Hannah Riordan in the 1920s
Hannah Riordan was a passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Miss Hannah Riordan was born in Glenlougha, Kingwilliamstown, Co. Cork, Ireland on 27th January, 1891, as the daughter of Peter Riordan and Mary O'Connor. Peter was a farmer. Both parents were born in Kingwilliamstown, which is now Ballydesmond. Hannah had 2 elder sisters. The eldest was Ellen who was born in 1887. She was followed by Julia in 1889. Two brothers and two sisters would follow after Hannah. They were: Maria, born in 1892, Hanora Mary, born in 1894, James, born in 1896 and lastly, Eugene in 1897.
In 1899, Hannah lost her mother when she was only 8, with Mary only being 30. Her father continued to look after the children with help from his mother-in-law, without finding a new wife.
Hannah was working as a domestic servant in 1911.
Titanic[]
She boarded Titanic at Queenstown as a Third Class passenger (ticket number 334915, £7, 14s, 5d). Her destination was 319 Lexington Avenue, New York City where her sister Ellen lived. Ellen was holding a position she had found for Hannah as a domestic worker. Hannah was accompanied on the Titanic by Daniel Buckley, Bridget Bradley, Patrick Denis O'Connell, her cousin Patrick O'Connor, Nora O'Leary and Michael Linehan who was also from Kingwilliamstown.
According to Senan Molony’s 'The Irish Aboard the Titanic', Hannah was probably not up on the Boat Deck until lifeboat 13 was being prepared for launch at 1:40 A.M.—the next-to-last lifeboat on the aft starboard to be launched. This meant that for nearly two hours, she was stuck in steerage, where, because of the distance from the rescue boats, she had only a 50/50 chance of being saved. It was another young Irishman, John Meehan, who escorted her to a lifeboat. From the Boat Deck, Patrick O’Connor called out to her party as she got into lifeboat 13, "Goodbye girls – I'll see you in New York," but he went down with the Titanic.
In New York, Hannah’s sisters Nellie and Julia were sure she had perished -- a newspaper report listing survivors mangled her name as "Anna Reibon," the result of a botched wireless transmission -- so they were astonished several days later when, after going to the pier to see the incoming rescue ship Carpathia, they caught sight of the shivering Han on her way off the boat.
Later life[]
Hannah's subsequent experience was more fortunate. Amazingly enough, twelve years after her perilous voyage, she journeyed across the Atlantic again to make a return visit to Ireland.
She was naturalized as a US citizen on 10th May, 1928 in New York City. In her application she is described as 150 pounds, brown hair, grey eyes, 5 feet, 9 inches tall with fair complexion. At the time she was living at 109 E. 72nd Street in New York City.
Hannah worked as a house maid for several New York families, most notably an old-money family that split time between New York City and when the mercury rose, Hyde Park: the Newbolds. She also assisted the next-door neighbors and friends of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For example, she brought FDR -by this time, crippled with polio- up in the elevator at Bellefield, which is now the National Park Service headquarters at FDR’s estate.
She was later married to John Spollen, son of James and Margaret Tilvius Spollen. The wedding took place on March 17, 1936 at St. Anselm's Church in the Bronx, New York. Shortly after the marriage, the couple moved to 14 Whitesboro Street in Utica, New York. At some point they returned to the Bronx and lived the rest of their lives. The couple had no children.
Hannah Spollen died on 29th September, 1982. She was survived by her husband and two nieces.