Post by Paul Daley on Apr 10, 2005 9:30:16 GMT -5
Isidor and Ida were well known amongst the first class passengers aboard the Titanic. Isidor, then 67, had made much of his fortune from his "Macy's" department store in New York, which still operates to this day.
Captain Roswell H. Macy, a former Nantucket whaling captain, founded R.H. Macy Co. in the days before the Civil War. Isidor Straus, along with his dad and his brother, were originally involved in the sale of china, crockery, tableware, linens, textiles and dry goods. They rented space in Captain Macy's store to sell their wares. Captain Macy eventually died, leaving the store to his son and daughter. The daughter and her husband were both involved in the day to day operation of the store, but the son, R.H. Macy, Jr., was a drunkard and a spendthrift, and proceeded to run the store into the ground. The Strauses saw what Junior was doing to the company, got their financing together, and were able to buy him out, as well as the rest of the Macys who were involved in the family business. The Strauses further thought it was good business sense to continue the name of the store as R.H. Macy Co., and that's why it's still called Macy's.
The couple had been married for 41 years at the time of the disaster. They raised six children together, and were almost inseparable. On the rare occasion that they were apart, they wrote each other every day. They even celebrated their birthdays on the same day, although they were well apart from one another. During the sinking, Titanic's officers pleaded with the 63 year old Ida to board a lifeboat and escape the disaster, but she repeatedly refused to leave her husband. Instead, she placed her maid in a lifeboat, taking her fur coat off and handing it to the maid while saying, "I won't need this anymore". At one point, she was convinced to enter one of the last two lifeboats, but jumped out as her husband walked away to rejoin him.
When last seen by witnesses, they were standing on deck, holding each other in a tight embrace. Their funeral drew some 6,000 mourners at Carnegie Hall.
A monument to them still stands in a Bronx cemetery, it's inscription reads: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
Captain Roswell H. Macy, a former Nantucket whaling captain, founded R.H. Macy Co. in the days before the Civil War. Isidor Straus, along with his dad and his brother, were originally involved in the sale of china, crockery, tableware, linens, textiles and dry goods. They rented space in Captain Macy's store to sell their wares. Captain Macy eventually died, leaving the store to his son and daughter. The daughter and her husband were both involved in the day to day operation of the store, but the son, R.H. Macy, Jr., was a drunkard and a spendthrift, and proceeded to run the store into the ground. The Strauses saw what Junior was doing to the company, got their financing together, and were able to buy him out, as well as the rest of the Macys who were involved in the family business. The Strauses further thought it was good business sense to continue the name of the store as R.H. Macy Co., and that's why it's still called Macy's.
The couple had been married for 41 years at the time of the disaster. They raised six children together, and were almost inseparable. On the rare occasion that they were apart, they wrote each other every day. They even celebrated their birthdays on the same day, although they were well apart from one another. During the sinking, Titanic's officers pleaded with the 63 year old Ida to board a lifeboat and escape the disaster, but she repeatedly refused to leave her husband. Instead, she placed her maid in a lifeboat, taking her fur coat off and handing it to the maid while saying, "I won't need this anymore". At one point, she was convinced to enter one of the last two lifeboats, but jumped out as her husband walked away to rejoin him.
When last seen by witnesses, they were standing on deck, holding each other in a tight embrace. Their funeral drew some 6,000 mourners at Carnegie Hall.
A monument to them still stands in a Bronx cemetery, it's inscription reads: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
