Nora Agnes Keane

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Anna Cook

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I am an actress that will play the role of 2nd class Irish passenger Nora Keane in "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" coming to Los Angeles soon. I was wondering if anyone had any extra info on her that is not already included on this webpage, such as was she ever married? Was she courting? Did she have any children? How many brothers did she have? What kind of a shop did she own with her brother in Harrisburg P.A.? Oh, and are there any photos of her? Or any info on her parents or relatives (brothers,sister, etc)? What year was she born? I would appreciate any info available.
Thanks,
Anna
 
Anna, the book 'The Irish Aboard Titanic' by Senan Molony has a couple of pages on Nora and one photo. She was born in 1866 (but hated to admit it!) and was never married. Her brother owned a hotel in Harrisburg, and Nora later bought a pub in the same town. She eventually returned to Ireland, where she died in 1944. You might try also researching her room-mate Edwina Troutt, who had quite a lot to say about Nora.

Bob
 
As an actress, you'll find it useful to know a few pointers towards Nora's character. She seems to have been self-conscious, perhaps rather vain - when she signed up for the Titanic she knocked 11 years off her real age, and in a famous incident she wasted valuable time during the sinking trying to fasten a corset over her nightgown. Certainly she was VERY nervous. When boarding the ship she'd dropped her prayer book and rosary in the water and was convinced this was a bad omen. It didn't help when she was told by another woman passenger that a cock crow was heard at dusk, another portent of doom for travellers. According to Edwina Troutt: "She kept moaning that the ship would never make it to New York, that we were doomed. She drove me a little batty."

That should help you to play the authentic Nora. Have fun!
 
Anna,
Nora was an interesting character all right. Her actual date of birth was March 30, 1864--born in Castleconnell, County Limerick, Ireland. You might want to contact Senan Molony for more information as he's the ultimate authority on the Irish passengers. Also, if you'll contact me privately at habanero17@yahoo.com I think I have the email address of one of her great-nieces that still lives in the United States. I'll be out of the country from February 4th thru the 13th but will try to get the address prior to leaving if you'll contact me this weekend.

Regards,
Phil
 
Phil, I got the 1866 birth date from Senan's book. I reckon Nora is wearing a broad smile in heaven at the thought that even he knocked a couple of years off her age!

Bob
 
Hi Bob,
Yeah, a lot of those Titanic women stretched their ages. But I found old Norah's birth certificate so have gotten the goods on her :-). In the process of proving the ages of the passengers and crew it seems almost rare that they told the truth. We've even found one woman that stretched it by 17 years!

Phil
 
Hi folks

Nora Keane was buried in the local graveyard in Castleconnell, Ireland - has anyone got the name of the graveyard or any other info about Nora other than what is readily available on ET Bio - or messageboard.

All the best
Houghie
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AN HISTORIC timepiece that stopped ticking when the Titanic sank 93 years ago is to be auctioned (The Irish Independent, April 15, 2005).

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The 18-carat gold pocket watch is among the rare artifacts connected to the ill-fated ocean liner to be sold by Bonhams and Butterfields in Massachusetts in the US on May 1.

The watch, which was damaged when disaster struck mid-Atlantic, belonged to Nora Keane, an Irish immigrant, living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her brothers and sisters. Following a four-month visit to her mother in Castle Connell, Co Limerick, Miss Keane decided to return on the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic, boarding at Queenstown as a second-class passenger.

She was rescued by lifeboat with the watch, which was damaged when the lifeboat passed under the ship's pump discharge.

Its gilt face has some rust staining, but it is still expected to fetch between €3,800 and €5,300, Bonhams said.

The rarest item to be sold on May 1 is the only known example of a third-class menu from the Titanic.

It is expected to fetch up to around €38,700. Other items include a collection of sheet music for particularly poignant tunes such as, 'Just as the Ship Went Down', 'A Song of the Sea' by Gibson & Adeler, and 'Nearer My God to Thee' by Bernard White.
 
I realise the above is a very old post, but there seems to be a presumption on the site that "Nora Keane's pocket watch" is legitimate. I'm related to Nora and would just like to mention that the Keane family was pretty astonished by the auction of "her" watch-- as no one in the family in Ireland (or the US) had ever heard of it. Nora certainly would have shown it off to her family. Further, the inscription is very odd with misspelled words and details that seem designed to link it to the sinking of the Titanic. (Why such a wordy inscription from her mother?) I came across this post while looking for a photograph of the Hotel she worked in with her brother Albert Michael in Harrisburg. During the search I also came across an alleged portrait of Nora for sale, stating her link to the Titanic. While the photos of Nora on this site are definitely of her, this pic below (previously for sale) looks absolutely nothing like her. I do hope people carefully check the provenance of Titanic memorabilia. It's unlikely in any case that the Keane family would have sold off such family treasures.
 

