Harriette Rebecca Crosby - Titanic First Class Passenger
Harriette Rebecca Crosby was a 39 year old first class passenger travelling home from Europe to the United States, accompanied aboard Titanic by her father Edward Gifford Crosby and her mother Catherine Elizabeth Crosby. They joined Titanic at Southampton on 10th April 1912, and aboard the ship she occupied cabin B26, located near her parents cabin (B22), found on the port side of the forward end of B Deck.
Harriette Crosby was born in Michigan, United States on 8th October 1872. In around 1893, she married Marvin Giles (born 12th October 1865), but they had separated and divorced long before 1912. In 1910 she and a friend of hers called Lily Brand, sailed to Europe to study music in Paris, France.
While in Paris Harriette Crosby met and fell for a man named Edouard Bourdois, and in 1911 she was pregnant with his child. The baby, a baby girl, was born in the United Kingdom on 11 February 1912. The baby was given the name Andree Catherine Crosby. Harriette being pregnant is most probably the reason why her parents had sailed from America to Europe. It was decided that Harriette would return home with her parents aboard Titanic to make their way home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
When Harriette and her parents sailed aboard Titanic Andree was left behind in what is said to have been a boarding school. Andree did eventually join her mother in America; her father is also said to have moved to America, but apparently they did not see much of each other. It is interesting to note that had Andree sailed aboard Titanic with her mother and grandparents, she would have been the youngest passenger aboard the ship rather than Millvina Dean who was 9 days older than Andree.
After Titanic's collision with the iceberg at around 11.40pm on 14th April 1912, Harriette’s father went to her cabin and told her that the ship was badly damaged, but that he thought the watertight compartments would hold the ship up. She got dressed and went on deck, where she was told to fetch her lifebelt and return; she did so and told her mother also, and they both went to the starboard side Boat Deck, where she and her mother were placed into Lifeboat 7, the first lifeboat to leave the ship during the sinking. Both her and her mother survived; her father was amongst those lost in the disaster.
Harriette Crosby in died in Los Angeles, California, United States on 11th February 1941. Her cremated remains were laid to rest within Fairview Mausoleum, Milwaukee, the same mausoleum in which her parents were laid to rest. Due to falling into disrepair the mausoleum was demolished in around 1996 after the remains of those laid to rest there were moved elsewhere. The remains of Harriette Crosby and her parents were moved to and buried at Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee.
Related pages - Titanic's First Class Passengers, All Titanic Pages