Name: Mrs Eleanor Widener (née Elkins)

Born: Saturday 21st September 1861

Age: 50 years

Married to George Dunton Widener.

Last Residence: in Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States

1st Class passenger

First Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912

Ticket No. 113503 , £211 10s

Cabin No.: C80

Rescued (boat 4)

Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912

Died: Tuesday 13th July 1937

Cause of Death: Embolism -------------------- Titania

• Name: Mrs Eleanor Widener (née Elkins)
• Born: Saturday 21st September 1861
• Age: 50 years
• Married to George Dunton Widener.
• Last Residence: in Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States
• 1st Class passenger
• First Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
• Ticket No. 113503 , £211 10s
• Cabin No.: C80
• Rescued (boat 4)
• Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
• Died: Tuesday 13th July 1937
• Cause of Death: Embolism

Mrs George Dunton Widener (Eleanor Elkins), 50, was born in Philadelphia, PA on 21 September 1861

A resident of Elkins Park, PA, she boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with her husband George Widener, son Harry Elkins Widener, Mr Widener's manservant Edwin Keeping and her own maid Amalie Gieger. The Widener's occupied cabins C-80/82.

Mrs Widener was helped into Lifeboat 4 after more than an hour's wait by her husband and son. They then stood back to await their fate.

After their arrival in New York, Mrs Widener and Miss Gieger were met by a private train which took them back to Philadelphia.

After losing her husband and son to the sea, Mrs Widener devoted herself to charitable work. A lasting monument to her generosity stands as the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard for which she made a large donation. Her only stipulations being that no stone be touched as long as the library stands and that each graduate of Harvard pass a swimming test (she felt her son might have been saved had he been able to swim). Both rules stand today although the library has been augmented by new buildings in recent years.

In 1915 Mrs Widener married the geographer and explorer Dr Alexander Hamilton Rice of New York, NY and in the coming years followed him on several expeditions in South America 1. They also travelled extensively in Europe and India.

Eleanor died in Paris on 13 July 1937.

Notes 1. She was still being accompanied by Miss Gieger in 1924 when they travelled to the Amazon.

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)

• Miss Amalie "Emily" Henriette Gieger
• Mr Edwin Herbert Keeping
• Mr George Dunton Widener
• Mr Harry Elkins Widener

References and Sources

• American Foreign Service Report of the Death of an American Citizen
• Senate Hearings, 29 May 1912, Affidavit
• Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
• John P. Eaton & Charles A. Haas (1994) Titanic: Triumph & Tragedy, 2nd ed. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1 85260 493 X
• Walter Lord (1976) A Night to Remember. London, Penguin. ISBN 0 14 004757 3
• Don Lynch & Ken Marschall (1992) Titanic: An Illustrated History. London, Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 56271 4
• United States Senate (62nd Congress), Subcommittee Hearings of the Committee on Commerce, Titanic Disaster, Washington 1912

Credits

• Phillip Gowan, USA

Click here for a story in The Alternative Press, "A 'Titanic' Degree of Separation in Newton," which focuses on Titanic disaster, 100 years later, the author's relationship to the Widener Family, as well as tells the story of one of the descendants of Bruce Ismay (Titanic owner), coincidentally living in the same town (Newton, NJ) as the cousin of Eleanor A (Elkins) Widener. Also see a special dedication to Harry Elkins Widener, Eleanor's son who perished in the disaster, written in his memory by the same author, 8th cousin once removed to Harry Elkins Widener (7th cousin twice removed to Eleanor), on the 100th Anniversary after the sinking of the Titanic.