Finding the in-laws

 After successfully finding the older brothers of Ann Thompson Buchanan in the Canada census, I decided to try again. This time I was looking for the siblings of Elizabeth (Bessie) Glenn Buchanan and Ann Porter Buchanan.

Despite, hours of searching, I failed to find Bessie's parents. John and Jane Glenn seemed like a good possibility, but their daughter Elizabeth was too young, and was still single and living at home with her parents in the 1871 census. Alexander and Jean Glenn seemed like a good possibility, but she is not listed in their family in the 1851 census. David and Mary Glenn seemed like a possibility as well, but I can find no record of them having a daughter named Elizabeth. And I do not know where Bessie or any of these other Glenns came from in Ireland. They are probably related, but I can find no proof of it.

Ann Porter's situation is much better. From the record that my cousin Patty found in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, we know that Charles Buchanan and Ann Porter were married in March 1843 in Killeter Presbyterian Church, Termonamongan Parish, Tyrone, Ireland. I was able to find a John Porter family living in close proximity to the Buchanans in Elma, Perth, Ontario, in the 1861 Canada Census. I found records for him and his family in the FamilySearch Family Tree. He is shown connected to parents but no siblings. His marriage is listed as 23 March 1846, Termonamongan, County Tyrone, Ireland. 

Wow! That is the same rural parish where Ann Porter was married three years previously. When I find Ann's and John's families as neighbors in 1861, half a world away, it seems impossible that this can be random chance. I am convinced that they are siblings. I have been able to add a brother and parents to Ann Porter, if the Family Tree data is correct.

 Life is full of puzzles. Genealogy provides some of the best.