Rivers of Memory: Two Grandfathers' Eastland Legacy
Ann Smith's grandparents. (from left to right). Anna Bates, Floyd C. Smith (1868-1947), Pauline Smith, Jay W. Bates (1881-1964). Used by permission from Ann Smith.
Growing up, Ann Smith knew her grandfather, Floyd Cameron Smith, as a quiet, humor-loving man who had been weakened by strokes in his later years. She never imagined that beneath his gentle demeanor lay a story of true heroism. On the other side of her family, her maternal grandfather, Jay Bates, also carried a story marked by a fateful decision and a somber connection to tragedy.
It wasn’t until years later, while sifting through family memorabilia and hearing her uncle’s recollections, that Ann uncovered the remarkable link between her grandfathers and the Eastland Disaster.
I’m excited to share Ann Smith’s article, “The Eastland Disaster: A Personal Connection Discovered,” originally published in the Spring 2016 issue of the Chicago Genealogist. In this piece, Ann reveals how both her grandfathers were profoundly touched by the Eastland Disaster—a tale of heroism, close calls, and hidden family stories. A big thank you to Ann for allowing me to share this gem with all of you.
Smith, Ann. "The Eastland Disaster: A Personal Connection Discovered." Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2016. Reprinted with permission from the author.
Smith, Ann. "The Eastland Disaster: A Personal Connection Discovered." Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2016. Page 1
Smith, Ann. "The Eastland Disaster: A Personal Connection Discovered." Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2016. Page 2
Smith, Ann. "The Eastland Disaster: A Personal Connection Discovered." Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2016. Page 3
Close-up of the letter sent to Floyd C. Smith by Cook County Coroner Peter Hoffman for ‘valued service rendered.’ Shared with permission from the author.
Close-up of the commemorative star awarded to Floyd C. Smith by Cook County Coroner Peter Hoffman for "valued service rendered." Shared with permission from the author.
For easier reading and accessibility, the full text of the article is provided below.
The Eastland Disaster:
A Personal Connection Discovered
by Ann Smith (originally published in the Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2016)
My memory of my paternal grandfather is as an old man after having had several strokes that left one side of his body weakened and needing to be helped from the dining room table into the living room. My five-year-old eyes remember that he would doze in his chair on the periphery of the family conversation. He would listen to the baseball game on the radio but his lower eyelids drooped, giving him a saddened and bloodshot expression. This was five years prior to his death at the age of 79.
Floyd Cameron Smith was born in 1868 and married my grandmother in 1898 when he was 30. He was brought to Chicago from New York at age 14 by his father, who had arranged a job for him with Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company, a wholesale hardware dealer. He began work as a cutlery salesman and remained there until his retirement due to his second stroke in 1937.
As an adult, I was interested in my family’s stories and became known as the keeper of our collective history. In going through the Smith family letters and memorabilia, I found what appeared to be a sheriff’s badge. I took it to my Uncle Floyd, Grandpa Smith’s son, and learned of the heroic deeds for which Grandpa received the badge and letter of commendation from the Chicago coroner. Here is the story my uncle told.
My paternal grandfather, then a 47-year-old family man, was at work on July 24, 1915. Across the bridge of the Chicago River was the excursion steamer Eastland boarding passengers from Western Electric for a Saturday outing for employees and their families. At 7:28 a.m., still moored to her dock between LaSalle and Clark Streets on the south bank, the vessel slowly rolled over.
Minutes before, at 7:24 a.m., Captain Harry Pederson had ordered the stern lines off and signaled the tug boat of their imminent departure. They were headed for the Western Electric annual company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. As the stern began to swing away from the dock, the ship began to list toward the port side and never stopped. The Eastland gradually and continually rolled over to the left side at the dock as thousands of horrified witnesses watched. By 7:28 a.m., in twenty feet of water, the engine room was soon swamped and those who had gone below the deck level were trapped. The ship lay on its side as the scramble to save lives began. Of the 2,572 persons on board, 844 perished on that beautiful Saturday morning.
The Clark Street dock was across the Chicago River, approximately one block from Hibbard, Spencer, & Bartlett. Many citizens who were in the vicinity rushed to the scene to be of assistance. Authorities had no suitable equipment or rescue plan for such an accident. The photographs of the tragic event clearly show the desperate efforts underway. The commendation letter to my grandfather and silver metal star received from the Coroner’s office show an image of the Eastland on her side and the inscription: “For valued services rendered to the coroner. Eastland Disaster, 1915.”
Ironically, Jay Bates, my grandfather on the maternal side of the family, was called to the temporary morgue scene following the disaster. His mother had recently remarried, to Ernest Gauthier, who worked for Western Electric. They had been scheduled to be on the day cruise. Jay was asked to come to the morgue to identify them, only to learn much later that they had decided to skip the trip and had never been on board.
I attempted to learn more about the accident but only pursued it intermittently. After I retired, I was a volunteer in the History Department at the University of Florida. I told the story one day in the coffee room. One of the professors was a student of maritime history and knew about it. He gave me the long and short versions as he had studied it. The sinking of he Titanic in 1912 had set off a series of changes in vessel safety. The publicity over what had been purported to be an unsinkable ship created new regulations and a series of changes to many ships, including the Eastland. Life boats had been added and other changes made, making her unstable and top-heavy. The Lusitania had been sunk in May 1915 as a result of a torpedo, 11 months into World War I. Now, in July 1915, the Eastland disaster.
My grandfather was not a tall man. Family knew him as a lover of baseball, a man of clever humor, and an ardent cigar and pipe smoker. There was nothing to indicate to a little girl watching her grandfather nod off after dinner that he was in fact a citizen hero.
Ann Smith is a retired RN, having practiced in acute care facilities for over 40 years in various capacities. She currently volunteers for the University of Florida Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, collecting oral histories of World War II veterans. She has been a CGS member for about 8 to 10 years, and has been been researching her family history for about 20 years.
