Margaret Vandeventer, née Cowell, was born in Douglas, Isle of Man on 15 May 1839;¹ she was the daughter of John Cowell and the former Eleanor Leonwy. 

In 1841 Margaret, her parents and four older siblings emigrated to the USA; she was married in Jefferson, Kentucky in October 1866 to boiler-maker Silas C. Vandeventer (1838-1909) and the couple made their home in St Louis, Missouri. Mr Vandeventer, for the last thirty years of his life, was superintendent of the Wrought Iron Range Company in that city. 

Margaret and Silas had two children together, Maud and Percy Onward. 

Mrs Vandeventer and both her children were first cabin passengers aboard the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic disaster. After landing the survivors in New York, the trio continued on their journey to Europe. 

Mrs Vandeventer remained a resident of St Louis for the rest of her life; she died on 11 March 1930 and was buried with her husband in Bellefontaine Cemetery.