Genealogical society to hear Titanic survivor Agnes Davies story in Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls families trying to trace a surname, preserve old records or connect a Copper Country ancestor to a larger story had a reason to stop at the Harbour House Museum Thursday evening. The Iron County Genealogical Society met at 6 p.m. at 17 N. Fourth St., where the program centered on Agnes Davies, a Titanic survivor whose life bridged Ludgvan, Cornwall, New York City and Calumet.

The gathering mattered to regular members because it was held at a different time and place than the society’s usual meeting spot in the J. Patrick White conference room at the West Iron District Library in Iron River. Visitors were invited, and the society said dues were now payable. The Harbour House Museum, which is open seasonally from May through September, also offers archives and research opportunities, making the Crystal Falls stop part meeting place, part local-history resource.

Davies was born Elizabeth Agnes Mary White on Nov. 23, 1863, in Ludgvan, Cornwall, England. She sailed as a second-class passenger on the Titanic with her son John Morgan Davies, her older son Joseph Charles Nicholls and family friend Maude Sincock. When the ship struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage, Davies made it into a lifeboat and survived the disaster.

Her journey did not end in New York. White Star Line provided her overnight lodging, a train ticket, $5 in cash and a lunch box before she continued west. On the train between Negaunee and Calumet, passengers who recognized the family’s situation raised money for her, a detail that ties the Titanic story directly to the Upper Peninsula. Davies later recounted her experience at the Calumet Opera House, a reminder that her survival was remembered in the Copper Country soon after the sinking.

The presentation also carried a personal note for museum president Chris Johnson, who is a cousin of Davies. That family connection fit the broader work of the society and the county’s history institutions, including the West Iron District Library at 116 West Genesee Street in Iron River and the Iron County Historical Museum in Caspian, which offers family history files, obituary collections and copies of The Reporter newspaper.

For Iron County researchers, the story of Agnes Davies offered more than Titanic history. It showed how a family line can run from rural England to Crystal Falls and Calumet, and how local records still help make those connections visible.