Virginia Estelle Clark

Virginia Estelle Clark (née McDowell) was a passenger on *Titanic*.

Virigina Estelle McDowell was born in Helena, Montana as the only child to US deputy marshal Samuel Kendrick McDowell and Addie May Caldwell. Her father was born in Illinois to Irish immigrant parents whilst her mother hailed from Colorado. The family appears on the 1900 census living at their home, 5th Avenue, Helena when Virginia was described as still being at school.

Her father died on December 1st, 1902 and was buried in his native Illinois.

Virginia became aquatinted with Walter Miller Clark (born 1884), a Montana native and a Los Angels resident; they were married in New York at the home of her uncle George McDowell on January 5th, 1909. They were shown residing in Los Angeles on the 1910 census and were listed twice; once at the home of her parents-in-law at West Adams Street and then at their own home, Severance Street. Virgins and Walter's only child, James Ross Clark, was born on April 24th, 1910.

Virginia and Walter took a belated honeymoon to Europe in early 1912 but cut their trip short to return home and celebrate James birthday. They boarded the RMS *Titanic* at Cherbourg as First Class passengers on April 10th, 1912 and they occupied cabin C-89.

## Disaster

The ship had struck an iceberg on April 14th at 11:40 P.M. Virginia was alone in her cabin when the collision occurred; although noting that the impact was slight, she admitted that she felt something was wrong and immediately dressed and ascended to the Promenade Deck. She found Walter in the First Class Smoking Room playing cards with acquaintances and they made enquiries with officers and other crewmen as to the situation but were told the ship had struck some ice and that there was no danger.

Upon returning to their cabin, Virginia and Walter saw a man pass by carrying a lifebelt and soon learned that all passengers were to proceed to the boat deck. Virginia and Walter dressed warmly, she donning her furs, and they headed topside where they stopped to watch the proceedings, reportedly meeting with the Astors and Strausses with whom they conversed.

Virginia reportedly witnessed Ida Strauss refuse to leave her husband and later in the proceedings she was compelled to get into a lifeboat by an officer. Even then she said that Walter felt no apprehension about the situation and fully expected to see her later; the last she saw of him was him hanging over the wailing and waving to her. Virginia left the *Titanic* with Madeleine Astor in lifeboat 4. She recalled Madeleine insisting the lifeboat be turned around to rescue more people; the lifeboat eventually pulled around 8 crewmen from the water. When the ship eventually foundered, Virginia recalled the heart wrenching moans and cries of those struggling in the water.

## After the sinking

Virginia later made the journey back to Los Angeles via Chicago and was met in Salt Lake City, Utah by William Clark, Walter's cousin and close friend; here it was reported she was in great shock and distress. She went to her mother's home in Los Angeles where she was prostrated with grief for weeks.

## Later life

She continued to travel extensively throughout her life; including shortly after Walter's demise. She left Los Angeles and travelled to New York, where she remarried in her cousin Howard McDowell's home on September 26th, 1912 to Indiana-born John Stewart Tanner, a Los Angeles resident with no stated profession. Her parents-in-law and own mother had no knowledge of the event until after when they were informed by letter.

Tanner, reportedly a handsome man, was a divorcee and prominent in Los Angeles where he was known as a proficient amateur tennis player and a fine horseman and polo player. Her hasty remarriage and extended absences from James' life incensed Walter's parents who it seems later took James into their care. A custody battle ensued between Virginia and the Clarks where the Clarks insinuated that Virgina was a unfit mother and abandoned James without adequate provision for his unkeep. The following month, joint guardianship was awarded to both parties whereby they had custody 6 months each year in turn. James appeared with his maternal grandparents on both the 1920 and 1930 census.

As per Tanner's 1918 passport, he and Virginia appeared to have spent much time living in France until 1914.

Virginia and Tanner would later divorce, perhaps before the end of the decade and before 1922. In October of 1922, she applied to a US passport to visit Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Norway, and Switzerland; she was described as a divorcee standing at 5'5 with a wide mouth, round chin, low forehead, oval face, and a straight nose; she had dark hair, hazel eyes, and a fair complexion. Virginia remarried in New York on May 18th, 1927 to architect Louis Harold Rush. He was a New Hampshire native, but again her marriage failed and they split apart after only a short while. Virginia and Tanner remarried again in the 1930's. They remained husband and wife for life. They appear on the 1940 census living in Hindu, Hawaii.

Virginia's widowed mother had been living with family in Berkeley, California for several years and died there on August 20th, 1940. Tanner died on January 7th, 1956 and was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Virginia passed away in Los Angeles on December 21st, 1958 at the age of 73 and she was buried with Tanner. James died on February 24th, 1962 in Riverside, California.