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Third Class Passengers
Click on your Titanic passenger’s name below to read their story, and then explore the lives of other passengers on the ship. Use the links on the left to see what happened to passengers in the other classes.
Mrs. Rhoda Mary Abbott, Age 39
Mrs. Rhoda Mary Abbott (née Hunt) was born on January 14, 1873 in Aylesbury, England. She was the wife of Stanton Abbott, a former middleweight champion of England, but they separated in early 1911. Living in Providence, Rhode Island, Rhoda supported herself and her sons, sixteen-year-old Rossmore and thirteen-year-old Eugene by sewing. She was also a soldier in the Salvation Army.In August of 1911 Mrs. Abbott decided to move to England to live with her mother in St. Albanshurst, and she and her sons made the crossing to England on board the Olympic. It wasn’t long, however, before Rossmore and Eugene became homesick for Providence, and Rhoda eventually decided to return to the states for her sons’ benefit. In April 1912 she booked her family’s passage back to America as third class passengers on the Titanic.
Survived: Rhoda and her two sons jumped from the deck as the Titanic took her final plunge. She managed to get into Collapsible A but her two boys were lost. The boat had been swamped by a wave as it was launched and its occupants balanced precariously in knee-deep water until they were picked up by Collapsible D. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe ensured the survivors were transferred to the intact lifeboat and then drained the water from the bottom of Collapsible D. It drifted away with three bodies still in it, their faces covered by lifebelts.
Rhoda’s legs were badly damaged from prolonged exposure to the near-frozen water, and she was bedridden during the voyage to New York aboard the Carpathia. Rhoda’s community at Grace Episcopal Church in Providence supported her until her death in 1946.
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Miss Karen Marie Abelseth, Age 16
Miss Karen Marie Abelseth, was born on September 14, 1895 in Norway. She lived at Ørskog, Ålesund, Norway. Three of her siblings, Anna, Lisa, and Bertha had previously emigrated to the United States. Karen decided to join them and her destination was Los Angeles, California where her sister Anna lived.Karen was traveling with Olaus Abelseth (who, being a family friend, accompanied her but was no relation), Anna Salkjelsvik, Peter Søholt, Sigurd Hansen Moen and Adolf Humblen. They all set sail from Ålesund to Newcastle via Bergen and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: Karen slept through the collision but was woken up by one of her traveling companions, Adolf Humblen. When she went out in the corridor she became very scared. Another companion, Sigurd Moen, had to hold on to her because she was shaking with fright. Up on deck she was escorted by Olaus, Moen and Søholt to a lifeboat (probably Lifeboat 16). Moen said to her to be brave, all would be well in the end. Then the boat was lowered.
Karen was some time at St. Vincent Hospital before she was able to continue to Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
Karen later married Harry S. Little and had two sons Norman and Francis and three daughters, Phyllis, Wanda and Iris.
Karen died in Inglewood, California on July 27, 1969.
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Mrs. Leah Aks, Age 18
Mrs. Leah Aks (née Rosen), was born in Warsaw, Poland on March 18, 1894. She was the daughter of Morris Rosen. The family later moved to London, where Leah met Samuel Aks and the two married.Unable to make a living in London, Samuel emigrated to the United States, settling in Norfolk, Virginia where he worked as a tailor. While Samuel was away, Leah gave birth to the couple’s son, Frank Philip Aks, on June 7, 1911. Frank was known by the nickname Filly.
After Samuel had saved enough money for their passage, he sent for Leah and Filly to join him in America. Leah and 10-month-old Filly boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Leah found herself with her baby next to Madeleine Astor on the Boat Deck. Mrs. Astor removed her shawl and wrapped it around Leah’s son, Filly. Not long after, Filly was suddenly torn out of her arms and tossed into Lifeboat 11 as crewmen prepared it for lowering. She struggled to retrieve him but was restrained by crewmen who thought she was trying to rush the boat. Leah, still in a state of shock, was pushed into Lifeboat 13. She was reunited with her son on the Carpathia.
Leah was so grateful to the Carpathia for her rescue that, when she had her second child she named her daughter Sarah Carpathia Aks. However, the nuns at the hospital wrote Sarah Titanic Aks on the birth certificate!
Leah Aks died on June 22, 1967 and her son Filly passed away on July 15, 1991.
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Mr. William Henry Allen, Age 39
Mr. William Henry Allen was born in Nottingham, England in early 1873. He was the son of Alfred Allen, a turner and later a factory foreman, and Hannah Selina Hunt. William was married in 1906 to Florence Ann Rigby and they moved to Erdington, Birmingham where he worked as a toolmaker in the nut and screw trade. The couple had no children.After staying with his parents for a short while in London, William decided to emigrate to the United States in search of work. He planned to stay with his uncle who lived in New York City while he saved enough money to send for Florence to join him.
William boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: William died in the Titanic disaster and his body was never recovered. His estate worth £167 which administered to his widow on April 5, 1913. Florence Allen never remarried and eventually resettled in Bridgford, Nottinghamshire. She passed away on September 15, 1965.
A suitcase belonging to Mr. Allen was recovered from the wreck in 2000. It contained clothing that bore a laundry stamp “W. Allen.”
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Miss Carla Christine Nielsine Andersen-Jensen, Age 19
Miss Carla Christine Nielsine Anderson-Jensen was born on February 13, 1893. She worked as a maid in Eskildstrup, Denmark where her father, Christian Jensen, was a butcherCarla received permission from her parents to travel and settle in America. Her father paid for her journey. Her uncle, Niels Peder Jensen, who was a carpenter living in Portland, Oregon, agreed to lead the party that also included Carla’s brother Svend Lauritz Jensen and her fiancé Hans Peder Jensen. They traveled via Esbjerg and London to Southampton where they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers.
Survived: Carla was placed in one of the last stern boats, probably Lifeboat 16. She later recalled that while she entered a boat the men were making jokes with her saying that she might reach New York faster than the others that way. When the boat was lowered the uncle said “now you can wait there until we come.” Moments after her lifeboat departed, the Titanic broke in two and sank. Carla’s uncle, brother and fiance did not survive.
In New York Carla was quartered in a hospital and sewed to occupy herelf. Her father sent for her and White Star gave her a second class ticket on Adriatic to Liverpool. She was back at Eskildstrup on May 13 and never traveled out of Denmark again.
Carla married Frederik Petersen, a farmer from Oremark, in 1915. They raised three children. She died on March 14, 1980 and was by her own request was buried in the nightdress she had worn on April 14, 1912.
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Mr. August Edvard Andersson, Age 27
Mr. August Edvard Andersson was born on April 24, 1884. He was the son of Knut Andersson and Elna Månsdotter. He was a journalist, typographer and socialist activist living in Malmö, Sweden.His socialist activities included the publication, in 1905, of Gula Faran (The Yellow Danger) and thereafter he was known under that nickname. The paper, which described King Oscar II as “King of Thieves,” was not appreciated by the authorities. Confiscation and charges followed. August was acquitted but he decided to emigrate in 1912. He bought himself a ticket in Copenhagen, and to conceal his identity, he assumed the last name of his friend, Ivar Vennerström (changing the V to a W).
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: As the Titanic went down August met Alma Pålsson and her children. He tried to hold on to two of the children, but lost them when they came into the water. He also found Edvard and Elin Lindell of Helsingborg, Sweden, who were part of the surge of steerage passengers who appeared on the Boat Deck in the ship’s final moments. As the ship sank the group struggled up the sloping deck until it was too steep and, clasping hands, they slid back down close to Collapsible A. August recounted that even though he was quite close to the ship, he detected no suction as it descended.
Once the ship went under August climbed into the lifeboat. He saw Mrs. Lindell in the water and grabbed her hand. Weakened by the cold he was unable to assist her further and after a while she drifted away. Fearfully, the young man glanced over at the woman’s husband but he was already dead.
In New York he was quartered at Salvation Army’s cadet school and he created a minor scandal when he accused the Lutheran immigrant home of embezzlement. He received $25 and a train ticket from the Salvation Army committee and $100 from the Red Cross. At the Salvation Army in Chicago he met and married Namoi Johnson. They moved to Culver, Indiana, where August found work as a gardener and had seven children.
August died on November 22, 1950 and is buried in Culver, Indiana.
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Miss Helene Barbara Baclini, Age 9 months
Miss Helene Barbara Baclini was born July 12, 1911. She was the daughter of Solomon and Latifa Baclini and had two sisters, three-year-old Eugenie and five-year-old Maria.Helene, her mother and sisters were traveling from their home in Syria (present day Lebanon) to join her father who had already emigrated to New York City. They were not originally scheduled to travel on the Titanic but Helene’s sister Maria developed conjunctivitis (pink eye) and they had to abandon their original plans.
The Titanic was the first available ship when Maria was better and they were ready to resume their journey. Latifa booked passage in third class and the family boarded at Cherbourg. Traveling with them was Miss Adele Jane Kiamie Najib who was going to the United States to be married. Helene’s mother was serving as Adele’s chaperone since she was only in her teens.
Survived: When the collision occured Helene’s mother, Latifa, knew something was wrong and somehow made her way with her Helene and sisters Euginie and Maria and Miss Najib, the woman Latifa was chaporoning to the boat deck. Supposedly, when they were boarding Collapsible C, the officer loading the boat would not let Miss Najib on because she was not a “blood relative” of Latifa. However, Latifa insisted that she could not arrive in America having saved herself and her daughters and tell Miss Najib’s family that she had to leave her behind. They finally let Miss Najib on the boat. This conversation had to have taken place in either French or Arabic since neither Latifa nor any of the others spoke English.
Helene Barbara Baclini grew up and married Albert Mueller. She died April 28, 1939 of breast cancer in New York City.
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Mr. Karl Ivar Sven Berglund, Age 22
Mr. Karl Ivar Sven Berglund was born on January 24, 1890. He was the son of bricklayer Karl August Berglund and Emma Rydberg. Karl was unmarried and worked as a casual laborer in Tranvik, Finland.Karl had been persuaded to travel to the United States by Alfred Rindell, a building worker who had visited him back in 1911. Alfred told Karl he could get work in the United States and later sent him cash for a ticket. Karl traveled to Stockholm, Sweden where he bought a ticket for an American Line ship. In Southampton he realized he could go on the maiden voyage of the Titanic instead, so he changed plans and bought a third class ticket. From Southampton he sent a card to his parents with the ship’s picture on it.
Died: Karl died in the sinking. The card he sent his parents and news of the disaster arrived at the same time. However, it was only after some weeks that Karl’s parents received definitive word of their son’s fate .
His body was never found and his family subsequently received £75 in compensation.
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Miss Mary Bourke, Age 40
Miss Mary Bourke was born in Carrowskeheen, Ireland on June 11, 1871. She was the daughter of William Bourke, a farmer, and Mary O’Boyle. Her mother died at a young age and her father remarried.Mary, who never married, and her brother, John, and sister-in-law, Catherine, made plans to emigrate to Chicago where Catherine’s sister Ellen lived. She joined a large group of people from her locality, called the Addergoole Fourteen, who were all traveling third class aboard Titanic. Mary boarded at Queenstown.
Died: On the night of the sinking Mary, her brother, John and sister-in-law Catherine were all reportedly asleep at the time of the collision. They were awakened by a steward who told them to get up and dressed. The three of them (perhaps with the others whom they were traveling with) all made the upper decks. Mary and Catherine had ample opportunity to escape, but they declined to be parted from John under the women and children first edict. The three of them were lost in the sinking.
The Addergoole Fourteen was the highest proportional death toll of any place in the British Isles.
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Mr. David John Bowen, Age 20
Mr. David John Bowen was born in Treherbert, Wales on July 30, 1891. He was the son of James Bowen (b. circa 1841) and Leah Protheroe (b. 1855) who were married in 1873.David first worked as a coal miner, but became a professional boxer under the tutelage of George Cundick. After David won the Welsh lightweight champion title, he started boxing in various British circuits under the nickname Dai.
David was traveling to the United States under contract for a series of boxing contests and was accompanied by fellow Welshman and boxer Leslie “Les” Williams. Both were regarded as promising fighters.
David and Leslie were originally supposed to have traveled aboard Baltic, but they changed plans in order to receive new suits they were having tailored and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: David died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
His mother died on December 10, 1918 and David is commemorated on a headstone in Treorchy Cemetery belonging to his mother and younger brother Stephen, who died October 10, 1966.
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Miss Elin Ester Maria Braf, Age 20
Miss Elin Ester Maria Braf was born on October 16, 1891. She was the daughter of Johan and Lovisa Braf from Medeltorp, Sweden. Elin worked as a domestic servant in Sweden, but she often traveled to visit her sister who had married and emigrated to the United States.In 1912, Elin was traveling to see her sister, Mrs. Annie Hammar, who lived in Chicago, Illinois. Annie had a young daughter named Mabel and Elin carried a doll meant as a present for her niece in her baggage. She boarded the Titanic with her friend Helmina Josefina Nilsson at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: Elin perished in the sinking, but her friend Helmina survived. Elin had brought the doll meant for her niece to the deck with her on the night of the wreak. The doll’s head was later found and photographed in the debris field near the stern of the wreck where most of the 3rd class passengers spent their final moments.
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Mr. Daniel Buckley, Jr., Age 21
Mr. Daniel Buckley, Jr. was born on September 28, 1890 in Boherbue, Ireland. He was the son of Daniel Buckley and Abigail Sullivan. The family moved to Kingwilliamstown (present day Ballydesmond) in 1905 where his father worked as the town baker.Daniel, who worked as a farm laborer, thought he could have a better life and earn more money in America. He decided to emigrate to New York City and bought a third class ticket for the Titanic. He boarded at Queenstown, leading a group of friends that consisted of Hannah Riordan, Bridget Bradley, Patrick Denis O’Connell, Patrick O’Connor, Nora O’Leary and Michael Linehan. All were third class passengers.
Survived: Daniel made his way up to the open decks but when he neared the steps to the first class area he found himself surrounded by other steerage passengers blocked by a crew member who refused them access. They smashed the lock and the passengers forced their way through.
Daniel and some other male passengers leapt into Lifeboat 13. Many of the men were dragged out but a woman (who he mistakenly thought was Mrs. John Jacob Astor) covered him in a ladies shawl and disguised him as a woman. He was still aboard when the lifeboat was lowered into the water.
Daniel settled in Manhattan and worked in a hotel. He joined the army and died in 1918 while serving in World War I.
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Mr. Jeremiah Burke, Age 19
Mr. Jeremiah Burke as born in Glanmire, Ireland over the summer months of 1893. He was the son of William Burke, a farmer, and Catherine Hegarty, who were married around 1883. He was one of nine children.Two of Jeremiah’s sisters had earlier emigrated and settled in the United States. His oldest sibling Mary had emigrated to Charlestown, Boston around 1905 and was married in the summer of 1911 to Michael Burns. She was pregnant with her first child. Jeremiah, who worked as a farm laborer, decided to join his sister in America and Mary sent him the funds to travel.
Jeremiah boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. Traveling with him was his cousin Nora Hegarty.
Died: Jeremiah died in the sinking, as did his cousin Nora. Thirteen months later in the early summer of 1913, a postman found a small bottle on a shingle beach near Cork Harbour. Inside was a pencilled message:
13/4/1912
from Titanic,
Goodbye all:
Burke of Glanmire,
Co. Queenstown
The bottle was brought to the local police station and later passed on to the Burke family. According to Brid O’Flynn, Jeremiah’s grand-niece, his mother had filled a little bottle with holy water and given him for good luck as he left the family house. Miss O’Flynn said, “This is unmistakably the bottle that had left thirteen months previously and unmistakably her son’s handwriting.”
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Mr. Patrick Canavan, Age 21
Mr. Patrick Canavan, known as Pat, was born in Knockmaria, Ireland on September 12, 1890. He was one of seven children born to Anthony Canavan (1848-1933), a farmer, and Bridget Kelly (1858-1946).Pat’s older brother Thomas and sister Kate had emigrated to the United States and Pat intended to join them. He traveled with a large group from his area, now referred to as the Addergoole Fourteen, led by Catherine McGowan. Also traveling with him were his cousins Mary Canavan, James Flynn and Annie Kate Kelly. Pat boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. His ultimate destination was the home of his sister Kate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Died: Pat helped assemble the women in the party and led them through the third class staircase to the lifeboats. He was last seen holding his rosary beads and standing besides his cousin Mary Canavan and James Flynn. In total, eleven members of the Addergoole Fourteen died.
The Addergoole Fourteen was the highest proportional death toll of any place in the British Isles.
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Miss Ellen Corr, Age 16
Miss Ellen Corr was born in Corglass, Ireland on July 28, 1895. She came from a Roman Catholic family and was the daughter of farmer Charles Corr and Bridget Masterson, both Longford natives, who were married in 1890 and had ten children.Two of Ellen’s older siblings, Honor and Mary Kate, had already left Ireland and had settled in Manhattan. It was Ellen’s intention to join them there and find work as a domestic servant. At age 16, Ellen was among the younger of the Irish passengers traveling alone, and she boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. It is believed she was traveling with several other passengers from her area, including Margaret and Catherine Murphy and the McCoy siblings.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Ellen was either on Lifeboat 14 or 16, along with the Murphys and the McCoys.
Ellen was eventually reunited with her sisters in New York and soon found work as a domestic servent. She went by Helen in her new homeland. She was married to a fellow Irish immigrant, Patrick Niel Sweeney, and they settled in the Bronx. After Patrick’s early death Helen never remarried. She worked as a waitress in a restaurant for many years, later becoming a head waitress, and continued to live in the Bronx. It is said that she refused to discuss the Titanic disaster in later years.
Helen died at the House of the Holy Comforter in the Bronx on March 9, 1980. She was buried with her husband in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Westchester, New York.
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Miss Laura Mae Cribb, Age 16
Miss Laura Mae Cribb was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 24, 1895. She was the oldest daughter of John Hatfield Cribb (b. 1868), and Bessie Jane Welch (b. 1868). Her father was born in Adelaide, Australia to English parents and later resettled in England where he married Bessie in 1894. The couple moved to New Jersey, where Laura was born, but soon returned to England where they had three more children.Laura’s father worked as a butler for prominent families in both New York and New Jersey and was a frequent traveler due to his profession. He decided to move his family back to Newark, New Jersey in 1912. The plan was for John and Laura to travel first and the rest of the family would join them later.
Laura and John boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Survived: Laura’s father, John, placed her in a lifeboat, bid her farewell, and promised to get in a later boat. However, he never made it and was lost in the sinking.
Laura returned to England to be with her mother and worked as a sales clerk in a department store. She was married in 1916 to Howard Marsh Buzzell and moved to New York. They had five children. Laura died on April 4, 1972.
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Miss Banoura Ayoub Daher, Age 14
Miss Banoura Ayoub was born around 1897 in present day Beirut, Lebanon. An uncle had previously emigrated to Canada and Banoura’s parents decided she should join him in hopes she would find a better life. She left her parents behind in Lebanon to make the journey and did not know or understand English. She traveled with a large group from her hometown. as was to stop in Columbus, Ohio before completing the trip to Canada.Banoura boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with cousins Shawneene George Whabee, Tannous Thomas, Gerios Yousseff and Tannous Doharr. The rest of the group were bound for Youngstown, Ohio. All traveled as third class passengers.
Survived: Banoura escaped on Lifeboat C, but her three male cousins remained on board and perished. Banoura eventually made it to her Uncle’s home in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada only to be turned away by her distraught uncle. He would not allow her to stay with him after his son died.
Banoura was taken in by another woman who had immigrated from Lebanon earlier and married Michael Deyoub. They moved to Detroit, where Michael worked at Ford’s Motor Company, and they had seven children.
Michael, while working at Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Assembly Plant, received a cash envelope with his pay every week. One week Michael came home without his pay, having gambled it away. Banoura got on a bus, went down to Ford’s Headquarters and told her complaint to Henry Ford himself. From that day forward all subsequent pay envelopes were sent directly to her.
Banoura passed away on December 3, 1970.
