Ilyās Nīqūla Yārid was a child passenger on Titanic.
Background[]
Ilyās Nīqūla Yārid’s origin can be found in the mountain village of Al-Hākūr, Akkār, Syria, Ottoman Empire. In 1920, this part of Syria was made into a new country, the Lebanon. Ilyās was a son of Nīqūla Yārid and Nūr Badr. His father made flour as he operated a water-powered stone mill in the village. He was the only miller in Al Hakkūr, so his job was very important and he did it practically his whole life. Ilyās came into this world in 1900. He had one sister named Jamīlah, born before him in 1898, as were several other siblings, including an older brother named Isaac and two elder sisters. They were raised in Greek Orthodox tradition.
A few years later, the family seeked out a better life. The Ottomans caused a lot of trouble for them and constantly bothered their lands, harrassed the women and stole cattle. The Yārids had enough, they could not bear it any longer. There’s even a chance that Nīqūla would have to do military service and that they were persecuated for their religion. Mother Nūr and two of her daughters left Al-Hākūr first in 1904 and got to New York. The idea was to let the others come and join them later. In 1906, their son Isaac was next to migrate to America. He took a different route via Venezuela while the women waited for him in New York. When reunited, they went to Jacksonville in Florida to set up home there.
In March 1912, the other half of the family, which included Ilyās, Jamīlah and father Nīqūla, had stayed behind for long enough and were now ready to leave. Nīqūla had saved up enough money and had even sold his biggest pride: the flour mill. They left with a handcart.
Their first trip would lead to Beirut. Nīqūla was prevented by the agencies at the port from boarding the vessel as they found out he had pink-eye. He was now forced to let his teenage children of tender age, go on their own from Beirut to Marseilles in France. He gave Jamīlah a 100 pounds or 500 dollars and promised to get to them as soon as he was cleared. Maybe some fellow Syrians were there to help them on their way, as the younger ones obviously couldn’t speak a word of English but they put through with it and reached the South of France. From there, they had to go further north.
Titanic[]
While they boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, he was 10 to 12 years old and his sister was likely 14. She was given the responsibility by her father to take good care of everything and watch over her brother, because of her age. The two teenagers where the only ones on this ship who did not have a guardian. They were in Third Class like many other Syrians. Their cabin had bunks. Ilyās took the higher berth.
On the night of the 14th of April, something went wrong for Titanic. Ilyās and Jamīlah lay in their bunk as the first sign that there was anything amiss came, 20 minutes before midnight. They felt a hit. Suddenly the power was on and off for a moment. Passengers on the hallway made some ruckus and Jamīlah didn’t like it one bit.
Ilyās suffered from seasickness that night, so he couldn’t care much about any potential alarm or uproar, but sister Jamīlah immediately got up in armour and felt he should come with her and check things out. She kept pulling on him and was unwilling to leave his bunk. He felt she was exaggerating and that there was no reason to be alarmed.
Not long after that, an elderly man knocked on their door and told them, “Come out of your cabin and go to the upper deck. Don’t bother taking your belongings for now. You’ll get them later.” They were at the corridors when Jamīlah suddenly headed back to their cabin. She realised she couldn’t leave the $500 from her father behind. However, they were blocked by the inflow of water, which was already neck-deep in the corridor and was exerting so much pressure against the door to her cabin, that she was not able to open it.
So she rejoined her brother and they began searching for a way to get to the place where the lifeboats were located. The steerage areas had restrictions, so they found a detour to the First Class parts of the ship, via some steel ladders. The frightened boy even wanted to jump in the water but his sister stopped him from doing that.
It was none other than the most famous and rich passenger J.J. Astor who had put the two children to the safety of a lifeboat right after his very young and new wife Madeleine had been seen off into the boat. He spotted them on the Boat Deck. This means their lifeboat was number 4, which left the now deep-laying Titanic at 1:50 A.M,
“Nearer My God, To Thee” was played a while after the launch of his boat, according to Ilyās’ memories. As they rowed away, the ship settled faster and faster and he saw people in the water, which had stuck with him in later life, something he had rather forgotten about. For him, it was a terrifying experience. Titanic went down at 2:20 A.M.
