Van Billiards on the Titanic

My mom mentioned to me last week that she wondered how our Van Billiards are related to Austin Van Billiard. "Austin Van Billiard?" I ask. "Yes. Do you know who he is?" Me: "Didn't he die on the Titanic?" Bam. Right on.  Austin Van Billiard and two of his sons all perished. 

Okay, so, I don't have psychic powers (I think). We must have had this conversation before.

Anyway, a quick google search of Austin Blyler Van Billiard showed that he was from the same part of Pennsylvania as our family. So the connection had to be pretty close and it wasn't going be hard to make because Van Billiard is not a very common name.

I didn't do any "real" research, just looked at online family trees, mostly ancestry.

Here's the connection:

Jacob Van Billiard and Elizabeth Schitz had at least four children, including two sons: Samuel Van Billiard (my ancestor) and Abraham, the victim's grandfather. So, my ancestor was Austin's great uncle. His Great Uncle Samuel died decades before the Titanic sank though. Samuel's son, Thomas J. Van Billiard, was alive, living in Nevada. He was Austin's first cousin once removed, his children were Austin's second cousins. The Titanic sinking was huge news in 1912.  Would these Van Billiard cousins out west have heard the news?

More about Austin Van Billiard:

At one point, Austin was working as an electrician in France.  He met his wife there and had two children.  Then they moved to Africa so he could pursue diamond mining and there they had two more children.  Life was harsh and they decided to journey to America, where he was to be a diamond merchant.  He and his oldest two children, James William and Walter John all died when the Titanic sank.  Austin Van Billiard had twelve uncut diamonds on him when his body was recovered.