Michael Gibbons was born in Roonith, Louisburgh, County Mayo, Ireland, on the 20th September 1874, the son of Thomas and Mary Gibbons (née Malley, or O’Malley). He was one of at least eight children, having five brothers and two sisters.
Michael had emigrated to the United States of America in 1899, and four of his brothers had also immigrated, where they all became naturalized citizens of the United States of America, many of them settling in Chicago, Illinois.
On arrival in Chicago, Michael resided with his brother, Edward, as lodgers at the home of one of their cousins and his family, but when Edward married and started his own family, Michael resided with him. He found work as a clerk with Marshall Field & Co., a famous Chicago department store, where by 1915; he was earning $16.00 per week.
In April 1915, he set off from Chicago to go back to Ireland to settle the estate of his mother, who had died in June 1914, and on 1st May 1915, he arrived in New York in time to board the
Lusitania as a third class passenger, before she left the Cunard berth at Pier 54, just after mid-day. Her delayed departure from the port, postponed from her scheduled 10.00 a.m. start, was caused because she had to embark passengers, cargo and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of April
Just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, Michael Gibbons was killed when the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At this time, she was within sight of the southern Irish coast and only about fourteen hours steaming time from her Liverpool destination.
As his body was never found and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 34 years.
Some time later, his brother, Edward Gibbons, filed a claim for compensation for his death which was considered by the Mixed Claims Commission. The Commission could find no evidence that his brother or any American citizen was dependant on Michael, and therefore declined to award any compensation.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes 1791 – 1992, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2054, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Stuart Williamson, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.