Miss Kornelia Theodosia Andrews

Miss Kornelia Theodosia Andrews, 63, was born in Hudson, New York, USA, in August 1848. She was the daughter of Robert E. and Matilda Fonda Andrews.

A graduate of (?) Oberlin College in Ohio,Miss Andrews was for many years a leader in society and charitable worksin Hudson, New York. She was one of the Managers of the Hudson City Hospitalsince its founding, and was its Vice-President in 1912.

Andrews was returning home on the Titanic to Hudson with her sister, Anna Hogeboom , and their twenty-one-year old niece, Gretchen Fiske Longley . All three ladies boarded in Southampton under ticket number 13502 (£77 19s 2d). Miss Andrews occupied cabin D-7 .

On the night of the disaster, Gretchen and Anna were asleep. Miss Andrews, who had apparently been ill, was reading when the Titanic struck the iceberg. Gretchen, who was awakened by the impact, asked her aunt what happened. Interestingly, Miss Andrews seemed to know without having been told. "We must have struck an iceberg. Go and ask the steward if we are in danger." Gretchen went out three times to ask if there was danger, but was reassured by stewards that everything was fine.

Kornelia did not believe what the stewards were saying so she went out to find their day-steward who informed her that the Titanic was in danger and that they were to report to the boat deck with lifebelts. The ladies dressed, put on fur coats, and headed to the Boat Deck .

Miss Andrews related that the first three boats they tried to enter did not contain room for them. They waited for the fourth boat, which turned out to be lifeboat 10 , and were helped aboard. She told of how annoyed she was with many of the crew who were in her boat. 'When we got out on the water,' she said, 'we realized that the crewmen had only claimed they could row only for the purpose of saving themselves. My niece had to take an oar. In a boat alongside of ours, a sailor lighted a cigarette and flung the match carelessly among the women in our boat. We screamed with protest to which he replied, "Ah, we're all going to the devil anyway, and we might as well be cremated now as then.'"

In describing the Titanic's final moments, Miss Andrews explained, "We were a mile away from the Titanic when there was a great explosion. It appeared to me as if the boilers had blown up and the Titanic had been lifted up amidships and broken in half. This is the way it appeared to me."

All three ladies were rescued by the Carpathia , and eventually reached their homes in Hudson, New York. Miss Andrews later filed a $480.50 claim against the White Star Line for lost possessions including such items are fur coats, numerous dresses, 3 brass antique lamps and "one velvet hat with ostrich plumes.'

Miss Andrews died less than two years after the sinking. On December 4, 1913 she passed away at her home in Hudson from lobar pneumonia, she was 65.

Her sister, Anna Hogeboom, died in 1947, and her niece, Gretchen Longley (later Leopold), in 1965.

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Mrs Anna Louisa Hogeboom
Miss Gretchen Fiske Longley