What mysteries to solve

 

Source: PBS. Finding Your Roots.

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s wonderful show, Finding Your Roots, recently concluded Season 10 with a special Viewers Like You episode. Unlike other episodes which focus on the ancestry of a celebrity or public figure, this one centered on the stories of three women who were selected from over 9,000 entrants from viewers of the series. These were "regular people" with fascinating stories of their own.

Dr. Gates asked each guest what they were hoping to learn about the mysteries they wanted to solve. That question resonated as I wondered if given the same opportunity, and Dr. Gates asked me what family history mystery I wanted to learn more about, what would I want to know? While I can't pick just one, here are a few that for various reasons, I'd love to see someone with the resources of the PBS series help me resolve.

The first mystery I would love to settle is identifying the father of my 2nd-great-grandmother Mary Alice Cain. I have posted about this previously, how her mother Nancy Jane Flatt likely delivered Mary Alice and her brother Harl in the Metcalfe County Poor House in 1878 and 1879. There is no trace of them in the 1880 US Census. According to the Civil War pension file of Nancy Jane's husband Pleasant Morgan, Nancy Jane's first husband was named Robert Kain (or Cain). There are hints of a possible Robert Cain in Louisville, but nothing verified. I think DNA research could help answer this mystery, unless other records can be found linking Nancy Jane to this Robert.

The next question is less of a mystery now that I know Agnes Atherton was a daughter of John O'Brien. It would be awesome to run across a verified photo or vaudeville flyer with a depiction of Agnes. I would love to get answers on the parents of her mother Bridget Dooner and dig into the Irish roots on her line and John O'Brien's family.

Perhaps a fourth story would help confirm the arrival of the Campuzano family in Mexico, tracing them to Spain or elsewhere. Another would be verification on my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, tracing his journey to Chile and earlier.