Titanic Museum Attaction Biographies
 
 
 
TITANIC BIOGRAPHIES - SEPTEMBER 2010
 

ONE OF OVER 2,208 PASSENGER & CREW STORIES - ELEANOR WIDENER (née Elkins), BORN SEPTEMBER 21, 1861

Among the wealthiest of Titanic’s passengers was Eleanor Elkins Widener, wife of George D. Widener. A daughter of traction line magnate William L. Elkins, she led a privileged life in the highest circles of Philadelphia Society. Along with her husband and son, Harry Elkins Widener, she was returning to the United States in one of the most luxurious first-class suites on the maiden voyage of Titanic.

On the night of the disaster, the Widener family hosted a dinner in honor of Titanic’s Captain Edward J. Smith. Following the dinner, she retired to her stateroom while her husband and son hobnobbed with other wealthy men in the first-class smoking salon. When Titanic struck the iceberg, Mrs. Widener entered a lifeboat along with other wealthy women. Her husband and son were lost in the sinking.

Following Titanic, Mrs. Widener presented Harvard University with a $2 million library as a memorial to her son, a graduate of that institution. She also rebuilt St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church near Philadelphia in tribute to her husband.

In 1915, Eleanor married explorer Alexander Hamilton Rice and accompanied him on a number of explorations. In 1920, she traveled farther up the Amazon River than any white woman had ever been. Her party was savagely attacked by cannibals and killed two of them in the skirmish.

Eleanor also owned a lot of costly jewelry, including a rope of pearls valued at $750,000, which her first husband gave her as a Christmas present. Another strand of pearls, valued at $250,000, was lost on Titanic.

Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice died of a sudden heart attack in 1937 while shopping in Paris, France.

1
1st Class Passenger
Edith Wearne Pears
Born 1889
2
1st Class Passenger
Florence Cumings Swain
Died 1949
3
3rd Class Passenger
Beatrice Irene Sandstrom
Died 1995
4
Assistant Steward
George Edward Roberton
Born 1892
5
1st Class Passengers
Maximilian Josef Frolicher &
Margaretha Emerentia Stehli Married 1895
6
3rd Class Passenger
Elizabeth Dowdell
Born 1880
7
Butcher
Christopher Mills
Born 1860
8
1st Class Passenger
Samuel Levi Goldenberg
Born 1864
9
3rd Class Passenger
Bertha Moran
Born 1883
10
3rd Class Passenger
Bertha Elizabeth Mulvihill
Born 1886
11
Saloon Steward
Harry John Stroud
Born 1876
12
3rd Class Passenger
Patrick Canavan
Born 1890
13
3rd Class Passenger
Catherine Murphy
Born 1893
14
Fireman/Stoker
John Alexander Podesta
Born 1887
15
3rd Class Passenger
Theodoor DeMulder
Born 1881
16
Quartermaster
Robert Hichens
Born 1882
17
3rd Class Passenger
Manca Karun Juvan
Died 1971
18
3rd Class Passenger
William Henry Saundercock
Born 1892
19
Irish 3rd Class passenger
Mary Bourke
Born 1871
20
1st Class Passenger
John Borland “Jack” Thayer
Died 1945
21
1st Class Passenger
Edith Corse Evans
Born 1875
22
1st Class Passenger
Ida Sophia Hippach
Born 1940
23
Trimmer
Eustace Philip Snow
Born 1890
24
3rd Class Passenger
Margaret Jane Murphy
Born 1886
25
1st Class Passenger
Alfred Fernand Omont
Born 1882
26
1st Class Passenger
Major Archibald Willingham Butt
Born 1865
27
2nd Class Passenger
Ralph Lester Wells
Died 1972
28
1st Class Maid
Victorine Chaudanson
Born 1875
29
3rd Class Passenger
Hannah Riordan Spollen
Died 1982
30
2nd Class Passenger
Bertha Ilett
Christensen
Died 1976

 
 
   
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