After the sinking[]
Help was under way for the remaining Titanic denizens. The RMS Carpathia was a steamer which was further south and eastbound, but she responded quickly when Titanic’s marconists cried for help and turned around. She was at the disaster site at 4:00 A.M. For the two children in the lifeboat, they had to wait more hours before they reached her. When Carpathia had collected eveyrone, she set off to bring Titanic’s former passengers and crew on land in New York. She got there on the 18th of April.
They were brought over to the Saint Vincent’s Hospital. Brother Isaac had gotten height of the situation his dear siblings had been in and hot-footed his way to New York. He had to come all the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada where he had a honeymoon with his fresh bride. With the inconsistent and faulty lists of survivors, it might have been that Isaac and the rest of the family considered their family to be dead. Jamīlah was not in good health when she was bedbound at Saint Vincent’s. She had even lost her voice. The cold had struck her bad. Isaac managed to locate them and telegraphed the news to Jacksonville.
Then, the took them to his home in Nova Scotia where his siblings would recuperate further. When Jamīlah could speak again, Isaac brought them to Jacksonville. Father Nīqūla left on another passenger liner from France in July to complete the mission of getting the family together.
Later life[]
To intigrate well in his new country, Ilyās adopted a new name. He would continue living his life as Louis Nicholas Garrett from now on. His sister would be called Amelia Garrett from now on. Their names weren't the only thing that brother and sister changed. They went as far to make up a new birthdate, which was the 16th of April in 1900 for Louis while Amelia marked hers as April 15, 1898. For them it was symbolic as they narrowly escaped death and their real life started from there.
Brother Isaac lived in Fresno, California and Louis spent several years working together with him while staying at his home. Isaac however died young, in the 1920s at the age of 46. Louis was soon back in Florida.
Another part of the assimilation process was that Louis went to school for a few years, long enough to master the English language. Louis began a relationship with Elizabeth Shedise, the younger sister of Mary Shedise, Isaac's wife. The Shedise family was Syrian from origin and had migrated to Florida in 1905. Louis and Elizabeth tied the knot, marking February 5, 1926 as their wedding day. From their bond, a son came to be on April 2, 1927. Their happiness quickly turned into heartbreak, as he was alive for only a day. Fortunately, they were blessed with a second son in 1929, which they named Kenneth. He did survive childbirth. No further children would follow.
Louis changed religion when he studied the bible in 1930 and after he had an ideological falling out with the Greek Orthodox faith, the religion he was raised with. He was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness around 1933 and became very active in the door-to-door ministry from that time right up until his death.
After World War 2 was over, he flew to the Lebanon, a young country in the late 1940s, where his native town was, when it was still part of Syria in 1912. He now went to pay it a visit. In those years, he and Elizabeth got into the grocery business together. She died in 1951 due to complications from diabetes. Following the death of Elizabeth, it seems Louis managed to hit a few marital icebergs. He went to the altar three more times. He outlived one of his new wives, but the other two marriages ended in divorce. Louis was single at the time of his death.
Titanic had left an impression on the young Louis that lasted a lifetime, Louis, who was now older but still touched and psychologically wounded by the whole ordeal, as the emotions still came flowing when the sinking of the ship was discussed when he was around. He found it difficult to not tear up.He did have some interviews but it was clearly not a happy topic for him. His sister, on the other hand, was seemingly very easy to talk to regarding Titanic. Together, Louis and Amelia went to see the Fox 'Titanic' movie in 1953. They had a theater for themselves, as it was the screening of the film and they were guests in honor.
Louis retired from the grocery business in the mid-to-late ’60s, then devoted much of his time to religious activities. On 8 March 1970, his sister Amelia passed away.
Many years later, health problems began taking their toll on him. Louis Nicholas Garrett had his last day on May 30, 1981 in a hospital in Tucker, Georgia. Kenneth didn’t live far away from Tucker. Louis was in the hospital for a while already, waiting for prostate surgery. A cardiac arrest made an end to his life. He had gotten almost or slightly over 80 years old.