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Durham Lookup Requests / M Spooner RMS Empress of Ireland disaster
« on: Friday 16 December 16 20:04 GMT (UK) »
Does anyone know more about the third Spooner who died in the RMS Empress of Ireland shipping disaster.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/empress/sinking.aspx
Ralph Spooner (b 1840) and his wife Margaret Hill (1848) were definite casualties.
I had been told by previous researchers that their daughter Margaret also died in that disaster.
Now someone else has done some digging around and it appears that the third person was given as 'Mrs Ralph Spooner, jr (Mary, nee Smith)'.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/empress/Third-class-passengers-Empress-of-Ireland.pdf
This doesn't match what other researchers have shared.
According to them Mary Elizabeth Spooner (b 1885 Hetton Downs, Co. Durham) married Albert Bewley and her sister Margaret Ethel (b 1883 Downs, Co. Durham) married Thomas Russell.
There are no marriages that match those names on FreeBMD so i presume they happened in Canada where the family lived for about 9 years before the disaster in 1914.
Does anyone know anything more about the marriages of these 2 girls and where the Smith surname came from. Perhaps it is an error by the compilers of the list.
I have also seen the passenger list here which gives no first names.
http://sea-viewdiving.com/shipwreck_info/empress_home/passengerlist/page17.htm
If that top list is correct then the third person must have been their daughter in law.
Their son Ralph married a Margaret (that could be her but again the name is wrong).
The son Robert married a Nellie.
Both sons were in Canada as were their parents in 1911.
I'm hoping someone has already done some research on this.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/empress/sinking.aspx
Ralph Spooner (b 1840) and his wife Margaret Hill (1848) were definite casualties.
I had been told by previous researchers that their daughter Margaret also died in that disaster.
Now someone else has done some digging around and it appears that the third person was given as 'Mrs Ralph Spooner, jr (Mary, nee Smith)'.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/visit/floor-plan/life-at-sea/empress/Third-class-passengers-Empress-of-Ireland.pdf
This doesn't match what other researchers have shared.
According to them Mary Elizabeth Spooner (b 1885 Hetton Downs, Co. Durham) married Albert Bewley and her sister Margaret Ethel (b 1883 Downs, Co. Durham) married Thomas Russell.
There are no marriages that match those names on FreeBMD so i presume they happened in Canada where the family lived for about 9 years before the disaster in 1914.
Does anyone know anything more about the marriages of these 2 girls and where the Smith surname came from. Perhaps it is an error by the compilers of the list.
I have also seen the passenger list here which gives no first names.
http://sea-viewdiving.com/shipwreck_info/empress_home/passengerlist/page17.htm
If that top list is correct then the third person must have been their daughter in law.
Their son Ralph married a Margaret (that could be her but again the name is wrong).
The son Robert married a Nellie.
Both sons were in Canada as were their parents in 1911.
I'm hoping someone has already done some research on this.