Mrs Catherine Elizabeth Crosby (née Halstead)

Catherine Elizabeth Halstead was born 26 October 1847 in Waterloo, New York, the daughter of J. Y. Halstead and his wife (née Cook).

In 1912 Catherine Crosby lived at 474 Marshall Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her husband Captain Edward Gifford Crosby and daughter Harriette. Her son Fred did not travel with them. Captain and Mrs Crosby occupied cabin B-22, Harriette was in B-26.

On Sunday, 14 April Catherine was awakened by a sort of 'thump' some time after that her husband left to get information. He reproted to his wife and daughter that the ship was badly damaged, he then left,they did not see him again. Catherine and her daughter quickly dressed and went up on deck where they got into a port side lifeboat (#7).

"My husband did not come back again after he left me and I don't know what became of him, except that his body was found and brought back to Milwaukee for burial."

Later, she testified at the U S Senate Hearings that there were absolutely no lights or provisions in the lifeboats, nothing but oars. Also, after her boat was rowed some distance from the Titanic, she heard explosions and then cries of people in the water - "...and then we knew the steamer had gone down because her lights went out." Suffering from the cold, one of the officers put a sail around her to keep her warm.

Catherine Elizabeth Crosby (née Halstead) died on 29 July 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her body was buried with her husband in the Fairview Mausoleum, Milwaukee. In 1997 she, her husband and daughter were reinterred, together, at Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

References and Sources

Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
Names and Descriptions of British Passengers Embarked at the Port of Southampton, 10 April 1912 (PRO London, BT 27/780B)
Mark R. Rick (1999) Titanic Commutator. Vol. 22, No. 2, 3. (Titanic Historical Society)
United States Senate (62nd Congress), Subcommittee Hearings of the Committee on Commerce, Titanic Disaster, Washington 1912

Related Articles and Documents

	Chicago American  (1912)	AWAIT NEWS IN DETROIT
	Chicago Record-Herald  (1912)	MRS. CROSBY OF MILWAUKEE, ON WAY HOME, TELLS OF EXCITEMENT IN LOWERING BOATS
	Milwaukee Journal  (1920)	TITANIC SURVIVOR TO BE BURIED SATURDAY