People/rescuer, financier

Margaret 'Molly' Brown

Margaret 'Molly' Brown (1867–1932), rescuer, financier, from United States.

The lucky break

Moved to Leadville at 18 and married mine engineer J. J. Brown, whose 1893 mine shares made the couple wealthy.1

The downfall

Excluded from some Denver society events for her independent streak and new-money status.1

Legacy

Survived the Titanic in 1912 and used her languages to coordinate and comfort survivors. Her Denver home is now a museum. She was never known as Molly in her life.1

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1878 to 1879Leadville silver boom2
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Where next

Mines

Worked atLeadvilleA mine engineer's share award made a Leadville couple rich.1

Events

Worked atLeadville silver boomShe moved to Leadville at 18. By 1879 it had about 30,000 people.2

Sources

  1. Margaret Brown Colorado Encyclopedia
  2. Leadville Colorado Encyclopedia

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Chuquicamata from the ISS by Alexander Gerst (ESA), CC BY-SA 2.0.