The Unsinkable Molly Brown Goes to War

Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown

Margaret Tobin  was born to Irish immigrants John and Johanna Tobin in 1867 in Hannibal, Missouri. (Margaret did not become commonly known as "Molly" until after her 1933 death).  The Tobins were part of a wave of immigration following the first period of industrialization in America. Margaret—with  her brother Daniel—followed the family's and the nation's "head west" impulse and moved to Leadville, Colorado, in 1885.

There she met  and married miner J. J. Brown, who struck gold. J. J. and Margaret became millionaires. They moved to Denver in 1894, where Margaret—a born reformer—became involved in politics, philanthropy,  and the progressive movement. The couple became world travelers but drew apart. In 1909, after 23 years of marriage, the Browns quietly signed a separation agreement that left her financially independent.

On a 1912 trip, Margret received  news of her ill grandson that hastened Margaret’s return, and she booked passage on the first available ship, the Titanic. Her stellar efforts to encourage her fellow survivors and raise funds for the less fortunate passengers has become part of American folklore. Titanic survivor Margaret Tobin Brown has been known since as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

Margaret Presenting an Award of Appreciation to the Captain
 of RMS Carpathia for Rescuing the Titanic Survivors

What is forgotten (for the most part) is Margaret's dedicated work in the Great War.  Arriving back in Colorado as a nationally recognized figure, she worked hard to relieve the suffering of striking Colorado miners and for womens' suffrage, and even made an unsuccessful run at a seat in the U.S. Senate.

However, when World War I broke out, Margaret shifted her focus to relief efforts, eventually traveling to France where she worked with the American Committee for Devastated France to help rebuild ravaged areas behind the front line and with the Red Cross to aid wounded French and American soldiers. (The Chateau of Blerancourt, a French-American museum north of Paris, has a commemorative plaque that bears her name.) Her son, Lawrence, served in the U.S. Army during the war and was gassed in the assault on the Hindenburg Line by the U.S. 30th Division on 29 September 1918.

Margaret's Doughboy Son, Larry Brown

For her work during the war and her overall good citizenship, including her efforts with the Titanic survivors and the Juvenile Court of Denver, Margaret Brown was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1932. Something of a mythic figure (always as Molly Brown), she's had a Disney riverboat, a Gemini spacecraft, and a museum named after her, portrayed frequently in TV and film accounts of the Titanic disaster, and even had her own Broadway musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Sources:  Over the Top, April 2012; Molly Brown House Museum; Visit Denver Blog; Retrospect Journal