I knew almost from the start of my research that the lady on the right in this photo was my GGGrandmother. She always looked the same. The lady with the scowl. I knew that she was my Grandparent because we had so many photos of her. There was the one with Alvin Smith holding the baby and Della Sparks, one with Dora Jackson, Ruth and Ruth’s baby seated outside, pictures of her seated with all of her children and their families standing behind her. The list goes on… I thought I knew her name. My Grandmother Lillian wrote on the back of this photo “Della and her sister”. I later learned that her maiden name was Denney. I searched and searched but did not find a Della Denney. Eventually I discovered an Oella Denney. Oh could that be her? Sure enough it was. Now mind you these people are from my Smith line. Grandma Lillian was just trying to identify and document these pictures for her husband because it was the right thing to do. My Grandfather, Everett, (her husband) was the grandchild of this woman. She died when he was 21 years old so surely he would have known what her name was. She named a daughter Della. Maybe Grandma Lillian just assumed her name was Della. It doesn’t matter now. So for now we just know the lady with the scowl is Oella Denney Smith. She always looked like that I am told.

For years I wondered who this other woman was, the one on the left who seems to have a slight grin! My only clue was a note from Grandma Lillian on the back of the photo. It said Della’s sister. Remember that the name Della is wrong! I circulated this photo with all of the Denney researchers I had been in contact with in hopes that someone would be able to match this photo with a Denney woman in their family. None of the researchers seemed to know who she was.

The more I looked at the photo, I decided that these two could not be 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. One had a permanent scowl but the other had a bright face! Maybe she is squinting but I did not want to think that was it! She has a smile! How could the lady with the scowl and the lady with the smile be sisters…. In my mind it just can not be. Yet this woman was very much apart of the lives of these relatives of mine. She was at the Baptisms, the picnics and all the family gatherings even after Oella has died. So who is she? SO I kept looking at her and wondering where she belonged.

I would find clues and sometimes not realize that they were clues. Oella was married to James W Smith. He died in 1913. When his brother, Joseph, died in 1923, I found the death record for him in Chicago. His remains were brought back to Fort Wayne, Indiana for burial. I found his obit in the Fort Wayne News paper and in his Obit there was a mention of a 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 sisters. All of the sisters which were older than them, had died long ago. The sister named Susan was younger than the brothers but I knew nothing about her. I wondered if this could be her and who had she married? They also had a sister Martha She was the youngest sibling, could it be her? I would later find that Martha had married Henry Hauss. They settle in the neighboring county of Huntington where she would die at the age of 21, in 1877. So it is not her. Who could she be?

So I started to search for a woman born between the years of 1850 and 1853 whose first name was Susan or Susannah. Eventually I would add the criteria of a surname (married name) beginning with “r”. After a few weeks of searching, there she was Susannah Rehnen. Could this be her? It would take some time but eventually I would obtain Obits for Susannah, her son Bernard, his son Parnell and Parnell’s son, James who died in Larkspur California in 1994. 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. 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 add the information to my research files. After finding several items that lead me to draw the same conclusion, I would write a generic note explaining who I was and that I am looking to confirm family history information. I provide them with them with information that I am trying to resolve and 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 years. I just had to know who she was. She was another lost relative who spoke to me every time I looked at her. She was 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 phone number listed for B. Rehnen in Larkspur, California.

A sweet elderly woman answered the phone. I explained to her who I was and how I thought I was related while 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.

After talking to Susan Katherine Brown, I was able to identify this sweet woman as Susannah M (Smith) Rehnen (pronounced Wren like the bird…as she explained), Susan Brown’s Great, Great Grandmother. Susan Brown is named after Susannah M Smith Rehnen. Susan Brown shared several other wonderful photo’s of Susan Rehnen 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 me if it had said “James W. Smith’s sister, Susan” or even “Della’s sister-in-law”. Then again that would have made it too easy and I would not have learned so much about this part of my “Haystack”!

I am happily hunting through my haystack!

Jan