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Mr. Charles Edward Dahl, Age 45
Mr. Charles Edward Dahl was born Karl Edwart Dahl in Grense-Jakobselv, Norway on July 22, 1866. He was one of eight children born to Nordmand Ellef Andersen Dahl (a fisherman and trader) and Marcelie Charlotte Mikaelssen.Karl emigrated to Adelaide, Australia in 1892 to work as a joiner, where he anglicized his name to Charles Edward Dahl. He later lived in Oceania, Australia.
In 1912 he decided to return to Norway, but upon arrival in London, he changed his mind and booked passage on the Titanic, which he boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger. His destination was Fingal, North Dakota, where his mother and some of his siblings lived.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Charles claimed that the impact threw him out of his bunk. After investigations he changed into warmer clothing and headed to the aft well-deck. From there he stood in prayer lead by Father Byles. Charles was rescued in Lifeboat 15 after being allowed to climb down the falls. He claimed that the people in the already crowded boat tried to throw him overboard.
Charles was sent to St. Vincent‘s hospital after his arrival in New York for recuperation. After visiting his family in North Dakota and Minnesota he chose not to return to Australia but traveled extensively for two years. He did return to Tromsø, Norway in 1914 where he had an illegitimate son with Kristine Helgesen. Charles married another lady, Hansine Kristine Pedersen, in 1916 and the couple moved to Oceania, Australia.
Karl died on February 13, 1933 while visiting Tromsø.
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Miss Gerda Ulrika Dahlberg, Age 22
Miss Gerda Ulrika Dahlberg was born on February 5, 1890 in Västerhaninge, Sweden. She was the daughter of Karl Magnus Dahlberg, a police official, and Margareta Ulrika Persdotter (b. 1850). The couple had seven children and resided in Norrlöt.Gerda’s younger sister Signe had previously emigrated to the United States and resided in Chicago, Illinois. Gerda decided to visit her sister when she boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. While on board she became acquainted with fellow Swede Carl Olof Jansson.
Died: After Titanic had collapsed, Gerda was thrown into the water. Her newfound friend from the ship, Carl, recognised Gerda as they both struggled in the water. Carl was eventually picked up by a lifeboat, but Gerda died in the sinking and her body was not recovered.
The Mansion House Fund paid 875:52 Kr to her parents, and a claim for damages of 911 Kr was also later paid on June 30, 1914.
Gerda’s parents remained living in Stockholm. Her mother died in 1928 and her father in 1931. Her sister Signe continued to live in Chicago and was married in the 1920s to Martin Johnson, a fellow-Swede. The couple raised a family and later moved to Michigan. Signe is believed to have died in the 1980s at a nursing home in Lawton, Michigan.
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Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Davison, Age 34
Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Davison (née Finkenagel) was born in Malmesbury, England on February 19, 1878. She was the daughter of German immigrant John Finkenagel (b. 1837) and an English mother, Elizabeth Phillips (b. 1841). The family ran a boarding house in England and later emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, although Mary remained in England.Mary married Thomas Henry Davison (b. 1880), a blacksmith and native of Chippenham, England, in Malmesbury in 1902. The couple lived in Chippenham and had two children that were both lost in early infancy.
Mary and Thomas had spent time in Cleveland with Mary’s parents and decided to emigrate to Bedford, Ohio to be near family. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: Mary was rescued, possibly in Lifeboat 16, but her husband, Thomas, was lost.
Mary never returned to England and she remarried on July 29, 1913 in Warrensville, Ohio to Fred Buescher. The couple later divorced and Mary married again on September 6, 1917 to Henry Godwin, who was also from Malmesbury and who had emigrated in 1910. The couple settled in Cleveland.
Mary died of cancer on March 26, 1939. She is buried in Bedford Cemetery, Bedford, Ohio with her husband Henry Godwin. The skirt Mary wore to leave Titanic is still in the possession of her family.
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Miss Elizabeth Glayds Dean, Age 2 months
Miss Elizabeth Gladys Dean, better known as Millvina, was born on February 2, 1912 in Branscombe, England. She was the daughter of Bertram Frank Dean (b. 1886) and Georgette Eva Light Dean (b. 1879). In April 1912 she was only nine-weeks-old when her family decided to emigrate to the United States. Her father’s cousin owned a tobacco shop in Wichita, Kansas and Bertram was set to be the co-owner.The family was meant to travel on another ship, but due to the coal strikes in Britain, were transferred to the Titanic. Millvina, with her parents and older brother Bertram (b. 1910), boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. While on the ship, Millvina’s mother wrote a postcard to her parents saying: “Dear Mother, Just a card to say we are enjoying ourselves fine up to now. Little baby was very restless. With best love, Ettie.”
Survived: Millvina, her mother and brother were all rescued. They returned to England aboard the Adriatic. It was on the Adriatic that Millvina became quite a spectacle, people were amazed that such a tiny baby could have came through the ordeal alive. First and Second Class passengers on the Adriatic lined up to hold her, and many took photographs of her, her mother and brother, several of which were published in contemporary newspapers.
In her younger years Millvina did not know that she was on the Titanic, and only found out when she was eight and her mother was planning to remarry. Millvina never married, working for the government during World War II by drawing maps, and later serving in the purchasing department of a Southampton engineering firm.
Millvina was both the youngest survivor as well as the last living survivor. She lived in retirement in Southampton, England and kept very busy attending conventions; appearing in documentaries, TV series and radio shows; signing huge amounts of autographs; and relating her tales to school groups. She died on May 31, 2009.
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Mr. Guillaume Joseph DeMessemaeker, Age 36
Mr. Guillaume Joseph DeMessemaeker (Bill) was born on December, 31, 1875 in Wilsele, Belgium.He and his brothers, Emmanuel and Jacques, decided to emigrate to the United States in 1901. They were lured to Montana by tales of unclaimed farm and ranch land. Bill and his brothers homesteaded land between Tampico and Vandalia, near the Milk River. After clearing many acres of land for farming and building a log cabin on his land, Bill decided to return to Belgium to visit family and to marry. He returned in 1911 and married his wife Anna in early 1912.
Bill was bringing his new wife to his home in the United States when they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking, Bill and Anna managed to get on the boat deck following the collision. Bill’s comprehension of the English language undoubtedly enabled him and his wife to adhear to the regulations and orders – a hindrance to his fellow countrymen. When ordered into the lifeboat, Anna became hysterical and would not leave her husband’s side. Bill forcibly picked her up and handed her to an officer in Lifeboat 13. At that time, the officers asked for experienced crew to man Lifeboat 15 and Bill jumped into the crowded boat and helped to row for the remainder of the night.
The couple was later reunited on the Carpathia. After their rescue, they headed westward. However, Anna passed away in 1918, supposively having never recovered from the disaster.
Bill returned to Belgium where he met and married Marie Van Hamme (b. 1896). The couple were married in Paris in 1920 and soon after moved back to Montana. They became the parents of four children and had a large successful ranch. After raising their family, Bill and Marie sold their ranch and bought a small home in Glasgow, Montana. Bill died on June 5, 1955. He was buried next to his first wife Anna in Glasgow’s Highland Cemetery.
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Miss Bridget Driscoll, Age 27
Miss Bridget Driscoll was born in Letter, Ireland on January 17, 1885. She was the daughter of John Driscoll (b. 1847), a farmer, and Catherine Burke (b. 1849), Cork natives who had married in 1875. She was one of seven children and a twin with her brother Timothy.Bridget had emigrated to New York but returned home to Ireland in late 1911 to help nurse her dying mother. Unfortunately, Bridget’s mother died before she reached home. After staying a few months in Ireland, for her return to New York Bridget booked passage aboard Titanic. She was traveling with a neighborhood friend, Annie Jermyn and the two women apparently roomed with Mary Kelly. All boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as third class passengers.
Survived: Bridget and her two friends, Mary and Annie, all escaped the sinking the in the last lifeboat to be successfully launched from Titanic, Collapsible D.
Bridget resettled in New York and was married to an Irishman named Dominick Joseph Carney (b. 1885) who had emigrated in 1905. The couple ran a grocery store in New York and welcomed four children: Catherine, Francis, Patsy and William. Following her husband’s death in 1964 Bridget moved to Houston, Texas where her oldest daughter Catherine lived.
Bridget remained in Houston for the rest of her life and died there on December 28, 1976. She was buried in St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.
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Mr. Frank Dwan, Age 67
Mr. Frank Dwan was born in Fourmilewater, Ireland in 1847. He was the son of Thomas Dwan and Alice Trehy. Frank was married to Bridget Walsh in 1867. The couple had eight children, of whom four survived and later emigrated to America.A fisherman by trade, Frank was living with his wife in Knockmahon, Ireland when he decided to visit his children in America. He boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. Frank ultimate destination was Morris Plains, New Jersey, the home of his son, Michael.
Died: Frank died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
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Mr. William James Elsbury, Age 48
Mr. William James Elsbury was born in Stoke England on September 3, 1863. He was one of seven children born to James Elsbury, an agricultural laborer, and Mary Ann Pope.William, or James as he preferred to be known, was an agricultural laborer like his father and emigrated around 1881 to Gurnee, Illinois where he acquired a 105 acre farm. He met his wife, Eliza Jane Hucker, shortly thereafter. James and Emma were married around 1889 and had four children.
In November 1911 James returned to England alone to assist his younger brother John in sorting out their deceased parents’ financial affairs. He was due to return to Illinois in the March of 1912, but on hearing of the maiden voyage of Titanic he decided to wait for the new ship as his means of returning to America. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: James was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
His widow Eliza never remarried and continued to live in Lake, Illinois with her daughter, Bernice. The two also spent time in Rice Lake City, Wisconsin. Eliza died on September 16, 1946 and was buried in Warren Cemetery, Lake, Illinois. Her husband is commemorated on her headstone. There is also a memorial to James on a gravestone in the Taunton, Somerset area.
All of James children would be blessed with long lives: Elbert lived to be 89; George 97; Lloyd 97; and Bernice 93.
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Miss Virginia Ethel Emanuel, Age 5
Miss Virginia Ethel Emanuel (Marten) was born in 1906 to John Alfred Deszo Marten and Esther “Estelle” Weil, both actors who had married in 1903. The couple separated in 1907, and by 1910, Estelle was involved with Walter Emanuel, although it is unclear if the pair married. In 1912, Walter had deserted the pair. By this point Virginia’s mother was traveling as the opera singer Estelle Emanuel.Virginia lived in New York City with her grandparents and father, but had been on a visit to her mother, who was on a six month singing contract in England.
Virginia boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger with her nurse, Miss Elizabeth Dowdell, who was escorting her home. Virginia’s ticket stated her last name as Emanuel, but in other documents she is listed with her father’s last name of Marten. Virginia and Elizabeth shared a third class cabin with Amy Stanley.
Survived: Virginia and her nurse Elizabeth Dowdell were rescued in Lifeboat 13.
Virginia returned to her grandparents and her mother, Estelle, sailed back to New York in August 1912. Estelle married a third time to Harold Binney, who was said to be devoted to Virginia. Little else is known of VIrginia except that in her later years, her mother insisted on being called her “sister” in travel documents!
Nurse, Elizabeth Dowdell, later married and attended the New York premiere of A Night to Remember in 1958. She passed away in the Bronx, New York, on November 16, 1962. She was buried at the Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Mr. Charles Richard Fardon, Age 46
Mr. Charles Richard Farden was born in Daventry, England in 1866. He was the son of Thomas Richard Farden (b. 1845) and Elizabeth Gossage (b. 1845). His father was a carpenter and joiner and the couple had married in 1866. Charles was the oldest of eleven children.Charles was married in Daventry in 1896 to Sophia Turnell (b. 1865 in Wellingborough) and they settled in Wellingborough where Charles worked as a carpenter. The couple had one child, a daughter named Dorothy Kate, who was born on January 21, 1899.
Charles boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger bound for Canada. He boarded under the pseudonym Charles Franklin for reasons unknown.
Died: Charles was lost in the sinking. His widow Sophia never remarried and remained in Wellingborough where she died in 1938. His daughter Dorothy was married in 1923 to Charles Stone Platnauer (1902-1990) and had three children. Dorothy also died in Wellingborough, in 1983.
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Miss Honor Fleming, Age 22
Miss Honor Fleming was born in Carrowskeheen, Ireland on April 9, 1888. She was one of eleven children born to Thomas Fleming (b. 1851), a farmer, and Mary Callaghan (b. 1853), Mayo natives who were married around 1877.Honor’s sister Catherine had married and emigrated to the United States, settling in Manhattan. Honor intended to join her there. She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger on April 11, 1912. She was traveling in a large group from her area, now known as the Addergoole Fourteen, a crowd headed by Catherine McGowan. Among the group were her near neighbors, the Bourkes: John, Mary and Catherine.
Died: Honor was lost at sea in the sinking. Her sister in America, Catherine, remained in New York for the rest of her life and died at age 90 in 1976.
The Addergoole Fourteen was the highest proportional death toll of any place in the British Isles.
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Mr. John Flynn, Age 48
Mr. John Flynn was born in Carrowhekeen, Ireland around 1864. He was the son of farmers John and Catherine Flynn (b. 1821) and he had two sisters, Bridget and Mary. John first emigrated to the United States sometime between 1884 and 1889. He stayed with an uncle in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and worked in the local steel mills. He was married in 1891 in Pittsburgh to Mary Cassidy who had emigrated from Cornamona, Ireland in 1885. The couple had six children.In early 1912 John returned to Ireland to visit his widowed sister Bridget, whose husband Martin Mannion had died in 1910. Bridget had taken over the farm from their parents after they passed and John assisted her. John was summoned back to the United States, however, for uncertain reasons.
For his return voyage John boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Died: John was lost in the sinking. His widow, Mary, never remarried and continued to live in Pittsburgh and was taking in lodgers to make ends meet by the time of the 1920 census. What became of her and their children is unknown.
A memorial was erected to John Flynn in Clonbur, Galway to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death.
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Miss Dollina Margaret Ford, Age 20
Miss Dollina Margaret Ford was born in Hadlow Down, England on June 13, 1891. Named after a maternal aunt, she was the oldest child of Edward Ford (b. 1858), a farm worker, and Margaret Ann Watson (b. 1857), a Scotlish woman. The couple married in 1890 and had five children. However, Dollina’s father Edward deserted the family, leaving them destitute and Dollina worked as a parlor maid to make ends meet.Dollina’s sister Frances had emigrated to the United States in 1911 where she worked as a domestic servant for a wealthy Long Island family. Frances’s stories of life abroad so impressed the family that they all decided to leave England and settle in America. The Fords, along with Dollina’s aunt and cousins, boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers. They were destined for New London, Connecticut where Dollina’s uncle Thomas Watson lived.
Died: The entire party of ten was lost in the sinking. Dollina’s absent father Edward later filed a claim for the loss of his family and was awarded five shillings per week. What became of her father is not known but it is possible he remained in Rotherfield and died in 1933.
Frances Ford, Dollina’s sister in the United States, was so distraught after having lost her mother, her siblings and other relatives, that she went to live with her uncle Thomas Watson and later worked as a laundress. She was married in Boston on June 24, 1916 to Massachusetts-native Charles Henry Langley (b. 1883) and had two children. What became of her first husband is unknown but she was remarried sometime before 1930 to New Yorker Michael Nathanson (b. 1883), a leather dealer, and settled in Quincy, Massachusetts. She died in 1969.
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Mrs. Margaret Ann Watson Ford, Age 54
Mrs. Margaret Ann Watson Ford was born on December 3, 1857 in Bracadale on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. She was the daughter of William Watson (b. 1827), a shepherd, and Margaret Ross (b. 1832). She was one of twelve children.Margaret was married in St. Mark’s Church in Hadlow Down, England on June 17, 1890 to Edward Ford (b. 1858). They had five children. However Edward deserted the family and Margaret was left to eke out an existence as a poultry farmer. Her daughter Frances had emigrated to the United States in 1911 and worked as a domestic servant with a wealthy Long Island family. Frances so impressed her family with tales of a better life that Margaret decided to leave home for America.
Margaret bought tickets for her and all her children and they boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers along with Margaret’s sister Eliza Johnston and Eliza’s family.
Died: The entire party of ten were lost in the sinking. None of their bodies were identified amongst those recovered after the sinking. Margaret’s husband, Edward, who had deserted his family, later filed a claim for the loss and was awarded five shillings per week. What became of Edward is not known but it is possible he remained in Rotherfield and died in 1933.
Frances Ford, having lost her mother, her siblings and other relatives, later went to live in Haverhill, Massachusetts with her uncle Thomas Watson and worked as a laundress. She was married in Boston on June 24, 1916 to Massachusetts-native Charles Henry Langley (b. 1883) and had two children. What became of her first husband is unknown but she was remarried sometime before 1930 to New Yorker Michael Nathanson (b. 1883), a leather dealer, and settled in Quincy, Massachusetts. She died in 1969.
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Mr. John Garfirth, Age 23
Mr. John Garfirth was born in Wollaston, England in the closing months of 1889. He was the son of George Garfirth (b. 1849), a gardener, and Ann Robinson (b. 1850). Both his parents were natives of Northamptonshire who had married in 1868 and had ten children.When John’s father died in 1897 he began working as a pressman in a boot factory.
John and his friend George Patchett, also a boot worker, decided to emigrate to Canada where George had relatives. They were originally supposed to have traveled aboard the Empress of Ireland on April 5, 1912. Their attempts to travel on that ship were hampered by massive coal strikes in Britain and they were forced to transfer to the Titanic. They boarded at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Died: John Garfirth died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
His mother, Ann, continued to live in Wollaston and died in 1922. John’s youngest sibling, Leonard, later fought in World War I in the 14th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was killed in action in France on March 27, 1918.
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Mr. Eliezer Gilinski, Age 23
Mr. Eliezer Gilinsky was born in 1889 in Ignalina, Lithuania. He had one sister and four brothers. Eliezer, also known as Lazar, was unmarried and worked as an engineer and locksmith.His last reported address was his brother David’s house in South Wales. His brother married in 1911, and Eliezer may have traveled from Lithuania to Wales for the wedding. Other family members believed that he left Lithuania to avoid compulsive service in the Russian Army. He would have been forced to serve twelve years.
Eliezer boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger to move to Chicago, Illinois. Unable to afford a normal ticket, Eliezer was contracted as a reserve engineer in exchange for cheaper passage. He carried a primer on the English language with him.
Died: Eliezer was lost in the sinking. His body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. On his person were photographs, a $5 bill and the primer on the English language. He was buried at sea on April 21, 1912.
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Miss Katherine Gilnagh, Age 17
Miss Katherine Gilnagh, known as Kate, was born in Cloonee, Ireland on October 13, 1894. She was the daughter of Hugh Gilnagh (1865-1932), a farmer, and Johanna Duffy (1867-1941), who had married around 1892.Kate’s sister Mollie had emigrated to the United States, leaving Ireland in 1911. She lived and worked in Manhattan and soon sent for Kate to join her.
Kate joined the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. While aboard she roomed in cabin 161 on E-deck aft with three other women from her area, Katie Mullin and the Murphy sisters, Margaret and Kate. She also became acquainted with fellow Longford passengers James Farrell, Thomas McCormack and the Kiernan brothers, John and Phillip.
Survived: When Kate headed out to the upper decks she found her way to the lifeboats impeded by crewmen blocking their way. When trying to pass through one barrier a crewman stopped her but James Farrell threatened the offending crewman with a punch if he didn’t let the women through. His intervention perhaps saved her life. Kate later referred to James as her guardian angel. Kate eventually managed to get to a higher deck with the lifeboats, but she couldn’t find her way any further. A man offered her a lift up on his shoulders, and she climbed over the railing to the boat deck. Spying a boat close by she made for it but a crewman again held her back, telling her it was full. Crying out that her sister was in the boat, the crewman relented and let her pass. In years later, Kate recounted that the magnitude of the disaster unfolding at the time escaped her and she naïvely thought that this was the regular way to make it to America.
Kate eventually arrived in the United States and was reunited with her sister Mollie. To reassure her family back home that she was safe, Kate and Mollie had a portrait taken and posted to Ireland.
