By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist
When news of the full extent of
the Titanic disaster broke in Elmira on April 16, 1912, two families began to
worry about the fate of Arthur Ford. The strange thing was, they were worried
about two different Arthur Fords.
Arthur Ford the elder was the brother-in-law
of Charles F. Thompson, the secretary and treasurer of the Elmira Produce
Company. Ford was a resident of Petersboro, England, where he lived with
Thompson’s sister. Despite the distance, the couple visited Elmira frequently,
mostly owing to Ford’s job. For over a decade, Ford had served as a steward and
storekeeper on the White Star shipping line. He normally served aboard the RMS
Oceanic, but, in anticipation of her maiden voyage, White Star had pulled more
experienced crewmembers off their usual ships to serve on the Titanic in order
to train the newbies. The last Thompson had heard; his brother-in-law Arthur
had been one of the transfers.
Arthur Ford the younger was the
brother of William Ford of 464 Lyon Street. William had immigrated to America
from England and settled in Elmira seven years earlier. Life here had been
good; he’d married a local girl and started a profitable carpentry business. At
23, young Arthur was the last of his siblings to leave home and William urged
him to come to Elmira to join the family business. Although initially reluctant
to leave their ailing mother alone back in London, Arthur was eventually
convinced. He boarded the Titanic as a third-class passenger in Southampton on
the morning of April 10th.
A list of third class passengers
and crew rescued from the wreck by the Carpathia was published in the Elmira
papers on April 18th. Neither Arthur
Ford was on it. The following day, Charles Thompson received word that his brother-in-law
was headed to New York aboard the Oceanic. The Thompsons could rest easy. All
the Fords could do was grieve.
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