Margaret Daly

Miss Margaret (Maggie) Daly was born on 1 July 1878 in Irishtown, Co Westmeath, Ireland.¹

Born into a Roman Catholic family, she was the daughter of Patrick Daly, a labourer and railway worker, and Bridget Egan (b. circa 1848) who had married around 1868. Her father died sometime prior to 1901 but little else is known about him.

She had six known siblings: Mary (b. 1 November 1870), Bridget (b. 23 January 1873), Anne (b. 22 August 1874), Joseph (b. 4 May 1876), John (b. 12 October 1881) and Catherine (b. 18 August 1883).

Margaret had previously lived in the USA although in which timeframe is unclear; an Athlone-born Margaret Daly of similar age had crossed the Atlantic aboard the Cedric in November 1905 but whether this is the same person is unknown. Her brother John, a policeman, lived in the Bronx, having emigrated around 1903; he was married to Irishwoman Marcella Cowan and with her had a son, Joseph (b. 1909). 

Margaret returned to Ireland around 1910 for an extended visit and appeared on the 1911 census living with her mother and sister Mary at 98, Irishtown and was described as an unmarried seamstress. 

Margaret decided to return to New York and boarded theTitanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 382650, £6, 19s), travelling with several others from the Athlone area who included Bertha E. Mulvihill, Eugene Daly, Delia Henry, Michael Connaughton and the Rice family. 

Miss Daly and Miss Mulvihill shared a cabin somewhere near one of the ship's boiler rooms.  After the collision with the iceberg, Eugene Daly woke the two women and saw them safely into a lifeboat just as it was being lowered. Somehow Miss Mulvihill suffered a broken rib while boarding this lifeboat, but Miss Daly boarded safely. 

Upon her arrival in New York aboard the Carpathia Margaret was listed as Marcella Daly, described as an unmarried domestic headed to her brother John at John who resided at 356, East 157th Street, New York City. Brother John had come down to meet her at the Cunard Pier. 

Her mother back in Ireland continued to make her home in Irishtown and died a few years later on 29 June 1918. 

Margaret remained in New York where she worked domestic jobs and is believed to have maintained a modest level of contact with fellow survivors Bridget Mulvihill and Eugene Daly. On 15 April 1920 she married Irish-born widower Bartholomew C. Griffin (b. circa 1871) in Manhattan, New York.

They later lived at 2231 3rd Avenue where Bartholomew died on 15 April 1934.

Margaret herself passed away on 7 April 1939, her last address being recorded as 304 East 162nd Street, New York. She was buried three days later in Calvary Cemetery with her husband.