Kate soon met her future husband, John Joseph Manning (b. 1893) who worked as a chauffeur. The two had three children and lived in Queens, New York until John’s death in 1955.
In later life Kate became a member of the “Titanic Enthusiasts of America,” later the Titanic Historical Society, and she appeared on two television programs, To Tell The Truth and the Steve Allen Show and also recalled her experiences to Walter Lord when he was writing A Night to Remember. Her picture also appeared in a 1953 Life magazine account of the tragedy.
Kate died on March 1, 1971 in Long Island City, New York and was buried with her husband in Woodside Cemetery, Queens, New York.
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Miss Mary Agatha Glynn, Age 18
Miss Mary Agatha Glynn was born in Slieveanore, Ireland on July 2, 1893. She was the daughter of Patrick Glynn (b. 1856), a farmer, and Ellen Guilfoyle (b. 1866). Her parents had married in early 1889 and had thirteen children.Mary worked as a domestic servant in a hotel in Scarriff, Ireland.
Mary boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. She was traveling to Washington, DC where she had a cousin, Mrs. D. Courtney, who lived at 715 North Capitol Street. While aboard she shared a cabin with three other women from her area, Mary McGovern, Julia Smyth and Kate Connolly.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Mary related that she and her cabin mates, Mary, Julia and Kate, felt the sensation of the ship striking something. Inquiring from passing crewmen as to if they were in any danger, they were reportedly ridiculed for their anxiety and told to go back to their bunks. Shortly after however they were told otherwise they left their cabin and went into the communal third class areas. In terror, she and her friends knelt in prayer but a man she identified as Martin Gallagher, found them and led them into a second class area of the ship. She and the other three girls from her cabin were rescued in Lifeboat 13. Mary described the perilous moment that the lifeboat, unable to release itself from the falls once lowered, was threatened with being crushed by Lifeboat 15 which was lowering rapidly overhead.
Mary eventually reached America aboard the rescue ship Carpathia and spent time in the hospital to recuperate. She also received modest monetary assistance from the American Red Cross before she continued her journey to Washington where she remained.
Mary soon met her future husband, Patrick Joseph O’Donoghue (b. 1887), a streetcar conductor from Ireland who had emigrated in 1907. The couple were married in Washington, DC on October 18, 1917 and made their home there where her husband later managed a restaurant.
Mary died while visiting her daughter in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 26, 1955. She was buried in Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Washington, DC. Her widower Patrick died just over a year later on October 10, 1956.
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Master Frank John William Goldsmith, Jr., Age 9
Master Frank John William Goldsmith, Jr. was born on December 19, 1902 in Stroud, England. He was the son of Frank Goldsmith (b. 1879), a tool maker, and Emily Alice Brown (b. 1880). Frank, who was known by his nickname Frankie, also had a younger sibling, a boy named Bertie, who passed away from diphtheria in 1911.The Goldsmith family decided to emigrate to the United States, specifically Detroit, where all of Frankie’s mother Emily’s siblings lived. Frankie and his parents boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: Frank and his mother Emily were rescued, probably in Collapsible D. However, his father, Frank, perished.
Frank and Emily settled in Detroit, where he grew up near to Tiger Stadium. When the Tigers played, the roar of the crowds reminded him of the sound of the Titanic sinking; consequently, he never took his children to baseball games.
As a young man Frank worked as a milk cart driver, a job he held for many years. He served as a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force photographic division during World War II.
Frank married a woman named Victoria in 1926 and they had three sons. After the war Frank and his family moved to Ashland, Ohio. He opened the Mansfield Photo Supply store in 1948 and retired in 1973.
He and his wife traveled extensively, wintering in Arizona among other places. He died of heart failure on January 27, 1982 after moving to Florida.
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Mr. George Green, Age 41
Mr. George Green was born in 1871 in Falmer, England to Ned Green (1825-1908) and Mary Ranger (1833-1904). He was one of ten children. In 1901, he married Theresa Jane Morris, originally of Coventry and they had three daughters: Hilda, Kathleen, and Olive Janet.George worked as a farrier at a forge in Dorking when he decided to emigrate with his family to the mining center of Lead City, South Dakota.
George traveled alone on the Titanic. Theresa and the three children planned to take the Titanic on its second voyage to meet up with George in America. He boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: George was lost in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
His widow, Theresa, and thier children were awarded a weekly pension from the Mansion House Titanic Relief Fund. He left an estate to his widow of £45.
Theresa appears never to have remarried, and she died on her 93rd birthday in Surrey, England.
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Mrs. Elin Matilda Hakkarainen, Age 24
Mrs. Elin Matilda Hakkarainen was born in Helsinki, Finland on March 20, 1888. She was the daughter of Carl Dolk and Eva Vilhelmina Andersson.Elin first emigrated to the United States in 1907, arriving in New York on June 26. She worked as a maid in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was engaged to another Finnish-American, Pekka Peitari Hakkarainen (b. 1884) a steelworker from Monessen, Pennsylvania, and they were wed in Finland on January 15, 1912. The stay in Finland was brief to avoid Pekka being conscripted into the Russian Army.
Initially planning to return to the United States aboard Mauretania, they changed their minds and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Elin and her husband Pekka were in their cabin sleeping but were woken by the collision which Elin described as a strong vibration and a scratching noise. Pekka got up to investigate while Elin returned to bed, soon falling asleep again. When she awoke again sometime later Pekka had still not returned and some onboard acquaintances arrived at the cabin to rouse her. She did not have time to dress properly and grabbed a handbag and life preserver and hurried into the corridor. All the stairway gates appeared to be locked, but, at last, she noticed a steward coming to collect a group of steerage passengers, guiding them to the boat deck.
Elin looked for her husband on deck but an officer came up and told her that there was space for one more woman in Lifeboat 15. The boat was already on its way down and she almost fell between the ship between lifeboat and the ship side, before someone grabbed her in her hand and pulled her into the boat.
Elin never saw Pekka again and his body was never found. She continued to New York aboard Carpathia and later received £50 in compensation.
For a time Elin lived in West Virginia and was remarried there on April 10, 1917 to Emil Nummi (b. 1891), also a native of Finland. The couple’s only child, a son named Gerald Emil, was born on October 20, 1920. The family moved to Warren, Ohio in 1926 and Elin spent the rest of her life in that city.
During the 1950s Elin saw the Fox movie Titanic, assisted Walter Lord in his research for A Night to Remember and also saw the TV adaptation of that book. Elin died following a stroke on January 2, 1957. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Warren.
Her son Gerald penned a book about his mother’s experiences on Titanic called I’m Going to See What Has Happened.
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Mr. Mubārik Sulaymān Abī Āsī Ḥannā, Age 27
Mr. Mubārik Sulaymān Abī Āsī Ḥannā was born in Hardin, Lebanon on April 10, 1885. He was the son of John Simeon Asi and Mary Anthony and had four known siblings.Mubārik, a farmhand in his native Lebanon, was headed to Port Huron, Michigan to the home of Hanna Asi (Hassey) in Pennsylvania. At least two siblings had already crossed the Atlantic. His brother Simon had lived in Michigan (reportedly Port Huron) since 1906 and his sister, Rose had emigrated in 1911 and lived in Pennsylvania.
Mubārik boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a third class passenger and was traveling with a large group from Hardin, including several cousins.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Mubārik was asleep in his cabin and seemingly slept through the impact. A cousin woke him, telling him that the ship had shuddered and was now sinking. Hurriedly dressing and stuffing his bare feet into shoes, Mubārik left his few possessions and what money he had and hastened from his cabin. Knowing very little English, he managed to scale his way to the upper decks, noting that the sea was calm and the air very cool.
Accounts of how Mubārik survived vary. One account states that he stepped into a lifeboat that was almost already full, seemingly without much opposition. Another account from an interview he gave had a much more dramatic exit where he took a baby from a woman and helped board her and the child on a lifeboat. He then jumped 30 feet into the boat where landed on the head of a woman.
In New York he was reportedly met by a brother who had traveled from Port Huron to meet him. Following treatment in St. Vincent’s Hospital he would travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with Thamīn Tannūs and her son As’ad where he would spend time with friends and relatives before heading to Michigan.
He was married in Croswell, Michigan on September 9, 1912 to Elizabeth Āsī (b. 1891), also a Lebanese migrant. The couple had no children. In America they were members of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church and Mubārik Anglicised his name to Bert Johns.
Bert worked for several years in industrial plants before he and his wife operated a fruit store in Marlette, Michigan. For 15 years he operated a public house, Bert’s Tavern, in Port Huron.
Bert died in Port Huron on February 2, 1952. His widow, Lizzie, later died in February 1970 and they are buried together in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Port Huron.
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Mrs. Jennie Louise Hansen, Age 45
Mrs. Jennie Louise Hansen (née Howard) was born on December 20, 1866 in Racine, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of William J. Howard and Edith Dawson.Jennie had previously escaped death when she was a pastry cook in the Blake Opera House and Hotel. When the building caught fire in 1884 she made the last trip down the elevator before flames gutted the shaft of the hotel.
Jennie married Claus Peter Hansen on July 25, 1900 in Racine. The couple had no children. In 1912, Peter (as Claus was known) and Jennie traveled to Denmark to visit Peter’s parents and brothers. When they returned to America, Peter´s twenty-six-year-old brother Henrik Juul Hansen decided to leave Denmark and accompany them to the United States. The three boarded the Titanic in Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: After the collision, Jennie’s husband, Peter, put her into a lifeboat. Peter and his brother Henrik both perished in the sinking. Jennie later claimed that the lifeboat was so crowded that a sailor had to sit on her lap while he was rowing.
Jennie was briefly hospitalized in New York after the Carpathia landed. She also suffered from severe nightmares and went to stay with her elder brother Thomas Howard and his wife Maggie in Racine.
Jennie later married Elmer Emerson (who was 19 years her junior) on August 25, 1915. Jennie died on December 15, 1952.
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Mr. Harry Hart, Age 29
Mr. Henry Hart was born in Drumiskabbole, Ireland in 1883. He was one of seven children born to Michael Hart (b. 1843), a farmer, and Mary Cunningham (b. 1841).At some point Henry emigrated to the United States, where he was married in Belmont, Massachusetts on July 30, 1911 to another Irish-American, Bridget Delia McGillicuddy (b. 1883). Delia and Henry reportedly worked together for a sugar company owned by E. F. Atkins in Belmont. The couple returned to Ireland on August 10, 1911. Henry at the time was a cook. They settled in Kerry where Delia still had family.
Originally scheduled to travel aboard the Celtic, Hart instead boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. He was headed to Marion, Massachusetts where he had a relative, John Hart.
Died: Henry died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
His widow Delia had been pregnant at the time of the sinking and later gave birth to a son whom she named after his late father. Mother and son are believed to have spent the remainder of their lives in Ireland, but what became of them is not certain.
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Miss Honor Healy, Age 33
Miss Honor Healy, also known as Nora, was born in Greethill, Ireland on April 9, 1879. Born into a Roman Catholic family, she was the daughter of Thomas Healy (b. 1841), a farmer, and Mary Martin (b. 1841). She lived with her mother, her father having passed away in years prior, and worked as a farmer. She was unmarried.Honor was traveling to Manhattan, New York where she had several family members, including an aunt. She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Survived: On the night of the sinking, Honor was rescued in Lifeboat 16.
However, her experiences on the Titanic pushed Honor over the edge. Speculated to be slightly mentally fragile already, she had a breakdown upon her arrival in New York and shortly returned to her family in Ireland. A few years later she was committed to Ballinasloe Asylum where she spent the rest of her life. She eventually died from a stroke on March 11, 1919.
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Mr Oskar Arvid Hedman, Age 27
Mr. Oskar Hedman was born in Umca, Sweden on July 5, 1884. He was the son of Gustav Hedman and had three brothers and two sisters. In 1905 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Beach, North Dakota.In 1911, Oskar was living in Bowman, North Dakota where he was employed at the Carter Hotel as well as running automobiles for the Western Land Securities company, Obert A. Olson and others. In 1912 he was employed by the Land firm J.P. Rodgers & Co., in St. Paul Minnesota. He worked as a settler recruiter, someone sent by an American state to recruit migrant workers to work in the United States.
Oskar was returning from work abroad and boarded the Titanic at Southampton leading a group of seventeen migrant workers, few of whom could speak English.
Survived: Oskar threw himself into a lifeboat at the last second. He told later that he had thought to himself that he should at least jump because: “If they are going to shoot me I’ll just die faster.” It is not clear what lifeboat it was but it was probably 15. Contemporary newspaper reports give sharply conflicting accounts of his escape.
On November 7, 1912 Oskar married Julia Mathilda ““Tillie”“ Anderson. The couple had no children. Sometime during his residence in North Dakota Oscar began to train as an osteopath or chiropractor. It is unclear whether he ever completed his training but he practiced for many years, albeit in an unlicenced capacity, and was known to locals as “Doc.” However, because he never officially registered he and his wife had to move from town to town to avoid citation for practicing without a licence. In 1920 or 1925 Oskar settled in Onida, South Dakota, where he practiced for almost 40 years.
Oscar died in Onida, South Dakota July 28, 1961.
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Mr. Ling Hee, Age 24
Mr. Ling Hee was from Hong Kong. He was unmarried. As an Asian, even though he traveled with a British passport, he would have experienced a lot of racism in Europe.Ling was traveling to New York City with eight Chinese colleagues. They were all bound for the steamship Annetta. Ling and the others were sailors out of work due to the coal strike in Britain. While it has been alleged that some or all the Chinese colleagues were stowaways on the Titanic, in fact all eight boarded the Titanic at Southampton as fare-paying third class passengers. In addition to Ling, they were Lee Bing, Chang Chip, Choong Foo, Ali Lam, Len Lam, Fang Lang and Lee Ling. They traveled together on the same ticket. While aboard the Titanic, the men would have been shunned and not able to socialize with the other third class passengers.
Survived: As a sailor, Ling understood the workings of the ship and made his way to Collapsible C. He was able to hide under the seats until after the boat was lowered. Out of the eight Chinese passengers, six survived the sinking.
Once Ling made it to New York, he was detained and placed under guard by United States Immigration officers and immediately escorted to the Annetta which sailed the following day to Cuba.
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Miss Hilda Maria Hellström, Age 22
Miss Hilda Maria Hellström was born December 7, 1889, the daughter of August Hellström and Carolina Hellström (née Johnson). She had two brothers and two sisters. Until 1912 Hilda lived in Stora Tuna, Sweden with her parents.Hilda had been planning her journey to America for a long time, but had to postpone it when her mother became ill and she had to keep house for her father. When her mother died, in March 1912, a sister took care of her father and Hilda could finally go. She was initially meant to travel on the Adriatic but was transferred on account of a massive coal strike in Britain at the time. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. Her destination was the home of her widowed aunt Johanna Erikson in Evanston, Illinois.
Survived: Hilda had not yet got into bed when she heard the collision, she went on deck but could see no disturbance so returned to her room. When she was back in her cabin she felt uneasy and decided to go back up on deck. Someone grabbed her and guided her to a lifeboat. Hilda was able to get into one of the last boats (probably) Collapsible C with fellow Swede Velin Öhman. Hilda recalled that Velin produced a bottle of brandy and the two women shared it to calm their shattered nerves.
In a letter home she wrote about the arrival to New York on the Carpathia that she was “broke, pale and skinny, we were stowed in like pigs on Carpathia.” In New York she was brought to the Lutheran Emigrant Home. The Womens Relief Committee in New York gave her $25.
After surviving the sinking she had such a terror of water that she never again traveled to Sweden or saw her Swedish relatives. Hilda married John Edward Larson on December 7, 1915, in Waukegan. They had a daughter, Ellen. The family lived in Chicago.
Hilda died at her daughter’s home on March 16, 1962.
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Mr. John Fredrik Alexander Holm, Age 43
Mr. John Fredrik Alexander Holm was born on February 20, 1869. He was the son of Elsa Nilsson who lived in Stockholm. From the age of two months John was looked after by Charlotta Johansson and regarded her and her husband as his parents.John’s adopted father died in 1912 and the 68-year-old Charlotta became dependent upon John’s income. He worked as a ship’s skipper in New York, but he planned to move back to Sweden and settle down with his fiancée Emmy Tanngren. However, he decided to continue working for a while for a yacht club, C. C. Ulmers Park, and look for a new job later.
John traveled to Southampton via Denmark with Adelia Landergren and Mauritz Ådahl. He boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger.
Died: After the collision John and Mauritz helped Adelia Landergren into Lifeboat 13, but did not enter themselves. John died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
After his death the Swedish consulate tried to investigate his wealth and found all bank accounts had been emptied before his trip to Sweden in 1911. When consulate personnel entered his apartment they found very little furniture, just some dirty clothes and unsellable junk with the net result of minus $4.90 for the consulate for moving the things to the Public Administrator. His fiance, Emmy, never moved to the apartment she and John had prepared in Sweden and the furniture was sold at auction. Emmy never married and continued living with her parents.
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Miss May Elizabeth Howard, Age 26
Miss May Elizabeth Howard was born in North Walsham, England on May 2, 1885. She was the daughter of William Howard (b. 1845), an agricultural laborer, and Martha Whall (b. 1849) who had married in 1867.May boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. She intended to visit with her brother in Toronto, Ontario before joining her married sister Jane Hewitt. Jane had emigrated in 1908 and lived in Albion, New York where she worked as a nanny. Mary had reportedly been booked on another ship but switched to Titanic because of a massive coal strike in Britain. On board the ship she shared a cabin with Mrs. Emily Goldsmith and Emily’s son Frank and was seasick during the voyage.
Survived: On the night of the sinking May had been in her cabin at the time of the collision but was still fully dressed. She described the impact as not violent enough to upset them but felt the ship rock and was further alarmed by the sound of ringing bells coming from down below. Leaving her bunk to see what had happened she encountered many other bewildered and half-dressed passengers who had left their cabins with similar curiosity. Crewmen initially instructed the crowd to go back to bed before a “doctor” came and told them all was well but to get their lifebelts.
May escaped the sinking, leaving with her cabinmate, Mrs. Goldsmith, and Mrs. Goldsmith’s son, Frank, in Collapsible C.
May became a nanny for the Kenyon family in New York where she would help raise their five children. Following service with the Kenyons she later worked for their daughter Margaret. May, who was never married, is remembered by the Kenyon family as a very sweet lady who was wonderful with children but who was quiet and reserved and ever fearful of water and, while it was common knowledge in the family that she had survived the Titanic, it was never a topic brought up to her as she did not like to discuss it.
May died in the Rochester State Hospital on November 28, 1958 and was buried in New York in the Kenyon family plot.
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Mr. Abraham Joseph Hyman, Age 34
Mr. Abraham Joseph Hyman was born in the Russian Empire in 1878. He came to England as a young man, possibly fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe at the time, and eventually settled within Manchester’s thriving Jewish community.He was married in 1902 to Esther Levy (b. 1880), a native of Manchester, and by 1911 the couple had five children. Abraham worked as a storekeeper and later as a picture frame maker.
Abraham boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a third class passenger on April 10 1912. He was traveling alone to Springfield, Massachusetts where he had a brother, Harry.
Survived: Abraham escaped in Collapsible C:
Reaching America aboard Carpathia Abraham was met by his brother. His wife refused to cross the Atlantic to join him and Abraham also had reservations about making the crossing again. However his time spent in New York inspired Abraham pursue an enterprise back in England.
He eventually returned to Manchester where he opened a Kosher deli and grocery store, J. A. Hyman Ltd on Waterloo Road. Locals referred to Abraham as the “Titanic Man” and the store became known as Titanics. The store is still in operation today and still within the Hyman family.
He and his wife had a further two children, but Esther died on September 14, 1927. Abraham was remarried in 1929 to Esther Libber. Abraham died on March 6, 1956 in The Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital in Manchester.
