Profile of the Day: Joseph Laroche

Posted April 9, 2012 by Amanda | 2 Comments

Joseph Laroche

In honor of the Titanic‘s 100th anniversary, we will be highlighting Titanic passengers this week. Our first Titanic passenger is Joseph Laroche, a Paris-educated Haitian engineer who was traveling on board the Titanic with his family. Although Laroche was from a powerful family in Haiti, he did not experience the same privileged lifestyle in France. Unable to find employment in France because of his race, Laroche decided to return to home to Haiti with his expectant wife and two children. They originally obtained first class tickets for the La Franc, however, upon discovering the ship’s policy against children dining with their parents, they exchanged their tickets for second class passage aboard the Titanic.

After the Titanic struck the iceberg, Laroche woke up his wife and carried their sleeping daughters to the ship’s deck. There, he loaded his family into the lifeboat that would saved their lives. Joseph was the only black passenger to die in the sinking.

Joseph Laroche’s family tree is not yet connected to Geni’s World Family Tree. Perhaps you can join the RMS Titanic project and help connect him and other Titanic passengers to over 60 million profiles on Geni!