Maria Carson was born in Lisheegan, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the 10th August 1875, the daughter of James and Jane Carson (née Kilpatrick). Her father was a farmer, and Maria was one of five children.
At some stage she had immigrated to the United States of America, and on the 19th March 1902, she married John Catherwood in Troy, New York. John Catherwood was from Kilrea, County Londonderry, which was close to where Maria was from; therefore it is likely that they knew one another before both of them had immigrated to the United States of America. In 1915, the family home was in West Chester, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The couple were childless.
In the spring of that year, however, the couple decided to return to Europe, in the hope that the climate there would be more beneficial to John Catherwood’s failing health and as a result, they booked tickets from New York to Glasgow on the Anchor Liner S.S. Cameronia.
John Catherwood had been diagnosed as suffering from Bright’s disease, and doctors had informed Maria that he did not have long to live.
Travelling from Philadelphia some time in April, they travelled to New York to find that the British Admiralty had requisitioned the liner for war service as a troop ship, and transferred her passengers, some crew and her cargo to the
Lusitania. Maria and John Catherwood therefore joined the vessel as second cabin passengers on the morning of 1st May 1915 at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York. The
Lusitania then left port just after mid-day and six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland only hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
Both Maria Catherwood and her husband were killed as a result of this action and as neither of their bodies was ever recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, neither has a known grave. Maria Catherwood was aged 39 years.
One source states that her husband was a clergyman, but this is incorrect.
After their deaths, Maria’s brother, William James Carson, individually, and the Farmer’s and Mechanics Trust Company, who were administrators of the couples estates, filed claims for compensation which were considered by the Mixed Claims Commission. The Commission awarded the administrators the sum of $500.00 in compensation for the loss of the personal belongings the couple had brought with them on the fateful voyage. As William James Carson was not dependant on the couple, the Commission declined to make any award to him. John’s brother, Thomas, who was also residing in the United States, and who was also a naturalized citizen of the United States made no claim for compensation, obviously deciding that his chances of success were slim.
1901 Census of Ireland, Cunard Records, New York State Marriage Index 1881 – 1967, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2056, New York Times, Philadelphia Public Ledger, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Peter Threlfall, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.