Mrs Samuel Edward Parrish (Lucinda Davis Temple), 60, was born in Lexington, Kentucky on 16 July 1852 the daughter of William Temple and Margaret Eliot. 1
She married Samuel Edward Parrish, also native of Lexington, on 24 May 1870 2 in their home town and then lived there and in Versailles, Kentucky for many years. Then began a wanderlust that took her around the world, usually accompanied by her "daughter" Imanita Shelley Hall 3 and leaving the men in the family behind.
Lutie and Imanita developed a reputation for being social climbers though both had come from working class backgrounds.
A resident at the time of Woodford County, Kentucky 4, she boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger together with Imanita Shelley of Deer Lodge, Montana (ticket number 230433, £26). 5
According to Imanita's affidavit to the United States Senate of 15 May 1912 an "Italian" (? Gus Cohen) jumped into their boat (lifeboat 12), when it was being lowered. He bruised Lutie's side and leg. 6/7
After surviving the Titanic, the Parrish family lived in Missouri for a while and after World War I relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii. The women continued to roam the world seemingly unaffected by their experience on the Titanic 8 and the 1920 census of Hawaii shows Sam Parrish and William Shelley living together without any other family members. Lutie left Hawaii in 1927 on a world tour and was gone for many months but returned before her death.
On 31 July 1930 she suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage at her home in Haole, Ewa, Hawaii and lingered about a week, dying at 5:00 P.M. on 7 August 1930. Her death certificate lists her as "Lucy Parrish" and gives an erroneous date and place of birth. 9 She was buried in a solitary grave in the Oahu Cemetery in Honolulu. Afterwards the rest of the family left Hawaii and so Lutie's body is the only one buried there.
Imanita apparently continued to move around the country, living at various times in Montana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon, California, Washington, and Hawaii.
Lutie Parrish in 1926, aged 74
Courtesy of Phillip Gowan, USA
