Mary Letitia Mackin was born in Rochester, New York, in the United States of America, on the 15th October 1857, the daughter of James and Catherine Mackin. Her parents were Irish immigrants, and her mother, whose family name is unknown, was first married to a man named Connelly or Connelley, and when he died, she had married James Mackin. The family had moved to Adams, La Salle County, Illinois, where James Mackin was originally a merchant, before becoming a farmer.
On 6th May 1879, she married to Charles A. Plamondon and they set up home at 1344, Astor Street, Chicago, Illinois, where her husband ran a factory, manufacturing brewing machinery.
They had two sons, Charles Ambrose Junior, who was a student at Columbia University, New York, and Harold Machin, one daughter, Blanche, married John Henry Smith in January 1909, another named Charlotte married Allan B. Ripley in April 1910, and Marie, who was single. Henry Smith’s father was a former United States Senator and the family lived at 241, Prospect Avenue, Newark, New Jersey.
In the spring of 1915, her husband decided to travel to Europe on business, and take his wife with him, and consequently booking them both as saloon passengers on the
May sailing of Lusitania. Having left Chicago they travelled firstly to the home of their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in Newark, to await the arrival of a grandchild, subsequently born - a little girls named Blanche - in April. Having left New Jersey, the couple arrived in New York on the last day of that month and stayed overnight at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Then, the next morning, they joined the Lusitania at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour, in time for her 10.00 a.m. sailing. Having boarded, with ticket number 20697, they were escorted to their room, B18, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward William Williams who came from Liverpool.
The liner’s sailing was delayed until the afternoon, however, as she had to embark cargo, passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty as a troop ship, at the end of April. She finally New York just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her home port.
Both Mary Plamondon and her husband were killed as a result of the sinking, and it is probable that they were both sucked down when the liner took her final plunge, for Kitchen Porter Edward Skay from Liverpool later reported that he saw them both clinging to the promenade deck, refusing all his exhortations to get into a lifeboat! Her husband was aged 57 years, and Mary was aged 56 years.
Both of their bodies were recovered from the sea, however and landed at Queenstown where they were taken to one of the temporary mortuaries set up there. Mary Plamondon's body was given the reference number 163, before it was positively identified. The pince-nez that she normally wore were naturally missing and her dress was still stained with soot, despite its immersion in the sea!
This was reported in The Sacramento Bee, for 10th May 1915: -
The body of Mrs. Charles Plamondon was found today in Queenstown, Ireland, according to a cablegram received today by Dr. John B. Murphy, whose wife is a sister of Mrs. Plamondon, from the American Consul at Queenstown.
It was then, embalmed and despatched, like that of her husband, to New York, N.Y., on the S.S. New York, under the instructions of Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd., on 14th May 1915.
On its arrival there, it was taken to Chicago for burial, and the family doctor who examined the body noted that her dress was still stained with soot! Following a requiem mass in The Holy Name Cathedral, it was buried in the city, with that of her husband, on 26th May 1915, in the family mausoleum in Block 3, Section L of the Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, where they lie today. The ceremony drew huge crowds. When the news of the deaths had first been reported, many of the buildings in Chicago had flown their flags at half-mast!
Bedroom Steward Williams, who had looked after the Plamondon’s in room B18, did survive the sinking, however and eventually returned safely to his Liverpool home.
After the War, the Mixed Claims Commission considered claims submitted by Charles and Mary Plamondon’s children, and also by The Saladin Pneumatic Malting Construction Company, the company Charles was representing on his trip to Dublin. The company claimed that they had lost the valuable contract to Guinness as a result of Charles’ loss, and therefore sought compensation from Germany.
The Commission awarded Marie Plamondon the sum of $20,000.00, Charles Ambrose Plamondon Jr. and Harold Mackin Plamondon the sum of $15,000.00 each, and Charlotte Plamondon Ripley and Blanche Plamondon Smith the sum of $10,000.00 each, in compensation for the loss of their parents. In addition, the Commission awarded Charles Plamondon Jr., as executors of his parents wills, $812.57 for the costs involved in transporting his parents remains from Queenstown to Chicago for burial, and a further $5,034.73 in compensation for the loss of his parents personal belongings which went down with the Lusitania. The Commission declined to make any award to The Saladin Pneumatic Malting Construction Company.
Tragedy always seemed to be with the Plamondon family, for in 1903, Charlotte Plamondon had survived the burning down of the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, which had claimed 657 lives and on 24th July 1915, Susan Plamondon, the wife of Charlie’s cousin Edward K. Plamondon, was drowned when the S.S. Eastland capsized and sank on the Chicago River, killing some 812 people!
Illinois U.S. Marriage Index 1860 – 1920, 1860 U.S. Federal Census, 1870 U.S. Federal Census, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 474, 475 & 477, Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Eastland Memorial Society, John Geary, , Nyle Monday, News, Newark Evening News, New York Times, Sacramento Bee, Last Voyage of the Lusitania PRO 22/71, 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.