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Mrs. Sāfiyah Ibrāhīm, Age 18
Mrs. Sāfiyah Ibrāhīm was born in Shwayhad, Syria on February 10, 1894. Her parents died when she was young, and Sāfiyah went to live with her married sister. She married Wassūf Ibraham Halut (b. 1887), also a native of her village, and the couple had a daughter named Zakiyah, on August 9, 1908.The couple decided to emigrate to Pennsylvania. Safiyah and Wassūf left their daughter in the care of family and continued onward to the United States. Safiyah was refused entry at Ellis Island due to a contagious eye infection and was ordered to return to Syria. She made two more attempts to enter the United States.
On her third attempt, Sāfiyah left Syria and traveled from Beirut to Marseille then on to Cherbourg where she boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger.
Survived: Sāfiyah was in bed during the iceberg collision, and she left her cabin and joined scores of other confused steerage passengers who were wandering around the public areas waiting for instructions from the crew. She gave several newspaper interviews after the sinking with conflicting and occasionally embellished stories of her last moments on the ship. What is know is that she did make her way to the upper decks and was rescued in Collapsible C.
Upon arrival in New York Sāfiyah was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital for recuperation and given monetary assistance and travel allowance to complete her journey to her husband in Greensburg. Her husband Wassūf had reportedly been unaware that she was on Titanic.
Wassūf and Sāfiyah Ibrāhīm anglicized their names to Joseph and Sophie Abraham and on October 4, 1913 they welcomed a son, Zackie Halaut. Their daughter Zakīyah married and settled in Trinidad to raise a large family, and she was reportedly not reunited with her parents until 1947.
Sophie Abraham died on December 11, 1976 and is buried in Westmoreland County Memorial Park in Greensburg.
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Mr. Carl Olof Jansson, Age 21
Mr. Carl Olof Jansson was born May 17, 1890 the son of Alfred Jansson and Charlotta Svensson in Sweden. He had four siblings.Carl was a socialist and an active member of the Labour movement. He had been working as a carpenter for the Eriksson brothers workshop in Örebro, Sweden.
Carl decided to emigrate, although he did so without permission from the Swedish authorities. He bought tickets and legal papers in Copenhagen and was accompanied by fellow Socialist and Swede August Wennerström. They remained together on the Titanic which they boarded at Southampton. Carl boarded as a third class passenger and August as a second class.
Survived: Carl was woken by the collision and hurried up to deck. He was in such hurry that he had forgotten to put an any shoes. Up on deck he saw nothing and first he thought he would see the iceberg that somebody had mentioned to him but it was too late. So he went back down to put on some proper clothing. Carl’s cabin was one of those that was fast being filled with water.
Carl remained on the ship until the end and then swam to the water filled Collapsible A.
In New York he was brought to the Salvation Army’s Cadet School and was given $25 from the Salvation Army assistance committee. He initially settled in Swedeburg, Nebraska and then in Wahoo. He continued to work as carpenter, and he never returned to Sweden. He was married Edith Syverson on May 3, 1923. The couple had no children.
Cael died in Wahoo on March 23, 1978.
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Miss Annie Jane Jermyn, Age 26
Miss Annie Jane Jermyn was born in Derreenaclogh, Ireland on July 13, 1885. She was the daughter Henry Jermyn (b. 1858), a farmer and stonemason, and Susan Connell (b. 1861).Her sister Mary had emigrated to the United States and was married in Massachusetts in April 1911 to Richard William Draper (b. 1881). Richard was a leather worker and former farmer from a neighboring townland, Gortnagrough. The entire Jermyn family was making plans to settle in Massachusetts and Annie would cross the Atlantic first, destined for her sister Mary’s home.
Annie boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. While aboard she shared a cabin with another woman from her town, Bridget Driscoll, and Mary Kelly.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Annie and her two cabin mates, Bridget and Mary, managed to secure places in the last lifeboat to be successfully launched from the ship, Collapsible D. Annie later reported many third class passengers were trapped in their quarters, not even managing to reach the upper decks, and she stated that large numbers of people “beat madly against the locked gates.” Annie stated that she managed to mount one such gate before rushing over to a flight of stairs that took her to the Boat Deck. Upon her entry into her lifeboat she apparently stumbled and injured her stomach. While Annie was collecting herself from her hasty and painful entry into the lifeboat she received a hefty blow on her back, as if she had been kicked. Startled and turning to see what had happened, she saw a man directly over her. Seeing an officer wielding a revolver at the stern of the lifeboat, a gunshot and a flash soon ensued, and the man who had unceremoniously slammed into her uttered a feeble cry before falling overboard.
Upon arriving in New York Annie was treated in St. Vincent’s Hospital, suffering from exposure and injuries to her stomach. She later joined her sister Mary, where she was reported to be in a state of nervous shock.
Not long after the disaster Annie’s parents and remaining siblings joined her in the United States and arrived in Boston in August 1912. The entire family settled in Massachusetts and Annie lived with them for a time.
It is reported that Annie later became involved with a man of who did not meet the approval of her family. She suddenly disappeared and would have no contact with her parents ever again. Whether she ever married the man she left her family for is not clear. Likewise, whatever became of Annie is not certain.
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Mr. Bernt Johannes Johannesen, Age 29
Mr. Bernt Johannes Johannessen was born on October 23, 1882 in Avaldsnes, Norway, the son of Johannes Sakariasen and Berta Johanna Andersdatter. He was the fourth of six children.Over the course of his life he worked in a bakery, a fishing boat and as a soldier during Norway’s independence from Sweden. Bernt then traveled to America, working on different boats without great success and in 1910 he returned to Haugesund. On January 28, 1911 he married Ahna Karoline Hansdatter.
In 1912 Bernt sustained an industrial injury and was advised by his physician to find lighter work in America. He found a job in New York. Bernt was originally scheduled on the DFD Line’s Hellig Olav, but a lack of space forced him to book passage on the Titanic, which he boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: Bernt was rescued in Lifeboat 13. He claimed, First Officer Murdoch gave him permission to slide down the falls to the lifeboat.
Bernt was initially reported lost in an article in Haugesunds Avis April 25, 1912. However, in New York, while resting at St. Vincent’s hospital, Bernt alerted his wife of his safety by letter. Bernt returned home after having stayed three months in New York. His wife Ahna Karoline would not let her husband work on boats any more. Bernt eventually got work as a stonemason. The couple would later have eight children.
In 1920 Bernt got a job as a postman in his home village. For that purpose he used a bicycle. He was faithful to his duties, even once there was a flood, and had to get help from two ladies to carry him on a string above the flooded area. In 1952, when Bernt was 70 years old, and he retired from his postal duties. When he retired the inhabitants in his home village had a big party for him as a tribute to his long and faithful service.
Bernt passed away on December 1, 1962.
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Mr. Gustaf Joel Johansson, Age 33
Mr. Gustaf Joel Johansson was born March 2, 1879. He was the son of Johan Magnusson, and lived in Bockebo, Sweden. His profession was unknown, but he was probably a farm hand.Gustaf was on his way from Bockebo to Cheyenne, North Dakota, where he was planning on becoming a farmer. He had no family in the United States, but knew a few people, including Emil Andersson, whom he was meeting in North Dakota. He got his ticket from acquaintances in North Dakota (an illegal but not unusual practice). Gustaf traveled with Malkolm Johnson and they boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Gustaf died in the sinking and his body was later recovered. Among the effects was a diary with Emil Anderson’s name and address. His companion, Malkolm Johnson, also died. His belongings, which were sent back to the father, included $26, an empty wallet and a pocket comb with mirror. Gustaf was buried in Fairview cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 10, 1912.
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Mrs. Elisabeth Vilhelmina Johnson, Age 26
Mrs. Elisabeth Vilhelmina Johnson (née Berg) was born on January 24, 1885. Elisabeth married editor Oscar Walter Johnson and had two children, four-year-old Harold Theodor Johnson and one-year-old Eleanor Ileen Johnson in St. Charles, Illinois.Elisabeth and the children were returning from a visit to Oscar’s parents’ home in Ramkvilla, Sweden. Oscar did not make the trip. They traveled via Malmö (where they bought their tickets) and Copenhagen before boarding the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: Elisabeth and her two young children got into one of the last lifeboats on starboard side, either Lifeboat 13 or 15. A man, probably Gunnar Tenglin, stepped out of the lifeboat to offer a place. After that he found there was still room left in the lifeboat and stepped back in.
In New York she was quartered on St. Lucas Hospital, where Red Cross gave her an unknown sum of money and a new trunk. On April 24 she traveled via Chicago on her way home to St. Charles.
Her husband, Oscar, died in 1917. Afterwards, Elizabeth married Carl Peterson. Elisabeth died December 19, 1968.
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Mrs. Eliza Johnston, Age 36
Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston (née Watson), better known as Eliza, was born around 1876 on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. She was the daughter of William Watson (b. 1827) and Margaret Ross (b. 1832).She was married on December 24, 1902 to Andrew Emslie Johnston (b. 1876), a plumber from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The couple settled in Croydon, England and had two children: William Andrew (b. 1903) and Catherine Nellie (b. 1905).
Eliza’s niece Frances was already in the United States working as a domestic servant. Frances so impressed the family with tales of a better life that the Johnstons decided to emigrate. Their passage was originally booked on the Philadelphia, but owing to a massive coal strike in Britain, the party ultimately sailed on the Titanic. They boarded at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: The entire party of ten were lost in the sinking. Their bodies, if recovered, were never identified.
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Mr. Eiriik Jussila, Age 32
Mr. Eirikk Jussila was born in Elimäki, Kouvola, Finland on April 2, 1880.He had emigrated to the United States in 1902, living in Minnesota and Michigan and returned to Finland around 1910 where he married Helmi Heinola (b. circa 1893).
Eirikk was returning to the United States to settle in Monessen, Pennsylvania. His intention was to work in the steel mills and save enough money for his wife to join him. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a third class passenger and most likely shared a cabin with other Finnish men.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Eirikk was awakened by the collision but did not get up at once. He rose only after his cabin mate Juha Niskänen entered his cabin and warned him about trouble. Eirikk would later claim that before the boat was about to go under he had jumped into the water with his lifebelt on and swam towards the nearest boat. When he tried to get on the boat the crew man pointed a pistol at him and told him that if he had wanted to get on the boat he would have to give his lifebelt to one of the women passengers and then take up position at an oar. However, there is likely dramatic licence in this account and it is most likely that he boarded one of the aft starboard boats, probably Lifeboat 15.
After his arrival in New York he stayed for a while at St. Vincent’s Hospital to recuperate.
Eirikk, who became “Erick” in the United States, was later joined by his wife and the couple settled in Minnesota and had two sons. The family lived in Nashwauck, Minnesota before moving to Ashtabula, Ohio in later years. What became of Erick’s wife is not clear but he was later remarried to another Finnish lady, a widow named Maria W. Holm (b. 1875) and they moved to Sterling, Massachusetts where Erick would remain for the rest of his life. He operated a farm, there.
Erick died as a result of cancer on January 5, 1944 and is buried in High Plains Cemetery, West Boylston, Massachusetts.
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Mr. Johannes Halvorsen Kalvik, Age 21
Mr. Johannes Halvorsen Kalvik was born in Skånevik (modern-day Hordaland), Norway on December 2, 1890. He spent the first years of his life at the family farm alongside the Åkrafjorden on Norway’s west coast. He was engaged to be married to Anna Berta Åsmundsdotter Austarheim (b.1892), a native of Etne.His mother died in 1911 and his brother Godskalk had emigrated to Montana several years before, but the family had not heard from Godskalk in years. Johannes decided to travel to the United States to search for his brother. Once well established with a job and property, would send for his fiancée Anna.
Johannes went by boat from Haugesund to Newcastle and from there by train to Southampton where he boarded Titanic as a third class passenger.
Died: Johannes died in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
His widowed father, Halvar, later received £40 from the Titanic Relief Fund. He would pass away in 1918. What became of Johannes fiancée Anna is unknown. In later years it transpired that Johannes’ brother Godskalk, whom he was traveling to find, was killed not long after his arrival in the United States in a gunfight between cattlemen and homesteaders.
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Mr. Einar Gervasius Karlsson, Age 21
Mr. Einar Gervasius Karlsson was born on June 19, 1890 in Oskarshamn, Sweden. He was the son of Per Fredrik Karlsson (1856-1912) and Emilie Jonsdotter (b. 1860).Following his schooling Einar served in the Swedish Army, rising to the rank of corporal before his discharge around 1911. Due to a lack of opportunities in Sweden, Einar and his friend Johan Charles Asplund decided to leave for America where Einar hoped to become a teacher. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Einar and his friend, Johan, were awake in their cabin and felt the thud of the impact with the iceberg. Leaving to investigate they made their way to the forward well-deck where they saw chunks of ice. Seeing Lifeboat 13 being lowered, they took a chance and jumped out onto the falls and slid down into the boat. Einar’s hastened entrance into the lifeboat left him with rope burns on his hands and legs and his shoes were destroyed. From the lifeboat he watched the ship go down and remembered the screams of those struggling for their lives, a sound that would forever haunt him. He later fell asleep and when he regained consciousness the lifeboat was edging towards to the Carpathia.
After arriving in New York Einar stayed with relatives and later received $25 from the Salvation Army Fund in New York. He soon found employment in a factory but shortly left New York and headed west, settling in California before spending time working at different jobs in Utah, Colorado and Minnesota. He eventually settled in Nebraska in 1916 where he worked as a farm hand for a Scandinavian family. He became a United States citizen the following year. Einar served his country in World War I and survived a gas attack which left him with a permanent tremor.
Einar was married in 1922 to Marjorie M. Mary (b. 1903). The couple had four children. Einar and his wife were later divorced and he never remarried. He later left farming and settled in Fremont, Nebraska where he worked in a hotel.
Einar died on April 12, 1958. He was buried in Fremont Memorial Cemetery and his headstone shows a depiction of the Titanic.
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Miss Manca Karun, Age 5
Miss Manca Karun was born in 1907 in Austria-Hungary (modern Slovenia). She was the daughter of Franz Karun and Marianna Vombergar and had four siblings. The family later emigrated to Illinois where Franz ran a boarding house for railway workers.Manca and her father Franz had been visiting relatives in Austria-Hungary and were returning home to Illinois. She boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with her father as a third class passenger.
Survived: Manca and her father, Franz, were rescued on Lifeboat 15. Other accounts said that two swam away from the wreak, but those are unfounded.
About a year after the disaster the family returned to Austria-Hungary (Slovenia) after a wall in their boarding house collapsed. Manca’s four siblings later returned to the United States but Manca remained in Slovenia where she married Anton Juvan. They had four children. Manca made occasional visits to relatives in America.
Manca died in Slovenia in September 1971 and some of her descendants still live in Milje, Slovenia.
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Miss Anna Katherine Kelly, Age 20
Miss Anna Katherine Kelly was born in early 1891 in Cuilmullagh, Ireland. She was the daughter of John Kelly and Ellen Flaherty. She was most commonly known by her nickname, Annie Katie.Annie Katie was traveling from Cuilmullagh to Chicago, Illinois to join her cousins, Anna and Mary Garvey, who had previously emigrated. Annie Katie boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. She joined a large group of passengers from the same area in Ireland, led by Katherine McGowan. They were called the Addergoole Fourteen.
Survived: Annie Katie said that the stewards did not wake the steerage passengers in time the night of the collision. Those third class passengers who became alarmed and went up on deck were told to go back as there was no danger. Annie was saved in Lifeboat 16 after, she claimed, the Bourke family, also of Addergoole, vacated and made room for her to enter.
Annie was hospitalized in New York City and later traveled from New York with fellow survivor Anna McGowan. They had been released from the hospital wearing their nightgowns, old shoes someone had given them, and coats. They were met in Chicago by Dr. Mary O’Brien Porter of the Catholic Woman’s league protectorate. Dr. O’Brien Porter appealed to the Mayor of Chicago to give some of the funds raised in the city to the two young women.
After the disaster Anna became a nun, and upon ordination assumed the name of Sister Patrick Joseph Kelly.
Sister Patrick Joseph spent most her life after the Titanic teaching in the Chicago, Illinois area. She retired to the mother house in Adrian, Michigan in 1969 and passed away on December 28, 1969.
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Miss Mary Kelly, Age 22
Miss Mary Kelly was born in County Westmeath, Ireland on February 19, 1890. She was the daughter of Lawrence Kelly (b. 1855), a farmer, and his wife Mary (b. 1862). She was one of eight children.Mary worked as a domestic in Castlepollard and hoped to find employment working for wealthy families in New York. She was also engaged to marry John Heslin (b. 1893) who had crossed the Atlantic several months in advance of her own journey.
Mary Kelly boarded the Titanic in Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. Onboard the Titanic she shared a cabin with two women from her area, Annie Jermyn and Bridget Driscoll.
Survived: On the night of the disaster Mary and her cabin mates, Bridget and Annie, made their way to the upper decks and eventually to the forward boat deck where they were rescued in the last lifeboat successfully launched from the Titanic, Collapsible D. While afloat Mary helped look after the two very young mystery French boys, Edmond and Michel Navratil, whose father had placed them in the lifeboat before stepping back and sinking with the ship.
Mary eventually reached New York and was reunited with her fiancé, John. The couple were wed around 1913 and settled in Brooklyn where they had six children.
Mary remained in Brooklyn for the rest of her life. She died at her home in Brooklyn on December 27, 1950 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery.
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Mr. John Kennedy, Age 24
Mr. John Kennedy of Watergate, Ireland was born on April 11, 1888. His parents were Thomas Kennedy and Mary Kennedy and he had seven siblings.John worked as a farm laborer in Limerick. He wanted to make a new life for himself and seek better opportunities in America. Therefore, he decided to emigrate to the States, with his ultimate destination being New York City.
John boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Survived: John was probably rescued on Lifeboat 15. After the Titanic, he emigrated to the United States. John lated served in the army during World War I. During the war, he was killed by anthrax poisoning and died on June 9, 1918.
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Mr. Philip Kiernan, Age 22
Mr. Philip Kiernan was born in Fostragh, Ireland on January 24, 1890. He was the son of John Kiernan (b. 1840), a farmer, and Catherine Kelleher (b. 1843) who had married in 1867. He had eleven siblings.Several of Philip’s siblings and other family members had already emigrated to the United States. His brother John, who worked as a barman in Jersey City, New Jersey, had returned home to Ireland in August 1911 for an extended visit. Philip decided he would accompany his brother on his return to America.
Philip boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. It is believed he shared a cabin with his brother and Thomas McCormack, a cousin, and he was also traveling with a large group from his area, which included the Murphy sisters and Kate Gilnagh.
Died: Philip died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. His brother, John, was also lost, but his cabin mate Thomas McCormack survived.
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Mr. Anton Kink-Heilmann, Age 29
Mr. Anton Kink-Heilmann was born on March 7, 1883 in Mahrensdorf, Austria. He emigrated to Switzerland in 1906 and married Luise Heilman on May 5, 1908. Four weeks before that date their daughter Luise was born.The couple lived in Zürich where Anton worked as magazineer (storekeeper) until March 31, 1912. They decided to emigrate to the United States to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Anton’s uncle lived.
Anton and his family were joined by his siblings Maria and Vinzenz Kink. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers. Anton and his brother were in a separate cabin than his wife, daughter and sister.
Survived: On the night of sinking, Anton’s brother Vinzenz ran out of the cabin, and Anton followed upstairs to the welldeck. They could clearly see the iceberg. Returning to their cabin they dressed, packed and put on their life-preservers until water began pouring in. Anton woke his wife, Luise, his young daughter, also Luise, and they somehow managed to reach the Boat Deck. On their way, they lost Anton’s brother and sister in the crowd and both were lost in the sinking. His wife and daughter entered Lifeboat 2 but Anton had to stay back. The boat was about to be lowered when he jumped in after his wife and daughter cried out for him. Lifeboat 2 was among the first to be rescued by the Carpathia.
In New York the family spent four days at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Anton’s uncle sent money, so the family could buy tickets for the train to Milwaukee. Anton found work in a factory. He leased a farm after he had earned enough money. In 1919 he and Luise divorced. Afterwards he returned to his homeland in Graz, Austria.
