Herman Abraham Myers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, on 4th January 1872, the son of Abraham Herman and Mary Myers (née Ables). He had four sisters and two brothers - Florence, born in 1868, Lilly, born in
1869, Eli, born in 1873, Elsie, born in 1875, and twins, Bella and Seligman, born in 1886.
His father, who had emigrated from Germany, was a clerk at the time of his birth, and then started his own millinery company. Herman and some of his siblings worked in this family business, with Herman initially becoming a salesman, but on the death of his father, Herman took over the running of the company, and the family moved to Manhattan in New York City.
On the 17th April 1912 he married Cherrie Beatrix Adelson at the Hotel Savoy, Manhattan, and in 1915, the family home was at 605 West 113th Street, New York City. The couple had no children.
By 1915, the family company was called H. & E. & S. Myers, Feather Importers, of 684 Broadway, New York City, was where Herman worked with his brother, Seligman. Their company was concerned with the importation and sale of artificial flowers and feathers.
Herman Myers business took him to Europe frequently, often two or three times per year, and in the spring of 1915, he found it was necessary to travel there again, and he consequently booked saloon passage with The Cunard Steam Ship Company on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool. He joined the liner (with ticket number 46089), at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of that city, on the morning of 1st May, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. Having boarded, he was escorted to his accommodation in room B56, which was under the personal supervision of First Class Waiter John Roach, who came from Liverpool and was working as a first class bedroom steward on what became the liner‘s last ever voyage across the Atlantic!
The liner’s sailing was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been suddenly requisitioned by the British Admiralty as a troop ship, at the end of April. The Lusitania finally left port just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her destination.
Herman Myers was one of over 175 saloon passengers who lost their lives as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified, he has no known grave. He was aged 44 years.
On Thursday 27th May 1915, a memorial service was held for him at his former residence in West 113th Street.
There was a Joseph Lewis Myers also from New York, travelling saloon class on the last voyage of the Lusitania, but there is no evidence that he and Herman Myers were related.
First Class Waiter John Roach, who had looked after Herman Myers in room B56, survived the sinking, however and eventually made it back to his Liverpool home.
Herman’s mother died on 8th March 1922, and his sisters, Mrs. Lilly Roth and Mrs. Elsie Picard, died on 28th May 1919 and 3rd August 1924 respectively. Cherie Myers died on 20th January 1922, aged 39 years.
Herman’s widow and family filed a claim for compensation which was decided by the Mixed Claims Commission on 30th January 1925. By this time, many of the claimants were deceased, and the executors of their estates continued to pursue the claim.
The Commission awarded Benjamin Rinaldo and Seligman Myers, as executors of Herman Myers’ estate, the sum of $1,000.00 in compensation for the loss of Herman’s personal belongings in the sinking. Benjamin Rinaldo, as executor of Cherrie Myers’ estate was awarded the sum of $15,000.00; the estate of Mary A. Myers was awarded the sum of $3,000.00, and Herman’s sister, who was by now, Mrs. Bella Myers Abrams, was awarded the sum of $2,000.00, in compensation for his death.
By 1925, his sister, Florence, had married a Mr. Oppenheimer.
1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2263, New York Times, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/401, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.