could think of was your new husband and the life you are building together. I married at a young age too, so I can relate to her decision and likely would have done the same but thinking about it today at my age, it scares the dickens out of me. That first winter, Addie and Andrew were held up aboard their ship in the Chicago Harbor. They were “keeping ship” as they called it. Andrew had his daily jobs that he performed to ensure their were no problems with the ship or it’s mechanical systems. The ship had a skeleton crew of a few ship hands whom Addie cooked for . What a way for newlyweds to spend the first few months of their marriage. My mother, Leah, stated that her Mother spoke very fondly of those early days of their marriage. They had time to explore Chicago and learn about each other. Addie would need to go to the market to get food and supplies regularly, so she could cook meals. Being from the small village of in Michigan, Chicago must have been exciting in 1907. For 20 years from 1994 until 2014, I lived in Fox River Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago and we often visited downtown.  I can’t quite image what the city must have been like in 1907. The newlyweds had their first photo taken in a Nemecek Photography Studio at 602 West 18^th Street in Chicago, Illinois.

When Andrew and Addie were not at sea, they lived with Addie’s parents in Marine City, Michigan. They were recorded with her parents in the 1910 Federal Census. On October 27, 1911, Andrew and Addie had their first child, a daughter, who they named Olga. At some point before the birth of her daughter, Addie returned to Marine City where she and Andrew settled. Andrew continued to sail the Great Lakes on several different lake steamers; SS Geo King, SS Wm Eldenborn, SS Walter Scranton

On November 7, 1913, an extremely violent late fall storm developed over the Great Lakes and lasted for several days. This storm was much like “The Perfect Storm“ depicted in the movie that was released in 2000. Even though the Great Lakes are not as big as an ocean but they have the ability to create atmospheric conditions which rival ocean created storms. This storm is often referred to as the “White Hurricane”.  No other storm of this magnitude in recorded history had ever struck the Great Lakes. Lake Huron was especially hard hit but there was wide spread impact on all of the Great Lakes from this storm. It was a classic nor’easter which dumped several feet of early snow on most of Michigan and especially large amounts along the shoreline communities. Waves were recorded between 30 and 40 feet on the lakes.  It took over 250 lives with the wreck of 40 ships, 8 of which were large Lake Freighters which sank to the bottom of Lake Huron. I have not been able to determine whether Andrew was on the Lakes during this storm. The Marine Freight Season would have two months more of shipping before it closed in mid January. It would seem logical that freight companies which were nearing the end of their shipping season would be trying to get as many runs in as possible before the close of the season. If he was at sea, Addie must have been extremely afraid for her husband. Since she had sailed with him for a couple of years, she must  have experienced several storms during that time.

Eventually Andrew would stop sailing. In his 1918 WWI draft registration, he states that  he is working for an electric street car company which ran between Port Huron and Detroit. William Edison and his brother Thomas created the first electric street cars system in America. It was installed in Port Huron about twenty miles from where Addie and Andrew lived. These street cars were eventually extended from Port Huron to Detroit as noted in Andrew’s Draft registration.  Street cars enabled workers to commute from Port Huron to Detroit for work. Andrew became employed in the electrical substation which powered these electric streets cars.  I have wonder just how much the “White Hurricane” contributed to  Andrew’s decision to find employment on dry land.

In the years to come Addie would have eight children, six boys and two girls. In order to feed her growing brood, she and Andrew grew a large garden which became a family affair. Much of the Densmore families members including her parents, siblings and all the children worked in the garden through the growing season and they all canned and preserved what they grew. This garden was how they survived the lean years including the depression.

Addie learned to drive when they bought their first car. Most women did not at the time. She was involved with the local Woman Suffrage movement working toward women rights to vote. She was thrilled when she could finally vote and exercised that right faithfully and encouraged other women to vote as well. She was known to sometimes sit down with her friends and enjoy a pint and smoke a corn cob pipe on a summer day. She was very dedicated to her husband and her children taking the utmost care to raise them.

All four of her oldest sons served in WWII. Ray Densmore served in the Army and mustered out of Fort Custer, Michigan. He worked in the supply chain. His company chased Rommel’s forces across Northern Africa from battle to battle. Robert Wesley and Andrew Fredrick served in the Merchant Marines. Robert mustered out of Connecticut but I have not found where Andy mustered out of. Robert Wesley and Andy shuttled troops, supplies and munitions across the ocean to the closest ports to the front lines. Andy ended up being deployed on the Russian front at the end of the war. It was during the war that the three oldest sons became interested in motorcycle.  An interest which lasted throughout their adult lives sometimes to the chagrin of Addie. Charles Henry (Moon as we knew him) was in the Navy and mustered out of the Great Lake Navel station in Chicago. Charles Henry was deployed in the Pacific fleet. Addie had to be strong to support her family and her sons as they fought for their country.

My mother was the youngest daughter and third youngest child. She was a gentle,quiet girl living a in a houseful of loud boisterous young men and boys. When my mother started dating my father, the Methodist preacher ‘s son, Addie sat down her older boys and warned them to behave themselves! “Please do not spoil this for Leah!” She warned them. And they must have behaved because Leah married the preachers boy on May 27, 1950.

Addie was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 1954. It had spread and she had likely had it for sometime. There was little that they could do to treat it at the time and she died in April of 1955, four months before I was born.

Though I never met her, I feel an intense connection to my Grandmother, Addie. I am an avid gardener, as she was. I have been a trailblazer of sorts through my life, as she was. I did not follow all the “normal” social rules and neither did she. I have bucked the system, so did she. I am a quilter and so was she! I am intensely connected to family today and my ancestors from my past, and so was she.

She was a strong woman and so am I.  I love you Addie!!!

Your granddaughter, Jan

#52Ancestors