Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Buried by Omission: The Eastland Victim Who Disappeared

• Natalie Zett • Season 4 • Episode 133

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This week we take a deeper dive into the Claims and Libels files (In the Matter of the Petition of St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, Owner of the Steamer Eastland, For Limitation of Liability) preserved in the National Archives Catalog. The research revealed a startling omission — a victim missing from the original compilation of Eastland victims and from most later derivative lists (with one exception!)

By cross-checking court filings, obituaries, and family connections, I was able to restore a missing piece of the Eastland story.

This episode is also a tribute to George Hilton, whose Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic remains the cornerstone of Eastland research. His scholarship was unmatched, and like all historians (and genealogists), he knew the work was not complete and invited future scholars to review, correct, and expand on it. By leaving the door open for discoveries like this one, Hilton reminded us that history is never finished — it is a shared effort across generations.

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Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Welcome to Flower in the River. This is episode 133, and this is Natalie. I hope you're doing well. This week we are returning to the archives, specifically folder 14 of the claims and libels which I found just last week on the National Archives website and what a find truly the gift that keeps on giving. Last episode, I introduced the claims of people who survived the Eastland disaster and sustained injuries, property loss, etc. Today we'll shift to the claims from some victims' families and how one of these cases helped shine a light on the fatalities numbers that are often repeated about the Eastland disaster. Here's a question Does the fact that a number is repeated over and, over and over again make it true? It makes it stick, but repetition in and of itself does not equal truth. Evidence is always a prerequisite. What's driving all of this? The question that I have been asked so many times and that I skirt quite often is this one how many people died on the Eastland? The short answer is that I don't think we'll ever be able to know that, and I will address that in more detail in a bit.

Natalie Zett:

The public history courses that I'm taking through the University of London right now and I'm taking several of them I can't stop myself. They are blowing my mind and they are definitely changing how I look at my own research, how I look at how the history of the Eastland disaster has been documented. And that's what education should do, right. It should rattle our world, it should shake us up, it should bring forth courage that lets us ask the tough questions, and these folks ask tough questions. And all of this new learning is nudging me to shift my direction and my focus so I can tackle these hard questions. I can tackle these hard questions Speaking from a high level.

Natalie Zett:

We often think of history in terms of an event that happened in the past. Historiography is the study of how people usually historians have interpreted, written about and debated those events over time. And we will talk about one of those very fine historians, george Hilton, who studied the Eastland disaster in depth and wrote a book about it. One thing I've learned, both from my research and from these various courses I'm taking, is that a lot of myths have been built up around the Eastland disaster and its people. For example, way back when, when I started digging into this history, I kept hearing from various people that it was almost impossible to find information about the victims and survivors. Supposedly this would take a lot of money, endless time, and even then there wasn't much to uncover. And, being new to all this research at that time, I believed it. But since that time, let me tell you what I have found. It's absolutely true that it does take time. That part is true. However, this is what I also found.

Natalie Zett:

There is no shortage of primary sources that have existed since 1915 about the people of the Eastland disaster, and that is my focus. For example, we have the Cook County Coroner's Report, which came out shortly after the disaster. That is an excellent primary source, the disaster. That is an excellent primary source. But, as with all primary sources, it's incomplete and there are errors. And I know this for a fact because my very own great aunt is not in that list. And a primary source doesn't mean that it's complete or quote-unquote perfect, whatever that means, but a primary source was created very close to the time that the event took place. Then there are also the Chicago newspapers and other newspapers of that time. These are also primary sources and, as we've learned, because these folks were working under such extreme conditions, the information has to be validated and of course I found a number of errors, but that's to be expected considering the situation. These are still excellent primary sources. You take those and you start comparing and contrasting them against one another and against other records and, as I say, a lot this work is a case of constant course correction.

Natalie Zett:

As I've shared, once upon a time I had to reconstruct an entire branch of my own family tree, entire branch of my own family tree. A couple of years ago I was comparing my family tree with that of one of my distant cousins who lives in Poland. He took a look at my tree and he said you realize that all of those people who you think are your third great-grandparents and beyond are incorrect. Let me share the correct information with you. That was not music to my ears. First of all, I'd gotten very attached to these people who weren't my relatives. Second of all, I thought, oh my gosh, this is going to be such a mess to have to remove all these people make sure I don't remove the people that I want in there and to add all of the new people. And it was a mess but I knew I had to do it. And once I got them in there, well, they really are my relatives and I was able to find out some more fascinating truths about these branches of the family. And once I had the correct information in there, that opened me up to connecting with all sorts of other family members who I would have missed had I held on to the incorrect people.

