The story within the Lippincott family is that his mother tried to stop him travelling because she was worried about his sea voyage to Europe following the sinking of the "Titanic" only months before. She tried to persuade Lippincott's father to write his son a letter stating that the family business was struggling and no money for travel would be forthcoming. In the end he did raise the sponsorship money from Penn alumni and his parents relented. There is no evidence that the business was indeed struggling at the time and the family remained wealthy.