Mary Agnes Elliott was born in Doagh, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on the 25th January 1888, the daughter of Samuel and Agnes Elliott (née Fleming). Her father was a flax dresser, who later became a foreman in one of the many flax mills in the area, and at some stage the family moved to the nearby city of Belfast. She was the youngest of four children, having two older brothers – Samuel, born in 1883, and John, born in 1885, and an older sister, Mary Ann, who died, aged five weeks, in 1887. Tragically, both of her brothers died separately of illness in 1905!
When her mother died, aged 38 years, in November 1903, her father remarried within a year, however, he then died in September 1910, aged 46 years, leaving Mary an orphan.
In December 1910, she went to the United States of America, where she married Samuel Elliott Hume, who was also born in Ireland, shortly after her arrival. The wedding took place on 23rd December 1910, and the couple set up home at 353. Chestnut Street, Kearney, New Jersey. On 29th April 1915, Samuel became a naturalized citizen of the United States, which automatically conferred citizenship on Mary also. The couple had no children. Prior to her marriage, Mary had been a dressmaker, but had discontinued her work to devote herself to looking after her home. Samuel was employed as an electrical construction foreman.
In the spring of 1915, Mary decided to return to Belfast to make a surprise visit to friends and relatives and as a consequence, did not tell them that she had booked a second cabin passage on the
Lusitania which left New York at mid-day on 1st May 1915.
She would never see those friends and relatives again, however, for she was killed just one week later, when the liner was sunk. As her body was never recovered and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 27 years.
Tragically, her friends only discovered that she was on the Lusitania when they received a telegram from her husband in Harrison, enquiring if she was amongst the survivors!
Later, Samuel filed a claim for compensation for the loss of his wife and the personal possessions she had with her at the time of the sinking. The Mixed Claims Commission awarded him the sum of $8,000.00 for the loss of his wife, and a further $1,341.00 for the loss of her personal belongings.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New Jersey Marriage Index 1901 – 1914, 1901 Census of Ireland, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 494, Irish Post and Weekly Telegraph, Northern Whig, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.