The Zipse family has been very kind to us and donated another token from General Slocum, this time from Bill (William) Zipse, another grandson of the survivor William F. Zipse.

Like the other donated token, this piece was in William Zipse’s pocket when General Slocum caught fire and sank on June 15, 1904 and he carried it with him for the rest of his life in memorial of those that lost their lives, including his five siblings. We have been unable to find another token like this, so as far as we can tell, it is the only one in existence.

We also had a discovery regarding a photo of Sophia Zipse, William’s mother who also survived. It turns out that it is not Sophie Zipse, but rather Sophia Zipse, Williams older sister who perished with the ship at the age of 17. This makes the photo (show below) all the more amazing and precious.

The above picture shows William F. Zipse’s granddaughter, Jan Zipse-Wright in 2003 with the last living survivor of the General Slocum disaster, Adella Liebenow Wotherspoon (she passed away in 2004). A year after the tragedy, Adella was the one who pulled the cord to reveal the General Slocum monument in Lutheran Cemetery. Like William, Adella attended the memorial service every year.