Mr William Foley was born in Commeenaplaw1, Gowlane, Donoughmore, Co Cork, Ireland on 25 December 1891.
He came from a Roman Catholic farming family and he was the son of John Foley (b. 1836) and Ellen Cremin (b. 1845), both Co Cork natives who had married on 16 March 1876.
William was the youngest of seven children and his siblings were: Mary (b. 1877), Jeremiah (b. November 1878), Julia (b. 22 September 1880), John (b. 22 January 1883), Michael (b. 30 October 1885) and Denis (b. 16 December 1890).
He first appears on the 1901 census living at house 1 in Commeenaplaw and on the 1911 census living at house 5 in the same locale. By the time of the latter census William was described as a farmer's son and still living with his parents and several siblings in a household which spoke both Irish and English.
He decided to join his siblings Jeremiah and Julia in New York, the latter of whom had saved the money for his passage. His travelling companion would be another Donoughmore resident Hannah Naughton.
William boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on 11 April 1912 (ticket number 365235 which cost £7, 15s) and he was destined for Manhattan.
William Foley died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
Comment and discuss
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The ticket I have seen of Mr William Foley suggests that he was 19, travelling with his older half brother Mr Joseph Foley, age 20 unlike this source suggests.
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