The Addergoole Fourteen

Fourteen people from the small parish of Addergoole in county Mayo , Ireland were on the Titanic when it sank on its maiden voyage at 2.20 am on the morning of 15th April 1912. The group were well acquainted with each other, several were related. Most of the fourteen still have relatives living in Addergoole.

From Carrowskeheen

• John Bourke age 42, lost at sea.

John and Catherine, his wife of just over a year, were going to join Catherine’s sister in Chicago. They were married in Saint Patrick’s Church Lahardane on the 17 January 1911. They first went to Rochdale England for a short period and then came home again. The couple were expecting a baby.

• Catherine Bourke nee McHugh , age 32, lost at sea.

Catherine's name before marriage was McHugh, and she was from Tawnagh. She was one of nine children. Both her parents died in 1886, when she was 7 years old. She and five other siblings were raised by their older sister Maria, who was then 16 years old. Katie as she was known first emigrated from Addergoole to Rochdale England where she worked in the Rochdale Cotton Mills. The 1901 census shows her in Rochdale living with her brother-in-law John Sheridan and Hannah his wife along with other three siblings; Thomas her brother, Bridget and Celia her sisters. In 1905 she went to Chicago from Rochdale travelling on the Etruria and arriving on Ellis Island on 16 July. The Ship’s manifest shows her as going to her cousin, Bridget McDermott 2018 Michigan Ave Chicago.

In 1910 she returned to Addergoole for a visit and met up with her childhood sweetheart, John Bourke. She was related to Catherine and Annie McGowan, and had the chance to be rescued in Lifeboat 16, but would not leave her husband.

• Mary Bourke age 40, lost at sea. Mary was also going to join Catherine’s sister in Chicago. John and Mary were brother and sister. She had the chance to be rescued in Lifeboat 16, but would not leave her brother.
• Honora "Nora" Fleming age 24, lost at sea. Nora’s sister in New York had paid her passage, and Nora was off to join her. The night the Titanic sank was her 24th birthday. Margaret Devaney from Sligo, who was saved, told Nora's sister that she remembered Nora entertaining them with Irish songs when the first news of the trouble came. Nora appears on the passenger list as Nora Hemming. Patricia Nesbitt, New York wrote to the Titanic Commutator in 1996 enquiring about the fate of her great aunt.
• Mary Mangan age 32, lost at sea. Mary was returning to Chicago to be married. She was born in Ballymayock and had come home to see her mother who was sick, and to celebrate her engagement. Her body was recovered but returned to the sea.
• James Flynn age 28, lost at sea. James was going to join a younger brother in New York. He was related to Pat Canavan and Annie Kate Kelly. He was prevented from entering Lifeboat 16
• Annie Kate Kelly age 20, survived. Annie was going to join cousins in Chicago. A steward guided her out of the steerage part of the boat and put her into Lifeboat 16, which was lowered at 1.30 a.m., half-full. Catherine, John and Mary Bourke; and James Flynn, and perhaps others from Addergoole, probably watched this happening. Annie Kate became a nun when she was 29 years old. Sister Patrick Joseph died on 18th December 1969, aged 77 years and is buried in Adrian, Michigan.
• Bridget Donohue age 21, lost at sea. Bridget was joining a cousin in New York. She appears on the passenger list as Bert O’Donohue. Her relatives thought she had been saved. Before Bridget left home she worked in MacHale's Shop in Lahardane, which closed in 1992. Bridget promised to send a ring from Chicago to Maura, the daughter of Tom and Kate MacHale, who was then three and a half years old. She had taken Maura's ring size with a piece of string.
• Bridget Delia Mahon age 20, lost at sea. A friend had purchased Delia’s ticket. Her older brother was said to have read her teacup the night before she left and told her that she would drown.
• Delia Lynch-McDermott age 31, survived. Delia was going to St. Louis in Missouri. She was approached by a strange man in Lahardane the night before leaving for Cobh who told her that there would a disaster, but that she would survive it. She had a new hat for the trip. She was saved in Lifeboat 13 lowered at 1.40a.m., having had to jump some 15 ft. from a rope to the boat. Delia Lynch (McDermott) died on 3 November 1959, aged 65 years and is buried in Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City; which is also the resting place to three other Titanic survivors; Margaret Devaney (Sligo), Elizabeth Dowdell (New Jersey) and Thomas McCormack (Longford)
• Pat Canavan age 21, lost at sea. Pat was going out to stay with his sister in Philadelphia. He had red hair and was a cousin of Mary Canavan and Annie Kate Kelly. He is credited, along with John Bourke, in Annie Kate Kelly’s account of gathering the women and children together and taking them to a ladder leading from Steerage to the upper decks.
• Annie McGowan age 17, survived. Annie was the youngest person in the group. She was born in America and her parents had returned home. Her aunt, Catherine McGowan, was taking her to America. She could not remember the number of the lifeboat she was saved in, but it had about forty women and children, and was one of the first to be lowered. Annie Straube (McGowan) died on 30th January 1990, aged 95 years, and is buried in All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois.
• Katherine McGowan age 42, lost at sea Catherine had already spent several years in America, some of this with Catherine Bourke (McHugh). She owned a rooming house. She originally returned home to bring her niece out to the States. She is credited with getting the Addergoole group together for the trip. Catherine (McHugh) Bourke and Catherine McGowan were related. Their fathers, Pat McHugh and Anthony McGowan were first cousins
• Mary Canavan age 22, lost at sea. Pat Canavan’s first cousin, she was going to her brother in New York. First reports of the casualties gave her name as "Concannon", leading her family to think she had survived.