Apropos of nothing...

I was just sitting at my computer yesterday doing a little research on some Goble's for a future post, when I had this sudden urge to look at Rhode Island records at the Family History Library web site. It had been a while since I had done any research on the Cain's so I thought I would see if there were any new digitized records I could look through.

They don't have a lot of digitized records for Rhode Island, but they do have a few important ones, births, marriages, deaths, and Rhode Island State census records, (different from Federal census records).

I started with the death records, maybe, just maybe I will finally find a death record for Martin Cain. The results showed me several records I was already familiar with, two of them being Martin and Winifred's children who died as infants. Then I saw a curious entry for a Annie Laura Mcdonnell in 1914, husband Terrence, father Martin Kane, mother Winifred Kane. Hmmmmmmm. Stick a pin in that. I still didn't find a death record for Martin.

Okay no Martin, where is that pin....oh there it is...so I clicked on it.

The record was really just an index entry and it didn't tell me much more than the search hit did. So I went to my Reunion genealogy file to check and see if Martin and Winifred had a child named Annie. According to my records they had an Ann/Amy (from census records) born about 1859. The death record was off on her birth year, which didn't faze me one bit. I proceeded to do a little happy jig. I found one of John Cain's sisters.

Now the hunt really began. There proceeded a flurry of computer research activity into birth, marriage and census records from several online database companies. The end result being Ann/Annie Laura Cain Mcdonnell/Mcdonald married Terence in 1884 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island. They proceeded to have 7 children between 1884 and 1899. In fact the last child born was Annie on October 30/31, 1898, a day or two after her first cousin once removed, Clarence John. Only 4 of their children made it to adulthood.

But that's not all. The big news from this find was a 1900 census record in Providence for Annie and her family....and her father Martin Kane! Now I could do a full on happy, happy, joy, joy dance. I found Martin in 1900, in Providence, living with his daughter.

That's why you research ancestors other than your direct lines.

Sad to say I still don't know when Martin died. But I know he was still around in 1900. When looking at the 1905 census record for Annie and her husband, she indicated she was born in Crompton, West Warwick, Rhode Island. Slightly different than data I had, but it prompted me to see if there was a Crompton in Rhode Island. There is, it was named after a man who invented some type of textile device having to do with corduroy. In fact there was a mill in the town that made it. So it is quite possible that this is one of the mills that Martin was working in when he and Winifred were married.

1917 view of Crompton Mill