Jeanie McMahon Tierney, always known as “Nina”, was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1910, the daughter of James and Mary Tierney (née McMahon). Her father was a lead burner, and the family home was at 33. Shamrock Street, Glasgow.
In October 1912, her father emigrated to the United States of America in search of a better life for his family. He found work in Natrona, Pennsylvania, and once he had established himself there, he sent for Nina and her mother to join him.
On the 16th August 1913, Nina and her mother boarded the California in Glasgow, and after their arrival in New York, they continued on to Natrona. Sometime later, the family moved to 109. Madison Avenue, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, although some sources state that they resided at 130. Franklin Avenue.
In the spring of 1915, her mother decided to return to Scotland to visit her family and friends there, and leaving husband James in Vandergrift, she set out with Nina at the end of April, for New York, where the pair joined the Lusitania as second cabin passengers in time for the vessel’s delayed sailing, just after mid-day on 1st May 1915. This was caused because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines ship Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
On board, they shared a cabin with Mrs. Arabella Bryce and Miss Mary Buchanan, fellow Scots.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination. Both mother and daughter were killed as a result of this action. Nina Tierney was only five years old!
Both bodies were recovered from the sea afterwards, however, and landed at Queenstown. Nina’s was taken to one of the temporary mortuaries there, where it was
given the reference number 102 and described as: -
Good looking, very fair hair, wore blue overcoat with knitted woollen jersey inside, blue dress.
Then on 10th May, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, just outside the town, in Mass Grave C, 6th Row, Lower Tier. It was on this day that most of the recovered dead from the sinking were buried after a long funeral procession which began at the Cunard office at Lynch’s Quay.
It is probable that when Nina Tierney’s body was buried, it was not identified, as there was no property recovered from it. Similarly, at that time, it was thought that the body of victim No. 101 was that of Mary Tierney, but this subsequently proved to be wrong.
In early June, however, this fact was established when Nina’s father and a Vandergrift jeweller, William Steinhertz wrote to Cunard in New York, with a positive identification of Mary Tierney from a photograph of the body wearing recognisable earrings and the letter also stated: -
NINA TIERNEY - 1 gold chain with locket attached, initialled N.J.T.,
1 gold ring on middle finger of left hand ..... .
By this time, of course, Nina and her mother had been buried for nearly a month and it would appear that no jewellery as described by her father and Mr. Steinhertz was found before burial!
Because of the hygienic need to bury the remains of the victims as soon as possible in the warmth of early May, all those bodies which could not be positively identified by belongings or by the personal recognition of survivors, were thus photographed, in the hope that their identities might be established at a later date.
Arabella Bryce was the only survivor from their cabin, Mary Buchanan having also drowned.
New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Edinburgh Evening News, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Pittsburgh Press, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/5, UniLiv D92/2/182, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.