At Last! A Breakthrough!

For a week now I've been working on what was supposed to be my next post, however that all changed when I made a breakthrough! I'm still working on the previously-planned post, however it is getting knocked back due to this unexpected yet very welcomed update. And if Ellie is reading this, she will want to know that the post I have planned is all I know of Arthur Fagan and his family.

Did I say 'Ellie?' Yes I did! After two years, I have finally been able to make communication with Ellie Cochran, a distant cousin of mine! I was leafing through "Member Connect" on Ancestry.com when I noticed a new leaf pop up on my grandfather that hadn't been there before. Being that I had just posted his biography in this new blog, I remember thinking, "What perfect timing for a new lead!" Little did I know it would direct me right to the very person in whom I was once again going to pursue finding. There before me was a family tree consisting of the Fagans and O'Connells, created by a username consisting of the name 'Ellie.' It had to be her! So, I messaged her through Ancestry.com however did not get my hopes up, because I thought she was inactive for a long time. Imagine my surprise when I had an email from my cousin less than forty-eight hours later!

We have since emailed each other twice. I've been able to answer some of her questions and she has given me a nice new lead on Charles. She wrote,

Mom told me that Charles' [biological] father was a jeweler from Pittsburgh. That's what she was told anyway.

This is a really good lead, for back in 1996, a Harry DeRoy, Jr. (86 years old at the time) died here in New Orleans. My mother saw his obituary in The Times-Picayune (right, click to enlarge). It stated he was the retired owner of his father's jewelry shop in Pittsburgh where he lived most of his life. It was the name DeRoy and the whole Pittsburgh part that caught my mother's attention. I remember my father trying to wrap his mind around the chances of a possible biological relative of Charles' winding up in New Orleans. Imagine my excitement now fourteen years later when I read what Ellie had to say. Did my mother, back in 1996, truly stumble upon a biological brother or cousin of Chuck's? My next step is to investigate this further.

Ellie also informed me that the Fagans adopted Agnes from the Rosalia Foundling Home, and that Margaret also adopted her daughter from Rosalia. Could Charles' have also come from Rosalia? I will have to write to see what I can find out.

However, I have two very solid leads for the first time and am so excited! What's more is I got another interesting glimpse into Chuck's charcter:

Mom [daughter of Charles' sister Margaret Fagan] told me when she and Charles were younger they used to raise hell. She said he sure was handsome... Once they overturned an outhouse with someone in it! -- Ellie's latest email

Ellie tells me she will ask her mother of anything else she may remember of Charles and will get back to me. It's so nice to finally, after over fifteen years of family research, have a nice solid breakthrough in the case of Charles.