Did you have ancestors on the Titanic?
by Paul Urbahns


   There have been numerous movies and television specials on the
subject, and the number of books would be in the hundreds. The
subject of course is the Titanic. It is hard to imagine anyone in
the civilized world that has not heard or have a basic knowledge of
the events which happened on that fateful night in 1912.

   The story of the Titanic sounds like fiction but the reality of
it all comes home when we understand that the passenger list
included a fairly good cross section of population types of its
day.

   There were even people with connections to our area on board the
Titanic when it stuck an iceberg. Since Ancestral Trails Historical
Society is an organization with a national membership we are
publishing the full passenger list as provided by the White Star
line.

   You will also find these names on that list with connections to
Kentucky and Indiana:

     1. Dr. Ernest Moraweck was a practicing physician in Meade
County. Dr. Moraweck was first brought to my attention by ATHS
member Jon Whitfield over a year ago. He was researching an article
for the Meade County Messenger which somehow I missed.

     Moraweck was a Meade county resident at the time of his death
and was returning from Freiburg Germany, where he had inherited
property. The Meade County Messenger of May 1, 1912 quotes a
Louisville source dated April 29, 1912: "That Dr. Ernest Moraweck
of Louisville, was on the Titanic on that liners first and last
voyage, and that he perished with the ship was made certain Monday,
when Mayor Head received a letter from Benjamin Ball, a banker of
London.
     In the letter Ball tells of having met Dr. Moraweck at the
Tourist Hotel, at the Hague, a short time before the Titanic
sailed.
     Dr. Moraweck told Mr. Ball that he had to return to Kentucky
because his farm was flooded."

     In the June 5th issue of the Messenger, Charles J. Cronan,
administrator of the estate of Dr. Moraweck announced he had three
signed affidavits from survivors that confirmed Moraweck was dead.
Cronan stated the estate consisted chiefly of a farm in Meade
County, near Brandenburg.

     Dr. Moraweck's will was probated on Monday, June 3rd at the
county court. The estate was divided equally between his sister,
Mrs. Claudina Coldeway of Tell City, Ind. and his brother Alvin H.
Moraweck of New York. The estate was valued at between $50,000 and
$75,000.
     In his will, Moraweck expressed a desire that his body be
cremated at the nearest crematory, but as his body was not
recovered from the Titanic wreck that wish could not be carried
out.
     Jon Whitfield wrote in a letter to Ancestral News, that the
story told locally was that " Dr. Moraweck operated a sort of rest
home for wealthy elderly ladies. They frequently died under his
care after they had willed their money to him. Some of the accounts
say that he was under investigation and would have been taken to
court had he lived to return to the U.S."

     Whitfield continues," The late Irby Shacklett Hardin told me
about knowing him. She was teaching in the one room school, Long
Branch, as I recall upriver from Brandenburg. Some shutters had
been stored under the school building and her students had used
them as sleds when it snowed. I believe Dr. Moraweck was a trustee
of the school. At any rate, he came by and saw what was going on
and asked her not to allow the students to do this as he hoped to
restore the building and would put the shutters back on the
window." 

     Anyone having additional information is requested to contact
Jon Whitfield, 150 Milan Road, Brandenburg, Kentucky 40108-9709.

     2. Mrs. Lutle Davis Parrish, of Woodford County, Ky was
accompanying her daughter Mrs. Imanita Shelley and paid for second
class accommodations. But when she arrived at the boat they were
shown to a cabin deep in the ship in the steerage area. In an
affidavit Shelley stated," Instead of being assigned to the
accommodations purchased, were taken to a small cabin many decks
down in the ship, which was so small that it could only be called
a cell. It was impossible for a third person to enter said cabin
unless both occupants first of all crowded into their bunks.

     Mrs. Shelley further stated the cabin had no heat and the
regulation steamer trunk in their cabin would not open. Finally
after much complaining and threats of going to see the captain
topped off with the fact that she was sick. They were eventually
transferred to second class. 

     After being transferred to the new cabin the second class
physician, Dr. Simpson, called from three to four times a day; that
he feared the attack of tonsillitis brought on by the chill would
become diphtheritic and ordered Mrs. Shelley to remain in her
cabin.

     This cabin though large and roomy, was not furnished in the
comfortable manner as the same accommodations procured on the
Cunard and other lines. The room looked in a half-finished
condition and had no heat. The steward stated the heating in the
second class cabins refused to work.

     With this information, it is obvious that not all the
passengers on the Titanic had the deluxe accommodations pictured on
most of the documentaries.
    
     3. James H. Bracken, a native of the Beaver Dam area of Ohio
county. He can be found in the Second Class area of the list.

     4. Major Archibald Butt, military aid to President William
Howard Taft and former writer for the Courier-Journal in the 1890s.

     5. Henry Mitchell, another Second Class passenger on his way
to visit relatives in Paducah.

     6. C.H. Romaine of Georgetown survived and published his
account of the disaster in the April 21, 1912 issue of the Courier
Journal.

     Plus there could be others, if you know of any please let us
know at Ancestral Trails.
      

     Now search the passenger list and see if any of the surnames
you are researching are present.