He began working in 1994 on the case of Eino Lindquist, a native of Dalsbruk, Finland. He, his sister and her daughter already were known to have lived through Titanic’s sinking, but filling in the details was a painstaking process filled with roadblocks.

A newspaper story named Lindquist as one of five Finns to arrive in the Pennsylvania steel town of Monessen days after their rescue from Titanic. But why was he absent from the town in the 1920 U.S. Census? The hunt led Gowan to his naturalization papers, which showed the Finn had taken U.S. citizenship in 1924 while living in Syracuse, N.Y.

Then ... silence. The rest of the paper trail seemed as elusive as a lost ship; the sister and niece who had accompanied Lindquist were long dead.

Once again, a death notice would provide another lead toward the missing man’s life.

Gowan discovered a death certificate for Lindquist’s younger brother, Martin, who had died in 1966. A newspaper obituary for the man included the name of his daughter, Mallis Nowicki — aged but then still living in Windsor, Ontario.

“She couldn’t remember meeting him but she did know the stories” circulating among the family, Gowan said of the phone calls and emails the two shared throughout 2000.