Emma Eliza Ward Bucknell

A

Arne Mjåland

Member
It will be almost impossible to obtain an obituary about her. She died at Saranac Lake N.Y. June 27 1927. You will understand that when reading the message I got from Saranac Lake Free Library: "I was not able to find an obituary for her , because the Adirondack Enterprice newspapers were foolishly discarded from 1926 to 1953. I do not have any copies on microfilm on them".
The only other possibility is if any relatives of her saved an eventually obituary about her. I read in another thread here that Mrs Bucknell has relaticves in South Carolina. You think it may be possible to ask them?
 
Hi Arne,

I remember that an obituary for Mrs. Bucknell appeared in the NY Times in June of 1927 - although it was not a very detailed one. I also have one from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

If I'm not mistaken, I do not even think the NY Times obit mentioned her Titanic affiliation - although the Philadelphia notice did.

Regards,

Mike Findlay
 
Here's the NYT obit:

The New York Times, 29 June 1927

MRS. EMMA W. BUCKNELL
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Widow of University Founder Dies at Saranac Lake Camp
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Special to The New York Times
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SARANAC INN, N. Y., June 28.---Mrs. Emma Ward Bucknell, 75 years old, widow of William Bucknell, founder of Bucknell University, died last night at her camp on Upper Saranac Lake, having recently arrived from Clearwater, Fla., where she spent each Winter.

With her at the time of her death were her son, Dr. Howard Bucknell of Atlanta, Ga., and her daughter, Countess Pecorini, formerly Margaret Bucknell. Mrs. Bucknell is survived by two other daughters, Mrs. Jay Day of Summerville, S. C., and Mrs. S. P. Wetherill of Philadelphia.

-30-
 
This pertains more to Mrs. Bucknell's maid, Albina Bazzani. Has it been determined whether or not she was married, and if so has anyone come across her maiden name?
 
The information on Ms. Bazzani has not been made public but she has been tracked down. She was twice married and lived to a ripe old age and had three children. The older two lived out their lives and died in Europe. The youngest is now in her late 80's and lives in the United States. I've seen a lovely family portrait of them taken circa 1930.
 
Hi Glenda,

Do you happen to know when it will be announced? I always assumed that Albina was hired by Mrs. Bucknell while she was visiting her daughter in Italy.

Thanks,

Zach
 
Albina had some connection to Bucknell's daughter, as the Countess Pecorini is listed as "nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came" for Bazzani in the same passenger manifest from 1911. I'm taking a stab in the dark here, but perhaps Bazzani was in the employment of the Countess at some time?
 
Yes, I believe that Albina Bazzani HAD been in the employ of the Countess Pecorini and until quite recently too. Emma Bucknell had spent the early part of 1912 visiting her daughter in Italy - newspaper reports suggest that Margaret had not been in the best of health, although it was obviously not a terminal condition, since she was alive and kicking at the time of Emma's death in 1927 and was apparently still paying visits to her family in the States in the mid-Thirties.

I am curious to know how Margaret Bucknell came to be married to a member of the Italian aristocracy. Much has been written about the infiltration of the English nobility by American dollar princesses but rather less about the experiences of these girls on the Continent. I do know that the Italian upper class was far more accessible than those of, say, Germany and Austria at this time and that it was even felt that an Italian title was worth rather less than an British one. Emma Bucknell was not the only first-class passenger with a close relative in that country - Julia Cavendish's step-sister, Georgine Wilde, was married to Count Carlo Dentice de Frasso. I imagine that Margaret had been introduced to her future husband whilst visiting Europe with her mother - although it is not impossible that they actually met on home-ground. The Count was seemingly something of a connoisseur and I have come across a source which suggests that he loaned some Japanese bronzes to the Pennsylvania Museum in 1917 and even accompanied them across the submarine-haunted waters of the North Atlantic to ensure safe delivery.

However they met, the Count and Countess Pecorini evidently made themselves very at home in Rome Society. In November, 1911, it was noted that they had loaned their villa to the family of the Second Secretary of the American Embassy, Alexander Richardson Magruder, when they temporarily found themselves homeless. The same article references the Count's impressive collection of antique jade and mentions that he and Margaret were travelling for the sake of her health - presumably, the same condition that had called her mother to Italy during the spring of 1912. I do wonder if the Pecorinis and Emma Bucknell would have had any contact with Archibald Butt and Francis Millet that season, since the American colony in Rome was quite tightly-knit and the Count and Countess were very social.
 
Two more Titanic passengers had even grander connections within the Italian aristocracy. Margaret Graham's husband's sister, Elsie Moore, was the wife of Marino Torlonia, 4th Prince of Civitella-Cesi. One of their sons married the daughter to the King of Spain, while a daughter married an American and became the grandmother of Brooke Shields.

And William Augustus Spencer's sister was the Princess di Cenci-Vicovaro, who - it's been said elsewhere on this board - was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Italy.
 
In the years after the 'Titanic' disaster, Emma Bucknell preferred to spend her winters under the warm, sunny skies of Florida. Quite by chance, I've discovered an article which features a period photograph of the beautiful Greek-Revival house she had built in fashionable Clearwater in 1921:

Pinellas failed to learn real estate lessons of 1920s - St. Petersburg Times

Tampa Bay's news, shopping and information source brought to you by the St. Petersburg Times and tbt*.
web.archive.org web.archive.org
 
I've just ordered my copy. The article on the book and its author says that she was motivated by Judith Geller's book making Emma out to be a gold digger. I recall Geller's portrayal of Mrs Bucknell as that of an elegant, loving woman.
 

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