Area Woman Brings Stories from the Past to Life

SPRING VALLEY — Like many children, Laney Smith of rural Spring Valley enjoyed playing with dolls, an activity that unlocked her imagination, allowing her to create stories about their lives. Even after outgrowing dolls, her love of storytelling continued, although her passion transitioned to stories of real people, particularly those from the past.

That led her in a different direction than most youth as she “much preferred research and perusing headstones in cemeteries than doing whatever my peers were typically doing,” Smith said.

As she grew into adulthood, Smith’s passion for uncovering stories from the past never diminished. Today, using more advanced techniques, she is still piecing together real stories about her family and other families as a certified genealogist through her company, Legacy Lane Genealogy.

Although most of the dolls that adults once enjoyed as children have long been relegated to the trash heap, Smith is driven by the idea that people aren’t disposable, that their stories are important enough to be preserved. That drive can be traced back to her early pursuit to track down the history of her three-times-great-grandmother.

Photo of Laney Smith’s three-times-great-grandmother who inspired her genealogy work. (Photo by Laney Smith)

Smith recalled that in her preteen years, she found an old picture of a woman at her grandmother’s house while rummaging through a dusty drawer. She was surprised that no one knew much about it, “so I went on a research hunt trying to figure out who it was,” she said.

Not only did she discover the woman in the photograph was her great-great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Grabau, who traveled from Germany to make a new life in America, she also located a handmade quilt of hers, now a prized possession in Smith’s home today that connects her to her ancestor.

“That kind of struck me how quickly someone’s able to be forgotten,” Smith said. “So, it’s my continued goal to make sure that my family and other people’s families and these important stories aren’t forgotten, and they can live on.”

Laney Smith is about more than just genealogy as she has a podcast and does talks about historical subjects. (Photo submitted by Laney Smith)

Smith’s quest to preserve the past doesn’t just focus on genealogy. She broadcasts a weekly podcast, Roots & Riddles, that “digs deep into the forgotten corners and unsolved puzzles of Fillmore County.” She writes historical stories through her blog, for Root River Current, and for other media — and she gives public presentations on local and nearly forgotten history.

Genealogy and much more

Immersing herself in the world of family history research, digging into every story she could find, since 2010, Smith became certified as a genealogist and started Legacy Lane Genealogy about three years ago. Since her family has deep roots in Fillmore County, she specializes in this area of the state, as well as Minnesota in general.

She offers professional family history services, featuring a personalized ancestry booklet that uncovers the stories of a family’s ancestors and maps out geographical migrations while also providing a family tree diagram of six generations, ancestor narratives, fun facts discovered about the family and a summary of heritage.

Legacy Lane offers other services, including help in solving a family mystery, such as “where grandpa went in 1920 or adoption stories” that can track down information on birth parents, and property research for people interested in the story of the place where they live. She even offers photo restoration and a custom pedigree chart with visual representation.

Her digging into the past led Smith to venture out into other areas outside of family histories. She started Roots & Riddles, a weekly podcast, in 2025 to share some of the stories she has uncovered from her work in genealogy.

“From all of the research that I’ve done helping people and with my own family tree, it kind of led me to coming across different stories that pertain to Fillmore County that were really interesting that I didn’t have a good way to share to a broad audience,” she explained.

Her website notes that each week the storytelling podcast unearths a tale where history meets mystery — from chilling crimes, such as a saloon robbery in Fountain, to skyward dreams, such as a sky-hopping pioneer in Cherry Grove.

“You find some really amazing stories that are lost to time,” she said. “So, it’s my goal to keep those at the forefront and make sure as many people know about them as possible.”

Poster for the upcoming historical presentation by Laney Smith. (Photo submitted by Laney Smith)

Bringing forgotten towns to life

Smith’s next public presentation is scheduled for Sunday, April 12, at 4:30 p.m. in Spring Valley during the annual meeting of the Spring Valley Community Historical Society. This event is free and open to the public at Bluff Brothers Brewery with food available at an onsite food truck.

The talk, titled Lost on the Map: Ghost Towns of Fillmore County, will highlight some of the area’s ghost towns, primarily ones near Spring Valley. Although most people know about the region’s most famous ghost town, Forestville, she is going to delve into more obscure ones. For more information, visit the event Facebook page here.

“There are quite a few [ghost towns] in the surrounding area that I hadn’t heard of before, and I’m sure a lot of people haven’t heard of them, so I’m excited to share those stories and bring those little towns back to life for a night,” she said.

The historical society decided to ask Smith to speak because board members were impressed with her podcast, said director Kayla Czapiewski. She said she is hoping that the podcast, with its “quality, depth and intrigue,” and the new type of annual program that the society is putting on this year, will attract younger people to take an interest in the history of the community.

“It is such a different and fresh way to share area history,” said Czapiewski about the podcast. “She came up with a truly amazing concept — and it intrigued me.”

Detective work transcends time

While Smith is a genealogist, podcaster and history storyteller, she is, in many ways, also a detective. She said she has a large map at her house with pins, Post-It notes and other materials from her various searches.

“I really have to dig in sometimes,” she said. “There are still mysteries in my family tree that I’m unable to figure out that I’m still working on. So, it’s a continued story, and that’s a piece I like as well.”

Genealogist Laney Smith spends a lot of time researching Fillmore County census records. (Photo by Cory Smith)

Smith lives in Wykoff with her husband and two sons but is in a transition to moving to rural Spring Valley, the area where she spent most of her childhood. She said her life revolves around not only history but also her immediate family.

She points out that the stories from the past shape who we are today. Even though she spends much of her life digging into the historical record to find ties that bind a family together, she doesn’t discount the important connections made in the present.

Writing in a blog about meeting relatives in person, Smith observed that it is important to cherish living links to family history, which are just as valuable as historical documents or photographs.

“This journey of discovery has taught me that genealogy is not just about the past; it’s about the present and the future,” she wrote. “It’s about the connections we make with living relatives and the shared histories we uncover together. These encounters enrich our understanding of who we are and where we come from, providing a sense of continuity and belonging that transcends time.”