rench family history website Geneanet is appealing for volunteers to research the genealogy of victims disaster. The paddle steamer was built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891, and used for excursions. On 15 June 1904 was carrying members of St Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, which was frequented by German immigrants, on an outing when a fire broke out. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board, most of them women and children, died in the fire or by drowning in the East River while trying to swim to safety. Geneanet has compiled a collaborative family tree of the victims of the disaster, which is available at . People with an interest in German-American or New York genealogy are encouraged to take part in building the tree. A forum thread is at .