Natalie Zett:

And the other thing that comes up is the fatality numbers. They are wild. You have anywhere from 3,000 to 825, 815, 835. They go all over the place. And as someone who grew up with another mass casualty as part of her history, and that would be the Johnstown Flood well, there are several, but the big one of 1889, I learned early on that it was impossible to quote an exact number. Some will try to do that, I think, to assert authority, but in the Johnstown flood most people will say approximately 2,200 or over 2,000 people who died. Why did they say this? There are too many unknowns unknowns. For example, how could people determine if a body that they found miles away six months after the flood was one of those flood victims? They can't. The other thing about insisting on an exact fatality number is that it leaves no room for error, no room for debates or discussion. And the fact is, in history, in genealogy, etc. New information is always emerging. It's going to blow up a lot of times the work we've already done, but that's part of what you sign up for when you do this type of work, and we often have to reevaluate our position and admit we made a mistake.

Natalie Zett:

One of the sources I've consulted, along with the Cook County Coroner's Report and the various obituaries in the Chicago papers, is George Hilton's book Eastland Legacy of the Titanic, published in 1995,. Eastland Legacy of the Titanic remains the most respected, most scholarly and most often consulted book about the Eastland disaster. The main reasons are number one, hilton was a scholar. Number two, he had no agenda other than reporting on the information of the Eastland disaster, so he published in 1995, which meant his research took place well before the internet became a thing, and it's important to keep that in mind as we discuss Hilton's book.

Natalie Zett:

In Appendix D of his book Hilton introduces the reader to his list of fatalities. In this introduction Hilton carefully explains how he got the information. There's no smoke and mirrors. He does exactly what I would expect a researcher to do. And here's Hilton's introduction to this section.

Natalie Zett:

List of victims is the heading and the subheading is Victims Authenticated by Death Certificate. The following are Deceased Authenticated by Death Certificates Cook County, illinois, and. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library, salt Lake City, utah. Microfilm Reels. He gives all the. So these records of death certificates are not complete. I'm going to quote Hilton again. These records of death certificates are not complete. He continues particularly in entirely lacking names beginning with the letter S, that's S like Sam. Accordingly, entries in this list, entries in this list beginning with S are from the Manuscript Inquest Record Coroner of Cook County, volume 125, office of the Medical Examiner, 2121 West Harrison Street, chicago. This volume is entirely devoted to Eastland victims.

Natalie Zett:

Cemeteries are as shown on the death certificates, but the inquest record does not show cemeteries. The cemeteries for victims from this source are from the newspaper accounts, cemetery records and the records of the St Mary Chesterhova Church, cicero, illinois. Mary Chesterhova Church, cicero, illinois. We indicates a Western Electric employee. Names of the deceased are grouped by family, with the name of the head of the family first followed by the children's names indented. If the family members were siblings, the name of the oldest is first followed by the other's names indented. Cemeteries, unless otherwise identified, are in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Chicago Tribune's Chicagoland map, issued biannually, shows locations of all major cemeteries. Names in parentheses are other names that the person was known to use. Where there are rival spellings of the name, I have accepted, in order of credibility, the tombstone, the cemetery records, the listing in the city directory, the death certificate, the coroner's inquest record, western Electric's list of lost employees and the final newspaper listing.

Natalie Zett:

The death certificates made out at the Central Morgue in the 2nd Regiment Armory were handwritten and inevitably give the impression of having been done under considerable emotional strain. They are not wholly accurate. I'm going to say that again. Despite his Herculean efforts at research and this was incredible Hilton admits that this is not accurate. He's enough of a historian and scholar to realize that more information has yet to be revealed, but this is what he was able to do in the time period in which he was working on the Eastland Disaster Book and we'll continue with his introduction.

Natalie Zett:

Most of the deceased were young people who lived with their parents or in rented quarters such that they did not appear under their own names in city directories. Names in brackets are variant spellings I have been unable to reconcile. In such cases I have shown the name on the cemetery record or, failing that, the name on the death certificate, followed by variants in newspapers and elsewhere. I have not attempted to reconcile variant spellings of Catherine, eleanor or Marie or Mary or May or Elizabeth. Elizabeth Landau of the UCLA Economics Department was most helpful in determining the correct spelling of Slavic names. Because of the Anglicization of names, use of names of step-parents, changes in names by marriage, gaps in the death certificates, conflict in sources, absence of any credible compilation of survivors and the various other problems in assembling the list, it is unlikely to prove wholly accurate. I solicit corrections from descendants of the deceased and others. Any corrections received by December 31st 1995 and substantiated I will incorporate in a typescript which I will deposit in the Chicago Historical Society.

