A Rare Titanic Family

March 1, 2012

Williams (journalism, Samford Univ.; Wings of Opportunity) presents a warm biography of her great-uncle by marriage, his first wife, and their son--one of the few families to escape intact from the sinking of Titanic. Albert and Sylvia Caldwell had served as Presbyterian missionaries in Siam (now Thailand) for about a year when Sylvia became ill after their son was born. The family desperately wished to return to America, but they first had to battle the Foreign Missions Board for permission to break their contracts. After an arduous journey across Asia and Europe, they felt lucky to secure passage on the luxurious new ship. VERDICT Related with obvious affection for her great-uncle, the author also gives a good sense of the difficulties in piecing together family histories and how even close relatives might not know the whole story. In addition to Titanic buffs, genealogists and missionary history readers will like this.

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