Hugh Gilsenan was born in Tubride, near Old Castle, Co. Meath, Ireland, on the 1st April 1853. He emigrated to the United States of America in 1869, and it is known that he spent some years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before moving to New York City in 1887.
For a number of years he held the position of sexton at St. Mary’s Church, Long Island City, but had retired from this position around 1904. In 1895, he became a naturalised citizen of the United States of America. At various times he had owned liquor and confectionary stores in Long Island City, but by 1915, he was retired and residing at 13. Sherman Street, Long Island City, New York.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return to Ireland – the land of his birth, to see out his final days, and it is presumed that he was returning to his old home in County Meath.
He booked second cabin passage for himself on the scheduled May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, which was due to leave port at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915, and spent the days leading up to his departure visiting all his friends and acquaintances, bidding them farewell.
Having boarded the vessel in time for this departure, he had to wait until 12.27 p.m., before she actually sailed, as she had to load cargo and take on board passengers and crew from the Anchor Lines vessel
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship at the end of April.
The voyage thereafter was fairly uneventful until the afternoon of 7th May 1915 when the
Lusitania was about fourteen hours steaming time away from her destination, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland. Then, she was torpedoed by the German submarine
U-20 and foundered within 18 minutes!
Hugh Gilsenan was one of the nearly two thirds of the second cabin passengers who was killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 62 years.
It would appear that Hugh Gilsenan had no immediate family and his two first cousins, Terence Joseph Brady and Mary McDevitt, who both lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shared his estate of $957.79.
New York Wills and Probate Records 1659 – 1999, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes 1791 – 1992, Cunard Records, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Tribune, Daily Star (Queens, NY), Brooklyn Times Union, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.