“I am a daughter of adventure.” ~ Margaret Tobin Brown

Margaret Brown was sometimes called Maggie, but never called Molly, a name given to her in a 1933 novel, a musical and films. But she wasn’t just unsinkable~ she was unstoppable, a fierce force of nature herself.

Margaret Tobin was born into a working-class Irish immigrant family in 1867 Hannibal, Missouri. Although education was valued in her family, Margaret began working in a tobacco factory at age 13. At 18, Margaret and her brother, Daniel, followed their dreams of opportunity to the gold fields of Leadville, Colorado. There, she worked in a department store, and was active in the Irish-Catholic community, serving in soup kitchens and charity efforts. She soon met James Joseph (J.J.) Brown, a mining engineer with respectable prospects, but yet no fortune. Margaret and J.J. married in 1886, and moved further up the mountain to Stumpftown, closer to the mine where J.J. worked. They had two children, Catherine Ellen (called Helen), and Lawrence (called Larry). Later, they also raised three of their nieces, Grace, Florence, and Helen Tobin.

In 1893, J.J.’s engineering efforts found gold in the Little Johnny Mine, and the Browns became millionaires. The family moved to Denver and into their longtime home Pennsylvania Ave. (now the Molly Brown House Museum). Margaret believed that fortune must serve a greater purpose and joined progressive movements, advocating for workers’ rights, women’s suffrage, public parks, and juvenile justice reform. She helped establish Denver’s first animal shelter, the Denver Dumb Friends League, now Humane Colorado. The Browns traveled the world, and Margaret learned four new languages. She studied law, literature, even yodeling, and kept in physical shape boxing a punching bag hung in her carriage house. 

In 1909, after 23 years of marriage, Margaret and J.J. separated. She leased a home in Newport, Rhode Island, and with her western charm, was welcomed and revered in Gilded Age east coast society. Now more independent than ever, she traveled to Egypt, Rome, and Paris in 1912. She received word from Denver that her grandson was ill, and booked the first available ship home, the RMS Titanic. 

She was in her cabin when the ship hit ice, and layered on all her warm clothing to survive the cold waters. She helped other passengers into lifeboats until she was thrown and lowered into one herself. She shared her layers of clothes and led the women in rowing until dawn. Once rescued aboard the RMS Carpathia, Margaret immediately took action. With her knowledge of foreign languages, she consoled and translated for immigrant survivors who spoke little English. Before the ship even landed, she raised money and organized a committee to provide services for immigrant women and children who had lost everything. 

Margaret continued her activism for workers’ and women’s rights. In 1914, six years before the passing of the 19th Amendment, she ran for Colorado’s US Senate seat. During and after WWI, she served in France, organizing women ambulance drivers, nurses, and food distributors, and was later awarded the French Legion of Honor for her work.

In the 1920s, Margaret focused most of her energy on personal passions, and studied acting under the legendary Sarah Bernhardt. In 1925, she was vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida, when a fire broke out in her hotel. She again took charge and led guests to safety. She reported to the Denver Post, “I was born under a lucky star, I suppose. They told me a long time ago that I was born under ‘fire and water,’ that is to say, in July, and that I need have no fear of either of those elements.”

She lived in New York City, in the Barbizon Plaza Hotel, a chic, woman-only hotel in Manhattan. Here, at 65 years old, she passed away in her sleep. 

“I am a daughter of adventure. This means I never experience a dull moment and must be prepared for any eventuality. I never know when I may go up in an airplane and come down with a crash, or go motoring and climb a pole, or go off for a walk in the twilight and return all mussed up in an ambulance. That’s my arc, as the astrologers would say. It’s a good one, too, for a person who had rather make a snap-out than a fade-out of life.”

Here Margaret is the gilded and paneled entryway of her home, the House of Lions, in Denver, Colorado, wearing a dress of suffrage purple with a gold sash. This is a 5x7” giclee print of my original painting, Molly Brown. It’s printed with archival ink on thick, textured cotton rag paper, signed on the back, packaged in a protective sleeve with backing board, and ready for a standard-size frame.

Archival prints are shipped in a flat envelope through USPS Priority Mail.