Mrs Martha Stephenson (née Eustis)
Mrs Walter B. Stephenson (Martha Eustis), 52, was born March 13, 1860 in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of William Tracy Eustis and Martha Gilbert Dutton.
She was married to Walter Bertram (?Briant) Stephenson and lived in Haverford, Pennsylvania. She boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, as a first class passenger, with her sister Miss Elizabeth Mussey Eustis. They occupied cain D-20.
The ladies were rescued in lifeboat 4. Later, when the ship's lights failed, someone called out that the Titanic was going down and Mrs Stephenson covered her eyes. "She's broken!" someone cried, but Mrs Stephenson kept her eyes covered for what seemed like a long time. Finally she looked back at the ship, only to see the black silhouette of the stern outlined perpendicularly against the sky. The ship went down, and the terrible cries for help began. Boat 4 pulled several men from the sea and was then lashed to the flotilla of boats commanded by Lowe.
She later made a claim (#67) against the White Star Line for $1739.75, for the loss of her property.
The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (April 19th 1912), reported that Mrs Stephenson had survived the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake having been staying at the St. Francis Hotel at the time.
Martha Stephenson died December 24, 1934.
Her son George E. Stephenson was president and assistant treasurer of the Boston Transcript which had been founded by her grandfather Henry W. Dutton.
Her daughter Martha Cookman died in Englewood, New Jersey in 1966 at the age of 81 and her daughter, Helen LeBoutillier, died in Haverford, Pennsylvania in 1975 at the age of 87. The LeBoutillier descendants still reside in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
References and Sources
Boston Evening Transcript, December 24, 1934, Obituary
Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Standard Certificate Of Death
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 19, 1912
Credits
George Behe, USA
Phillip Gowan, USA
Stuart Partridge, UK
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Summary
Born: Tuesday 13th March 1860
Age: 52 years
Last Residence: in Paris France
1st Class passenger
First Embarked: Cherbourg on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 36947 , £78 5s 4d
Cabin No. D20
Rescued (boat 4)
Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Died: Monday 24th December 1934
Cause of Death: Heart Failure / Disease
Buried: Mt. Auburn Crematory Cambridge Massachusetts United States
Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Miss Elizabeth Mussey Eustis
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