The Untold Story of Titanic’s “Unsinkable” Survivor D
life for American women looked very different back when Margaret Molly Brown showed up on the scene yet while men expected women to be seen and not heard Brown did everything but even when she landed right in the center of one of history’s most infamous tragedies as the Titanic sank Molly Brown noticed something horribly wrong with her Lifeboat she begged the Sailor to turn back when he refused Brown’s response shocked the boat into silence stick around for more on that later born to Immigrant parents in Missouri in the late 1860s Molly Brown didn’t grow up with much material luxury in her life her father worked as a laborer and her parents had four mouths to feed in addition to hers fortunately for her though she did luck out with something money can’t buy unlike many much more segregated places in America at that time Brown’s hometown boasted some interesting levels of variety she grew
up with lots of different types of people no doubt expanding her ideals even more intriguing though she got something a lot of little girls didn’t back then in general most families didn’t focus on education for their daughters at that time men got the education while women learned to take care of the home but Brown’s parents encouraged her to learn and sent her to school as long as they could afford it anyway unfortunately Brown’s father struggled to make ends meet for his family so at 13 years years old brown joined the workforce as a laborer at a tobacco Factory but Brown wanted more for herself and her family and judging by her next move she didn’t mind making huge changes to get it in the 1880s immigration to Colorado exploded when new opportunities arose in several areas especially in mining for precious metals like silver and gold Tales of people migrating to the mining towns and
hitting it big traveled across the country and before long brown went off in search of her own piece of the pie Brown snatched up the opportunity to move to Colorado in 1886 she headed there with her brother sister and brother-in-law things in her new HomeTown likely didn’t look quite as Stellar as brown imagined she shared a small home with her brother and found a job at a store but all around her she saw the shockingly harsh realities of Life near the mines many families gave up everything to go to Colorado with the hopes of striking gold and becoming rich but in reality work in the minds proved to be harsh and often dangerous moreover companies employing the miners often took advantage of them Brown needed a new plan and she needed it fast now 18 years old brown realized she could marry which presented her with new options for her future just a short
while after settling in Colorado Brown met a poor engineer named James Joseph Brown or JJ for short reportedly JJ boasted quite the intellect Brown fell in love with his mind but tried her best not to fall too hard for the man himself but try as she might it seems our girl just couldn’t resist not even one full year after arriving in Colorado Brown married her new man the two moved closer to his mining job living among other mining families and while other women in her situation might have pouted she found a truly inspiring way to stay busy Brown made a name for herself in her new community in no time in general many of the families around them struggled to make ends meet and even though she didn’t have much money herself she made a point of looking out for others by helping to create soup kitchens and just in time too considering the tragedy on
the horizon in the early 1890s economic conditions in Colorado took a major turn downward the price of silver dropped drastically meaning many miners essentially lost their livelihoods bankruptcy and bank failures came next but right about that time things in the brown household got the luckiest boost on the planet in that very same year JJ’s hard work and research resulted in the discovery of gold in one of the nearby mines with that and the Very substantial holding of stock he had in the company he worked for he officially changed the brown family’s life forever with that turn of events Brown found herself swimming in money with a man she loved a win-win if I do say myself despite her deep connections to the working Community Brown saw a chance to get the fantasy life she always wanted the very next year she and her husband purchased
a majestic new home they bought a Victorian sized house that would come up to over a million dollars by today’s math but of course Brown needed a sh Shin new lifestyle to match their shiny new house with the sudden increase in wealth came a sudden increase in Social standing in the blink of an eye brown gained access to some of the town’s most exclusive Social Circles including one of the earliest iterations of the Denver Women’s Club she learned new languages and brushed shoulders with the American Elite but she never forgot what really mattered she decided to use her Newfound status and wealth to change the world brown very quickly began to take on many Progressive issues on one end she joined other women in their efforts to gain the right to vote and in other circles she focused on the poor and working class helping to improve public conditions for people across the board but while she seemed to truly thrive in her new life
things back at home started to get shaky unfortunately the more Brown moved up and out into society the more JJ seemed to retreat while Brown ate up the new opportun unities and attention JJ preferred to continue living a quiet private life so what did they do to rekindle the flame something big the couple took off on a long international trip in the early 1900s they visited several countries including stops in Ireland Japan and the ever romantic France reportedly things got better for a while but before the end of the decade the two found themselves between a rock and a hard place Brown and JJ signed separation papers in 1909 they kept things very covert and private possibly to keep their names out of the Town gossip Mill they didn’t actually divorce but it did end over two decades of their marriage as they knew it but perhaps the