In 1920 Anton remarried a Josefa Stranzel. On June 27, 1921 their only child, Fritz, was born. Up until 1924 they ran a food shop. Then they emigrated to Brazil. All three became ill and lost all their money in the end.
In 1939, the family moved back to Graz, Austria, where Anton died on April 8, 1959.
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Mr. Neshan Krekorian, Age 25
Mr. Neshan Krekorian was born May 12, 1886, in the village of Keghi, in what was then Turkish occupied Armenia.Neshan was a Christian and suffered persecution under the Turkish Ottoman regime. The political and religious unrest at the time prompted Neshan and several of his compatriots, Orsen Sirayanian, Ortin Zakarian, Mapriededer Zakarian and David Vartunian, to flee the country and emigrate to Canada. Neshan was heading for the home of Mr. Paul Martin in Hamilton, Ontario.
Neshan and the rest of his group boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Survived: Once the iceberg hit, Neshan managed to make his way up to A Deck just as Lifeboat 10 was being jerked down the port side. He ran down the deck, made a leap for it, and landed in the boat. Able Seaman Frank Evans later testified that Neshan “deliberately jumped in and saved himself.” Neshan survived, but caught pneumonia. He was hospitalized in New York, and when he finally made it to his destination in Brantford, Ontario, was in the hospital again for a couple of weeks.
In 1918 he moved to St. Catherine’s, Ontario, where he married Persa Vartanian on July 12, 1924. They had four children. Neshan worked all his life on a General Motors Automobile Assembly line. The Titanic was his first and only time on a ship.
Neshan died in St. Catherine’s on May 21, 1978.
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Miss Aurora Adelia Landergren, Age 22
Miss Aurora Adelia Landergren was born in Näsgränden, Sweden on June 19, 1889. She was the daughter of Axel Mattsson Landergren and Fredrika Karolina Håkansson (b. 1856). She was one of seven siblings.By 1912 Adelia was still living in Näsgränden with her family but decided to emigrate to New York. She had bought a ticket for the Scandinavia-America Line’s Fredrik VIII. On her way to Denmark she traveled with fellow Swedes John Holm and Mauritz Ådahl, and they convinced her to follow them to England instead. None of them were aware that they would be traveling on Titanic. When they arrived at Southampton they found out that they had been re-booked from their original ship because of a massive coal strike in Britain.
Aurora, John and Mauritz boarded at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Adelia had been helped up to deck by her friends John and Mauritz during the evacuation. However, reportedly a deeply religious woman, she returned to her cabin for her prayer book, among other small personal items. When she returned to the upper decks her male friends assisted her into Lifeboat 13. They were both lost in the sinking.
Adelia later received $75 from the Red Cross but no damages were paid. She was married in Manhattan on June 26, 1922 to Simon Frederick Johansson (b. 1890), a Swedish man originally from Vena, Kalmar. He worked as a diamond driller and had emigrated in 1908. They remained living in New York, anglicising their surname to Johnson. The couple, who were childless, spent the rest of their lives in the Bronx where Simon later worked as a handyman in their apartment complex. In later years their two nephews lived with them.
Adelia died in the Bronx on August 2, 1947.
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Mr. August Viktor Larsson, Age 29
Mr. August Viktor Larsson was born February 25, 1883. He was the son of sheetmetal worker Axel Fredrik Jonsson.August had worked for four years as a locksmith at the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut. He was married to Ingrid Elizabeth Jonsson and they had a daughter, Augusta Frederika Elisabeth. Due to his wife’s poor health, Ingrid and Augusta were living in Eskilstuna, Sweden. August had recently visited his family in Sweden and was now returning to America.
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: August died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
A damage claim was paid to his widow, Ingrid, and daughter, Augusta, on May 28, 1914. Axel Jonsson, August’s father, became guardian to his granddaughter, Augusta.
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Mr. Edvard Bengtsson Lindell, Age 36
Mr. Edvard Bengtsson Lindell was born in Kropp, Sweden on January 31, 1876. He was the son of Bengt Magnus Nilsson and Botilla Johansdotter (b. 1835). He had three known siblings.Edvard worked at Ramlösa shoe factory in Sweden. At some point, he married his wife, Elin Gerda Persson (b. 1881). The couple had no children.
Edvard and Elin Gerda decided to emigrate to the United States. The couple were on their way from Helsingborg to friends in Hardford, Connecticut. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: After the collision with the iceberg on April 14, 1912, Edvard and his wife, Elin, met up with fellow Swedes August Wennerström and Gunnar Tenglin. As the ship sank the group struggled up the sloping deck until it was too steep and, clasping hands, they slid back down and close to Collapsible A.
Once the ship went under August and Edvard climbed into the boat. August saw Elin in the water and grabbed her hand. Weakened by the cold he was unable to assist her further and after a while she drifted away. During the night according to August, “Edvard’s hair turned all gray in lesser time than 30 minutes.” He died soon afterwards and lost Elin’s wedding ring which he had been holding. Neither his or Elin’s bodies were found as he was probably lowered overboard to make the unstable boat lighter. However, Elin’s ring was found in Collapsible A and returned to her parents.
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Mr. David Livshin, Age 25
Mr. David Livshin was born around 1887 in Liepaja, Latvia, a port city that was then part of the Russian Empire.He served in the Russian Army before settling in England around 1911 where he started a watchmaking business in Manchester. Hailing from an Ashkenazi Jewish background, David was married in early 1912 to a young Russian woman named China Hodes. They decided to emigrate and settle in Montreal, Canada, where David’s sisters lived. David planned to travel ahead first and then send for his wife, who was pregnant. He was scheduled to board the Grampian in March 1912, but changed his ticket to the Titanic in order to spend passover with his wife.
David boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger under the name Abraham Harmer, presumably because he had purchased his original ticket from a man by that name.
Died: David died in the sinking. According to Captain Rostron, David was one of the four people buried from the Carpathia. He may have been the fourth person picked up by Lifeboat 14. Alternatively he may have been “the lifeless body,” referred to by Lightoller who was transferred from Collapsible B to Lifeboat 12 during the night.
David’s wife, China, had been in the early stages of pregnancy when she was widowed. Her son, whom she named David in honor of his father, was born on September 3, 1912. China applied to the Liverpool Relief Fund for assistance and was granted a monthly payment. She requested that she be given a reduced monthly sum and an immediate cash payment in order that she might return to Russia to take the child to visit his grandparents. She was still in Russia for the onset of World War I and was unable to leave. The family endured severe deprivations during this time and it was not until 1920 that China and the child were able to return to Manchester.
Young David became a highly respected member of the medical profession. He was married in 1948 to Milly Bor (b. 1916), the daughter of Russian immigrants, and had three children. He died in Manchester in 1992.
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Mr. Nikola Lulic, Age 29
Mr. Nikola Lulic was born on February 24, 1883 in the small village of Konjsko Brdo, situated in the region of Croatia called Lika. While serving in the Austrian Army in 1902, he decided to desert and leave for America. He went to Chisholm, Minnesota and worked as a miner in the Alpena Mine.In the fall of 1911 Nikola came back to Croatia for half a year to visit his family. At this time he already was married for the second time. His second wife, Marta, and his two children lived in Croatia.
When it was time to go back to America Nikola served as unofficial companion to other immigrants who paid his ticket. He helped them with translation and told them what to expect during the voyage and after arriving in America. Nikola boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: Nikola survived the sinking and was rescued by the Carpathia in Lifeboat 15.
After arriving in New York, Nikola went to his uncle Ross Rosinic in Chicago, Illinois. At some point he Americanized his name to “Nicola Lulich.” After World War I Lulic returned to Croatia forever. He earned his living as a farmer, but worked many times in France as a seasonal worker between the wars. He was accompanied by his two sons.
Nikola Lulic died in 1962 in Perusic, Croatia.
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Miss Olga Elida Lundin, Age 23
Miss Olga Elida Lundin was born in 1889 in Svaneryd, Sweden. She was the daughter of Gustafva Lundin. At some point she emigrated to the United States.Olga had been visiting her family in Hallaryd and was returning to the United States. At the time Olga was engaged to Nils Johansson, a machine smith in Chicago. He had made the trip with her to Sweden to meet her family. For her return, Olga’s given destination was the home of her sister Jenny Lundin who lived in Meriden, Connecticut.
She bought tickets for the Titanic in Copenhagen and boarded at Southampton as a third class passenger with her traveling companions: Paul Andreasson, Albert Augustsson, her fiancée, and her brother-in-law Carl Jonsson.
Survived: When the ship was sinking Olga and her four companions were standing near Lifeboat 10. She held her fiancee, Nils, by her hand, but a few sailors grabbed her by her hands and legs and threw her into the lifeboat. Nils was lost in the sinking.
The Women’s Relief Committee gave her $75.
Olga later worked as a cook for the Norwegian crown prince during his exile during World War II. In the middle of the 1960s she returned to Sweden and lived in Osby. She died in Osby on March 1, 1973.
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Miss Margaret Madigan, Age 21
Miss Margaret Madigan, known as Maggie, was born on August 11, 1890 in Askeaton, Ireland. She was the daughter of James Madigan (b. 1849), a general laborer, and Margaret Duggan (1848-1922), both Limerick natives who had married in 1877. She had two known siblings.Her sister Mary emigrated to New York City in May 1904 and Maggie intended to join her in Manhattan.
Maggie boarded the Titanic in Queenstown as a third class passenger. She was traveling with others from Askeaton, Patrick Ryan and the siblings Bridget (Bertha) and Daniel Moran. The entire group was originally scheduled to cross on the Cymric, but decided to change their tickets to the Titanic. While aboard she shared a cabin with Bridget Moran.
Survived: On the night of the sinking, Maggie’s traveling companion, Bertha, was awakened by a jolt and was further roused by commotion outside her cabin. Bertha’s brother Daniel arrived telling them that the ship had struck an iceberg. Throwing a coat over her nightclothes, Maggie made her way with the rest of her party to the communal areas but crewmen barred their access to higher decks. Somehow, she reached the outer decks where she and Bertha boarded Lifeboat 15. While Maggie and Bertha were saved, Daniel and Patrick were lost in the sinking.
On arrival in New York Margaret recovered at St. Vincent’s Hospital before joining her sister, Mary, in Manhattan. She married Alphonsus Thomas Hardt (b. 1879) on December 28, 1913. Alphonsus, a laborer and a native of New York. The couple went on to have one son, Alfred (b. 1915) and Alphonsus later worked at the docks to support his family.
In the 1920s Maggie lost her mother, her husband and her son, Alfred, who drowned in 1925 at the age of 10. Maggie was remarried on June 2, 1934 to Thomas F. O’Shea (b. 1903), a laborer and reportedly a relative of Titanic shipmate Patrick Ryan. Maggie became a widow a second time when Thomas died in 1951.
Maggie died on December 14, 1968 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.
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Miss Catherine McCarthy, Age 25
Miss Catherine McCarthy, commonly known as Kate, was born in Ballygorteen, Ireland around 1887. She was the daughter of Patrick McCarthy (b. 1841), a farmer, and Mary Boyle. Kate had four known siblings.After Kate’s mother passed away, she decided to join her sister, who had previously emigrated, in Guttenburg, New Jersey. Kate boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. While on board she roomed with two other women from her area in Ireland, Kate Connolly and Katie Peters.
Survived: On the night of the sinking, Kate, the only surviving member of their group, recalled that Tipperary man Roger Tobin called by their cabin and told them to get up and dressed and to bring lifebelts, but assured them there was no danger. Kate said that she was the only one who sensed any urgency and even though she implored the other two girls to follow her, she ended up leaving alone. She never saw the other two Kates or Roger again. It is not certain which lifeboat Kate escaped in, but possibly Lifeboat 16.
Arriving safely in New York she continued to New Jersey. She later met a fellow Irishman, John Croke (b. 1883) and they were married in 1914. The couple remained in the United States until the early 1920s when they returned to Ireland. They remained childless and settled in Ballintemple where John worked as a farmer and merchant.
Kate was, in later years, reportedly held in high esteem in her local community and was described as a very kind lady. She died on November 12, 1948 following a three month-long illness.
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Mr. Bernard McCoy, Age 24
Mr. Bernard McCoy, commonly known as Barney, was born on November 24, 1887 in Carrickithara, Ireland. He was the son of John McCoy and Bridget Cole. He was from a large Roman Catholic family.In 1900, four of Barney’s siblings emigrated to the United States: his older sister Agnes, younger sister Mary and brothers William and Patrick. Mary had married John Hekel and settled in New Jersey. Agnes had returned to Ireland to bring Barney and a younger sister, Alice, back to New York, specifically Brooklyn.
Barney, Agnes and Alice boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as third class passengers.
Survived: Bernard, Alice and Agnes were rescued in Lifeboat 16.
After surviving the sinking, Barney seems to have spent most of his life in and around West New York, New Jersey and the Hekel family. He worked in a number of odd jobs and never married. He enlisted in the United States Army on April 3, 1918 at Jersey City and served until his discharge on June 12, 1919. He applied for naturalization in 1920 (giving his date of birth as September 28, 1889). His petition was granted and he became a United States citizen on March 26, 1920.
Barney later worked in a laundry until he developed cancer. He went to a Veteran’s Hospital in the Bronx where he died on July 19, 1945.
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Mrs. Eileen McNamee, Age 19
Mrs. Eileen McNamee (née O’Leary) was born on December 16, 1892 in Plymouth, England. She was the daughter Richard O’Leary and Minnie Petheram. The family later moved to Salisbury.Eileen attended St. Thomas School and Sunday school at Brown Street Baptist church. On leaving school, Eileen worked for Lipton’s Grocers and provision merchants where she met Neal McNamee.
Eileen married Neal on January 17, 1912. They decided to travel to New York that April, partly to take their honeymoon and partly so that Neal could start a new job.
Eileen and Neal boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Both Eileen and her husband, Neal, perished in the sinking. Eileen’s body was recovered wearing a brown velvet coat and blue skirt, along with her wedding and engagement rings. She was buried at sea on April 22. Neal’s body was not recovered.
A bench with a plaque and a tree were placed in their memory in Winston Churchill Gardens, Salisbury. The original tree was destroyed by vandals. On July 28, 1999 a new tree was planted and a new bench and plaque unveiled.
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Mr. Karl Albert Midtsjø, Age 21
Karl Albert Midtsjø was born on August 4, 1890. He was the son of Johan Hansen and Marie Midtsjø and one of eight children born to the couple. He came from Krøkstad, Ski, near Christiania (Oslo), Norway, and his family farmed land.Karl started to work at an early age, but like many of his contemporaries in Norway, he decided to emigrate to the United States in search of better opportunities. He bought his ticket from Christiania to Chicago on March 30, 1912.
Karl traveled from Christiania to Hull on April 3rd, on the Wilsons Line Steamer Oslo. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: When the accident occurred Karl and friend, Johan Nysveen, went up to the deck. Johan who was 60 years of age, realized that he probably couldn’t be saved so he gave his coat and watch to Karl. Karl was given permission by First Officer Murdoch to climb down the tackle and into Lifeboat 15.
After some days at the hospital Karl traveled by train to Chicago. Shortly after his arrival, he traveled to Cummings, North Dakota to see the relatives of Johan Nysveen and give them back John’s coat and watch.
On September 15, 1913 Karl was married to Anna Christine Paulson from Wittenberg, Wisconsin. On January 5, 1915 their son Marvin was born, and in 1917 they moved to Evanston, Illinois where Karl got a job as a caretaker. In 1921 they moved back to Norway, but after a year they returned to the United States.
Karl suffered from hereditary heart disease. He died of this on January 25, 1939 in Maywood, Illinois.
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Miss Ellen Mary Mockler, Age 23
Miss Ellen Mary Mockler was born on April 1, 1889 in Currafarry, Ireland. She was the youngest of six born to Andrew Mockler (b. 1839), a farmer, and Catherine Mitchell (b. 1841), both Galway natives who had married in 1876. The family were Roman Catholic and versed in both the Irish and English languages.Two of Ellen’s older sisters had previously emigrated to the United States. They sent her money for her passage to Manhattan where they resided.
She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger. She was traveling with fellow passengers from her area: Thomas Smyth, Margaret Mannion, Thomas Kilgannon and Martin Gallagher.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Ellen claimed that many steerage passengers were staying below decks, and that she would have done the same if it had not been for three Irish men that she was traveling with, Thomas Smyth, Thomas Kilgannon and Martin Gallagher. She and her friends later spent time in prayer and knelt on the open decks and recited the rosary. Both Ellen and fellow traveler, Margaret Mannion, were rescued in Lifeboat 16, which Ellen described as only partially full. Looking back on deck, Ellen saw her three male companions in prayer before her lifeboat was lowered. While in the water, she said the lifeboat began to leak and she, clad only in a dress with her lifebelt over it, felt the cold bitterly.
Ellen spent five years living in New York where she worked for the National Biscuit Company. In 1917 she moved to Worcester, Massachusetts and entered the order of the Sisters of Mercy that same year. She was professed into the order in 1920 and took her final vows in 1925, becoming Sister Mary Patricia. She taught in schools and later worked as an administrator for the Catholic School Diocese and served as a sacristan for 36 years at St. Paul’s Cathedral and later at the chapel of the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse before her retirement in 1976.
Sister Mary Patricia, formerly Ellen Mary Mockler, died on April 1, 1984. She was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Leicester, Massachusetts.
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Master Meier Moor, Age 7
Master Meier Moor was born on November 15, 1904 in Russia. Meier’s father had died in a war several years prior and his mother, Beila Moor (b. 1882), worked as a tailoress to support the family.Meier and Beila were traveling to America to visit relatives. They originally planned to travel on the Adriatic but were transferred because of a massive coal strike in Britain. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers. Meier passed the time on board by asking adults to save him the illustrated cards that came in their cigarette packs.
Survived: After the collision, Meier’s mother, Beila recalled, they were jostled up a stairway onto the Boat Deck where she and her son were able to join a lifeboat. As Meier watched the ship sink he mostly missed his lost cigarette cards.
After their rescue by the Carpathia Beila and Meier passed through immigration at New York and onto Canada. Later they moved to Chicago and Beila remarried. In America their names became Bella and Meyer.
Meyer married a woman named Henrietta in 1937 and, on account of her arthritis, moved to El Paso. Meyer worked as a jobber buying merchandise for wholesalers. He was a genial, social man who apparently loved parties but always refused to go on boat trips.
Bella died in the 1960s and Meyer on April 15, 1975, the 63rd anniversary of the sinking.
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Mr. Albert Johan Moss, Age 29
Mr. Albert Johan Moss was born on December 14, 1882 in Bergen, Norway. His parents were Eduard and Dorothea Moss and he was one of six children. At age 16 he started his career as a sailor.In the fall of 1911, Albert Moss was first officer on board the Norwegian cargo ship SS Hebe on its way from a Swedish port in the Baltic to Preston on the west coast of England. Outside Preston, the ship was crushed against the cliffs in a massive wreck, but fortunately the entire crew was rescued by a lifeboat from nearby Southport. Albert returned to Bergen just in time to celebrate Christmas with his siblings.
Albert boarded the Titanic at Southampton with Knud Rommetvedt and Hans Birkeland. They were traveling to join the SS Norheim docked at Philadelphia. Moss was to be first officer.
Survived: As a sailer, Albert was allowed to board a lifeboat in order to man it. However, struggling with Collapsible B on board Titanic, Albert was swept overboard. After some time in the cold water, he reached the same, now upturned lifeboat, and managed to climb up on it.
After two weeks at a hospital in New York he continued to Philadelphia and on board Norheim as planned. Later on he was appointed captain at another Norwegian steamer Nordkyn. Although Norway was not a part of World War I, Nordkyn was torpedoed off Morocco. Albert and all the crew members managed to enter the lifeboats and reached a Moroccan town after three days.
