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SylviaCaldwell2

Sylvia Mae Caldwell as a young woman.

Sylvia Mae Caldwell was a passenger on the Titanic.

Background[]

Sylvia Mae Harbaugh was American, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as one of the daughters given to the pair of Chambers Christian Harbaugh and Sylvania Rosalie Harris. On July 23, 1883, they had Sylvia as their second daughter as she was preceeded by Alice Elizabeth in 1881. Sylvia Mae was given 2 sisters and a brother later. Beatrice Sarah was the first in 1887. Their only son came to life in 1890: Milton. Eva Lousia followed them as the last, in 1891.

She grew up as a christian and followed education at Park College, which was a Presbyterian college in Parkville, Missouri. There, she met the man that she would marry. His name was Albert Francis Caldwell, from Sanborn in Iowa.  They were in the same class and the school inspired both to become foreign missionaries. When they graduated in 1909, they landed jobs teaching at Bangkok Christian College in the country of Moon Thai, later called Siam, in name of the We now know it as Thailand.  They worked in the name of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, for the church. It was called a college, but it was just a secondary school.

Their vows to one another came on September the first that year. The ceremony was in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They took their residence in Biggsville,  Illnois, for a short while, as they soon set about on their jouney across the world. To get there, Albert and Sylvia bought themselves a boat. They went westbound and naviagted the Pacific for 6 weeks till they were finally there.

The Caldwells were required to stay in Siam at least seven years, but soon Sylvia became ill. The problem was compounded when she became pregnant with their son Alden Gates, born June 10, 1911. After more struggles with her health, Sylvia’s doctor ordered her to go home, however, some of the missionaries felt she had been misdiagnosed. Thus, when the Caldwells asked permission to leave just two years into their seven-year hitch, the mission voted them down.  This was a blow, because part of their pay was their trip home. If they were voted down, they would have no way to afford the trip halfway around the world to Illinois.

Albert begged for the church to send them home and finally got reluctant permission. One person who stewed about their leaving, however, was their boss. He wrote to the Board of Foreign Missions in New York, “When they arrive in New York, have Mrs. Caldwell examined by some of our doctors before settling their account.” If Sylvia was found to be healthy, the Caldwells would be required to pay the forbiddingly large sum of money for their trip home.

SylviaCaldwell

Sylvia Mae Caldwell in Siam, before their journey to Europe.

It was the Spring of 1912, when they left Bangkok to go back home. Once they were on the open ocean of the Pacific, they had a change of heart and believed it would be pleasant to go west and see more of the world, or try to mislead the representatives of the Presbyterian board. A steamer landed them in Singapore first, before a faster, German passenger ship brought the Caldwells across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal back to Europe. She docked in Naples, Italy. Sylvia had endured a lot of seasickness, something she struggled with throughout life.

At the port, they saw a ship sporting an American flag, so they thought that she was a good option to get back to their motherland. This vessel was no less than the RMS Carpathia. They got at the queue to get tickets, but, they went back to their hotel at having second thoughts. She had to rest and maybe the Carpathia wasn’t so stable. They descried that there was cholera in the region. They wanted to go and leave quickly. Albert saw an advertisment eulogizing the Titanic, which could be the perfect ship for them, as it was luxurious and also large, perhaps Sylvia would not be so seasick on this liner. Albert was resulote: they should go with that ship and Sylvia didn’t protest.

The Caldwells would first tour some more through Europe after Sylvia had rested enough in Naples. They had bought new clothes in Paris to then make their way to London. In London, Albert attempted to obtain tickets but there were full bookings for Second Class. The disappointed Mr. Caldwell was tipped by the clerk to come back the next day and sure enough, there was a cancellation.

Titanic[]

The glamorous White Star Liner would start her Maiden Voyage in Southampton, where she appeared in April 10, to have Sylvia, Albert and Alden as her passengers. She left after 12 o’clock. Earlier in the morning, they had gotten from London on the boattrain for Second Class that would go all the way to the docks were Titanic was moored. During the travel through Soutern England, Sylvia picked up words of others that would also go to Titanic with the train. She was surprised to hear everyone describe the Titanic as unsinkable. As she was on the ship, 28 years old, she practically interrogated the luggage servent as Sylvia was skeptical. To answer her question, she spoke the famous words: Yes, lady. God himself could not sink this ship.”

It was April 14 when the Second Class Dining Saloon held a service, where hymans were song. Sylvia was intreagued by this man, the reverend Ernest Carter. He was leading them. Sylvia was very happy on the Titanic. This was basically the first time she could really take delight in eating onboard a ship, her seasickness was totally not hindering her anywmore.

On the night of April 14, Sylvia felt something hit the ship. She described it as a big dog shaking a small kitten in its mouth. Albert had not felt or heard the collision, but he could tell the ship had halted as his upper bunk normally vibrated sympathetically with the ship but this rhythm had been aborted.  He leapt out of bed, threw on a raincoat  and ran out on deck, where he saw a sailor peering over the side. “Why have we stopped?” he asked. The man said that they had bumped into an iceberg and believed it hadn’t done any harm. Convinced, Albert got back to bed.

