Jessie Laird (Bruce) Bortner (1884 - 1930)

Born 1 Nov 1884 in Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Died 30 Dec 1930 at age 46 in Tuscola, Michigan, United States

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Jessie (Bruce) Bortner was a passenger on the RMS Titanic. Join: Titanic Project Discuss: titanic

Biography

Jessie was born in 1884 in Scotland. She and her family emigrated first to Montreal in 1904, then arrived in the United States in 1906. She married William Trout in March 1911 in Columbus, Ohio who died tragically just six months later in September 1911. The young widow went to visit her grandparents in Scotland in January 1912. For her return journey to the U.S., she was a passenger (Second Class) on the Titanic.^[1] She survived her ordeal, married Harvey Bortner, had a family, and moved from Columbio Ohio to Arbella Twp, Tuscola, Michigan. She passed away almost twenty years later in a car accident in 1930.^[2]

An unsourced , unsigned obituary was posted on FindAGrave:

"Wife of (1) William Henry TROUT (1876-1911) and (2) Harvey Walter BORTNER (1883-1964)

Survivor of the Titanic Disaster, 15 Apr 1912

Jessie Laird BRUCE was born 1 Nov 1885 in Old Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the daughter of George BRUCE (1857-1940) and Mary Ann BOOTH (1856-1938). Jessie immigrated to America with her parents, arriving 19 May 1904 in Montréal, Canada from Aberdeenshire, Scotland aboard the ship S/S Corinthian (2) (Allen Lines), and then eventually arriving in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan 25 Nov 1906 from Canada on board a Canadian Pacific train, her father George BRUCE having sent train fare for her to rejoin her family now settled in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio. Jessie was listed by US Immigration officials as being 21 years old, 5'5", light hair, blue eyes, and working as a Domestic. Jessie, at age 26, married 1st on 28 Mar 1911 in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio to Spanish American War veteran William Henry TROUT (1876-1911) as his 2nd wife. William worked as a brakeman for the Hocking Valley Railway and was crushed in a tragic accident on 22 Sep 1911 in the Mound Street Yard in Columbus when he was struck and run over by a moving train. The young couple had been married for only six months. Distraught by the loss of her husband, Jessie briefly returned home to Scotland on 12 Jan 1912 on board the RMS Oceanic to visit her grandparents. On booking her passage for return to the US, Jessie once again purchased first class tickets on the RMS Oceanic, only to have the voyage canceled due to a local coal strike then in progress, and she was instead transferred to second class passage on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic (White Star Lines ticket #240929; fare £12 13s).

Jessie, dressed only in her night clothes, survived the sinking and was rescued at about 4am next morning from Lifeboat #9 by the RMS Carpathia. Upon landing in New York, she was given $25 and sufficient new clothing to return home by train to Columbus. Since Jessie had originally been expected to sail home on the RMS Oceanic, family members had not even realized she had instead been on board the doomed Titanic. Jessie L. TROUT's first-hand account of her survival ordeal can be seen in the (Columbus) Citizens Reporter (22 Apr 1912, pg 1), as well as the Columbus Dispatch and the Ohio State Journal. See also a three-minute news story posted on Youtube in 2013.^[3]

Jessie later remarried to Harvey Walter BORTNER (1883-1964) in Columbus, and after 7 years, the couple relocated and raised their three children in Arbela Twp near Millington, Tuscola, Michigan. Harvey farmed and also took work as a molder in the Buick assembly plant in Flint. Although Jessie had survived her violent encounter with an iceberg much larger than even the massive RMS Titanic, she died tragically on 30 Dec 1930 from an encounter with a relatively small patch of "black ice" while riding with her family on a country road about a mile and a half from their family farm. Her 2nd husband and three children escaped with relatively minor injuries, but Jessie was killed instantly when the car rolled over and pinned her in the ice and snow beneath the wreckage.

Ice had helped define Jessie, both in life and then finally in death."

Census

"United States Census, 1930,"^[4]

Harvey Bortner Head Male 46 Pennsylvania

Jessie Bortner Wife Female 44 Scotland

Killian Bortner Brother Male 55 Pennsylvania

Bruce E Bortner Son Male 14 Michigan

Mary E Bortner Daughter Female 9 Michigan

Frances Bortner Daughter Female 7 Michigan

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. "Passengers of the Titanic." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 Feb. 2021. Web. 20 Feb. 2021.
2. ↑ Jessie Laird Bruce Trout Bortner, Find A Grave: Memorial #70971028 at Pine Grove Cemetery, Millington, Michigan.
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anMNCsW3784
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch FamilySearch (accessed 24 January 2021), Harvey Bortner, Arbela, Tuscola, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 5, sheet 1B, line 71, family 16, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1027; FHL microfilm 2,340,762.

Encyclopedia Titanica (2015) Jessie Laird Trout (ref: #581, last updated: 9th June 2015, accessed 24th March 2023 21:10:36 PM). LINK