Safely home in Bergen he married his niece Ingrid, the daughter of his elder brother Bernhard. He then had a ten year long pause from his seafaring life, and Ingrid and Albert had three children. In 1930 Albert returned to sea in coal transport from Spitzbergen to Germany. This continued until 1941 when the coal steamers were transferred from Spitzbergen via Iceland to Scotland. Here he took over as a captain at SS Munin in freight along the British coasts until June 1944. Then Albert and Munin were engaged in the freight of ammunition and other goods during the invasion in Normandy for the rest of World War II.
In January 1946 he retired to Bergen. There he lived a long and quiet life as a pensioner together with Ingrid, children and grandchildren until his death on July 4, 1973. Although he gave some interviews to radio and newspapers, Albert did not like to speak about his experiences at sea, neither the Titanic nor the other disasters.
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Master Halīm Mubārik, Age 4
Master Halīm Mubārik was born in Hardan, Lebanon on July 15, 1907. He was the son of Jirjis Mubarik Bu Tannus (b. 1874) and Amīnah Iskandar Nasif Abi Daghir (b. 1887). He had one sibling, an elder brother named Jirjis (b. 1904).Halīm’s father had emigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in Clearfield, Pennsylvania where he ran a grocery store. A family friend, Antūn Musà Yazbak, who was returning to Lebanon to marry, was asked to escort the young Halīm, his mother Aminah and brother Jirjis across the Atlantic upon his return.
Halim set out from Hardan with his mother, brother, aunt, uncle, and several others from their village. They were first bound for Beirut where they would travel to Marseille and then on to Cherbourg where, on April 10, 1912, they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Halīm, his mother Amīnah and brother Jirjis met up with Antūn and Sīlānah Yazbak who accompanied them on their way to the upper decks. Whilst stories differ as to how the family escaped, it is generally believed that the women and children escaped in Collapsible Lifeboat C. Antūn Yazbak was lost in the sinking.
Upon their rescue by the Carpathia and eventual arrival in New York, Amīnah and her sons were treated for shock and exposure. Halīm and Jirjis had also contracted measles. Following recuperation the party made their way to Pennsylvania to be reunited with Halīm’s father.
Halīm became known in America as William Borek and he and his family settled in Clearfield, Pennsylvania where his father ran a dry goods store. He later gained two further siblings, Roy and Daniel. His mother returned to Lebanon in the early 1920s where she died. Then William and his father and brothers moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
William was married to Pennsylvanian-born Jennie Sarkis (b. 1914), the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, and had three daughters: Evelyn (b. 1930), Lois Ann (b. 1934) and Marlene (b. 1936). The family settled in Observatory near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and William operated his own business. He reportedly disliked talking about the Titanic disaster.
William Borek died in Observatory on August 29, 1975.
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Miss Norah Murphy, Age 31
Miss Norah Murphy was born in Dublin, Ireland on May 11, 1880. She was the daughter of Patrick Murphy (b. circa 1834), a draper, and Catherine Theresa O’Grady (b. 1841). The family was Roman Catholic.While it is uncertain whether Norah had ever been married, she gave birth to a daughter around 1906. The child was ultimately raised by Norah’s sister. In 1911 Norah lived in Sallins, Ireland and worked as a nursemaid to the family of merchant John Park Healy.
Norah boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1910 as a third class passenger. She was traveling with Michael McEvoy, a native of Queen’s County. Michael was over ten years her junior and probably her lover. Her intended destination was New York.
Survived: Norah is believed to have departed from the Titanic in Lifeboat 16, alongside a number of other Irish passengers. Her partner, Michael, died in the sinking.
Following her arrival in New York she changed plans from her intended destination and instead decided to travel to the Irish Immigrant Girls’ Home at 7 State Street. It is said that she had befriended first class survivor Karl Behr, seemingly whilst aboard Carpathia. He gave her a start and she took up employment as a domestic servant with Karl’s father Herman Behr in Manhattan.
Norah was shown on the 1920 census still living in Manhattan and under the employ of Herman Behr but following that she drops off the radar. What became of her is unknown, even to her immediate family. Back in Ireland her father, Patrick, died on July 13, 1914.
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Mr. William Henry Nancarrow, Age 36
Mr. William Henry Nancarrow was born in St. Austell, England in the spring of 1876. He was the only son of Thomas Nancarrow (b. 1819), a mine engine driver, and Maria Opie Morcum (b. 1840), Cornwall natives who had married in 1876. Both parents had been married before and William had nine half-siblings.William was married in 1897 to Mary Ellen Cannon (b. 1877) of St. Blazey. The couple went on to have eight children. William worked as a clay laborer and was then promoted to a stationary engine driver at the China Clay works. He was renowned locally for his singing abilities.
William boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger bound for Yonkers, New York. He was traveling with his cousins, Grace and Alexander Robins.
Died: William died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. His cousins, Grace and Alexander Robins were also lost.
Hard on the heels of William’s passing came the death of his youngest child, Stanley, in the latter months of 1912. Stanley was only a year old. His oldest son, Thomas, later fought in France during World War I in the 14th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment. He was killed on March 4, 1916. By coincidence, WIlliam’s second son Walter was married in 1918 to Edith Saundercock who was the sister of another Titanic victim, William Henry Saundercock. What became of William’s widow, Mary, is not certain; it is possible she remarried but her ultimate whereabouts are not known.
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Miss Manta Josefina Nieminen, Age 29
Miss Manta Josefina Nieminen was born on December 15, 1882. She was the daughter of Selim and Maria Nieminen. She was unmarried and lived in Karinainen, near Turku, Finland.As her family was very poor, Manta began working as a maid at the age of nine. She had traveled abroad but returned to Finland in the autumn of 1911. Since the age of eighteen she had supported her parents with a yearly sum and between January and March 1912 she worked on her their farm. Manta then decided to emigrate to the United States with the expectation that she would continue to support her parents.
She boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a third class passenger. She was traveling to Aberdeen, Washington with Johan Werner Salonen.
Died: Manta’s body was never found, £50 in compensation was paid to her parents, who unsuccessfully attempted to recoup the losses of her material things.
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Miss Berta Olivia Nilsson, Age 18
Miss Berta Olivia Nilsson was born in Ransbysäter, Sweden on February 22, 1894. She was the daughter of Nils Nilsson (b. circa 1867) and Ingeborg Johannesdotter (b. 1866) and she had seven known siblings.Berta was engaged to be married to Edvard Larsson-Rondberg (b. 1889), a native of Lysvik who worked as a cook. He had emigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in Missoula, Montana. He had recently returned to Sweden to bring Berta to the United States.
Berta and Edvard boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Berta was asleep at the time of the collision. Her fiance, Edvard, arrived at her cabin, waking her and telling her that his own cabin in the forward quarters had filled with water. She then dressed in heavy clothing and made her way to the communal steerage areas. Berta survived the sinking, escaping in the last lifeboat to be successfully launched from the ship, Collapsible D. Edvard was lost.
Upon arrival in New York the Women’s Relief Committee in gave her $50. On April 26 she passed St. Paul, Minnesota on her way Westwards with other Scandinavian survivors Carl Olof Jansson, Oscar Hedman and Anna Sjöblom.
After the disaster Berta never dared to travel over the Atlantic ocean again. Following the loss of her fiancé she began a relationship with a fellow Swede named Lars Oskar Persson (b. 1890) but it is not clear if they were married. They had a son named Leonard (b. 1916). Lars died in 1918 and Berta was remarried on December 16, 1920 in Montana to Hans Aron Christensen (b. 1890). Hans was a carpenter who had emigrated in 1910 from Göteborg. The couple would have four children. Initially staying in Montana, Berta (now known as Bertha) and her family later moved to Chicago, Illinois in the mid-1920s and remained living in that city.
Berta died following a stroke on December 27, 1976. She was buried in Mount Olive Cemetery in Chicago.
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Mr. Johan Hansen Nysveen, Age 60
Mr. Johan Hansen Nysveen was born on September 17, 1851. He was a farmer from Strøm in Øyer, Norway. He had four adult children from his first marriage, all of whom lived in the United States.After his children left and his wife died, Johan decided to emigrate to the United States, where he later became a citizen. After 27 years in North Dakota he returned to Norway where he married Pauline Regnstad. On July 12, 1911, when Johan was sixty-years-old, she gave birth to twins.
Johan was traveling from Øyer to Grand Forks, North Dakota to wind up his business there. He had planned to give half of his farm to his son. He did not originally intend to travel on the Titanic, but boarded at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Died: When the accident occurred Johan, went up to the deck with his friend Karl Alber. Johan, at 60 years of age, realized that he probably couldn’t be saved so he gave his coat and watch to Karl. Karl survived the disaster and later returned the coat and watch to Johan’s relatives in the United States. Johan’s body was never found.
Because he was not supposed to be on board, Johan’s wife did not know what had become of him until the final lists were produced some weeks after the catastrophe. By then his name had been distorted to Nyoven.
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Mr. Nils Martin Ödahl, Age 23
Mr. Nils Martin Ödahl was born on October 22, 1888 in Rydsgård, Sweden. He was the son of Ola Nilsson Ödahl (b. 1865) and Hannah Nilsson (b. 1863), one of six children born to the couple.Nils had attended agricultural schools in Sweden and Denmark and worked as an agricultural inspector in Rydsgård, Örsjö. He was traveling to the United States to study before returning to work in Sweden. His uncle Nels O. Nilsson had previously emigrated to the United States in 1895 and lived in Peoria, Illinois with his wife and children. Nels purchased the ticket for Nils.
Nils boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: Nils died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
The Mansion House Fund paid 875.52 Kr to his parents and 912 Kr to his siblings. A claim for damages of 954 Kr was paid on January 5. 1915.
Nils’s parents remained in Sweden and his father died in 1931 and his mother in 1939.
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Miss Ellen O’Dwyer, Age 24
Miss Ellen “Nellie” O’Dwyer was born in Limerick City, Ireland in 1888. She was one of eleven children born to Michael O’Dwyer (b. circa 1860), a China packer, and Johanna Sullivan (b. 1863).Nellie emigrated to Brooklyn in 1906 and her mother died around 1910. In early 1912 she returned to see her remaining family in Ireland.
For Nellie’s return to New York she boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. She had been asked to accompany another Limerick passenger for his first trip across the Atlantic, 16-year-old Patrick Lane.
Survived: At the time of the collision Nellie was in bed and almost asleep when she was startled by a jarring sensation. Then noticing the engines stop, she and her cabin mates (whose identities are not known) went out to investigate and some male acquaintances told that the ship had struck an iceberg but was in no danger, admonishing them for their alarm and telling them to go back to bed, which they did. However, the continued commotion outside their cabin drew them out into the communal areas again. They made their way to the open decks and somehow managed to find their way to the Boat Deck, possibly with the assistance of stewards. Nellie and her friends said the rosary and she also witnessed her young charge Patrick Lane drop to his knees in prayer on the deck before circulating around the other passengers asking for a priest. Patrick crossed to the other side of the boat deck and she never saw him again. Which lifeboat Nellie escaped in is not certain; it is believed she left in Lifeboat 10.
Following the disaster Nellie eventually made it to her home in New York. She was married to a fellow Irish native, Dennis Ryan (b. 1888), a motorman who had emigrated in 1910. They settled in Brooklyn and had twin sons: Thomas and Michael (b. 1915). Nellie was carrying a third child when she died on May 3, 1917. She was buried four days later in Holy Cross Cemetery.
Her widower Dennis was remarried shortly after to an Irish-American woman named Agnes. Nellie’s two sons reportedly grew up believing Agnes was their mother and were unaware of the truth until years later.
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Mr. Arthur O’Keefe, Age 44
Mr. Arthur O’Keefe was born in Rahway, New Jersey on September 30, 1867. He was the son of Irish immigrant parents who had first come to the United States in 1861: Patrick O’Keefe (b. 1832), a laborer, and his wife Julia (b. 1834).Known as Artie to his friends, Arthur is believed to have been a Freemason. Besides his grocery store he owned property in Rahway and was active in local politics with the Republican Party, possibly earning him the monikers “The Mayor of the Bronx” and “The Mayor of East Rahway.”
In February 1912 Arthur left his home for a vacation to visit England, Scotland and Ireland. The National Fife and Drum Corps of East Rahway Fraternal Section planned to greet O’Keefe upon his arrival back in New Jersey.
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: On the night of the sinking it is speculated that Arthur was one of the men who managed to pull themselves aboard the waterlogged Collapsible Lifeboat A before dying of exposure. The body was left in the boat when Officer Lowe arrived to transfer her survivors.
His sister, Margaret, received postcards from Arthur on the morning of April 15, 1912, telling her he intended to travel aboard Titanic. She later suffered a breakdown and subsequently applied for administration of Arthur’s estate to the Surrogate of Union County, New Jersey and stated that his assets amounted to less than $350, despite his apparent extensive property ownership and business interests.
With Arthur being a well-known figure in Rahway, the town went into mourning and flags on government buildings were lowered to half-mast. A Requiem Mass was held in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. Arthur’s sister Margaret remained in Rahway for the rest of her life and died in 1930. Arthur is commemorated on her headstone in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Clark, Union, New Jersey.
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Master Artur Karl Olsen, Age 9
Master Artur Karl Olsen was born on February 6, 1903 in Brooklyn, New York to Norwegian parents Karl Siegwart Andreas Olsen (b. 1870) and Ragna Nilsen. After his mother’s death in 1906, his father took him to Trondheim, Norway to live with the his grandmother, Anna Andersen.While Artur was being raised by his grandmother, Karl returned to America where he remarried a woman named Ester, who was of Swedish origin. They lived in Brooklyn.
Artur’s grandmother died in 1911. After her death, Artur’s his father traveled back to Trondheim to bring him to New York to live. Artur and Karl were originally booked on the Philadelphia but they were transferred to Titanic, which they boarded at Southampton as third class passengers.
Survived: After the collision, Artur’s father, Karl, carried his almost sleeping son to Lifeboat 13. Karl was lost in the sinking.
In New York Artur’s stepmother, Ester, did not know that her husband and stepson had been on board the Titanic. On April 19, Artur met his stepmother for the first time. She brought him home to her house and raised him as her own. Ester later married William Reichart and together they had a daughter Alvira who was born in 1916.
For a while Artur was in the navy, and in later life he held a succession of different jobs, finally settling as a house painter in St. Petersburg, Florida. Artur anglicized his name to Arthur Carl Olsen. He died January 1, 1975.
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Miss Elina Olsson, Age 31
Miss Elina Olsson was born on January 26, 1881. She was the daughter of Ola Olsson and lived in Sweden.Elina worked as a maid in Malmö from 1909 to 1911. Her brother, Olaf Olsson, lived in St. Paul, Minnesota and worked as a master builder. Elina was engaged to Edvin Lundström and they planned to move to St. Paul with Olaf, where Elina was going to work as a maid. However, Edvin’s ticket states he was on his way to Los Angeles. It is unclear if Elina knew Edvin’s plans.
Elina and Edvin traveled through Copenhagen and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: According to her fiancee, Edvin, the lifeboat he put Elina into capsized. However, Elina never made it to a lifeboat. Edvin survived in any case, saving himself in Lifeboat 15. Elina’s body was never found.
Edvin traveled to Los Angeles where he married in 1913. He died suddenly while working on a carpentry job on October 10, 1942.
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Mr. Oscar Wilhelm Olsson, Age 32
Mr. Oscar Wilhelm Olsson was born September 8, 1879. He was the son of skipper Johan Olsson and Maria Emanuelsdotter of Lunna, Sweden. He had two brothers, Olof and John.Oscar began his career as a sailor on the schooner Edit from Uddevalla under his father’s command. In the early 1900s he emigrated to the United States and signed on ore ships on the Great Lakes. In America, Oscar Olsson changed his name to Johansson. In 1911 Oscar returned to Sweden and was married on New Year’s Eve to Maria Abrahamson. The earnings were low on ore ships in Sweden so Olsson wrote to his former boss in the United States, who promised him a place back on the Bulgaria.
Oscar boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: Oscar survived on Collapsible A. As soon as he reached New York he sent a telegram to his wife that said: “Saved, Oscar.”
Due to the Titanic‘s sinking, Oscar missed the Bulgaria and signed on another of the company’s ships. However, that ship also ran aground and sank. Oscar again saved himself, this time wearing nothing but his underwear, and after that incident had problems with his stomach and his nerves.
Oscar returned to Sweden in 1918 and worked as rigger on Allmag shipyard on the west coast. Later, he and his wife, Maria, owned a family hotel. He died in Orust on April 5, 1967.
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Mr. Oskar Leander Johansson Palmquist, Age 26
Mr. Oskar Leander Johansson Palmquist was born July 26, 1885 to Knut Johansson and Mathilda Abrahamson. He came from Kvarnaryd, Villastad parish, near Smålands Sweden.Oskar was, per a British list, on his way from home to visit siblings on a farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, according to Gothenburg police, he was actually on his way to New Haven, Connecticut.
Under mysterious circumstances, he booked his ticket in the name Johansson and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: Oskar was rescued in Lifeboat 15.
The Titanic disaster worsened a knee problem Oskar had since he was 13. He wrote to the Swedish consulate in New York and asked for further support, because he had to take a loan before he could start to work. He noted that he had lost everything in the sinking. The consulate denied his request. However, The Red Cross assistance committee gave him $200 in April 1912.
Oskar lived the rest of his life near his siblings in Bridgeport, Connecticut and worked as a tool maker. He never married. However, he was involved in an affair and was murdered by the partner of the woman he was having an affair with. Contemporary reports at the time of his death appeared in The New York Times and Bridgeport Post. Both called the death an accident.
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Mr. George Patchett, Age 20
Mr. George Patchett was born in Wollaston, England in the closing months of 1892. He was the son of George Henry Patchett (b. 1859), a boot maker and later a castrator, and Eliza Rebecca Pratt (b. 1857), both Wollaston natives who married in 1879.George lived with his parents in Wollaston, where he worked as a boot factory pressman.
George and his friend John Garfirth, also a boot worker, decided to emigrate to Canada where George had relatives. They were originally supposed to have traveled aboard the Empress of Ireland on April 5, 1912. Their attempts to board that ship were hampered by massive coal strikes in Britain and they were forced to cancel and transfer to the Titanic. The two friends boarded at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Died: Both George and his friend, John, died in the sinking and their bodies were not recovered.
George’s parents continued to reside in Wollaston. His father passed away in 1941 and his mother in 1946. His friend, John’s mother continued to live in Wollaston and she died in 1922. His youngest sibling Leonard later fought in World War I in the 14th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He was killed in action in France on March 27, 1918.
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Mr. Ernst Ulrik Persson, Age 25
Mr. Ernst Ulrik Persson was born in Sweden on July 29, 1886. He worked as a janitor and a chauffeur and lived in Stockholm. He was married to a woman named Anna and the couple had two children.Ernst had decided to emigrate to America, where his wife and children would join him later. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger with his sister, Elna Strom, and niece, Telma Matilda Strom. They were traveling to Indiana Harbor, Indiana where Elna had been settled for some time.
Survived: Ernst was saved, although what lifeboat he was on is unclear. Ernst’s accounts suggests that he was rescued on one of the collapsible boats that were floated off the ship, probably Collapsible B. However, his sister and niece, Elna and Telma Strom, were lost in the sinking.
Ernst’s wife, Anna, and their children came to join him in America in October of 1912. The couple would go on to have two more children born in the United States. By 1914 Ernst had changed his name to Ernest Pearson and worked as a bricklayer at the Standard Forgings company, the same company as his brother-in-law Wilhelm Strom.
Ernst died on October 17, 1951. He was buried in Elmwood cemetery, Hammond, Indiana.
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Mrs. Lena Jakobsen Rasmussen, Age 63
Mrs. Lena Jakobsen Rasmussen (née Solvang) was born in Haugesund, Norway in 1849. At a young age she married Rasmus Rasmussen and had four children. The family emigrated to South Dakota, but Lena returned to Norway after her husband died with her widowed daughter Elizabeth Larsen.In 1912 Lena was set to visit her daughter Bertha Berg in South Dakota. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger with Bernt Johannes Johannessen.