love didn’t totally go away considering what brown got away with in their separation JJ agreed to continue to provide for brown materially more specifically he provided her a monthly allowance that would equal about $24,000 in our time now on her own Brown didn’t slow down at all she continued to support important causes and travel for fun that’s how she found herself in Paris in 1912 touring with her daughter just before disaster Struck it all started with a call from back home while touring in France Brown received word about her grandson’s declining health she decided to go to New York to tend to him immediately at that time the fastest passage came by boat take one guess which now famous ship she decided to book her a trip on Brown boarded the Titanic in style and
of course in first class news on the street declared the new liner a scientific phenomenon supposedly the grandest and safest ship to ever sail the sea April 14th 1912 found Brown relaxing in her cabin likely without a care in the world other than getting home to her sick grandson she remembered reading a book when she heard a crash felt some type of impact and fell to the floor she didn’t get too concerned not until the very next thing she laid eyes on when Brown left her cabin to check out the commotion she described seeing a man with a truly terrified expression he told her to get your Lifesaver it didn’t take long after that for her to realize the ship was going under but once she did she didn’t react quite like you might expect her to Brown’s protective instincts kicked in rather than rushing to save her life she started to assist and direct other passengers to board the
lifeboats but as she worked to save others the ship continued to sink and eventually someone literally had to force her out reportedly someone literally grabbed a brown and put her into a Lifeboat as they lowered it into the ocean effectively saving her life and while someone else might have breathed a sigh of relief at this point Brown quickly noticed a problem that she just needed to rectify the Lifeboat came equipped with enough space for 65 passengers but only a few people managed to initially get on it when Brown realized how much space remained she tried to get a male sailor on board to turn back for more people that didn’t go like she expected the Sailor initially refused to turn back reportedly he thought their Lifeboat might sink if they did either from the pull of the ocean or other sinking passengers trying to overload their boat but Brown didn’t want to hear
it allegedly Brown forced his hand more details on that later now loaded with more Passengers The Crew started navigating away from the sinking Titanic help didn’t come right away though and the women aboard likely including our Supergirl Brown had to help row but finally in the wee hours of the morning another ship arrived to rescue them as a member of the top echelons of society at the time Brown got the chance to learn several different languages and once she got aboard this new ship she found herself using these different languages to help with the frazzled and distressed survivors aboard but it didn’t feel like enough for her so she did even more Brown took special interest in the women on board she realized that unlike her many of the women lost their husbands and Sons that left them with much defense back in the real world and would likely cause them to struggle she
thought fast and came up with a surprising but totally genius plan Brown started connecting with the other Rich passengers she recognized on board she explained the plight of several of the women on board and asked them to make donations for their life after the tragedy several agreed managing to rustle up $10,000 in donations safe and sound at home the news of Brown’s heroism emerged as top story in several of Denver’s local gossip columns they called her the unsinkable Mrs Brown sending her story far and wide just a few years after her Unsinkable Story made the rounds throughout the US Molly Brown found herself in the midst of an econ I OMC controversy due to terrible working conditions the miners in her Colorado Hometown went on strike meanwhile their company bigwigs refused to bow to their
commands and how did Brown factor in well she got right in the middle of things with her strong connections to both sides of the argument Brown found herself in quite a sticky spot with her intellect and new found popularity both sides wanted her to be their spokesperson in the end though she refused to give in to either side instead Brown chose her own path forward without demonizing the wealthy company owners and their circle of elite she spoke up for the rights of the miners and when the strike actually led to a physical altercation she worked even harder to get the companies to make a move after several weeks of Brown’s pressing speeches the company owners agreed to make the necessary changes to improve working conditions in the mines perhaps that situation gave her an extra boost in confidence considering what she decided to get up to next setting her sights on the future Brown decided to
start spending more time living at her summer home in Newport Newport boasted some of the very best high social status had to offer at the time and brown took advantage of the opportunities for her kind there unlike just about any other city in America at the time women basically ran and Newport not officially of course it was still just the early 1900s mind you but with the men gone to New York City to work most of the time the women they left behind pretty much ran things before long brown connected herself to just the right women Brown became a close friend and colleague of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont yes that Vanderbilt at the time Belmont served as the president of the National Women’s Suffrage Association using both her money and influence to promote women’s right to vote together the two women played vital roles in launching the conference of great women in 1914 this