Just as she was drifting off, there was a knock on the door and a crewman ordering, “Everyone on deck with your lifebelts.” The Caldwells were dismayed.  The baby had been screaming earlier in the day, so they had had to placate him by letting him play with their keys  and they didn’t want Alden to tune up again.  They dressed in their oldest clothes and went to get Alden’s little coat and little hat out of their travel trunk. That’s when they realized the baby had lost the keys to the trunk.  They searched but nothing turned up, so they wrapped Alden in a blanket, took easy clothes and left their valuable belongings in the trunk.

During the early hours hours of 15th April 1912, as Titanic was sinking, Sylvia, her husband and boy were on deck but the pair chattered gayly with other passengers. There was no panic and nobody was in any state of fear. Her husband was still convinced of the toughness of this ship, as were the others, who were reluctant to board any lifeboat. The order for the lowering of boats came as a surprise to Sylvia, her husband and the peopl around them.

As Albert was standing around, Sylvia asked him to go back to the cabin and get another blanket for Alden. One sailor though the Second Class passengers would be less cold at the enclosed promenade on B-Deck, so they were sent there. The idea was that they could board a boat from the gangway doors, so Sylvia with Albert and Alden went down there, as did some others. But time went by and nothing happened. Mrs. Caldwell found that it was fruitless to stay here any longer so they went to go back up.

They were at a closed gangway on C-Deck and had to climb the ladder because somebody locked the door behind them. Albert carried the baby at that point. A bedroom steward held him, wanting to take Alden out of his hands, saying no more men where needed, when another Second Class passenger, Hilda Mary Slayter, stepped up to defend Albert. “Can’t this man bring his child to the boat himself?” He was then let through, but they still had to take crew ladders as one staircase was blocked. Sylvia was not able to climb such a ladder, due to her disease called Neurasthenia. She didn’t have the physical strength to climb. A rope ladder was let down for her.

The Caldwells attitude changed when Albert encountered the stoker he had met a few days back. He had been visiting the coal bunkers to photograph the firemen at their work before asking a fireman to make a photo of himself shoveling coal. The man was more than happy to give him this pleasure. Right now, the fireman warned Albert that this could not end well, which Albert took serious.

At that moment, lifeboat 13 was going by. The stokers stopped it at A-Deck and got on, with the Caldwells following them into the boat. To their horror, 13 did not go down the side of the Titanic smoothly. What made matters worse was the bilge water that came from the side, as the boat was in the water, but not released. the pumps tried their best to slow Titanic’s descendence.  To get away from the stream of water, the crew released the oars, but now, boat 13 drifted underneath lifeboat 15, which was being lowered and nearly came down on them. They would be dead if it wasn’t for stoker Frederick Barrett and an able seaman, Robert Hopkins, who took out knives, although Sylvia thought one of the knives was handed down from 15. They sawed away at the ropes that still stubbornly bound 13 to the Titanic, because the paint was stuck in the release mechanism.

As Albert was going to help rowing, Alden was given for a brief moment to Mrs. Hilda Slayter. She and Lawrence Beesley made sure that his feet where warm. The boy was crying when he woke up as he had cold toes. After wrapping them, he felt better and stopped wailing. As boat 13 rowered away from the Titanic, she offered an eerie view. The sight of the sinking would stay for long with the Caldwells, as well as the death of so many people.

After the sinking[]

The boat was at sea for a few hours, until they saw a familiar sight, to their surprise. The same vessel they had spotted in the Naples harbor, RMS Carpathia, had now come to pick them up.

They were forced to stay in a lounge and sleep either on the floor or in a chair. After a stormy few days at sea, Carpathia was finally in the harbor of New York on April 18. The trouble for the Caldwells was however not over. Their employer was waiting for them when the Carpathia docked. A friend of them came to see them, both being surprised to meet eachother here. The friend had a perception of the plan that Sylvia’s former employees had hatched. The boss of the Presbysterian Church, who was a mean man, was still hounding them and had ensured for an ambulance to be waiting near the New York harbors, to collect Sylvia, as they wanted to be sure that she was really ill. The consequences could be big: They would have to pay everything back from the cost of their trip, while going back to Siam to work for them for 5 more years.

Their friend got them away safely. They were treated well by the Chelsea Hotel, where they were offered safe, free lodgings for a week, after which they were given free train tickets to get to Biggsville.

Later life[]

Sylvia gave birth to another son on December 21, 1914. He was named Raymond Milton Caldwell. Albert was a headmaster during those days. Sylvia’s career also got a boost. The State Farm Insurance company employed her. Through her, Albert also got a function there as well.

Seperation came in 1930. Both found another love many years later.

Sylvia became the wife of George Jacob Mecherle on 8th January 8, 1944. George was born in Bloomington and had divorced too. Sylvia Mae Mecherle’s life as a stepmother soon began. George had 4 children from his marriage with his ex-wife May Edith Perry, also from Illnois. They were Raymond Perry, George Ermond, Herbert Lowell and Hubert Carroll.

Sylvia was a patient for 14 months in the Brokaw Hospital, where she died at 81 years old, on the 14th of January, 1965.

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