While looking back through my notes and rechecking the facts on Brooks, expecially in the Frostburg area, I ran into some new information. For example, my great-grandfather Thomas Meagher appears in the 1895-96 directory for Frostburg which is available online at the Western Maryland Historical Library site. We already knew that my grandmother had lived in Frostburg as a young girl. But since we know so little about her father, it is nice to see his name in print in the directory. The directory also lists several members of the Powers family living near the corner of Maple and College. That is the vicinity where I remember my grandmother pointing out she had lived [see footnote no. 8 on the MeagherBrooks page]. The 1895-96 directory lists the residence for Thomas Meagher as
New. I don't know if that was a street name, or if it indicated a new entry.
The 1895-96 directory also helped with sorting out the Powers-Higgins-Hagarty connection. You can see that connection in the descendants for PowersKilleen at the bottom of the Trees page, as well as on the new HigginsPowers page. When I mentioned to my Mom that I had figured out where the Hagarty name fit, and that the Hagartys had lived in Duquesne, my Mom immediately exclaimed,
Oh, Margaret Mary!As memory has it, it seems that neither Nell (Meagher) Thompson, who lived not far from Duquesne, nor her sister Irene (Meagher) Murtha were close to their second cousin, Margaret Mary Hagarty. But their brother Tom Meagher, the funeral director, stayed in touch with Margaret Mary. My Mom recalls a day ca. the early 1930's when her Uncle Tom took her mother to visit Margaret Mary in Duquesne. The Murtha children stayed behind in Mt. Pleasant with Grandmother Annie babysitting. Besides living in the town of Duquesne, it appears also that at the time Margaret Mary would have been attending or would have recently graduated from Duquesne University. While visiting Margaret Mary, Tom took his sister to Kennywood [Amusement Park]. Kennywood would have been an easy half-mile walk from Margaret Mary's house on Oakmont Avenue. Margaret Mary's mother, Ellen (Nellie), would have still been alive then. Ellen's brothers (Margaret Mary's uncles) Dennis Higgins and possibly Patrick Higgins may also have been there. (This rootsweb post has Dennis and Patrick living with the Hagartys in 1910). I suspect that Dennis Higgins (b. 1873) may have been the namesake for Dennis Meagher (b. 1902).
