Strangely Coincidental Discoveries

When visiting Weardale in County Durham a few years ago I came across a little book entitled "Weardale in Old Photographs", collected by June Crosby and published in 1989, on the coffee table of the B&B where we were staying overnight. Upon glancing through it I was excited to find this photograph of a wedding in a local village and and to realise that the people pictured here were in fact on my husband's family tree.  Henry, father of the bride, standing on the right, was just a two year old child when he voyaged to Australia with his parents in 1855. He and his mother returned to Durham only 3 years later, but what became of his father William Henry remains a mystery to me, as no definite death records have been found for him in either Australia or the UK.  

I recently traced the happy couple's descendants down to their great great grandchildren in England. I then found one of their great granddaughters on Facebook,and when looking through her friend list for other names that would confirm I had the right person, I discovered to my amazement that we have a mutual friend -ie. one of her friends is the daughter of one of my friends on Facebook! So rather than my just messaging her out of the blue, we got in contact with the help of my friend and her daughter, and I now hope to hear back from her uncle who she tells me is also interested in family history. Perhaps he will even have some family knowledge that can solve the mysterious disappearance of his ancestor William Henry!