Survivors' deaths by accident

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Kathleen McNulty

Guest
Seeing the interest caused by the discussion on survivors killed during the two world wars I would like to start a discussion on survivors who died, not as a result of disease or war, but in accidents. I have compiled the following off the top of my head but I am sure that there may be more that I have overlooked.

Trevor Allison died from ptomaine poisoning in 1929.
Charles H. Romaine was killed when struck by a car in 1922.
Robert Douglas Spedden was also the victim of a road tragedy in 1915.
Oskar L. Johansson (Palmquist) was found "drowned" in a pond in 1925.
Anna Joseph was killed in a house fire in 1914.
Agnes McCoy was strangled in her apartment in 1957.
Margaret Martin was killed in a motorcycling accident in 1960.

Can anybody else provide incidents such as these?

Best wishes

Kathleen McNulty
 
Here's what I can add offhand. Agnes McCoy died of heart disease--it is possible that her sister Alice may have been the one who was murdered as she was a "wild number" (her niece's description) anyway. A niece of Alice McCoy O'Regan who now lives in Virginia says that she remembers her Aunt Agnes dying after being "sick in bed" for a long time.

Public records and the obituary give "Anna" Joseph's name as "Mary." Descendants of Gertrude Palmquist of New Haven, CT are of the opinion that Oscar Palmquist's death was murder instead of accidental drowning.

Here are three others:
1. Helen Bishop--head injuries suffered in a fall (reinjuring an old wound from an auto accident).
2. Jessie Trout--auto accident
3. Elizabeth Hocking--hit and run accident (April 15, 1914--the second anniversary of Titanic's sinking).
(I may be able to think of a couple of others and will add them later if I do).
Phillip Gowan
 
Forgot to add: thanks Phillip for clearing up my mistake regarding the McCoys -- I'll have to check my files and do a bit more homework on them. Speaking of Irish passengers, I think (and can I stress 'think') that Nellie O'Dwyer met a bad end. I don't have any certificates for her so I don't know how she died, but I believe I heard something or other that she was in an accident. Then again, I could be completely wrong and she just died young of natural causes.

Best wishes

Kathleen
 
Phillip

Your knowledge overwhelms me! I didn't know that about Nora Keane -- I know where and when she died but I could find no record of it. Many thanks.

Best wishes

Kathleen
 
Thanks--but there are others far more knowledgeable than I am. (I'm just a little more willing to talk than some!) I don't know if the problem you've had in locating Nora Keane has to do with her date of death, but I was given a death date of 1945 by descendants of her brothers. She actually died on December 20, 1944.
 
Actually Phillip, I was going by a date given in 1945 so, there you go, you've just solved another puzzle for me! I have also had conflicting reports on her DOB -- one would make her 48 in 1912 and another 45, very confusing lady!

Many, many thanks

Kathleen
 
Dear Joannie

I do know when the other McCoys died but all I can tell you at the moment is that both the sisters died in the 1950s and Bernard died in the late 1940s.

Kathleen McNulty
 
Dear Joannie,

My fellow researcher and co-author, Robert Bracken, tracked down the McCoys a short time ago. I believe there is no reason to withhold the information as others feel the need to.

Bernard McCoy died in 1947 (and is buried in Long Island, New York.) Agnes McCoy never married and died on 14 January 1957. She is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Queens, New York. Alice married and was the last surviving sibling who was aboard the Titanic at the time of her death in 1959. Alice is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in up-state New York.

Nellie O'Dwyer married and died five years after the Titanic disaster. She is buried in Brooklyn, New York.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Robert Bracken for this information which he spent many years in trying to uncover.

Sincerely,

Michael Findlay
 
Dear Michael

I was not wishing to withhold any information either -- I simply didn't put any firm dates up because; firstly, you may have seen a mix-up I had earlier regarding the two sisters; secondly, I don't have firm dates for either Alice or Bernard, just their years of death; thirdly, and most importantly, I co-researched the McCoys with a colleague in Cardiff and at present I don't know her feelings regarding details being given out which she had considerable input into uncovering.

Regarding Nellie O'Dwyer: I didn't even have a firm DOD for her, again, just the year. I have few details about whether she married and her cause of death.

I apologise if I seemed that I had information and was keeping it to myself and I am glad that you and your colleague have had better luck than I have with the McCoys.

Best of luck

Kathleen McNulty
 

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