ONE OF OVER 2,208 PASSENGER & CREW STORIES - MARGARET ‘MOLLY’ TOBIN BROWN, DIED OCTOBER 26, 1932

Perhaps the most recognizable name in Titanic lore is Margaret “Molly” Brown. Born to poor Irish parents in Hannibal, Missouri, her humble beginnings would not keep this naturally brave, intelligent and determined woman from making a better life for herself. And what a thrilling life it was, full of adventure and accomplishment.

But Margaret Tobin Brown is best remembered as being “unsinkable”. Married to “Leadville Johnny” Brown, she had endured the rigors of a mining camp until her husband made his fortune in silver and gold, which allowed her to settle into a more social life in Denver where she raised a son and daughter and traveled the world. Although she and her husband later separated, they never divorced. Margaret became friends with the cream of New York Society, including the Astors and was in their company in Egypt in early 1912. In April that year, she received word her first grandchild was seriously ill, so she made plans to return to America on the maiden voyage of Titanic.

Mrs. Brown traveled as a first-class passenger, and on the night of the sinking, entered the lifeboat that would make her famous. Well after midnight, when the lifeboats began to fill, Quartermaster Hichens was assigned to Lifeboat No. 6, which held more than two-dozen women from an assortment of backgrounds who would find salvation there. Among them was Mrs. Margaret ‘Molly’ Tobin Brown of Denver, Colorado. The unlikely pairing of wealthy society women, a feisty Irish-American woman and Hichens, a cantankerous man from Cornwall, would soon become legend.

During the night, Hichens taunted the wealthy women to a breaking point. Finally, Molly threatened to throw him overboard and then organized the women in the rowing of the lifeboat. Her heroism during those hours brought her an enduring, legendary status.

After Titanic, Molly lived alternately in Denver and New York. She continued to travel and enjoy life, but as the years passed, she became more and more eccentric and was estranged from her children. In October 1932, she died in her room in New York’s Barbizon Hotel after suffering a stroke.

The name “Molly” Brown came to be in 1962 by Hollywood with the movie “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” starring Debbie Reynolds.