Born in Michigan, she was named after her maternal aunt Hariette and her paternal aunt Rebecca.

She was married on 8 November 1893 to Marvin Persons Gillis. The couple lived near the Ford factory in Detroit but it seems the marriage was an unhappy one. They divorced in 1897 and Harriette reverted to her maiden name. 

Harriette travelled to Paris to study music with her friend Lily Brand. At a party she met a man named Edouard Bourdois and Harriette fell pregnant. It is unlcear how long the relationship lasted but they were never married. Her parents, Captain Edward Crosby and Catherine Crosby joined her in Paris in 1912 and they travelled together to England, where Harriette gave birth to a baby girl, Andrée Catherine. As the family prepared to return to the USA, the baby was left with a Paris nanny. It would be a year before mother and daughter were reunited.

On the night of the collision Harriette was awoken by her father and she boarded a lifeboat with her mother.  Harriette was critical of the Titanic crew in an interview with the Chicago Record-Herald. Claiming they were placing woemn and children in lifeboats without making basic safety checks like confirming plugs were in place. 

Harriette and her mother returned to Europe to collect Andrée, arriving back in the USA in May 1913.