Harriette Crosby
Born in Michigan, on the 8th of October 1872, Harriette Rebecca Crosby was named after her maternal aunt Hariette and her paternal aunt Rebecca. Her parents were Catherine Elizabeth Crosby and Edward Gifford Crosby.
She was married on 8 November 1893 to Marvin Persons Gillis. The couple lived near the Ford factory in Detroit but it seems the marriage was an unhappy one. They divorced in 1897 and Harriette reverted to her maiden name.
Harriette was joined by her father and mother and they travelled in England where, on 11 February 1912, she gave birth to a baby girl, Andree. The family moved on the France and, while they prepared to travel home, the child was left behind to be cared for by a nanny at a Paris boarding school. She would not be reunited with her mother for over a year.
Harriette travelled to Paris in 1910 to study music with her friend Lily Brand. In Paris she had tuition from the noted pianist Louis Philippe. At a party she met a man named Edouard Bourdois and Harriette fell pregnant. It is unclear how long the relationship lasted but they were never married. Her parents, Captain Edward Crosby and Catherine Crosby joined her in Paris in 1912 and they travelled together to England, where Harriette gave birth to a baby girl, Andrée Catherine. As the family prepared to return to the USA, the baby was left with a Parisian nanny. A year would go by before mother and daughter were reunited. They boarded Titanic in Southampton as First Class passengers. Harriette had a ticket for Cabin B-26. Her parents had B-22 nearby.
On the night of the collision Harriette was awoken by her father and she boarded lifeboat 5 with her mother. Harriette was critical of the Titanic crew in an interview with the Chicago Record-Herald. Claiming they were placing women and children in lifeboats without making basic safety checks like confirming that the plugs were in place.
Harriette and her mother returned to Europe to collect Andrée, arriving back in the USA in May 1913.
Harriette maintained her interest in music. She moved from Milwaukee to California, where she lived for a time with her daughter, until her death, in Los Angeles General Hospital, Los Angeles, California on 11 February 1941. Interestingly, her death certificate lists her "husband" as "Edward B. Boudoise" but in fact they were never married.
It was Harriette's wish to be interred with her mother and father but at the time her daughter, Andree Hathway, could not afford the cost of reopening the crypt. Therefore Harriette's body was cremated and her ashes interred in an adjacent crypt in Fairview Mausoleum, Milwaukee. In 1995 the the mausoleum, which had fallen into disrepair, was opened. In 1997 the remains of Captain Crosby, his wife and daughter were re-interred together at Graceland Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.