Mrs Marie Marthe Jerwan (née Thuillard)
Mrs Marie Marthe Jerwan-Thuillard (Marie Marthe Thuillard), 23, was born on 28 May 1888 in Switzerland. She had emigrated to America in 1909, where she met and married Armin S. Jerwan, the son of a Turkish clergyman in July 1910. Armin was a corrector at a New York publishing house. She lived together with her husband at 227 West 145th Street, New York.
For some weeks she visited her relatives at Crêt-de-la-Mosse (a farmhouse) at Mont-de-Couvet, Kanton Neuenburg. She had planned to travel back on the Olympic, but when that vessel went back to the builder for repair she changed her mind.
Mrs Jerwan boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a second class passenger. To reach her destination New York, she bought her second class ticket number SC/AH 541 for £13 15s 10d. She occupied a cabin on D-Deck together with Ada A. Ball, a widow from Bristol, England. Noël Malachard, René Jacques Lewy and another man had the opposite cabin of theirs.
At 10.30 pm on sunday evening she was in her cabin and started to read. Suddenly she felt a hard hit and first thought the machines had exploded., because they stood still. She went on Deck, after she had woken her cabin companion Ada Ball. She stayed on deck, because she felt something was wrong. She saw how the seamen made the boats ready for lowering and went back to her cabin. She said to Ada Ball: "Get up, dress, we sink!". Ada fully dressed and left their cabin accompanied by her brother-in-law Rev. Bateman, leaving Marie Jerwan alone. Marie packed, dressed, put a coat around her and a hat on her head, in their bag some necessities and went back. On B-Deck she suddenly heard her name calling. Noël Malachard, René Levy and their room-mate. Malachard said: "We'll take care of you". One Deck up she entered lifeboat 11 helped by Malachard. The boat being lowered, Malachard and the others shouted: "Good bye!".
On the Carpathia she wrote a telegram to her husband
A. S. Jerwan, 227 West 145 New York
Safe on Carpathia
Marie.
However, because of their tremendous workload the operators never had time to send it.
After arriving at New York she was brought to Sydenham Hospital together with Ada Ball. She stayed just for one day. She tried, without success, to get a compensation for the loss of her property, worth $3364.75.
Armin and Marie Jerwan had no children. In 1964 she turned back to Switzerland for 6 months. For many years she fought cancer and died on 14 September 1974 at the City Hospital, Elmshurst, Queens, New York.
Documents
Division of Records Borough
of Queens Certificate of Death
Sources
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York;
NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer
At Port of Arrival (Date: 18th-19th June 1912, Ship: Carpathia) - National
Archives, NWCTB-85-T715-Vol. 4183.
References
Günter Bäbler (1998) Reise auf der Titanic. Chronos, Zürich
John Booth & Sean Coughlan (1993) Titanic: Signals of Disaster. White
Star Publicatons, Westbury, Wiltshire. ISBN 0 9518190 1 1
Acknowledgements
Phillip Gowan, USA
Hermann Söldner, Germany
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Summary
Born: Monday 28th May 1888
Age: 23 years
Last Residence: in New York City New York United States
2nd Class passenger
First Embarked: Cherbourg on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 541 , £13 15s 10d
Cabin No. F2
Destination: New York City New York United States
Rescued (boat 11)
Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Died: Saturday 14th September 1974
Cause of Death: Natural Causes
Related Articles
On Passengers from Switzerland Le Journal de Genève
Mrs. A. S. Jerwan saved Le Journal de Genève