Rosina Thomas Phillips was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States of America, on the 11th October 1854, the daughter of Isaac Neville and Sarah Jane Philips (née McCay). Her father was a cotton weigher, and Rosina was one of six known children.
On the 21st December 1882, she married William Edward Leverich Jnr., who became the secretary of the New Orleans City Railroad Company, and the couple had three children – William Edward III, born in 1883, Isaac Philips, who was born in 1885, and Rosina Philips, born in 1887. The family resided at 199. 8th St., New Orleans. On the 4th January 1891, Rosina was left a widow when her husband died, aged 41 years.
Her husband had been a very successful businessman, leaving the family in a comfortable financial position, and sometime after her husband’s death, Rosina and her daughter immigrated to England, establishing their home at 4, Estcourt Mansions, Weighton Road, Anerley, Croydon, Surrey, England.
In September 1914, mother and daughter returned to the United States of America on the St. Paul to visit family friends, and when they decided to return to England, they booked as second cabin passengers on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool. They arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, in time for the liner’s scheduled sailing which was due to commence at 10 o’clock on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Having boarded the liner, the pair had to wait until the early afternoon for her to set sail, because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. The Lusitania finally left port just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May; she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination.
Both mother and daughter were killed as a result of this action and although Miss Leverich’s body was never recovered and identified afterwards, that of her mother was. In mid-July 1915, nearly ten weeks after the liner had gone down, her body was washed up near Causeway, north of Tralee, in County Kerry, about 150 miles around the Irish coast from where the liner had foundered. On 15th July 1915, it was buried in Killury Churchyard, Causeway, not far from where it was recovered.
At first, it must have been virtually impossible to identify it, after such a long time immersed in the sea, and it was given the reference number 254, which shows that it was one of the last to be recovered. Its eventual identification was almost certainly made from property recovered from it and this property was then forwarded to Mr. Wesley Frost, the United States Consul in Queenstown, to be sent back to relatives in America. Rosina Thomas Leverich was aged 60 years at the time of her death.
If there ever was a headstone erected on Rosina Leverich’s grave, then it does not exist today!
It was not until 14th March 1917 that probate of her estate was granted jointly at London to her eldest son, William Edward Leverich, who was described as a clerk, and Richard William Harris, who was described as a civil servant. Her effects amounted to £750-0s-0d.
New Orleans Louisiana Marriage Records Index 1831 – 1964, New Orleans Louisiana Death Records Index 1804 – 1949, 1860 U.S. Federal Census, 1870 U.S. Federal Census, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of England & Wales, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Probate Records, 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.