Titanic Survivor Buried at St. Agnes Cemetery

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Jennifer Mele under Genealogy, Historic St. Agnes Cemetery, Stories of our Dearly Departed
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Titanic Survivor Discovered at Historic St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands NY!

In early June, 2018 our office received an email inquiry into the grave location of Marion Hanlon who, according to a man living in the UK, was a Titanic survivor. We never considered St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands may be the final resting place of someone who survived the most famous ship wreck in modern history! The man, Trevor Baxter, was right!

When the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, a 30 year old Hannah O’Brien who was 4 months pregnant and her husband Thomas were 3rd class passengers. Thomas drowned. His wife and unborn baby made it safely to America. On September 3, 1912 little Marion Columba O’Brien was born. Her mother died in 1918 leaving her to be raised by relatives. Marion married William Hanlon, lived in Albany until her widowhood and moved to Tennessee to live with her daughter. She died there on July 4, 1994 and was brought back to Albany to be buried in St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands, NY.

The photo above of Marion and her mother Hannah O’Brien was provided by Marion’s daughter Catherine A. Fisher. Kelly Grimaldi, Director of Education and Program Development for Albany Diocesan Cemeteries spoke with Catherine who is in her 80’s, living in Tennessee and helped us piece together Marion’s story.

Another fascinating story found in these sacred grounds!

Read the Times Union’s story “St. Agnes Cemetery discovers link to Titanic” by Kenneth C. Crowe II.

Historian Kelly Grimaldi at Marion Hanlon's gravesite.

Albany Diocesan Cemeteries Historian Kelly Grimaldi at Marion Hanlon’s grave site.

Here is a link to information found on Encyclopedia Titanica:



Do you have a story of an ancestor and/or loved one buried in one of our cemeteries that would be interesting to highlight in our “Stories of our Dearly Departed” series?

We are looking for stories of those buried within the following 19 cemeteries:

St. Agnes, Menands  •  Most Holy Redeemer, Niskayuna  •  St. Anthony’s, Glenville  •  Our Lady of Angels, Colonie  •  Immaculate Conception and St. Patrick’s in Watervliet  •  Our Lady Help of Christians and Calvary in Glenmont  •  St. Agnes, Cohoes  •  St. Patrick’s, Coeymans  •  St. Jean de Baptiste, St. John’s, and St. Mary’s in Troy  •  Sts. Cyril & Method and Holy Cross in Rotterdam  •  St. Joseph’s, Waterford  •   St. John the Baptist and St. Mary’s in Schenectady  •   St. Mary’s, Coxsackie

If you have a story for us, contact Kelly at 518-350-7679 or [email protected].

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