Miss Harriette Rebecca Crosby

Miss Harriette R. Crosby [1], 36, was born in New York, on 8 October 1872 the daughter of Edward Gifford Crosby and Catherine Elizabeth Halstead.

Harriette was married, around 1892, to Marvin Giles. They lived in Detroit, Michigan close to the Henry Ford factory. Unfortunately the marriage failed and they eventually divorced. There were no children from the marriage.

1910 Harriette travelled to Paris to study music together with her friend Lily Brand. In Paris she had tuition from the noted pianist Louis Philippe. At a party in Paris Harriette met Edouard Bourdois, they became lovers.

Harriette was joined by her father and mother and they travelled in England where, on 11 February 1912, she gave birth to a baby girl, Andree. The family moved on the France and, while they prepared to travel home, the child was left behind to be cared for by a nanny at a Paris boarding school. She would not be reunited with her mother for over a year.

Harriette, her father Edward and mother Catherine boarded the Titanic at Southampton as first class passengers. Harriette occupied cabin B-26.

Catherine and Harriette were rescued in lifeboat 7.

Harriette maintained her interest in music. She moved from Milwaukee to California, where she lived for a time with her daughter, until her death, in Los Angeles General Hospital, Los Angeles, California on 11 February 1941. Interestingly, her death certificate lists her "husband" as "Edward B. Boudoise" but in fact they were never married [2].

It was Harriette's wish to be interred with her Mother and Father but at the time her daughter, Andree Hathway, could not afford the cost of reopening the crypt. Therefore Harriette's body was cremated and her ashes interred in an adjacent crypt in Fairview Mausoleum, Milwaukee. In 1995 the the mausoleum, which had fallen into disrepair, was opened. In 1997 the remains of Captain Crosby, his wife and daughter were re-interred together at Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Notes
1. Her name is sometimes spelled Harriet.
2. Rick (1999) suggests Edward did not remain lovers. He divorced his wife and married another woman and barely kept contact with Harriette. He remained in France while she eventually moved to California.

Travelling Companions
Captain Edward Gifford Crosby Father
Mrs Catherine Elizabeth Crosby Mother