LOUISIANA, Mo. — May Birkhead could easily have refused a dance with destiny, but it wasn’t in her nature.
The 30-year-old Louisiana woman offered the world the first spellbinding accounts of survivors from the Titanic disaster in 1912.
It came as no surprise to those who knew her. May was highly intelligent, attentive to detail and fearless in the face of adversity.
She took the stage at a time when opportunities for women had never been greater, even in an era that still found them knocking against a societal ceiling.
She would make history while writing about it, giving up a prosperous career for a path that was strewn with hurdles, not the least of which would be the contempt of many colleagues.
Definitiveness was the key to May’s success, and it came with the very first passages she committed to paper on a cold April morning in the North Atlantic.
“I got out and on deck by 5 and was greeted with a most beautiful sight of icebergs on every side – some of much greater dimensions than the ship, and some baby ones – all beautiful white in the calm sea and glittering sun, a most impressive view, but one that turned from gorgeous beauty to sickening pangs when I learned the great disaster one had caused,” she wrote.
If famous Titanic passenger Molly Brown of Hannibal was “unsinkable,” then May Birkhead was unflappable.
“She knew nothing about writing a newspaper story, but her heart was in what she wrote, and a masterpiece was the result,” the New York Evening Gazette said.
Only child
The Birkheads were an upper middle-class family.
May was born March 14, 1882. Her father was successful dentist and Lincoln County native William Wallace Birkhead. Her mother was Laura Ellen Rule Birkhead, who was born in Louisiana on July 4, 1857, and was eight years younger than her husband.
Their only child likely was named for an aunt, a Louisiana High School graduate and local educator who had died of malaria at age 25 just seven months prior to May’s birth.
May Emma Rule was less than two years older than her sister, Laura Birkhead. The Louisiana Journal said she was “universally loved and admired for her amiable qualities, sweetness of temper and loveliness of character.”
Before turning one, May received what was likely her first newspaper reference, albeit an anonymous one.
“Somebody stole all the clothes from Doctor Birkhead’s clothes line Monday night,” The Journal reported. “All the baby’s wardrobe was appropriated. His own underwear also disappeared. The thief is respectfully asked to come back and get the clothes line. It is but a naked reminiscence.”
Dr. Birkhead operated his dental practice for a while from an office above The Mercantile Bank, but eventually relocated it to the family home just a block away on the northeast corner of Third and Tennessee streets.
The move was made “so that the screams of his patients cannot attract the attention of the curious crowd,” The Journal comically reported, adding that the office was “open to the suffering at all hours, day or night.”
May very early showed an independent streak that would mark her life. An 1899 graduate of Louisiana High School, she was smart, talented and sociable.
One of her many friends was another headstrong Pike County girl who would have a far-ranging impact.
Besties
Though 12 years younger, Genevieve Clark shared a strong rapport with May.
The daughter of Congressman Champ Clark of Bowling Green was astute, prudent and determined.
She would never be legally able to vote for her father, but Genevieve from an early age was passionate about politics. Those around her saw a born organizer who didn’t back away from a challenge.
Genevieve shared her first name and an affinity for writing with her mother, who had taught at Pike College in Bowling Green. From her teacher-turned-lawyer father she drew an ability for savvy public speaking. By the time of her high school graduation, she’d already published articles in some of the same national newspapers that wrote stories about her.
The Clark and Birkhead families had close ties. William Birkhead had served as manager on one of Champ’s campaigns. In addition, Laura Birkhead’s brother, Adrian Rule, once worked for Champ’s Louisiana newspaper. Another brother, Judge Virgil Rule, was a former student of Clark’s.
May already was a successful seamstress when her father died in 1904, and she did not hesitate in becoming the breadwinner for her mother and herself.
“She was in demand here in Louisiana for her sewing and because of relatives of friends in Louisiana,” remembered local historian Betty Allen. “She also sewed for people in St. Louis and Kansas City.”
The attention given to Genevieve and the influence she had was only enhanced by Champ’s 1912 presidential campaign.
The Washington press loved her so much that something as incidental as pouring punch at a debutante ball drew attention. There was even a hairstyle named after her.
Though she didn’t mind being featured in the society pages, a teenaged Genevieve made headlines for more serious topics. She attended most of her father’s political rallies and was among the “coterie of thoughtful young women who have come out for woman’s suffrage,” declared the Washington Times.
May had earlier gotten a taste of the limelight when Eric Hawkins, a reporter for the New York Herald, visited Pike County to interview people who knew Champ.
She gladly accepted Genevieve’s invitation to spend a few weeks in Washington before embarking with an aunt on a six-month vacation to Europe.
It would be the first chapter of an incredible journey.
Next time: Kickin’ the dog around.