event served to single the increase of effort for women’s rights as well as the rights of workingclass persons across the board even more than launching the event though Brown seized the opportunity to push herself forward she gave a rousing speech at the conference pressing into the issues of the laborers at the mindes and the rights of every person deserved despite economic standing and with that she primed herself for an unbelievable Endeavor shortly after the conference Molly Brown threw her hat in the ring for Senator of Colorado this came as a surprise considering women still couldn’t vote even so her odds seemed strong as both men and women responded well to her platform but before she could NAB her seat World War I blew in like a terrifying storm that same year despite the growing success of her Senate campaign Brown seemed to immediately feel the pull to find the
best way to work to help those affected by the worldwide Calamity before long she made a decision that totally changed her path Brown abandoned her campaign to work during the war even more importantly she became the director of the American Committee for devastated France she gave her all all to her new efforts and earned a French Legion of Honor once peace returned to the Nations but between her political runs and her work abroad personal tragedy struck back at home JJ Brown’s husband passed on in 1922 though the two separated long before it seems they never harbored any ill will toward each other Brown only spoke highly of him after his passing but maybe that had less to do with how amazing a man he proved to be than the amazing money he left behind before he passed JJ made sure to move a very sizable amount of money to the kids
he and brown birthed there’s no literal number attached by most records but all things considered they definitely received a pretty sizable sum but alas it wasn’t enough Brown’s children ultimately took her to court to try to efficiently divide the estate among them all it’s not super clear what came of the court case but I can’t imagine it left a good taste in their mother’s mouth eventually both Brown and the children ended up with plenty of money to go around and brown made another shift in the nature of her life Brown shifted her attention to pursuing the Arts especially acting while she didn’t find any notable success she did enjoy her time with theater she even played a notable role in the play Lego when she wasn’t busy on the stage she enjoyed her life as a fabulous rich single woman Brown reportedly spent most of her time in New York City as she Grew Older that
totally makes sense as New York quickly started to become a Mecca of all things arts and culture just around that time but of course Brown didn’t live life in the Big Apple like the average person like everything else she did it in very high style in her final years Brown moved into the barbin hotel in New York y City now living in a hotel already sounds very Posh and luxurious but to make things even more interesting several other huge celebrities stayed at the hotel as well including ingred Bergman and Candice Bergen perhaps after a life so large brown didn’t really think about the end but as it does for every soul the end eventually came Molly Brown passed on in 1932 she seemingly went very peacefully in her sleep though doctors later declared
that a brain tumor ended her life her family buried her in a cemetery that still exists in Westbury New York and though Brown’s Body went into the ground her story went on getting even bigger after her passing interestingly enough despite the way Brown’s husband’s wealth contributed to her life and work overall she is the most memorable of her entire family so much so that historians turned both the house she grew up in and the summer house she got with her husband into museums bearing her name Brown’s life ultimately became a symbol of something impossible to sink as such there’s a Riverboat in a Disneyland ride named after her as well as an entire spacecraft called Molly Brown even with all that what stands as the most interesting look back at Brown’s life is probably something she would have loved to actually participate in in 1964 the
musical comedy The Unsinkable Molly Brown debuted in American theaters though inspired by Brown’s life and especially her experience on the Titanic the film fictionalized much of the details in an attempt to make the story more entertaining for audiences the reception was mixed to say the least they praised the music tone and cinematography of the film overall but they criticized the main character as the production made her much more superficial all ambivalent reviews aside the film turned out to be a box office success it eventually became the most successful film to debut in that time period at Radio City Music Hall furthermore it earned an Academy Award nomination fitting considering the truly undaunted woman that inspired it speaking of undaunted remember when Molly Brown made the Sailor of her Lifeboat go back for more passengers
well the Sailor had been adamant about not going back until Brown said something that shocked the whole boat into silence she told him that if he didn’t turn back she’d throw him in the ocean and turn back to save the others herself I imagine she made that declaration with the kind of facial expression that makes a threat sound more like a promise because he finally turned back over the years Brown popped up over and over again in portrayals of her life and the story of the Titanic from the 1950s right up to the present day and if you’ve made it to the end of this I’m sure you can see why the story of Brown’s truly Fierce and Fabulous life is just too exciting and unbelievable not to tell over and over again thanks for watching history expose if you love uncovering the best stories in history hit like And subscribe to keep exploring with us us don’t forget to visit our main page facton 8 for more
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