The identity of Camilla Farabaugh’s father was believed to be found when Camilla’s baptismal certificate was acquired in 1978. It stated that the father was a John Besling, and there was family speculation that Besling was a travelling salesman. A birth certificate obtained in 2018 showed the father as “John Bilsnig.” However, to date, no John Besling/Bilsnig has been found in any public records.

In 2019, a DNA test of Camilla’s son Ron was studied by Ron and his brother Don, with the assistance of a T.C. Brown. This led to a match with seven cousins with shared ancestry. This isolated Bernard and Rose Cassidy O’Connor of Connellsville, Pa., as direct ancestors. Bernard and Rose had three sons who could have been Camilla’s father. William was ruled out because he was a fatality of WWI. Charles was a remote possibility but as explained below was not living near Camilla’s mother, Louise Farabaugh. Another son, Bernard O’Connor, was living near Louise when Camilla was conceived, and therefore there is reasonable certainty that he was truly her father.

In 1917, Bernard Edward O’Connor was a 22 year old clerk for the B&O Railroad, living and working in Connellsville, Pa. He appears twice in the 1920 Census. He was living with his parents in Connellsville, and working in an office as a stenographer. Another entry indicates he was a living with the family of his sister Florence O’Connor Madigan, in Carrolltown, Pa., as a foreman on the State Road. Florence’s husband J.W. “Wilbert” Madigan was in partnership with the O’Connor family. Louise was also living in Carrolltown at the time, working in a dry goods store. Bernard died of influenza on January 1, 1921 at the age of 25. His death certificate indicates he was single working as a clerk. Thus, it is very likely Bernard was the father of Camilla, given his proximity to Louise. Louise would have been about two months pregnant at the time of Bernard’s death.

The possibility that the father was instead Charles James O’Connor (1888-1929) cannot be totally ruled out. In 1917, he was also working for the family business, as a foreman. Although Charles was married to Bertha Kellenberger, Bertha is found in the 1920 Census as living with her mother in Connellsville with her young daughter Rose Mary O’Connor. Charles is not indicated in the household and is not found in the Census, raising at least some possibility he may have encountered Louise. However, it is clear that Charles and Bertha remained married. Charles’ 1929 death certificate identifies her. Charles was a steam shovel operator at the time of his death, caused by a sliding work during a railroad excavation in Waynesburg, Pa. He sustained a crushed skull and internal injuries.

Louise was raised in Carrolltown, Pa., and lived with her mother there at least through 1940. She was a milliner with her own shop, a sales lady for a dry goods store and then instructor for the P.A. Project. Louise later lived in Pittsburgh, Pa., and never married. She worked as a clerk for the Sun Drug Co. there, which had a warehouse near old Forbes Field.