Phyllis Ryerse - Rich men, poor men : Ryersons on the Titanic

It was definitely top down weather. Spring came early that year and on the Monday after Easter, April 8th, 1912, 21-year-old Arthur Larned Ryerson Jr and his friend John Lewis Hoffman were motoring through the Pennsylvania countryside in Hoffmans high-powered roadster. Students at Yale University, they had spent their Easter vacation together at Hoffmans home, one of the most elegant on Philadelphias Main Line. Hoffmans father, the late J. Ogden Hoffman, had been a partner and colleague of Andrew Carnegie. Young Ryerson was the grandson of Joseph T. Ryerson, the founder of the great Chicago steel company that bore his name, and the son of Arthur L. Ryerson Sr, a prominent lawyer in the Chicago law firm of Isham, Lincoln, Burry & Ryerson. His family had a home in Chicago as well as on Grays Lane, Haverford, Pennsylvania, and they summered at Ringwood, the family estate in Springfield Center, near Cooperstown, New York.

In February of 1912 the Ryerson family had closed their Haverford home and left on an extended tour of Europe, sailing on the Olympic,captained by their old friend E. J. Smith. They took with them their daughters Suzette, 21, Emily, 18, and their youngest son, 13-year-old John Borie, whom everyone called Jack. Travelling with them was Jacks governess, Miss Grace Scott Bowen of Cooperstown, and Mrs Ryersons personal French maid, Victorine Chaudanson, whose duties also included being a companion to the Ryerson girls and helping them brush up on their French. It is said that one of the reasons for this trip was to look over Europes eligible young bachelors preferably titled and wealthy as possible husbands for the Ryerson daughters. International marriages were very popular at that time among wealthy Americans! Remaining behind was their youngest daughter Ellen, 17, who was finishing her last year at St Timothys School for Girls in Catonsville, Maryland, and, of course, Arthur Jr, who was spending his holiday with the Hoffmans.

Motoring down the road, the two young men were thoroughly enjoying this elegant motor car. It was an amazing piece of machinery why, it would go almost thirty miles an hour! The carbide headlights were shiny brass and the soft leather seats had a rich aroma. There were side curtains that rolled up and down and a bulb horn that gave forth a raucous blast, sending chickens and horses running for their lives! Arthur loved to blow that horn!

In 1912 very few people owned automobiles. Those who did traveled on narrow lanes of rutted dirt. But the long trail of dust they left behind them as they rode along Chester Avenue (now Sproul Road) that afternoon didnt concern John and Arthur. With the throttle nearly wide open and the warm spring breeze blowing against their faces, these two young men didnt have a care in the world. Born into extremely wealthy and prominent families, their futures were secure and life was good.