Marie Catherine Baclini

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September 21st, 1906 - June 27th, 1982

She is a Virgo.

Mariya al-B'aqlini (Marie Catherine Baclini) was born in Al Shwayr, Syria, then part of the Ottoman Empire and now part of modern-day Lebanon. She was the daughter of Sulaymān Dāwūd al-B'aqlīnī (born 1878), a pharmacist, and Latifah al-Haj Qurbän (born 1888). By April of 1912, she had two younger sisters: Ünjiniyà (born 1908) and Hilânah (born 1909). In late 1908, Marie's father left their village with a neighbour, Najib Qiyamah, fleeing potential religious persecution and with the intention of establishing his own pharmacy in New York. Instead, he spent time in San Cristóbal, Venezuela before entering the USA on June 7th, 1910. By 1912, he had established a dry good business and saved enough money to send back to bring his wife and daughter across the Atlantic.

Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912:
Marie was travelling to her father at Washington Street, Brooklyn, New York. Also travelling with them were her teenage neighbour Adāl Najib Qiyämah, who her mother was chaperoning to her father Najib Qiyämah. Their journey started from their village and went to Beirut from where they sailed to Marseille, after which they would journey to Cherbourg. Before boarding at Cherbourg, it was discovered that Marie had conjunctivitis, preventing further travel on grounds of contagion and so their journey was delayed until they could join the next available ship, the Titanic.

They boarded the RMS Titanic as third-class passengers on April 10th, 1912. On the night of the sinking, Marie's mother was somehow able to navigate, with three young children with her, and Adāl in tow, to the upper decks where they were able to board a lifeboat and escape. The family were a rare example of larger third class family group surviving intact.

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
When Marie appeared with her family on the 1930 census living at 66th Street, Brooklyn she was described as an unmarried department store manager. She was married on November 1st, 1934 to George C. Khanisur (May 24th, 1902), a New York native of Lebanese parentage. George worked in a newspaper printing press and had already been married once before, in 1925, to a woman named Lillian Warner and had a daughter, also named Lillian, who died just shy of her first birthday in 1927. George and Lillian divorced and during the 1930's he saw military service in the New York Guard. Marie and George had one child named, Joyce Gail on August 30th, 1937 and the small family lived in Brooklyn, George later purchasing East 27th Street in December of 1937 and where they lived for number of years. This was stated as Marie's address when she applied for US citizenship in August of 1941.

Marie had few memories of her time on Titanic, which she didn't care to discuss anyway, but did recall gunshots being discharged when she was boarding her lifeboat. Marie died on June 27th, 1982 at the age of 75 and was buried Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York under an elaborate headstone. George passed away over a decade later on July 27th, 1996 at the age of 94 and was buried with her. Joyce later married Anthony Joseph Genovesi (1936 - 1998), the son of Sicilian parents. A lawyer and Democrat politician, he later served as a member of the New York Assembly. Anthony and Joyce had 5 children: Lara, Joseph, Anthony, Mark, and Elena. Joyce, who was still alive as of 2018, lost Anthony in a car accident on August 10th, 1998. Lara was recently sworn in as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court.

Sources:
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Rest In Peace Marie Catherine Baclini.

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