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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

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