The following biography has been compiled with the assistance of descendants of Frank Andrew who reside in Cornwall. It should be pointed out that no birth certificate exists for Frank despite extensive searching and it should also be made known that Frank did not have a second forename.
Frank Andrew was the son of James and Johanna Andrew (previously Gribble and nee Eslick). He was born at Gilly Tresamble Farm in the parish of Perranarworthal, Cornwall in 1886.
His father as a young man was a butcher in the small nearby village of Ponsanooth and from about 1880 he farmed at Gilly.
It is not known exactly when James Andrew had married Johanna Gribble but it has been established that she had, in 1869, firstly married a copper miner of nearby Kenwyn parish by the name of Tobias Gribble. In the early 1870s he spent time working in South Africa and is known to have died in Peru on 5 November 1891.
With Tobias Johanna already had children named William Henry (b.23/12/1869), Laura (b.1875), Clara (b.1877), Arthur (b.1878) and Jessie (b.1880) and she is thought to have remarried to James Andrew sometime in the period 1881 to 1884.
The first child of James and Johannas marriage was Lucy, born in 1884 followed by Frank, born in 1886 and Robert in 1887. Their youngest child was William John, born in the latter part of 1893.
James continued to farm at Gilly and his wife Johanna died there in the latter half of 1893 likely as a result of childbirth complications. Sometime following the 1901 census James married for a second time to a woman named Christiana (maiden surname not known). James died at the farm on 9 March 1913.
At the time of the 1901 census Frank, then aged 15, was still at home at Gilly Farm and was described as a farmers son but it was not many more years before he took up the occupation of miner which is confirmed by his marriage certificate when he married Rhoda Tripp at the Helston Register Office on 4 July 1908. The certificate also shows that he was, by then living in Four Lanes village in the parish of Wendron.
Newspaper reports of April 1912 suggests that he was previously of Lanner, Cornwall but this likely refers to Gilly Farm which although situated in the parish of Perranworthal is closer in distance to Lanner village than it is Perranarworthal.
Wishing for a better life for his family in America he chose to initially travel across the Atlantic alone and that his wife and daughter (Lucy, born 30 November 1908) would join him in America at a later date.
Frank boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number 34050 costing £10 10s) and was ultimately bound for the mining region of Houghton, Michigan. During the voyage it is known that he shared a dining table with passengers Edwina Troutt, Edgar Andrew (no relation), Charles and Alice Louch, Jacob Milling and Bertha Ilett. His travelling companions also destined for Houghton were James Banfield (of Plymouth, Devon but formerly of Helston and Wendron) and Charles Fillbrook of Truro. Frank, James and Charles all lost their lives in the sinking, Frank was aged 26.
His wife Rhoda was expecting their second child at the time of his travel and on 11 October 1912 a daughter, Clara was born at Four Lanes.
Rhoda remarried on 1 November 1913 at Helston Register Office to a widower named Thomas James Penaluna,. They continued to live in Four Lanes where Rhoda died on 26 April 1967. She was buried at Four Lanes churchyard with her husband Thomas Penaluna who had died in 1955.
Frank Andrew was the son of James and Johanna Andrew (previously Gribble and nee Eslick). He was born at Gilly Tresamble Farm in the parish of Perranarworthal, Cornwall in 1886.
His father as a young man was a butcher in the small nearby village of Ponsanooth and from about 1880 he farmed at Gilly.
It is not known exactly when James Andrew had married Johanna Gribble but it has been established that she had, in 1869, firstly married a copper miner of nearby Kenwyn parish by the name of Tobias Gribble. In the early 1870s he spent time working in South Africa and is known to have died in Peru on 5 November 1891.
With Tobias Johanna already had children named William Henry (b.23/12/1869), Laura (b.1875), Clara (b.1877), Arthur (b.1878) and Jessie (b.1880) and she is thought to have remarried to James Andrew sometime in the period 1881 to 1884.
The first child of James and Johannas marriage was Lucy, born in 1884 followed by Frank, born in 1886 and Robert in 1887. Their youngest child was William John, born in the latter part of 1893.
James continued to farm at Gilly and his wife Johanna died there in the latter half of 1893 likely as a result of childbirth complications. Sometime following the 1901 census James married for a second time to a woman named Christiana (maiden surname not known). James died at the farm on 9 March 1913.
At the time of the 1901 census Frank, then aged 15, was still at home at Gilly Farm and was described as a farmers son but it was not many more years before he took up the occupation of miner which is confirmed by his marriage certificate when he married Rhoda Tripp at the Helston Register Office on 4 July 1908. The certificate also shows that he was, by then living in Four Lanes village in the parish of Wendron.
Newspaper reports of April 1912 suggests that he was previously of Lanner, Cornwall but this likely refers to Gilly Farm which although situated in the parish of Perranworthal is closer in distance to Lanner village than it is Perranarworthal.
Wishing for a better life for his family in America he chose to initially travel across the Atlantic alone and that his wife and daughter (Lucy, born 30 November 1908) would join him in America at a later date.
Frank boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number 34050 costing £10 10s) and was ultimately bound for the mining region of Houghton, Michigan. During the voyage it is known that he shared a dining table with passengers Edwina Troutt, Edgar Andrew (no relation), Charles and Alice Louch, Jacob Milling and Bertha Ilett. His travelling companions also destined for Houghton were James Banfield (of Plymouth, Devon but formerly of Helston and Wendron) and Charles Fillbrook of Truro. Frank, James and Charles all lost their lives in the sinking, Frank was aged 26.
His wife Rhoda was expecting their second child at the time of his travel and on 11 October 1912 a daughter, Clara was born at Four Lanes.
Rhoda remarried on 1 November 1913 at Helston Register Office to a widower named Thomas James Penaluna,. They continued to live in Four Lanes where Rhoda died on 26 April 1967. She was buried at Four Lanes churchyard with her husband Thomas Penaluna who had died in 1955.
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