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Karen Street said:
During the search I also came across an alleged portrait of Nora for sale, stating her link to the Titanic. While the photos of Nora on this site are definitely of her, this pic below (previously for sale) looks absolutely nothing like her.
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You are absolutely right. If you know that the photo in Nora Keane's ET bio is definitely her, then the one in the attachment to your post above looks nothing like her. Completely different facial structure.

Karen Street said:
I came across this post while looking for a photograph of the Hotel she worked in with her brother Albert Michael in Harrisburg.
Click to expand...
Do you know when Nora worked in that hotel? Her ET bio suggests the possibility that after returning to her native Ireland in 1919 with an intention of staying for 6 years, she might not have returned to the US at all. There is speculation that she might have got stuck in Ireland due to the Irish War of Independence (Jan 1919 to Julty 1921) and the Civil War that followed.

That interested me a lot because I know from another research that those disturbances in Ireand caused a lot of confusion and misconceptions with identities, particularly as part of many families had migrated to America and did not always keep in touch with relatives back home. Years ago, I did research into Lusitania survivor Julia Sullivan but got mixed repsonses to letters and later e-mails that did not tally at all. After collation it seemed like I was getting information about 3 different Julia Sullivans (one of them an O'Sullivan) the descendants of each one of them believing that she was the Lusitania survivor.
 
Arun Vajpey said:
You are absolutely right. If you know that the photo in Nora Keane's ET bio is definitely her, then the one in the attachment to your post above looks nothing like her. Completely different facial structure.

“Do you know when Nora worked in that hotel? Her ET bio suggests the possibility that after returning to her native Ireland in 1919 with an intention of staying for 6 years, she might not have returned to the US at all. There is speculation that she might have got stuck in Ireland due to the Irish War of Independence (Jan 1919 to Julty 1921) and the Civil War that followed.”
Click to expand...

I can’t give a clear answer to your question about why she stayed in Ireland after 1919, but will ask my family if they know more. What I can tell you is that Albert Michael Keane and their sister Mary emigrated to Australia and other brothers emigrated to Harrisburg and lived near each other, all working for the PA Railroad; initially Nora lived with James Keane and family from 1888. Albert Michael Keane and Mary Keane Jones emigrated from Australia to the US in 1905 and he bought the Union Hotel in Harrisburg. Nora moved there and helped out. I’m not aware of her working anywhere else —her Naturalisation papers note her occupation as “a lady.” )
Albert Michael travelled to Ireland numerous times and had the family home built on the farm in Castleconnell where their mother Honora and brother Peter lived. Nora would have had several blows in 1916; her mother died on 19 Feb and Albert Michael on 5 July, then John Keane 16 January 1917. Albert Michael wanted to be buried in Castleconnell and his body was shipped home. Nora continued to live at the hotel with nephew Michael Keane until at least 1917. I believe the hotel was sold about 1919 ( or earlier) and she may have chosen to go back to Ireland for good as she inherited money from the sale. Her travel papers state she was going to Ireland to help her brother Peter whose wife had died. Given the new family home in Castleconnell that Albert Michael had built and Nora inherited some money, she might have been very happy to stay with family in Ireland. So I’m not sure she was ‘stuck’ per se; the US Keanes kept in touch with the Castleconnell Keanes and sent their children to visit “home”. Many emigrated through necessity rather than desire as you know. But I will ask if anyone knows Nora’s motivation to stay put in Castleconnell.
 
Slight addendum as I'm not sure I can edit previous post: Nora held the liquor licence at the Union Hotel and applied to transfer it to her brother-in-law Norman Jones in 1917. She traveled back to Ireland in August 1919; not sure if she returned to Harrisburg even though the January 1920 census has her listed as living with Norman Jones. Could be they thought she would return, but she didn't. From 1920 she stayed in Castleconnel, Ireland as you note near her family there.
 
Karen Street said:
Given the new family home in Castleconnell that Albert Michael had built and Nora inherited some money, she might have been very happy to stay with family in Ireland. So I’m not sure she was ‘stuck’ per se
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Thank you very much for that. Her ET bio says that when Nora Keane returned to Ireland in 1919, she was planning to stay for 6 years and then presumably return to Harrisburg. But it is possible that by 1925 she was too well settled in the home that her brother built in Casteleconnel and financially secure and so decided to remain. The only thing that surprises me about that is that there was civil war and political instability in Ireland in the 1920s whereas America was at the height of its "Roaring Twenties". Of course, at that time no one knew about the Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression.
 
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