| Author |
Message |
    
Tarn Stephanos
Member
Username: titanictarn
Post Number: 2027
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 8:09 am: | 
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I couldn't help but notice there was a person named Willam S Faulkner on the Titanic-
Faulkner was my mother's mother's family name- my great Grand father Arthur Newton Faulkner moved to the US from Great Britian in 1918.
I realize Faulkner is a common family name-
But I'm curious- there just MIGHT be a chance, however slim, that I am related to this chap who was on the Titanic. Any suggestions as to how I might determine if the Faulkners in my family were related to the Faulkner on Titanic?
Does anyone have any interesting details about Mr. Faulkner's life? |
Bob Godfrey
Member
Username: bobgod1
Post Number: 3503
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 10:35 am: |
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Faulkner was a bedroom steward in 1st Class, not a passenger. His chief claim to fame was that he helped Alice Cleaver and Trevor Allison into a lifeboat (then boarded himself).
He was born in Birkenhead (near Liverpool) and never left the UK except in the course of his duties at sea, which continued until the 1940s. In 1912 there were around 12,000 people in the UK called Faulkner. Figure the odds for a connection! If you still think it's worth bothering, work backwards from yourself to establish your own family genealogy and see who turns up.
But in reality a coincidence of name doesn't mean much. Anybody who works out their family tree in sufficient detail will find that, by the time they've got back 100 years, they are related to hundreds of different surnames, probably including several which appear on the Titanic's crew or passenger lists. It's only the really uncommon name connections (there were only about 40 Lightollers in the UK, for instance) which are worth looking into.
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Tarn Stephanos
Member
Username: titanictarn
Post Number: 2028
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 10:55 am: |
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Well, if you go far enough back, we are all related in one way or another- But I must admit, discovering a Faulkner was on board- and possibly a distant relative, makes me feel closer to Titanic. My other family names, Stephanos, Smithers & Coyle don't appear on titanic's passenger list- so I doubt any ancestors in those families were on Titanic- But as for Faulkner, it's a possibility... |
Bob Godfrey
Member
Username: bobgod1
Post Number: 3504
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 12:12 pm: |
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Speaking of coincidence - I had a great uncle Fred who worked as a steward on passenger liners prior to the First World War, but I could find no trace of him after the last available census returns in 1901. His full name was Frederick Charles Simmons. One of the Titanic victims was a steward called Frederick C Simmons, who was the same age as Uncle Fred. A connection for sure, I thought. But eventually a family member remembered old Fred turning up at a family gathering in the 1930s. I was of course most disappointed to learn that Uncle Fred had not died a horrible death in the North Atlantic. :-) After that I gave up looking for family connections!
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Tarn Stephanos
Member
Username: titanictarn
Post Number: 2029
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 12:37 pm: |
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It must be tricky for any person named 'Smith' to determine if they were related to any of the 'Smiths' on Titanic, seeing how 'Smith' is the most common English name..(or is it Jones?)
There must be millions of Smiths worldwide.....
My mothers maiden name was Smithers, which is a variation of Smith...
I didn't realze there were so few Faulkners in the UK.... |
Bob Godfrey
Member
Username: bobgod1
Post Number: 3505
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 4, 2007 - 12:50 pm: |
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There were around half a million Smiths here in the UK in 1912. And about a quarter of a million Jones. For names which are not especially common (like Faulkner, Godfrey and Simmons) 10-20.000 is typical. The one representative of your own clan who'd appeared on the previous census - Alvis Stephanos - had moved on! |