Died: On the night of the sinking Bernt Johannessen alerted Lena to the danger, but she was reluctant to leave her valuables in the cabin. Bernt managed to persuade her to come with him to the Boat Deck, where Bernt saw that Lena was safe beside a lifeboat before he left her to return to his roommates. It is likely that Lena left the lifeboat and returned to her cabin for her valuables. Lena lost her life in the disaster and her body, if recovered, was never identified.
Bernt survived the sinking in Lifeboat 13 and he would go on to live a long life with his wife Anha and their eight children. He worked as a very popular postman in his village in Sweden. He died on December 1, 1962.
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Miss Hannah Riordan, Age 22
Miss Hannah Riordan was born in Glenalougha, Ireland on January 27, 1890. She was the daughter of Peter Riordan (b. 1857), a farmer, and Mary O’Connor and had six known siblings. Her mother died sometime before 1901 and her maternal grandmother Julia O’Connor (b. 1827) stepped in to help care for the family.At some point, Hannah’s sister Ellen married and emigrated to the United States. Ellen called for Hannah to join her and had found her a position as a domestic worker in New York City.
Hannah boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. Several others from her area in Ireland traveled with her, among them her cousin Patrick O’Connor and Daniel Buckley, Bridget Bradley, Patrick Denis O’Connell, Nora O’Leary and Michael Linehan.
Survived: Hannah was rescued from the sinking in Lifeboat 13 along with Bridget Bradley, Daniel Buckley and Nora O’Leary. The others in the party perished.
Hannah remained in New York for the rest of her life and only returned to Ireland once for a visit in the 1920s. She worked as a domestic maid and was naturalized as a United States citizen on May 10, 1928 in Manhattan.
On St. Patrick’s Day 1936 Hannah was married in St. Anselm’s Church in the Bronx to John Spollen (b. 1899), also an Irish immigrant. Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Utica, New York but they later returned to the Bronx and lived the rest of their lives there. The couple had no children.
Hannah rarely spoke about the Titanic disaster in later life and refused to grant interviews or even discuss it with family and friends. She died on September 29, 1982
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Mr. Alexander Robins, Age 50
Mr. Alexander Robins was born on July 1, 1861 in St. Austell, England. He was the son of Samuel Robins (1835-1897), a copper miner, and his wife Grace (1836-1895).Alexander, who worked as a stonemason, was married in late 1880 to Charity Lawry (b. 1865), also of St. Austell. The couple would have nine children in total, with only two living past infancy, Beatrice (b. 1886) and Alexander (b. 1890). The family later left Britain around 1886, and settled in Yonkers, New York. In New York Alexander continued to work as a stonemason and made several trips back to England over the years.
Alexander and Charity returned to Cornwall for a family visit in early 1912, staying with friends in Mount Charles. They were returning to the United States when they boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Alexander Robins, along with his wife, Charity, were lost in the sinking. Their bodies were subsequently recovered by the Mackay-Bennett.
The remains were given to their daughter, Beatrice, in Yonkers. Alexander and Charity were interred at Oakland Cemetery, Yonkers. Alexander’s daughter Beatrice was married to Patrick Curtin of Pennsylvania and remained in Yonkers where she raised a family. She died in Yonkers in 1965. Alexander’s son, Alexander, was married on in 1912 to Julia Lee (b. 1890), a native of Ireland. They raised a family and remained in Yonkers where he worked as a steam fitter. Alexander, Jr. died in 1966.
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Miss Sarah Roth, Age 26
Miss Sarah Roth was born in Tarnów, Austria (modern-day Poland) on October 10, 1880. She came from a Jewish family and was the daughter of Abraham Roth (b. 1849), a cobbler, and his wife Sarah (b. 1857). Sarah’s father passed away when she was an infant.Sarah worked as a tailoress and coat finisher. Her fiancé of several years, Daniel Michael Iles (b. 1882) was a grocery warehouseman who had emigrated to New York in 1911. He subsequently worked as a clerk in Greenhut, Siegel & Cooper department store. After several months he sent for Sarah to join him.
She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger to join Daniel in New York.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Sarah woke up having sensed that the ship’s motion had ceased so she dressed and left her cabin. She described members of the crew preventing access to certain areas, with one crewman, whom she thought was an officer, preventing any steerage passengers mounting a ladder (perhaps the ladder connecting the aft well-deck to the second class area on B Deck) onto a higher deck. Eventually she was permitted to ascend but upon reaching the boat deck found most of the boats gone or full and ready for lowering. However, she made it onto Collapsible C, the penultimate lifeboat to leave Titanic. Sarah lost her wedding gown and trousseau in the sinking.
Following her arrival in New York Sarah wed her fiancée, Daniel, in St. Vincent’s Hospital only a week after the Titanic disaster, wearing a dress donated to her by the Woman’s Relief Committee. Acting as a bridesmaid was Sarah’s fellow survivor, Emily Badman.
Sarah and her husband went on to have one child, a son named Albert Daniel, who was born in on December 9, 1914. The family initially lived in Manhattan, remaining there throughout the 1920s and 1930s before they moved to Milford, New Haven, Connecticut. Sarah died there on July 4, 1947.
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Mr. Richard Henry Rouse, Age 55
Mr. Richard Henry Rouse was born in Trottiscliffe, England in 1857. He was married to Charity Emily Anderson. Charity was a young widow with a daughter, Harriett Alice. In 1903, Richard and Charity welcomed their daughter Gladys Nancy.Massive coal strikes in Britain caused Richard, a brickfield laborer, to lose his job. His stepdaughter, Harriett, had married and emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, where she and her husband prospered. With no options at home, Richard planned to join her. Richard was to make the crossing first and send for the rest of his family once he had settled.
Richard’s wife and daughter came to see him off when he boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Died: Richard’s body was never recovered. His wife, Charity, and daughter, Gladys, later traveled to New York. They arrived on June 5, 1912 and settled in Fremont, Ohio where Charity died on November 14, 1936.
Gladys was married in 1922 to Pennsylvanian native Sewell Walter Ickes and had a son. She was later divorced then remarried in 1925 and had several more children. She lived in Shelby, Indiana for many years before settling in Florida where she died in 1985.
Richard’s stepdaughter Harriet and her family continued to live in Ohio. She was widowed in 1924 and she herself passed away in Fremont in 1957.
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Mr. Edward Ryan, Age 24
Mr. Edward Ryan was born on January 28, 1888. He was the son of Daniel Ryan. He was unmarried and lived in Ballinareen, Ireland.At some point, Edward’s sister Bridget married and emigrated to the United States. Edward decided to join her and was bound her home in Troy, New York. Although on the passenger list he had been listed as a general laborer, he also worked as a chauffeur.
Edward boarded the Titanic at Queenstown on April 11, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Edward managed to board Lifeboat 14 wearing a towel over his head to disguise himself as a woman, a fact which he freely conceded to his parents in a letter dated May 6, 1912. As the boat was being lowered, he grasped a girl who was standing by in despair, and jumped with her thirty feet into the boat. Edward may have been the man whom Officer Lowe pitched violently into another lifeboat during Lifeboat 14 emptying after the sinking, after discovering the agile passenger to be a man.
Edward moved back to England three years after the disaster. He settled in Hull in 1916 where he worked for Rose, Downs and Thompson Ltd. He was married to a woman named Gertrude Annie. The couple had three children: Monica, Norman and Kathleen.
Edward died on November 5, 1974.
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Mr. Matthew Sadlier, Age 19
Mr. Matthew Sadlier was born in Rynn, Ireland around 1893. He was the son of Matthew Sadlier (b. 1861), a laborer and later a shepherd, and his wife Catherine Duke (b. 1853) who had married in Mohill in 1881. One of nine children, Matthew grew up in a Church of Ireland household.At some point, Matthew’s older brother Thomas had emigrated to the United States. Matthew decided to join him in 1912.
Matthew boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger. He was traveling to Lakewood, New Jersey where his brother Thomas lived.
Died: Matthew died in the sinking; his body, if recovered, was never identified.
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Miss Anna Kristine Salkjelsvik, Age 21
Miss Anna Kristine Salkjelsvik was born in Skodje, Norway on October 30, 1890. She was the daughter of Ole Iver Johansen Grodås (b. 1850), a carpenter, and Anne Marie Brigitte Karlsdatter Salkjelsvik (b. 1857). She had five known siblings.Her sister Olivia emigrated to the United States in the summer of 1910, arriving in Québec before settling in Duluth, Minnesota. Olivia later saved enough money to send back home for Anna to join her.
Anna boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a third class passenger. A family friend named Adolf Humblen traveled with her, and she shared a cabin with Karen Marie Abelseth.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Anna had been asleep and had noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Anna and her cabin mate, Karen, made their way to the aft well deck where they awaited instructions. A steward asked for women and children to follow him and Anna and Karen complied but had to leave her family friend and traveling companion, Adolf, behind. While en route to the boat deck Anna and Karen became separated: Karen ended up leaving the ship in Lifeboat 16 but Anna wandered to the bow end of the boat deck where she left in Collapsible C. Adolf was lost in the sinking.
Anna eventually arrived in Minnesota and was reunited with her sister. Olivia, in Proctor. Here she met a fellow Norwegian, William Larsen (b. 1884). The couple were married before the close of 1912 and went on to have four children. The family lived in St. Louis, Minnesota. Anna was widowed on September 11, 1965 and she herself spent her last years in a care home. She never cared to discuss the Titanic disaster to any great length but did grant the very occasional newspaper or television interview.
Anna died following a stroke on February 21, 1977.
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Mrs. Agnes Charlotta Sandström, Age 24
Mrs. Agnes Charlotta Sandström (née Bengtsson) was born on November 8, 1887. Originally from Hultsjö, Sweden, Agnes had been living in San Francisco since 1908. She was married to Hjalmar Sandström, and they had two daughters, Marguerite and Beatrice.Agnes and her daughters had been visiting her parents in Hultsjö. For their return home they boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers. At the time Marguerite was four-years-old and Beatrice was one-year-old. They joined a group of Swedish passengers led by Thure Edvin Lundström. Agnes and her young daughters shared a cabin with Elna and Selma Ström.
Survived: Agnes told later that she did not believe it was for real when she was woken by a steward after the collision. Agnes took her young daughters, Marguerite and Beatrice, and went up to the boat deck. The Ström family she shared a cabin with followed Agnes and her children but in the confusion on the aft well deck ladder she lost sight of the Ströms and never saw them again. She stepped with her daughters into Lifeboat 13.
In New York, Agnes and her children were sent to St. Vincent Hospital. They continued their trip to San Francisco about a week later to be reunited with her husband, Hjalmar. The Sandström family moved back to Sweden for good in the autumn of 1912. Agnes died on December 1, 1985.
Marguerite married Ott Petterson in Sweden and passed away on August 15, 1963. Beatrice, who was only a year at the time of the sinking, recalled nothing about the trip and passed away in Sweden on September 3, 1995.
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Mr. Jean Scheerlinck, Age 29
Mr. Jean Scheerlinck was born on January 26, 1883. He worked as a farm hand and lived with his widowed mother in an old farm house in Haaltert, Belgium. Jean’s mother had recently remarried and Jean and did not get along with his step-father. The soured relationship prompted Jean to emigrate to America. Jean decided to assist in the sugar beet campaign near Detroit, Michigan.He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. He was traveling with Philemon Van Melkebeke.
Survived: Jean gave conflicting accounts of how he survived so it remains unclear just how he escaped from the Titanic. He claimed to have jumped into the water and was picked up. More than likely, he left the ship in one of the starboard aft lifeboats (possibly Lifeboat 11) where a majority of steerage men escaped. Jean’s friend, Philemon, died in the sinking.
Jean was penniless when he reached New York. He and fellow Belgian survivors, Jules Sap and Theodore de Mulder, met a fellow Belgian man who owned a traveling stage show. He contracted them to travel with him and relate their stories of the Titanic. The men appeared at each performance and were promised to be paid $5 per day. Eventually, the show owner disappeared with all the money that had been promised to the three Belgian men and they were penniless again.
Jean failed to find work in America and decided to take up the White Star Line on their offer for free passage back to Europe. He left with $400 given to him by the Red Cross as he reported to have contracted tuberculosis, had suffered severely from shock and exposure, and desired to return home.
When he arrived back home in Haaltert, he found out that his step-father had left so he moved back in with his mother. Café owners liked to offer him drinks on the house for telling his story of the Titanic. He never had to pay for a drink again in his village.
He married Marie Stevens in October of 1912 and in 1914, was called up for military service in the Belgian army. He returned home in 1918, and remained a farmhand for the next 31 years, often working in the sugar beet campaigns in northern France. He lived in the family home until his death on June 25, 1956.
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Miss Ellen Shine, Age 20
Miss Ellen Shine was born in Lisrobin, Ireland on December 30, 1891. She was the daughter of Timothy Shine (b. 1841), a farmer, and Mary Fitzgerald (b. 1851) who had married in 1874. Ellen was the youngest of a total of nine children born into a Roman Catholic household.After Ellen’s father died, she decided the leave Ireland and join other siblings who had previously emigrated to New York. Ellen boarded the Titanic in Queenstown as a third class passenger destined for New York, the home of her brother Jeremiah.
Survived: Ellen said that when the accident happened she rushed to the upper deck where she was met by members of the crew who tried to keep them in the steerage quarters. Ellen managed to rush past them and saw one of the lifeboats and jumped on it.
Ellen remained in New York for the rest of her life and was later married to John Callaghan (b. 1896), a New York firefighter who had emigrated from Ireland in 1914. They settled in New York City where they had two daughters, Julia and Mary. Ellen rarely spoke of the Titanic during this time and her own daughters allegedly did not know that their mother was a survivor until the topic came up in school and they spotted her name on a passenger list.
Following the death of her husband in 1976 Ellen moved to Long Island to be closer to her daughters. She outlived both her daughters and in later years suffered from Alzheimer’s which caused her to talk about the Titanic incessantly, much to the annoyance of those around her. She celebrated her 101st birthday in 1992 and she passed away in a hospital on March 5, 1993. She is buried in St. Charles’ Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York. She was the last living Titanic survivor of Irish background.
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Mr. John Simmons, Age 40
Mr. John Simmons was born in Leigh, England in early 1872. He was the son of George Simmons (b. 1835) and Mary Ann Evans (b. 1833) who had married in 1857. John was one of eight children.John’s father was a cricket ball maker and John followed him into the cricket ball making trade, working for Messrs. Duke & Son of Penshurst, Kent. He was unmarried.
John boarded the Titanic in Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a third class passenger. His exact destination and his reason for travel are unknown. It is rumored that he was traveling with Ellen Mary Toomey, a passenger in second class.
Died: John was lost in the sinking, his body not among the recovered. His rumored traveling companion, Ellen Toomey, survived the disaster in Lifeboat 9.
Both of John’s parents continued to live in Leigh; his father died in 1920 and his mother the following year. They are buried in Leigh Churchyard and John is remembered on their headstone.
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Miss Anna Sofia Sjöblom, Age 18
Miss Anna Sofia Sjöblom was born on April 14, 1894. She lived in Munsala, near Nykarleby on the Finnish west coast. At some point, Anna’s father, Gabriel Gustafson, emigrated to the United States, settling in Olympia, Washington.Gabriel was employed by Simpson Timber Company, where Anna’s uncle Daniel also worked. Anna was set to join her father in the United States and traveled with Jakob Alfred Johanson and Karl Johan Wiklund. They left Hangö on March 30, 1912.
The group originally booked tickets on the Adriatic but were transferred to the Titanic due to a massive coal strike in Britain. Anna did not speak English, so Johanson spoke for her during the trip. Anna’s 18th birthday was on April 14, but she did not celebrate as she was seasick the entire trip.
Survived: Due to being seasick, Anna was awake and fully dressed in her cabin during the collision. When she tried to reach boat deck together with another Finnish girl, they got lost and reached 2nd class promenade on A Deck and had to climb a crew ladder. Anna entered a Lifeboat 16. Her companions died in the sinking.
After her arrival in New York she was taken to the Lutheran emigrant home and went a week later by train to Olympia. She later lived in Tacoma, Washington with an uncle, Andrew Nelson. Anna remained in Washington where she married Gordon Kinkaid and they had two children, a daughter and a son.
Anna died on November 3, 1975 of a stroke.
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Mr Wilhelm Johansson Skoog, Age 40
Mr. Wilhelm Johansson Skoog was born in Forshem, Sweden on April 6, 1872. He was the son of Johan Johansson Skoog and Christina Andersdotter (b. 1844).Wilheim married Anna Bernhardina Karlsson (b. 1866) on June 5, 1898 and the couple emigrated to the United States shortly after. They settled in Iron Mountain, Michigan where their four children were born. He worked at the Pewabic Mine as an engineer. Their oldest child Karl was involved in an accident working at the railroad, which left him with an amputated left leg and compromised right leg. The family decided to return to Sweden around November 1911. However, they regretted the move and made plans to return to America.
Having traveled via Stockholm, the family boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Died: Due to the stress of having four young children, with one in crutches, Wilhelm and Anna were unable to make it to the upper decks in time for the lifeboats. The entire family was lost with none of their bodies being recovered.
The Mansion House Fund paid 875.52 Kr to Wilheim’s parents. Wilhelm’s father was not satisfied with the damage claims paid by White Star and with an American lawyer had his own private lawsuit against the company and refused to pay the ministry of foreign affairs any payments for their lawyer.
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Miss Julia Smyth, Age 18
Miss Julia Smyth was born in Pottlebawn, Ireland on July 4, 1893. She was the daughter of Henry Smyth (b. 1839), a farmer, and his wife Mary Cunningham (b. 1863), Cavan natives who had married in 1881. She was one of seven surviving children from a total of nine, and her family were Roman Catholic who spoke both Irish and English.Julia decided to leave Ireland and settle in New York where she already had at least one sibling, her brother Henry, who had recently emigrated. She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger and was destined for Manhattan.
Survived: Julia survived the sinking, escaping in Lifeboat 13.
Julia eventually arrived in New York to be reunited with her brother. She fell ill with scarlet fever not long after landing but following recovery soon found work as a domestic servant. She was married in 1917 to William H. Glover (b. 1890), a United States Army Officer, and lived in Manhattan. The couple had no children. The marriage later fell apart and Julia started living in Manhattan as a live-in servant to an elderly lady named Ella Baker Weir. She was later remarried to Thomas White (b. 1894), an Englishman by birth.
In 1958 she had been present at the New York premiere of A Night to Remember and was photographed alongside several of her fellow Titanic survivors.
Julia died in Manhattan on April 27, 1977.
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Miss Amy Zillah Elsie Stanley, Age 24
Miss Amy Zillah Elsie Stanley was born on January 4, 1888. Her parents were Thomas James Stanley (b. 1849) and Eliza Agnes Margetts (b. 1861) who married in 1882. Amy was one of six children and the only daughter in her family.As she grew up Amy probably helped in the family grocery, where they sold butter, bacon and cheese. Eventually she became a dressmaker working in the nearby city of Oxford. Later she left home to go into domestic service in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
In 1912, Amy prepared to move to New Haven, Connecticut to become a children’s maid. She purchased a third class ticket and left Wallingford in April to join the Titanic at Southampton. She would have made the journey earlier but was delayed by a massive coal strike in Britain.
Survived: Amy survived the sinking in Collapsible C. She was writing a postcard to her parents when she felt the collision. She left her cabin, but was ordered back by a steward. She did not listen and went up to the upper decks. Amy completed the journey to New York on board the rescue ship Carpathia.
Amy was give $200 by the American Red Cross and she traveled on to New Haven to start her new life.
Amy married Eugene Sheldon Tanner, Sr. on November 1, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York. Through connections with the family she worked for in New Haven Amy managed to get Eugene an early honorable discharge from the Navy so they could be married. The couple had two sons.
Amy died on April 21, 1955 in Providence, Rhode Island. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery, Cranston, Rhode Island.
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Mr. Thomas Storey, Age 59
Mr. Thomas Storey was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England in early 1853. He was the son of Benjamin Storey (b. 1810), a boatman, and Maria Holt Dawson (b. 1807), a house cleaner. Thomas never married.Thomas came to work for the American Line in the early 1880s as an able seaman. He is first shown on record as a seaman aboard the Arizona. Thomas remained with American Line, later working aboard the St. Paul and rising through the ranks to become master-at-arms. Later he was transferred to the Philadelphia.