Natalie Zett:

Okay, so things are going to get a tad bit more complicated here, but I did want you to experience George Hilton's methodology and his brilliance, his thoroughness and his humility. He did admit that his list wasn't complete and he did leave room for error. Okay, so we're going to transition here, but it's all related. I promise you we're going to return to the court records that I introduced you to in the previous episode. They're called Folder 14, claims and Libels Such an innocuous title, but inside all kinds of treasures.

Natalie Zett:

As I was reviewing the names of the victims in these records, I saw that George Hilton had inadvertently omitted someone, and I'm not surprised, I'm amazed that he did as well as he did, but he did leave out somebody, and that somebody is a man called Thomas Marren. I was able to locate Thomas Marin's obituary in the Chicago Tribune now that I had his name and I can connect him to his other family members. But here's the issue with this. I can understand why George Hilton made this mistake. What I can't understand is why those who made lists after George Hilton made the same mistake. They likely drew from George Hilton's list, even though they didn't attribute it to him. For example, I looked at another list of Eastland disaster victims and saw that Thomas Marin's name was also missing from that list, was also missing from that list. So this shows us something to be aware of if we engage in this type of history.

Natalie Zett:

Don't just simply copy someone's work. Check it out. George Hilton was inviting us to check out his work. Make sure he got it right. So this is what we have so far.

Natalie Zett:

Number one George Hilton inadvertently omitted Thomas Maron. Those who seemed to copy his database or his information also omitted Thomas Maron. However. His obituary is in the July 31st issue of the Chicago Tribune and there's one other current place that also included Thomas Maron's death notification. Guess where? Genealogy site that I'm always sending you to their Eastland Memorial page includes a photograph of Thomas's headstone and a small amount of information about him, but the fact that he is there among the other victims of the Eastland disaster is wonderful. Thank you again. Find a grave.

Natalie Zett:

The one limitation, though, on Thomas Maron's page on Find a Grave is that they did not connect him to the other members of his family who died on the Eastland, and I suspect I'll be doing that after this episode is published. So, outside of these court records and Find a Grave, thomas Maron is nowhere to be found in relation to the Eastland disaster, and this oversight excluded him from being seen as part of the Eastland disaster history. Also, he needs to be mentioned in context with the rest of his family. So Folder 14 claims and libels doesn't just include Thomas, but also includes his sister, and she was Catherine Marren Wood, and her son George John Wood Jr. I actually shared Catherine's and George's story in an earlier episode about a year ago, but the information in their obituaries had some errors. It said that Thomas's sister's brother-in-law was the person who was killed, which wasn't the case. Of course it was her brother, thomas, who was killed. Are you following all of this? I know it's confusing, but back a year ago that sent me on a wild goose chase and into a bunch of brick walls. But now we've restored Thomas Maran's name as a victim of the Eastland disaster and we've connected him to his sister, catherine Maran Wood, and to his nephew, her son George John Wood Jr. Had I not gotten a hold of those court records, I would not have realized that Thomas had even gone missing. So what I always do is make a family tree for each one of these people, and I did this for Thomas's family. So let's find out who these people were.

Natalie Zett:

Thomas F Maran was born on the 18th of June 1896 in Chicago and of course. He died on July 24th 1915. He was born to Patrick Maran, who was born in 1868 in Ireland, and his mother was Bridget Haran. Yes, maran and Haran got married and became Maran, and Bridget was born in 1867 in Ireland, died in 1933. I think Bridget immigrated a few years before Patrick.

Natalie Zett:

Patrick and Bridget had four children. According to the census the oldest was Catherine Marron, who also died on the Eastland. Catherine married George John Wood and they had two sons. George John Wood Jr was the child who died. He was three years old. There was a younger child who was just a year old, who did not attend the picnic and obviously he survived. Thomas and Catherine had another brother called John, and John was born in 1894, so he was younger than Catherine but two years older than Thomas, and John died in 1907. There was another sister who was born in 1898. So those are the four children.

Natalie Zett:

There seem to be some other issues with the family insofar as when I was looking at Bridget's obituary the father seems to not have been in the picture. I just have a sense of that from the way it was reported. This family has been through a lot. Here's Thomas Maron's obituary from the Chicago Tribune, july 31st 1915. Thomas Maron, 19 years old, 2616 West Adams Street, was a brother of Mrs Catherine Wood, who was also drowned with her little son, george. Mr Marron was the only son of Mr and Mrs Patrick Marron and was employed by the Western Electric Company. The funeral was Wednesday. From the home of his sister to the Mount Carmel Cemetery. Now we're going to go on to the Wood family. This is also from the July 31st issue of the Chicago Tribune Catherine Wood, 22 years old, and baby George J Jr, 3 years and 2 months old, 4537 Jackson Boulevard. She is survived by her husband, george J Wood, and her parents, patrick and Mrs B Maran, 2333 West Harrison Street. Funeral was held from the Jackson Boulevard residence interment at Mount Carmel.

