The Jack the Ripper Location Photographs: Dutfield's Yard and the Whitby Collection by Philip Hutchinson Page B
Authors: Philip Hutchinson
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end of the European trip. US Census returns do not give the original Dutch spelling of the name for anyone who fits her description. However, there are no Miss Blakes on the Ellis Island manifests for 1900 that fit at all. Attempts to contact Van Newkirks in Baltimore today who have posted their details online in the course of their genealogical research elicited no replies.
When the touring party returned to the US they would have passed through Ellis Island on their way back home very briefly, even as US Citizens. As a result, the names should appear on the shipping manifests held at ellisisland.org. This is a fact that has been confirmed by several official sources. However, the fact that the exact date of return to the US and the ship on which the final trip from Naples was taken is unknown makes identification of the names on those manifests very difficult. There is also the small possibility that when the final journey was undertaken – given that the original trip was postponed by several days at short notice – the ship that was used took a different route and may have even involved a transfer of passengers at a port during the journey. Consequently, every ship landing at Ellis Island with a large amount of passengers over the space of several days has to remain a viable candidate.
The Lucania herself shows as docking at Ellis Island on 13 September 1900, within the timescale permitted by the excursion. Nevertheless, she would not have sailed from Naples at any time, serving only the Atlantic route. A list of the Saloon passengers on this service (leaving from Liverpool on 8 September 1900) was issued to the travellers and a copy of this is available online. The list of 365 names contains 25 women titled as ‘Miss’ with no one apparently travelling with them. There are a further 13 women titled as ‘Mrs’ making the voyage alone.
This list is held by the Gjenvick-Gjønvick Archives. The organisation holds approximately 1,000 passenger lists near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Curator Paul Gjenvick notes that the ‘Lucania’ list was only a souvenir given to Saloon passengers and really records nothing more than the names of individuals.
From the names mentioned on the Ellis Island shipping manifest for the ‘Lucania’, five are possible candidates for our photographer. Margaret McMurray (46), a widowed housekeeper of Pittsburgh having travelled from Newry (so thus unlikely), Margaret Simpson (48), a married woman travelling alone from Wisconsin (a possibility), Harriet Mildblood (49), a Philadelphian housewife, Emilie Noren (36), a housewife from Denver and Amanda Samuelson (41), another housewife living in Chicago who had spent 20 years in the US. None of these names actually appear on the souvenir list issued to prominent Lucania passengers, however. Indeed, right down the line it appears that no one named in an external source and consequently investigated appears on the Ellis Island manifests. Although US Citizens and most First Class passengers did not have to take the ferry to Ellis Island itself, they were nevertheless all recorded on the shipping lists and thus should appear when searched for.
Of all the ships docking at Ellis Island around that time, by far the most likely candidate for the return voyage (if the ship did indeed travel non-stop from Naples) was the Kaiser Wilhelm II , which had indeed just made a trip straight from Naples on 7 September 1900 and docked at Ellis Island on 20 September. This is a week later than the expected return date but the trip had also begun a week late.
The ship was built in 1889, was 450’ long, 9,000 tons in weight and could accommodate 1,200 passengers. Though smaller than the Lucania , she was nevertheless almost a match in the opulence afforded to its higher-ranking passengers. It was also owned by the North German Lloyd Company, a shipping line used frequently by Thomas Cook. The ship was renamed the SS Hohenzollern in 1901, was wrecked in Sardinia on 10 May
When the touring party returned to the US they would have passed through Ellis Island on their way back home very briefly, even as US Citizens. As a result, the names should appear on the shipping manifests held at ellisisland.org. This is a fact that has been confirmed by several official sources. However, the fact that the exact date of return to the US and the ship on which the final trip from Naples was taken is unknown makes identification of the names on those manifests very difficult. There is also the small possibility that when the final journey was undertaken – given that the original trip was postponed by several days at short notice – the ship that was used took a different route and may have even involved a transfer of passengers at a port during the journey. Consequently, every ship landing at Ellis Island with a large amount of passengers over the space of several days has to remain a viable candidate.
The Lucania herself shows as docking at Ellis Island on 13 September 1900, within the timescale permitted by the excursion. Nevertheless, she would not have sailed from Naples at any time, serving only the Atlantic route. A list of the Saloon passengers on this service (leaving from Liverpool on 8 September 1900) was issued to the travellers and a copy of this is available online. The list of 365 names contains 25 women titled as ‘Miss’ with no one apparently travelling with them. There are a further 13 women titled as ‘Mrs’ making the voyage alone.
This list is held by the Gjenvick-Gjønvick Archives. The organisation holds approximately 1,000 passenger lists near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Curator Paul Gjenvick notes that the ‘Lucania’ list was only a souvenir given to Saloon passengers and really records nothing more than the names of individuals.
From the names mentioned on the Ellis Island shipping manifest for the ‘Lucania’, five are possible candidates for our photographer. Margaret McMurray (46), a widowed housekeeper of Pittsburgh having travelled from Newry (so thus unlikely), Margaret Simpson (48), a married woman travelling alone from Wisconsin (a possibility), Harriet Mildblood (49), a Philadelphian housewife, Emilie Noren (36), a housewife from Denver and Amanda Samuelson (41), another housewife living in Chicago who had spent 20 years in the US. None of these names actually appear on the souvenir list issued to prominent Lucania passengers, however. Indeed, right down the line it appears that no one named in an external source and consequently investigated appears on the Ellis Island manifests. Although US Citizens and most First Class passengers did not have to take the ferry to Ellis Island itself, they were nevertheless all recorded on the shipping lists and thus should appear when searched for.
Of all the ships docking at Ellis Island around that time, by far the most likely candidate for the return voyage (if the ship did indeed travel non-stop from Naples) was the Kaiser Wilhelm II , which had indeed just made a trip straight from Naples on 7 September 1900 and docked at Ellis Island on 20 September. This is a week later than the expected return date but the trip had also begun a week late.
The ship was built in 1889, was 450’ long, 9,000 tons in weight and could accommodate 1,200 passengers. Though smaller than the Lucania , she was nevertheless almost a match in the opulence afforded to its higher-ranking passengers. It was also owned by the North German Lloyd Company, a shipping line used frequently by Thomas Cook. The ship was renamed the SS Hohenzollern in 1901, was wrecked in Sardinia on 10 May
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