Ruth Taussig was a First Class Passenger of the RMS Titanic when it sank on its Maiden Voyage on April 15, 1912. She survived the sinking and later died on 17th June 1957.
Biography[]
Ruth Mandelbaum was born in Manhattan, New York on 18 December 1862. Her parents were German-born and Jewish, her father Herman being a tobacco merchant. Her mother was Rosa Weil. Her parents came to the USA in the 1860s from Kassel and Baden, respectively. She had two sisters, Sarah, born in 1859 whom later married Max Dessavier, later had a younger sister, Blanche, born in 1873, who married Gabriel Lang. According to the 1880 census, they are listed as residents of 834 First Avenue, Manhattan.
On 18 January 1883, Ruth Mandelbaum married Emil Taussig, the Bohemian-born son of children's clothing manufacturer Solomon Taussig. Later that year, they had a daughter, Mary, which was the only child they had together.
The family appear on the 1900 census as residents of 1335 Madison Avenue, Manhattan. In 1903, Mary had wed to John Davis Weller, and in 1904, they had two children - Tillie and Millie. By the 1910 census they are still residents of Madison Avenue, later living at 777 West End Avenue by 1912. Ruth and her family later went on Vacation to Vienna together.
Titanic[]
Following the visit to Vienna, the family needed to get back home, so Ruth, her husband, daughter and granddaughters boarded the Titanic at Southampton as First Class passengers (joint ticket number 110413 which cost £79, 13s). Ruth and Emil stayed in E-67, with the rest of their family across the hall. Their cabin was a switchable cabin which could be Second or First Class depending on the amount of passengers on board during the voyage.
On the night of the sinking the Taussigs were reportedly alerted to the danger by German steward Alfred Theissinger, he telling them "You better put on your lifebelts and rush out on deck." "Is it as serious as all that?" asked Mr Taussig. "Yes, hurry" was Theissinger's reply. Mr Taussig escorted his family to a lifeboat, which was number 8, before standing back, despite the pleas from Millie and Tillie to have him join them.
Mrs Taussig later shared her story the night of the sinking (New York Times, 22 April 1912):
"When we came on deck... Capt. Smith was preparing the eighth boat to be let down. There was only one seaman in sight, but a number of stewards had rushed up between the crowding men and women. The Captain turned to the stewards and asked them if they knew how to row. They answered ‘'Yes' hastily, and four of them were allowed to jump in. Only twenty women were near the boat, and these were put in. My daughter Mary was among the first, with my grandchildren, but I said that I wouldn't go if my husband did not accompany me. There was room for fourteen more after the last woman had found her place, and they all pleaded to let the men take the empty seats. But the Captain said that he would not allow it. I was frantic. There was that boat, ready to be lowered into the water and only half full. Then the order came to lower. The men were pleading for permission to step in, and one came forward to take a place next to his wife. I heard a shot and I am sure it was he that went down.
"Then the boat swung out from the deck. I was still with my husband, and Mary had already disappeared below the deck. I gave a great cry---I remember perfectly calling out the name of my daughter---and two men tore me from my husband's side, lifted me, one by the head and one by the feet, and dropped me over the side of the deck into the lowering boat. I struck on the back of my head, but I had furs on, and that fact probably saved me from greater injury.
"The terrible thing was that we had so much room left for the poor men who were snatched away. When we got to the water the four stewards who had told the Captain they could row couldn't row at all. There was only one seaman to command the boat and an English woman whose name I cannot now remember took an oar and rowed until we were half a mile from the Titanic. My daughter also had furs on. The sailor took them from her. You'll not need them,’ he said, and we never saw them again...."
After Titanic[]
Following her arrival in New York, Ruth stayed with her father at 1229 Park Avenue. Five months after the disaster, while administering her late husband's estate, Mrs Taussig found some shares which had, hitherto, been thought worthless. She sold the shares, for the Engelhardt Collapsible Lifeboat Company, for $2000.
She was remarried on 14 February 1920 to Morris Samuel, who was born in 1863, a clothing merchant and widower originally from Rochester, New York, and they resided in Manhattan. By 1921 the couple were residents of 305 West End Avenue, later moving to 270 Park Avenue by the middle of the decade. From the latter part of the 1920s into the late 1930s, it seems that they were permanent inhabitants of the Savoy Hotel on 5th Avenue. By the time of the 1940 census, they were living at East 58th Street.
Morris and Ruth were avid globe trekkers, visiting many destinations including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Hawaii, Palestine, Egypt, Gibraltar, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Algeria, Turkey, Spain, Tunisia and Portugal. They appeared on passenger lists for ships such as Aquitania, Mauretania, Berengaria, Ile De France, Normandie and Leviathan.
Ruth was made a widow for a second time on 2 August 1948 when Morris died. She herself passed away in Manhattan nine years later on 17 June 1957 aged 94. She is buried in the Samuel family Mausoleum in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Hawthorne, New York.
Popular Culture[]
Roblox Titanic: Reimagined[]
Ruth Taussig boarding Lifeboat 7 in Roblox Titanic: Reimagined
Ruth Taussig only appeared in the film Roblox Titanic: Reimagined which released in 2023. He was portrayed by j2ninecat, although uncredited as she was a non-speaking extra, referred only to as Emil's wife. She incorrectly boards Lifeboat 7, with her husband unable to follow her.