Natalie Zett:

So let's return to where we began, and that would be Folder 14, claims and Libels from the National Archives. So I'm going to truncate what I read to you from these court files here because there's a lot of repetitive language, but let's talk about Thomas Marne because he is the one. This is the first omission that I've seen from George Hilton's work. So these records are from Folder 14, claims and Libels. This document reads United States of America, state of Illinois, northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division and in the matter of the proceedings filed by the St Joseph Steamship Company to limit liability, etc.

Natalie Zett:

To the honorable judges of said court, the undersigned respectfully shows, represents and alleges as follows First, that he is the duly appointed, qualified and acting public administrator of Cook County in the state of Illinois and, by proper proceedings instituted and now pending in the probate court of Cook County in said state of Illinois, was duly appointed the administrator of the estate of Thomas Marron, deceased late, of said county and state. Second, that on the 24th of July 1915, said decedent became and was a passenger for hire in and upon the steamer Eastland mentioned in the petition of the handled and controlled by the St Joseph Chicago Steamship Company and the officers, captain, crew, agents and servants in that behalf, and contrary to their duty to said decedent, that while the steamer Eastland was at leaving or about to leave, the dock at or near a navigable stream, the Chicago River, the steamer Eastland listed capsized, listed capsized, turned over and sunk and thereby caused the death of said decedent. Third, that the undersigned is informed and believes and so states the facts to be at the time of the death of said decedent he was nineteen years of age and the sole support of his mother and invalid sister. Fourth, that pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 70, entitled Injuries of the Statutes of the State of Illinois, the undersigned as administrator is entitled to recover, by reason of said wrongful acts, neglect and defaults, the sum of $10,000 for the benefit of the next of kin of said decedent. Fifth, that said decedent left him surviving Bridget Marron, his mother, patrick Marron, his father, and Mary Agnes Marron, his sister, his only heirs at law and next of kin. Maron, his sister, his only heirs at law and next of kin.

Natalie Zett:

6. That the undersigned files and presents this claim without prejudice to or in any wise waiving limiting or releasing any and all other rights afforded by law or equity. It's signed James T Riley hard to read the handwriting administrator of the estate of Thomas Maron, deceased. So I'm not going to read the entire record for Catherine or for George, simply because it's the same legal language that you just heard in Thomas' claim.

Natalie Zett:

So we'll start with this excerpt from Catherine Morin Wood's claim that, pursuant to the provision of Chapter 70, etc.

Natalie Zett:

The undersigned as administrator is entitled to recover, by reason of said wrongful acts, neglect and defaults, the sum of $10,000 for the benefit of the next of kin of said decedent, catherine Mararen Wood Fifth.

Natalie Zett:

That said decedent left her surviving George John Wood, her husband, and Robert Thomas Wood, her son, her only heirs at law and next of kin.

Natalie Zett:

Now I'm reading the last part of the claim for george j wood he was the three-year-old son of catherine wood and the provision of Chapter 70, etc.

Natalie Zett:

The undersigned, as administrator, is entitled to recover by reason of wrongful acts, neglect and defaults the sum of $10,000 for the benefit of the next of kin of said decedent.

Natalie Zett:

That said decedent left him surviving George John Wood, his father, and Robert Thomas Wood, his brother, his only heirs at law. So that sums up what I've learned about this family so far, and early on, when I kept discovering all these untold stories, not to mention unknown people involved in the Eastland disaster, I wrote a tagline on my website because I was kind of frustrated and I said they've waited long enough and they really have really have. As you learned, they were asking for $10,000 for each life here. I'm not sure if they got what they asked for. So the research will continue and, stepping back, the biggest lesson I've learned in the last couple of years as I've researched the various people who were involved in the Eastland disaster is this that the history of these people needs to continue to grow and expand and go deeper. Or maybe, to quote a quote that was attributed to Edgar Allan Poe believe nothing you hear and only half that you see. I don't know if he really said that, but in a way it applies to what I've uncovered with the Eastland disaster. It's far more complicated and far more rich and interesting than I ever was led to believe, and I hope you're enjoying this journey too, even through the legal documents.

Natalie Zett:

So that's it for this week. I don't know what will happen next week, but something will happen because there is that huge backlog of people, so we'll see what surprises they have in store for us. In the meantime, take care of yourselves, take care of each other. Talk to you soon. Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information, please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book, available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now. You.

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