M Spooner RMS Empress of Ireland disaster

[swanandprasad]

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.

[sami]

.....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......

Just to get you started here is the marriage for Margaret Ethel Spooner to Thomas Russell. The marriage took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on April 23, 1914. If this link does not open properly for you it is probably also available on Family Search.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j2l/

sami

[sami]

Can't find the marriage for Mary Elizabeth Spooner but Mary Elizabeth Bewley (nee Spooner) died in Vancouver, B.C. Canada on June 21, 1975.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j2m/

Hope that helps a bit.

sami

[sami]

Robert Wilfred Spooner married Ellen Elizabeth Watts by special licence in Vancouver, B.C. on October 1, 1916.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j2n/

Ralph Spooner, age 37, Widower, married Rachael Kells in Vancouver, B.C. on August 26, 1916. So it's possible it was his previous wife that died on the Empress of Ireland.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j2o/

Still looking...

sami

[swanandprasad]

Wow fantastic Sami. I need to digest that.
Any chance you could look up a marriage between Ralph Spooner (the brother) and Margaret Smith (possibly Mary Smith) probably Vancouver probably between 1905-1911 possibly 1905-1914.
I have his wife as Margaret but the shipping casualty is given as Mary so could be either.
Believe it or not there are NO marriages anywhere in England between a Ralph Spooner and either a Mary or Margaret Smith so i think they must have married in Canada.

[sami]

Well, on the 1911 Canada census, Ralph Spooner (born Dec. 1878) is living with his wife Mary (born Dec 1877, immigrated to Canada in 1906). They are living beside Ralph's parents. Can't find the marriage for Ralph and Mary yet, but they must have married between 1906 and 1911.

http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1911/jpg/e001942027.jpg

Still having a look....

sami

[sami]

Can't seem to find a marriage between Ralph and Margaret/Mary Smith.

Not that this helps - but when Ralph (born Dec 10, 1879) dies on Oct. 15, 1947 he is married to Lucy Dunderdale.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01j2p/

I'll give it a bit of a think. Perhaps someone else will have some luck with the Ralph/Mary marriage.

Hope the links are opening properly for you. You can search B.C. Birth, Marriage and Death certs on the BC Archives website.

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy

sami

[swanandprasad]

Sami i think you have cracked it.
The fatality was very probably Mary Smith wife of Ralph Spooner.
I found another source which puts the deaths of the parents (in law) as Quebec, Canada.
That could be assumption. The shipping disaster happened in the St Lawrence River on 29 May 1914 so i don't know if they will be registered as deaths in Quebec.
Unfortunately that source didn't mention the third Spooner.

[swanandprasad]

Sami everything opened fine.
Fantastic
Thanks you so much.
I know at least 4 researchers can add all this to their tree.