Traveling on the Mount Temple (and a Titanic Connection)

     In October 1903, Johan Engel, his wife Barbara, and their family sailed to Canada on the Mount Temple. Johan was a 51-year-old laborer traveling from Romania to Plum Coulee, Manitoba. Barbara was 48.[1] Johan and Barbara were part of a larger Germans from Russia group who emigrated to the Great Plains. By 1906, they were living in Lisgar, Manitoba. They moved to Red Deer, Alberta and died in Castor, Alberta, three days apart in February 1927.

    The Mount Temple, the ship they arrived on was part of the Canadian Pacific Shipping line. The ship had been purchased by the Canadian Pacific in 1901 and retrofitted to allow it to carry a large number of passengers.  It was a single funnel ship with four masts. It had 12 cabins for first class and could carry more than 1200 steerage passengers to Canada. On trips back from Canada she would carry cattle, food, and lumber. The Mount Temple typically made around six trips a year.

Mount Temple. Photo from Wikipedia [2]

    The Canadian Pacific Railway extensively advertised the shipping dates and ticket costs in Liverpool, where the ship embarked.

Advertisement. [3]

    The Engel family voyage was tracked by various newspaper articles. On 30 September, the Montreal Gazette noted that the Mount Temple "left the Mersey yesterday afternoon for the usual St. Lawrence ports. The steamer had a large number of passengers on board, the greater proportion being of the emigrant class who are proceeding to various parts of Canada". [4] The same newspaper reported on 9 October that the ship had passed Cape Ray and on the 10th had passed a clear and calm Martin River. [5]

    The ship arrived in Montreal on 11 October 1903. One article noted that the passengers were delighted with the ship and the onboard entertainment, including concerts. The passengers thanked Captain Forster, his officers, and crew as they disembarked.[6] 

    Engel's trip was apparently pleasant, but a trip made in 1912 was not quite so uneventful. On 14 April 1912, the Mount Temple was making a trip across the Atlantic. The ship had a wireless, and they did, in fact, receive the emergency wireless messages sent out by the Titanic. But what happened after that remains a subject of debate to this day.

    Titanic survivors all describe a ship they could see in the distance--a ship that was close enough to save the passengers but which failed to come to their rescue. Over the years several ships have been mentioned as being that mystery ship. The Mount Temple remains a prime candidate for that ship. [For a retelling of this story, watch "Abandoning The Titanic" on PBS' Secrets of the Dead.]

    The Mount Temple captain, then Captain Moore, and others were called to testify at the Senate Committee investigating the Titanic disaster. They explained that they were 50 miles from the ship and had a huge ice field between themselves and the Titanic. While they made preparations for rescue, they had 1500 of their own passengers and were unsure of the exact location of the Titanic. They claimed to have seen no signals from the Titanic (meaning none of the flares they sent up or the lantern signals). Because of the ice field, they stayed where they were until the next morning when they learned the ship had sunk and that their services weren't needed, and they continued on their journey.

    But other crew members condemned the officers of the Mount Temple for their failure to react. Many crew members testified that they "sat on the deck for hours and watched the Titanic sending up rockets and burning red and blue lights until the Mount Temple steamed so far away that these signals were lost." One sailor said he had heard the 3rd officer tell the captain about the signals. They testified that they were between five and ten miles from the Titanic rather than the 50 miles claimed by the Captain.[7] It appears as though the Captain was believed as nothing more ever came of the testimony. 

    Likely the real story will never be known. The Mount Temple's story came to an end in December 1916. While carrying horses for the war effort and a large number of dinosaur fossils from Alberta, she was captured and sunk by a German raider.

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[1] “Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935,” digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5634433:1263: accessed 3 October 2023), 10 October 1903, Ship Mount Temple, Johan Engel family; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, RG 76-C, roll T-482.

[2] Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Mount_Temple 

[3] “Canadian Pacific Railway,” Liverpool Mercury, 16 September 1903, p. 12, col.4; digital image, newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/904769501/: accessed 20 October 2023).

[4] “Sailing of the Mount Temple,” Liverpool Mercury, 30 September 1903, p.12, col. 6; digital image, newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/904770338/: accessed 20 October 2023).

[5] “Mount Temple Due Sunday,” The Gazette (Montreal), 9 October 1903, p. 10, col 2: digital image, newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/419572108/: accessed 20 October 2023). Also “Notes,” The Gazette (Montreal), 10 October 1903, p.16, col. 3 & 4; digital image, newspapers.com(https://www.newspapers.com/image/419572405/: accessed 20 October 2023).

[6] “Mount Temple in Port,” The Gazette (Montreal), 12 october 1903, p. 12, col.2; digital image, newspapers.com(https://www.newspapers.com/image/419572618/: accessed 20 October 2023).

[7] "Crew Against Captain," The Boston Globe, 25 April 1912, p.5, col.4; digital image, newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe/23912425/: accessed 17 July 2024).

Working on the Railroad (and living in it sort of)

 In many ways, John Ryan was a typical Irishman. He married in 1860 in Cappawhite, County Tipperary in Ireland. He was 35 and his bride, Mary Dwyer was 30. They had two children before leaving for America where they would have another six children.

One of their sons, John Henry Ryan, became the editor and publisher of a very short-lived newspaper called the Decatur Labor World, published in Decatur, Illinois. In the 25 February 1915 edition, he published his autobiography giving some details of his father's life in the U.S. 

The Ryan family landed first in New York and stayed in Orange County for a couple of years. It is likely that John started working on the railroad upon his arrival in the U.S. and followed it west. By 1870, they had moved to Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois, where they bought land from the Chicago and Alton Railroad, John's employer. He also bought the body of a box car which they moved to their lot. John Henry was born in the boxcar in October 1870. No pictures exist of this boxcar which had been made into a home, but it obviously provided them with shelter for a short period of time. 

 In the spring of 1874, the family moved to Gibson City, Illinois. John built a small house on a lot they had purchased, and it was in this house that he died of pneumonia, leaving his wife, Mary, with six children. The date of John's death is still undetermined. His son John Henry placed it in 1877, yet he is listed in the 1880 census. 

Stephen Ryan, my daughter-in-law's great-grandfather, was the second son born to John and Mary Ryan. He was born in Orange County, New York in 1865. By the time of his marriage to Helen "Nellie" Lanham in April of 1891, Stephen was working as a telegraph operator for the Wabash Railroad. After their marriage, they moved to Minonk, North Dakota, where he managed the Great Northern Railroad telegraph office. By 1907, Stephen had graduated from law school but continued to work for the railroad in St. Paul, Minnesota. He eventually left the railroad to practice law.

Only one of John Ryan's other children ever worked for the railroad. Michael Edwin Ryan worked as a telegraph operator for the Burlington Northern Railroad. Like his brother Stephen, he got a law degree and became a distinguished lawyer and judge in the Brainerd, Minnesota, area. 

As to John's other children--John Henry became an editor and publisher, as noted above. Patrick was a cigar maker among other things. His daughter Josephine, who never married, became a nurse. 

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This week's topic for #52 Ancestors was "Trains".