Potential breaks in the brick wall

Short of driving to Barren County, Kentucky to research, I have tried just about every possible online and available library resource to identify the parents of my second-great-grandmother Mary Alice Cain Read. Yesterday I tried a new tack in the search by reviewing what I already had on Mary Alice's children. Looking closely at an obituary for one of her daughters, I noticed a detail that I had overlooked which referenced a potentially living niece in Barren County. I was hoping that perhaps this person on the Read side might have information about the Cain family.

Using her name against public records in Ancestry.com and a Whitepages.com search, I was able to find a potential match. I took a leap that I might find them on Facebook, and sent an inquiry through the Facebook Messenger on the web to the niece's son. Within an hour I had a reply, with a suggestion to check with his Dad, also on Facebook. So I sent another message and went to bed.

This morning I received a reply, I've found some cousins! We're exchanging messages and they're checking local records to see if Mary Alice's parents names are listed in the funeral file from 1955. I'm glad I tried this alternate approach, and it really shows the power of the Internet to connect people across distances.

Photo by Patrick Jones. 7 Apr 2012.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks, DC.