When I first started working on genealogy, I was handed a nicely done family history, complete with pictures and interesting stories, which was written by a distant cousin. Part of the history covered the Robertson family, back to my 4th great grandparents, John Robertson and Abigail Cowen/Cowan, of Kentucky. I knew that Abigail died on 22 Aug 1838, soon after the birth of her fourth child, somewhere in Kentucky. I’ve always wondered who her family was and where she was buried. Her husband and kids moved on to Ohio and then Iowa, leaving her gravestone behind.
For the past sixteen years, I have been stuck at this exact same point. Over time, I added in records from the census, probate, military pensions, and newspaper articles, yet I still didn’t have a location within Kentucky to start searching. John Robertson is (unfortunately) a very common name and he was hard to pin down before 1850. I kept coming back to this family, hoping that a new record set would become available online and then I would get that one little clue that would help me bust through this brick wall.
Well, it finally happened. I was checking through Find a Grave and finally found her gravestone, in Nicholas County, Kentucky, added by pcarney (thank you to you and all of the Find a Grave volunteers!!!!).
I now knew where they lived.
I then checked FamilySearch and hit the jackpot in the “Kentucky County Marriages, 1797-1954” database. 
The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas a marriage is shortly intended to be solemnized between the above bound John Robertson and Miss Abbey Cowan, daughter of Mr. Hugh Cowan
Now if there does not exist any lawful cause to obstruct the same then the above obligation to be void else to remain in full force + virtue
Hugh Cowan
I now have Abigail’s father’s name, census records, and a bunch of leads on places to search for this family (including a book that was published on this line of Cowans. I have a trip to the Library of Congress planned soon!).
Sometimes, when you break through a brick wall, it only leads to another. I’m happy to say that it doesn’t seem to be the case in this instance. While I haven’t spent much time looking for the Robertsons yet (it’s only been a few days since I found this), through the Cowan line, I have linked into a couple of well-documented families – Cowan, Breckenridge, and Preston. These will keep me busy in the coming weeks as I now have a lot more names to search!
Here’s to hoping that you bust through a brick wall soon also!!
