Week 28 - Travel - Sheridan

When (Great-Aunt) Agnes G Sheridan was born, travel by ship to and from Europe would take upwards of 14 days, depending on weather. The most common routes were Liverpool to New York and back.  

Agnes was born 11 March 1869 in Perrinton, Gratiot County, Michigan, the youngest of six children born to Patrick and Margaret (Hughes) Sheridan. She went to school to become a teacher, and she spent her lifetime teaching others.


She enjoyed traveling and went to Europe a few times, per family stories. Possibly to visit family as her parents were both born in Ireland and had immigrated in 1853.  I have found her in only a couple ships manifests. Supposedly, she traveled overseas at least a few times. 

In Aug 1913, she traveled from London to Havre and then on to Quebec on the Ionian. She arrived in Quebec and then boarded the Empress of Ireland and sailed down to St Albans, Vermont, back to the USA. I'm assuming she and her companion Myrtie Divine (also single and a teacher) traveled by train and arrived back to Jackson, Michigan where they were both living and working at that time. 


                                    

The Empress of Ireland was a two mast; two engine ship built in 1906. It carried 310 first class, 350 second class and 800 third class passengers and was built in Scotland.  Unfortunately, a year after Agnes traveled on her, she was sunk in a collision during a thick fog on the St Lawrence River in May 1914. Over 1,024 lives were lost.


Agnes's final years were spent in Detroit where she taught school. In 1920, she was enumerated in the census living in a boarding house in Detroit City's 1st Ward and teaching at the public school. Unfortunately, she died from breast, uterine and stomach cancer 24 September 1925. Her sister Alice nursed her for several months before she succumbed.

She was a remarkably well-traveled woman, especially considering the era. Her traveling alone would have been seen as note-worthy and independent. Even mildly rebellious.

Barbie




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