Margaret "Molly" Brown Tobin

(July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932) was an American socialite,

philanthropist, and activist. She became famous for surviving the 1912
sinking of the R.M.S Titanic. Brown was born on July 18, 1867 in Hannibal,
Missouri but spent her time in Denver, Colorado.25 Sep 2014

Brown had spent the first months of 1912 traveling in Egypt as part of the
John Jacob Astor IV party, until she received word from Denver that her
eldest grandchild Lawrence Palmer Brown Jr. was seriously ill. She
immediately booked passage on the first available liner leaving for New
York, the RMS Titanic. Originally her daughter Helen was supposed to
accompany her, but she decided to stay on in Paris, where she was studying
at the Sorbonne. Brown was conveyed to the passenger liner RMS Titanic as
a first class passenger on the evening of April 10, aboard the tender SS
Nomadic at Cherbourg, France.

The Titanic sank early on April 15, 1912, at around 2:20 a.m., after striking
an iceberg at around 11:40 p.m. Brown helped others board the lifeboats
but was finally persuaded to leave the ship in Lifeboat No. 6.[1] Brown was
later called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" by authors because she helped in
the ship's evacuation, taking an oar herself in her lifeboat and urging that
the lifeboat go back and save more people. Her urgings were met with
opposition from Quartermaster Robert Hichens, the crewman in charge of
Lifeboat 6. Hichens was fearful that if they went back, the lifeboat would
either be pulled down due to suction or the people in the water would
swamp the boat in an effort to get in. After several attempts to urge
Hichens to turn back, Brown threatened to throw the crewman overboard.
[1] Sources vary[citation needed] as to whether the boat went back and if
they found anyone alive. Brown's efforts sealed her place in history,
regardless.
Upon being rescued by the ship RMS Carpathia, Brown proceeded to
organize a survivors' committee with other first-class survivors. The
committee worked to secure basic necessities for the second and third class
survivors and even provided informal counseling.

During the last years of her life, she was an actress. Margaret Brown died in
her sleep at 10:55 p.m. on October 26, 1932, at the Barbizon Hotel in New
York City, New York. Subsequent autopsy revealed a brain tumor. Her body
was buried along with J.J. in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury,
New York,[10] following a small ceremony on October 31, 1932, attended
only by family members. There was no eulogy.