Do you have a research "nemesis"? That one name in your family tree consistently blocked by a brick wall? One definition of nemesis is "something that a person cannot conquer or achieve."

Today I read about an alternative to Black Friday shopping:  "Stay in and Search." What better time than Black Friday to take another run at one's nemesis? Mine is named James Quinn.

My husband's paternal grandmother was Catherine Quinn. Her Irish-born parents, Thomas and Rose Quinn, were married at St Peter's Catholic Church in Mendota, Minnesota, on 12 February 1861. Over the next 21+ years, they had 11 children. Only one child failed to survive to adulthood. Catherine (1873-1948) was in the middle of the pack as far as birth order. She married in 1906 and had two children, William and Julia Rose. Catherine's grandson (my husband Bill) grew up knowing very little about his Quinn relatives. He has no memory of family get-togethers or meeting Quinn relatives. That seemed odd given the large family.

Several years ago I exerted much time and effort researching Catherine Quinn's family.  My surprising discovery: despite ten Quinn siblings living to adulthood - which means William and Julia Rose had nine Quinn aunts and uncles - they had one adopted cousin (Eunice) and only one biological first cousin. His name was James Quinn. Born in 1892, he apparently divorced after a short marriage, worked for the railroad, lived with his parents until they died, and possibly remarried later in life - but then he seems to disappear from records.

Today I spent a few hours looking for references to him in the Historical Minneapolis Tribune (1876-1922), which can be searched online at: http://newspapers2.mnhs.org/jsp/browse.jsp. Guess what? I didn't find James Quinn. What I did find were some really interesting newspaper articles about another Quinn family. I read the sad-but-sensational tale of Peter A. Quinn, who died under mysterious circumstances in Mitchell, South Dakota, in August 1909. Authorities initially ruled it a suicide, but "Minneapolis kinsmen" including Peter's brother, James Quinn, kept pressing for the case to be reviewed. The South Dakota sheriff, Luther Plotner, had allegedly written love letters to Peter Quinn's wife, Kate. A subsequent newspaper article reported, "But the records stood and the tragedy waned in interest." Then, in September 1911, Mrs. Plotner, the sheriff's wife, committed suicide. Within hours Luther Plotner and Kate Quinn eloped to Omaha - where they were arrested for "statutory offenses" and barely escaped a lynch mob back in South Dakota. The newspaper reported, "Mrs. Quinn appeared in the courtroom veiled in gray and wearing a jaunty gray suit." In January 1912, "a series of love tragedies in which a Minneapolis family has played continually a prominent role obtained an added chapter" when former sheriff Plotner was found dead, believed to have taken his own life.

That newspaper story ends with this statement, "Kate Quinn is said to be an exceptionally attractive woman, about 35 years old. Plotner was 47 years old." The Minneapolis newspapers carried no more stories about Kate Quinn so I don't know if she was ever tried for Peter's death. However I was curious. I queried Ancestry.com. I found a family tree showing Peter Quinn's widow, Kate, remarrying in 1915. It appears she died in Mitchell, South Dakota, in 1966, at the age of 83. I made no progress on "my" James Quinn, but I had more fun than shopping on Black Friday.