Lothrop Withington (January 31, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was a well-known American

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, and

book editor The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

who was killed in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts to Nathan Noyes Withington (1828–1914) and Elizabeth (Little) Withington (1828–1912), he was involved with research and editing of publications on certain aspects of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

but best known was his extensive genealogical research that included the publication of immigrant ships' passenger lists and the like. On October 14, 1892, in London, he married Caroline Augusta Lloyd, a sister of

Henry Demarest Lloyd Henry Demarest Lloyd (May 1, 1847 – September 28, 1903) was a 19th-century American progressive political activist and pioneer muckraking journalist. He is best remembered for his exposés of the Standard Oil Company, which were written before ...

. They had no children. In 1915, Withington was involved with research in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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where he had discovered in the strong room of the Probate Registry a list of wills covering the period 1640/ 50. He is said to have been the only person aside from the officials of the Registry aware of the existence of these documents. Sensitive to their great value, he decided to make a 'Calendar' of the Wills. Lothrop Withington had not dealt with more than half of the papers when he had to make a voyage home to the United States. In May 1915, he was returning to his work in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

but lost his life on board the when it was attacked and sunk by German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

. He had no children at the time of his death. His grandnephew (a brother's grandson) was Lothrop Withington Jr., the progenitor of

goldfish swallowing The act of swallowing live goldfish was a fad popularized in American colleges in the late 1930s. History Although it is not clear how the fad emerged, various people have made claims. A 1963 letter to ''The New York Times'' claimed that it was s ...

External links

The Lusitania Resource
- Mr. Lothrop Withington

- Blog entry regarding Lothrop Withington and his connection with the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts {{DEFAULTSORT:Withington, Lothrop American genealogists American book editors Deaths on the RMS Lusitania Writers from Newburyport, Massachusetts 1856 births 1915 deaths Historians from Massachusetts