Simon Sénécal

Mr Simon Sénécal was born in St-Césaire, Québec on 11 January 1861 and hailed from a Roman Catholic family of French descent. One of at least eight children, he was the son of Octave Sénécal, a farmer, and Celina Bernard-Brouillet.

Later working as a chef and merchant, Simon was married in 1885 to Elphigina Nadeau (b. December 1864). They had nine children: Zenaïde, Irène, Sénécal, Louis, Raymond, Rachel, Marguerite, Joseph and Jean. The 1911 census shows the family as residents of an unspecified address in Rouville, Québec.

Sénécal was a passenger aboard Carpathia and was apparently travelling with Dr Bernard of Montréal to Paris and Naples; he is later credited as saying:

"After rescuing the boat loads of women we sighted a liferaft on which were about twenty-four persons. One half of these were dead. One of the Carpathia boats went to the raft and took the live men off, leaving the dead. The water was thick with bodies. Why, the crew of the Carpathia in rescuing had trouble in avoiding the bodies as they floated about in the water. I knew of seven bodies which were buried by the crew of the Carpathia after the rescue. If there were any other bodies buried I do not know."  — New York Press, 19 April 1912

Simon Sénécal died in Rouville, Québec on 16 August 1922.