June 4th, 1891 - June 12th, 1974

She is a Gemini. 

Margaret Bedelia Devaney was born in Kilmacowen, Co Sligo, Ireland to a Roman Catholic Family. She was the daughter of James Devaney (born 1848), a farmer, and Margaret McDonald (born 1852), both Sligo natives who had married on November 2nd, 1882. One of total 9 children, 8 survived infancy. Margret's known siblings are: Michael (born 1883), Patrick (May 8th, 1885), James (August 11th, 1886), Andrew (April 13th, 1889), John (born 1890), Mary Ellen (August 11th, 1894), and Thomas William (March 19th, 1896). Margaret appears on the 1901 census living at house 14 in Kilmacowen and a decade later at house 11 in the same vicinity. On the latter record she is described as a milliner whilst James and Andrew were jobbing as clerks.

Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912:
Margret already had several siblings in America and she decided to join them there; Michael, a stable groom in New York, sent her the fare. Described as a unmarried domestic, Margaret boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg as a third class passenger and she shared a cabin with Mary Burns and Kitty Hargadon. On the night of the sinking, the 3 girls were reportedly in bed and it was Henry Hart who came by to their cabin to alert them. They all went up to the aft well deck to investigate before returning to their cabin to retrieve the lifebelts. Margaret, the only survivor from the 3 girls, gives 2 different versions as to what became of her friends. In one printed in The Irish World on May 4th, 1912, Margaret related:

"We were all on deck, not thinking it was serious, when the boy comes along and said "You girls had better get into a boat." Then he held out his hand, saying "I hope we'll meet again"...I got into the boat but Mary Burns and Kitty Hargadon held back, thinking it was safer to remain on the ship, I never saw them again..."

In another version, Margaret related that Kate aka Kitty was afflicted with seasickness and fear and couldn't face climbing a ladder to the higher decks; she remained in communal 3rd class areas; perhaps the aft well deck, and tended to by Mary who chose to remain with her. Whatever happened will forever remain a mystery. Margaret managed secure a place in one of the last lifeboats and recalled having to push that craft away from the side of the ship during lowering, the list to port causing her to swing too close to the side of the ship for safety. Margaret loaned her pocketknife to a seaman who has difficulties releasing the falls.

Aboard the RMS Carpathia, a surviving crewman presented Margaret with a metal flag that had been taken off one of the lifeboats, she kept this, her penknife and her 3rd class ticket for the rest of her life.

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
Upon reaching New York, Margaret gave her contact as her sister Mary at 6th Avenue, New York. She was met by Michael coming off the Carpathia. In New York, Margaret soon found employment as a housemaid. In 1919, she was married to plumber John Joseph O'Neill (May 3rd, 1895), an Irish-American, and the couple had 4 surviving children: Matthew (1922 - 1982), Katheryn (1924 - 2010), Helen (1926 - 2012), and John (1927 - 1996). The 1930 and 1940 census records show Margaret and her family living at Pearsall Avenue in Jersey City. In the late 1960's, she moved to Clifton, Passaic, New Jersey.

In later years, Margaret gave frequent interviews about Titanic; an internet in the topic soared in the 1950's she became more in demand and during this time got to be aquatinted with several other Titanic survivors. In 1958, she was a special guest at a screening of A Night To Remember in New York. In the 1960's she became an honorary member of the Titanic Enthusiasts of America (later the Titanic Historical Society). She was made a widow in 1960. Margaret died in Clifton, New Jersey on June 12th, 1974. She was buried in Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City. Her last surviving child Helen (Mrs. George Landsberg) worked as a secretary and was married and had 5 daughters. She died in West Paterson, New Jersey on December 1st, 2012 at the age of 86 and was buried at Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City.

Sources:
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Rest In Peace Margaret Devaney.