Hugh Roscoe Rood, 39, was born in Iowa on 23 March 1873.
He was the son of Vernon Dudley Rood (1842-1906), a doctor who also saw military service, and Sarah Catherine Voorhees (b. 1841). His father was originally from Vermont whilst his mother hailed from New Jersey and he had three known siblings: Grace (1875-1964, later Mrs Yophrazan Jacques), Edson (1877-1915) and Vernon Voorhees (1879-1939).
He appears on the 1880 census living in Anita, Cass, Iowa but the family later moved to San Diego, California and he was still living with his parents in that city at the time of the 1900 census and he had went into the brokerage business. He later settled in Seattle, Washington and joined the Rainier Club, a private elite society, and worked as vice president and general manager of the Perfection Pile Preserving Company.
He was married on 16 January 1909 to Lena Stoiber, née Allen (b. 2 April 1862), a wealthy mining magnate who had previously been married to Edward Stoiber (1856-1906) who owned the Silver Lake gold mine in Silverton, Colorado and who lived in an opulent mansion named Waldheim, also in Silverton. Lena had sold the mine in 1908 to the Guggenheims but Hugh and his wife continued to spend time living between Colorado and Washington.
The couple had been spending time in Europe since late 1911 and by April 1912 were staying in Paris when Hugh was summoned back to Seattle.
Rood booked a single passage on the Titanic and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger (ticket number 113767, £50), he occupied cabin A-32.
His wife arrived back in New York on 26 April 1912 aboard Kaiserin Auguste Victoria and stayed in the Plaza Hotel. Apparently in disbelief that her husband had died, she placed following advertisement in the New York Herald:
INFORMATION WANTED concerning HUGH R. ROOD of Seatte, Wash. passenger on Titanic, occupying cabin 32. Deck A. Grateful for any news of his survival or death, by telegraph at my expense. Mrs. HUGH ROOD, Hotel Plaza, New York City.
Lena, reportedly a very eccentric lady, is believed to have settled in Italy having survived four marriages. She is believed to have died in 1935.
I am doing research on my lst cousin, twice removed, HUGH ROSCOE ROOD, who died on the Titanic. He was born 23 apr 1873 to Vernon Dudley Rood and Sarah Catharine Voorhees who were both bornand raised in New Jersey. Sarah Catharine Voorhees was a sister to my grgr grandfather, Henry Rockefeller Voorhees. I know Hugh was married to Lena Allen Stoiber (widow) on 16 jan 1909 in Vancouver, Clark Co., WA. I have a picture of his mother & father. If anyone out there knows more personal info about him, i.e. what he did for a living, why he was aboard the Titanic, etc. , please email me. Thank...
This month of May 2000, I am in personal contact with the family of Hugh R. Rood. We are researching together his sailing on the Titanic. Please confirm: Did he sail from Southhampton? Lester Mitcham;Randy Bingham;Ben Holmes state alternat (non-boarding) possibility, pro and con. George Behe calls him incorrectly, "Hugo," R. Rood saying boarded at Southampton, First Class Cabin A-32. Does any other information now exist confirming that he did or did not sail on the Titanic? Armour May 11, 2000.
Funny you should ask. I'm presently reading Kristen Iversen's bio of Molly Brown and Rood is mentioned in this book. Rood and Molly Brown were the only Denverites booked on the Titanic. Kristen Iversen speculated that Rood may not have been on Titanic at all, because Molly knew Rood personally and did not see him at all during the voyage.
Armour, Thanks to Ben's post I now accept that Rood was onboard. Lester
Tracy Smith and Lester Micham: Thanks for your message. I will purchase the book re "Molly," Brown. Actual name Margaret but Molly was used in the "Unsinkable MB." Still need to know name of city from which he boarded. Need to know confirmation as to whether he stayed at the Ritz in Paris or London. His wife Lena Rood had a home in Paris although George Behe says they stayed at the Ritz in Paris - conflict? Lena was the very wealthy one and without a wife on board, he may have stayed Socially and otherwise low key. As Lena was a very wealthy Denver socialite, she would have...
Hi Armour, According to both MT 9/920/201 and BT 100/260 Rood's Last Place of Abode was the: Ritz Hotel, London. He boarded Titanic at Southampton. Hope this helps, Lester
Rood would have had closer neighbors than the Duff Gordons. Also his price of ticket was rather high and he obtained a restaurant rebate, therefore he had to pay for every one of his meals. He obviously crossed with plenty of money. If he and Molly never met, it could be because they ate in separate places and their accommodation wasn't close to each other for them to bump into each other. Regards, Daniel.
Hi, As most of you would know, George Behe no longer posts on this board. Interested by all the acknowledgement given to him regarding information on Mr. Rood, I forwarded him a message by Armour from this board. He replied and requested that I post his reply on this board from him, so here it is. ----------------------------------------------------- Hi, Daniel! Thanks very much for forwarding Mr. Armour's comments on the ET board about Hugh Rood's ET biography. I think Mr. Armour probably looked at the bottom of the Rood biography, saw my name listed in the acknowledgements and...
"Nothing is known of either John Bertram Crafton or Hugh Rood, however, besides their prescence on the ship and their deaths in the disaster; they could just as likely have been clerics as crooks, saints as sinners, and were chosen from the anonymous deceased because of the melodramatic felicity of their names. I would say that I intend no offense to their memories, but unfortunately no memories of them appear to endure." That was Max Allen Collins, author of "The Titanic Murders", on why he chose Mr. Rood to be one of the villains of his work. Ever since I read that paragraph (and the...
Interesting discussion. Excuse my extreme lateness to it. Many thanks to George Behe for helping us out, and thanks to Daniel for posting the message. Perhaps Mr. Behe could corroborate the story about Miss Margaret Hays having last seen Hugh Rood standing next to boat #7 and helpeing to load it with women? I'm afraid I can't remember where I read this. Thanks and regards, Ben
Hugo is a typh
Okay, what is a typh? Curious, Cook
OOoooh! I get it! This is some of that English humor, right?
I think it's a male nymph!
Ah HA! Thanks for clearing that one up, o' grandson o'mine. I thought it was the British version of a domestic quarrel. As in "My wife and I got into a typh!" I can see clearly now, Cook