In April 1912 a massive British coal strike had caused scheduling problems and Philadelphia’s westbound voyage was canceled. Thomas and several other shipmates were forced to travel aboard Titanic. Thomas and his shipmates boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Thomas Storey died in the sinking and his body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. His personal effects included two pipes, a silver watch and glasses. He was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 10, 1912.
All of the other shipmates also died, except Mr. William Henry Törnquist who escaped in Lifeboat 15.
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Mr. Victor Francis Sunderland, Age 20
Mr. Victor Francis Sunderland was born on March 17, 1896 in England. He worked as a farmer. Little else is known about Victor’s past.A resident of London, Victor was traveling to Cleveland, Ohio to stay with his uncle, J. P. Foley. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a third class passenger.
Survived: On the night of the collision, Victor made way to the main deck where a steward told him to go back. They could see ice on the deck, however the steward told them nothing was wrong so he went back to their cabin. Suddenly, water started pouring in under the door and Victor ran back to the upper decks without a lifebelt. He found the boat deck crowded along the starboard side. The crew was filling boats with women and children and lowering them away. Victor stayed close to the front of the boat deck, where Second Officer Lightoller and several fireman were trying to launch Collapsible B. Water was gushing toward him. The front of the boat began to rapidly sink. The firemen began jumping overboard. Victor followed and jumped overboard. He swam away and found Collapsible B floating next to the sinking Titanic, washed overboard. He grabbed onto it along with about 27 or 28 other men. Many others were pushed away, trying to keep the boat from being overloaded. He was waist deep in the water.
After arriving in New York, Victor was taken to the Salvation Army home and fed and clothed. He was then briefly hospitalized at St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he remained until April 20. He traveled by train to Cleveland and showed up at his uncle’s house on April 26.
Victor was later married to May Annie McNaughton and worked as a plumber until his retirement in 1939. He settled in Toronto, Canada in the 1920s and died there on August 21, 1973.
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Mr. Johan Cervin Svensson, Age 14
Mr. Johan Cervin Svensson was born on March 5, 1898 to Sven Peter Johansson and Elisabeth Jönsdotter. He had six siblings and lived at Knäred, Sweden.Johan was the oldest son, athough he had two older sisters. His father and sister Jenny had gone to Alcester, South Dakota in 1911. The rest of the family intended to follow. Due to monetary constraints, they could not all travel at the same time. As the oldest son, Johan was to travel to the United States first, even though he was only fourteen. When Johan was ready to go his mother sewed 15 krona into his jacket lining for spare cash. He did not speak English.
Johan took the train from Knäred to Gothenburg, Sweden, where he traveled by boat to Hull, England. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger.
Survived: Johan later recalled that when the Titanic was sinking he sneaked onto the first class boat deck and after being refused twice finally got into Lifeboat 13, the third boat he tried to enter.
On board the Carpathia he was at first thought to be a first class passenger but looking upon his clothes it was realized that was not possible and he was sent down to join the other steerage passengers. In New York he was met by his uncle Isak Johnson.
Once he got to South Dakota, Johan changed his name to John C. Johnson and worked as a farmhand. At some point he traveled on to Michigan and later Kentucky before finally settling in Long Beach, California, where he worked as a ship welder. He married Hazel G. Lindley and the couple had one daughter.
Johan died on July, 4, 1981 in Long Beach, California.
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Mrs. Thamīn Tannūs, Age 16
Mrs. Thamīn Tannūss (née Khuri) was born in Hardin, Lebanon on December 25, 1895. She was the daughter of Ilyas Khuri and Sufiyah Riyad Hassi and she was married in 1910 to Iskandar Tannūs (b. 1890). Iskandar earned a living selling fruit and vegetables.Thamīn and her husband decided to emigrate to the United States. Her husband traveled first and settled in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where his married brother Bashir had previously emigrated. The brothers operated a dry goods store. Iskandar sent Bashir back to Lebanon to fetch Thamīn and his new son, five-month-old As’ad, and return with them to Wilkes-Barre.
Thamīn, her son As’ad, and brother-in-law Bashir, along with several others from their village of Hardīn, boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Thamīn and her brother-in-law, Bashir, brought baby As’ad to the upper decks, but they got separated in the confusion, Thamīn somehow ending up in a lifeboat with Bashīr still clutching baby As’ad. It is not certain which lifeboat she departed in: some sources would suggest that she left in Lifeboat 14 with baby As’ad being passed to a woman (later identified as Winnie Troutt) who then entered boat 16. Thelma and her son survived the sinking and were reunited aboard Carpathia. Her brother-in-law was lost.
Hospitalized in New York for the effects of shock and exposure Thamīn and her son eventually landed in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and was reunited with her husband. They Americanized their names to Thelma and Alexander Thomas and had nine more children. She and her husband continued to operate a produce store until she was widowed in 1938.
For a while, Thelma corresponded with Winnie Troutt, the woman who had saved her son As’ad. Winnie Troutt had been identified as As’ad’s saviour when in 1972 she was being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show and described how a man handed her a baby before she entered a lifeboat. Dave DeCosmo, a manager at a radio station, who had seen the interview, made some enquiries and put Winnie and Thelma Thomas in contact with each other. Although the two survivors never met each other, they did speak on the phone and write each other until Thelma’s death. Thelma had also been a guest at a screening of A Night to Remember in 1958 in Washington, DC.
Thelma died on January 7, 1974. She was buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre.
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Mr. Percival Thorneycroft, Age 37
Mr. Percival Thorneycroft was born in Leeds, England in the closing months of 1875. He was the son of Thomas Thorneycroft (1831-1889), an agricultural laborer, and Drusilla Page (1848-1928), Kent natives who had married on April 21, 1867. He had three known siblings: May (b. 1879), Hilda Isabel (b. 1881) and George Henry (b. 1884).Percy was married on December 26, 1899 in Thurnham to Florence Kate Stears (b. 1879), a native of Hollingbourne, Kent. The couple would have one child, John Frederick, who died in infancy.
Percy and his wife boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passengers. They were headed to Clinton, New York.
Died: On the night of the sinking Percy and his wife, Florence, made their way to the communal third class areas. It seems that Florence was among one of the groups led up to the lifeboats by crewmen, who fended the steerage men off from following by threats of being shot. Percy lost his life in the disaster. His body, if recovered, was never identified. Florence survived in Lifeboat 10 and returned to England. She died on January 14, 1950.
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Mr. Ernest Portage Tomlin, Age 22
Mr. Ernest Portage Tomlin was born in Portage la Prairie, Canada on September 29, 1889. He was the son of Edwin Tomlin and Harriet Lavinia Statham. Ernest’s father worked as a baker by trade. Later, the family moved to London, England.Ernest enrolled at the Bible College of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa in 1907, where he was an excellent student. He studied for more than two years before his father became ill. Ernest returned to England to take care of his sick father.
In the spring of 1912, with his father’s health improved, Ernest decided to return to Drake University and finish his degree. He bought a third class ticket for passage on the Titanic. He boarded at Southampton.
Died: Ernest died in the sinking. Ernest’s family and friends did not know he was sailing on the Titanic. At first there was hope that Ernest was not on the Titanic. However, The day after the sinking friends at Drake received letters, sent from Ernest while in Southampton, that he was sailing on the Titanic. Repeated requests were made to the White Star Line to determine if Ernest actually sailed. Wireless messages listing the names of survivors were searched but he was not named. Finally word was received in a telegram. Then confirmation came when Ernest’s body was found floating near the scene of the tragedy by the ship Mackay-Bennett on April 21, 1912. He was buried at sea on the same day.
A memorial service was held in Des Monies on Wednesday May 1, 1912 at the University Place Church. Relatives of Ernest still carry on the family bakery in Cornwall, England.
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Mrs. Hinnah Tu’mah, Age 27
Mrs. Hinnah Tu’mah (née Razi) was born in Tibnin, al-Janub, Lebanon on April 10, 1885. She was the daughter of Yusuf Razi and Mariyam Harragh. She was married to Darwish Tu’mah (b. 1870), an onion farmer, and they had two children: Mariyam (b. 1902) and Jirjis Yusuf (b. 1904).In 1905 Hinnah’s husband Darwish left Lebanon and settled in Silver Creek, Michigan where he worked on a farm. Eventually, he saved enough money to buy his own farm in Dowagiac and sent for his wife and children. Hinnah and her children began their voyage to the United States in February 1912 when she and other villagers left their village by camel caravan to Beirut. From there they journeyed by freighter to Marseille and then to Cherbourg by train, where they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers. Hinnah spent most of her time on board the ship minding her young children, who liked to play games in vacant cabins.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Hinnah had put her young son to bed but was concerned for her daughter Mariyam, who had not returned to the cabin. She was waiting anxiously at her cabin door when the ship took a jolt, slamming the door on her and injuring her hand. While Hinnah attended to her injured hand several men, presumably from her village, went to see what the commotion was about. They told her that the ship was in danger but that they had been instructed to stay in their cabins and pray. Curiosity forced Hinnah to bundle her son, Jirgis, and bring him up to the Boat Deck. She made her son wait near a lifeboat and returned back to the steerage quarters in search of her daughter; when she arrived at her cabin then she found Mariyam leaving a nearby vacant cabin where she had been sleeping. She dressed her daughter, gathered a few valuables, and found her son near Collapsible C. Hinnah and her children were placed in the lifeboat, and she watched people jump from the ship in its final throes. She tried to shield her childrens’ eyes from the horrific sight by putting them under her cloak. They were later picked up by the Carpathia.
Hinnah and her children recuperated in St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York before joining her husband Darwish in Dowagiac, Michigan. Although Darwīsh Tu’mah was aware that his family were coming to the United States, he had no idea that they were on board the Titanic and was surprised when he received a telegram from his wife.
Hinnah and her family settled in Dowagiac, and she later anglicised her name to Anna. She and her husband had three more children and later moved to Flint, Michigan around 1926. After Anna’s husband died she moved to Los Angeles with her three youngest sons, returning to see her family who remained in Michigan during the summer months. Her youngest son Joe, a doctor, had his own practice in North Hollywood and later served in World War II and the Korean War. Anna resettled in Michigan later in her life.
Anna died in Genesee Memorial Hospital on June 28, 1976 and was buried New Calvary Cemetery, Midland, Michigan.
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Miss Anna Sofia Turja, Age 18
Miss Anna Sofia Turja was born on June 20, 1893 in Oulainen, Finland, to Heikki Turja and Sanna Hakala. During his two marriages, her father, Heikki had a total of 21 children.Anna was tempted to America by promise of a job with John Lundi, the husband of her half-sister Maria in Ashtabula, Ohio. Her brother, Matt Turja, lived in Conneaut, Ohio. Anna mailed a letter to her sister on April 3, 1912 from Hangö—a port and the Southernmost town in Finland—stating that she and about 100 other Finns were about to sail from there to make connections with the Titanic. Maria received the letter on April 18th.
Anna boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a third class passenger. She shared a room with Maria Panula, her children, and neighbor Sanni Riihivuori.
Survived: Anna and her cabin mates were all in the room when the Titanic struck the iceberg. Anna, who was woken by the collision, described it as like a shudder and thought that there was something wrong with the engines. She got up and slowly dressed herself. The other women did the same thing. The brother of one of the women came to their cabin and told them that something was wrong and that they should wear warm clothing and put on their life jackets. As they made they way towards the deck a seaman tried to bar their way but Anna and her party refused to obey. He didn’t stop to argue with them but the doors were closed and chained behind them to prevent others from coming up.
Anna said it was pure chance that they emerged on the boat deck. The language barrier – she spoke no English – made the situation more difficult for her. Anna was rescued, probably in Lifeboat 15. Her cabin mates were lost in the sinking. As they pulled away from the ship Anna heard loud explosions and saw the lights, which had until then been burning brightly, go out. The lifeboat was close to the Titanic when it sank. In the boat, men and women burned hats and other items so that the other lifeboats would see them and keep close together.
Anna was taken from the Carpathia to St. Vincent’s Hospital. She had lost everything she had except her clothes. The White Star Line paid for her train ticket to Ashtabula (because she spoke no English she had to be, literally, tagged) and for her hospital bill. Anna arrived in Ashtabula and was greeted by her brother Matti and taken to her sister’s home. Anna did not go to work for her brother-in-law, as she had originally planned. She met her future husband, Emil Lundi, and they had seven children.
Anna never became fluent in English. She died in Long Beach, California, on December 20, 1982. She was buried in Edgewater Cemetery, Ashtabula, Ohio.
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Mrs. Hedwig Turkula, Age 63
Mrs. Hedwig Turkula was born on June 6, 1848 in Finland. She married Isaac Kujala Turkula and the couple had several children. Most of her family, including four sons, two daughters and about thirty grandchildren, had preceded her to America. After Isaac died, Hedwig planned to move to the United States to be closer to her children. She was traveling to Hibbing, Minnesota.She started her journey from Vaasa Laani, Finland, eventually arriving at Southampton where she boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger.
Survived: Hedwig was asleep when the ship struck the iceberg and was helped to the deck and into Lifeboat 15 by another Finn, Eino Lindqvist. A minor officer, who Hedwig claimed was intoxicated, also helped her board the lifeboat.
After Hedwig arrived in the United States, she told the Finnish-American Newspaper in New York that she couldn’t understand that “She, an old woman, was saved, while so many young women had gone down with the ship.” She added that she had no bad effects from her experience other than a slight cold.
Hedwig would live 10 more years after she was rescued from the Titanic. She died on April 3, 1922, in Little Swan, Minnesota of influenza.
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Mr. Julius Van der Plancke, Age 31
Mr. Julius Van der Plancke was born in Zwevezele, Belgium on February 7, 1881.In 1906, he traveled to Detroit, Michigan to work as a laborer. He would work each spring in the Michigan sugar beet fields. In late 1911, having accumulated a small fortune, he returned home to Belgium where he married Emilia Vandemoortele (b. 1880), a lace worker. The newlyweds were heading to the United States where Jules had a job as a foreman for the Continental Sugar Company of Fremont, Ohio. Accompanying them were Jules’ sister, 18-year-old Augusta Maria, a lace worker, and his 15-year-old brother Leo.
The family boarded the Titanic in Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Jules, his wife Emilia, sister Augusta and and brother Leo all lost their lives in the sinking. None of their bodies, if recovered, were identified.
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Mr. David Vartanian, Age 22
Mr. David Vartanian was born on April 15, 1890 in Oror, Kiği in eastern Turkey. He was the son of Azadia Vartanian and Sierma Apigian.David worked as a laborer and was married in 1911 to Mary Baidzar (b. 1895). Life for David as an Armenian Christian was difficult as he was relegated to second class citizenship and persecution under Turkey’s Muslim Ottoman regime. The political and religious unrest at the time prompted David and several of his compatriots; Neshan Krekorian, Arsen Siraganian, Haroutioun Zakarian and Ortin Zakarian, to flee the country and emigrate to Canada. He left his wife Mary behind in Kiği.
David and the rest of his group boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Survived: David was rescued, he claimed in Collapsible A, but it is more likely that he escaped in a standard lifeboat, possibly Lifeboat 13 but more likely Lifeboat 15.
Once he arrived in Canada, David went with Neshan Krekorian to Mr. Paul Martin in Hamilton, Ontario. He lived there for several years before eventually settling in the United States. David believed that his wife Mary, who he had left behind in Turkey, had fallen victim to the Armenian Genocide when their hometown of Kiği was decimated. However, David continued to write home in the hope of tracing her. Following years of perseverance he managed to discover that his wife was still alive and he sent money for her to meet him. The couple were reunited after eleven years at Niagara Falls.
David and Mary settled in Meadville, Pennsylvania and he was employed by the WPA. The couple went on to have three children: Jack (b. 1924), Rose (b. 1926) and Alice (b. 1931). The family later relocated and settled in Detroit, Michigan.
David died in Detroit on August 3, 1966 and is buried in Woodmere Cemetery in that city.
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Mr. Achille Waelens, Age 22
Mr. Achille Waelens was born in Ruiselede, Belgium on May 14, 1889. He was the son of Henri Waelens and Louisa Wostyn. He had two known siblings, including his twin brother, Dociel. Achille worked as a farmhand.In 1910, Achille’s brother Dociel had emigrated to the United States, landing in New York on February 26. Dociel settled in Ithaca, Michigan. When he had saved enough, Dociel sent money for Achille to join him in the United States.
Achille boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger. He was heading to Stanton, Michigan to work in the sugar beet fields.
Died: Achille died in the disaster and his body was later recovered by the Mackay-Bennett with $25 in his pocket.
Achille was buried at the Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 3, 1912. Interestingly, when his body recovered, the record indicated that he held a second class ticket which was unusual since he was practically penniless. His belongings were later returned to his father in Belgium.
Achille’s twin brother Dociel remained in Michigan, later settling in Marine City where he worked as a laborer before running his own business. Married twice, Dociel had five children. Dociel died in 1972 and is buried Rose Hill Cemetery, Saint Clair, Michigan.
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Mr. Leslie Williams, Age 28
Mr. Leslie Williams was born around 1884 in Wales, where he worked as a blacksmith. Leslie was married with one son.Leslie was also a professional boxer under the tutelage of George Cundick. He was traveling to the United States under contract for a series of boxing contests with a fellow Rhondda boxer, David Bowen. David was the better known of the two, but both men were regarded as a promising fighters.
David and Leslie were originally supposed to have traveled aboard the Baltic, but they changed plans to receive new suits they were having tailored and eventually boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.
Died: Leslie died in the sinking and his body was later recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. He was buried at sea on April 22, 1912
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Mrs. Ellen Wilkes, Age 47
Mrs. Ellen Wilkes (née Needs) was born in Tresco in the Scilly Isles off Cornwall, England on June 13, 1864. She was the daughter of George Needs (b. 1824), a laborer, and Anne Pender (b. 1821) who were married in 1848. She had six known siblings.Ellen had a son with William John Wilkes, a mason, and they married a year later in Penzance. William’s fate is unknown, but Ellen remarried to Adolphus Sharp Mitchell in 1908. She and Adolphus had separated by 1912 and she had changed her name back to Wilkes. Ellen decided to emigrate to the United States, where her nephew had moved a year earlier.
Ellen boarded Titanic at Southampton and traveled third class. Her sister Eliza Hocking, Eliza’s children George, Ellen, and Emily, and Emily’s two sons, were also on board the Titanic in second class.
Survived: Ellen was rescued on Lifeboat 16. Her sister, nieces and great-nephews were rescued in Lifeboat 4.
Ellen was reunited with family in New York and finally arrived in Akron, Ohio where she spent the rest of her life. Her son William later joined her and she lived with him and his family for many years. William died on May 31, 1947.
In Ellen’s final years she became a recluse and was discovered by neighbors in February 1955 living in squalor at her home in Akron. She was without heat or running water in the middle of winter. Unopened mail, some several years old, surrounded her in giant stacks, and she was suffering severely from frostbite. Doctors were forced to partially amputate her feet, and she remained in treatment for the rest of her life. Ellen died on April 27, 1955 at the City Hospital in Akron. She was buried in Glendale Cemetery beside her son.
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Mrs. Selini Yazbeck, Age 15
Mrs. Selini Yazbeck (née Alexander) was born July 15, 1896 in Beirut, Lebanon. She was the daughter of George Alexander.Selini married her husband Antoni (b. 1885) in 1912. They boarded the Titanic shortly after their wedding to emigrate to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with a large group from their hometown. They crossed first into Marseille before making their way to Cherbourg.
Selini and Antoni boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as third class passengers on April 10, 1912.
Survived: While her husband Antoni was lost in the sinking, Selini was rescued in Collapsible C. She became a widow at the age of 15.
After arrival in America, Selini anglicized her name to Celiney Yasbeck. She married Elias M. Decker and they moved to Norfolk, Virginia. The couple had nine children: Alfred, Melvin, Robert, Lillian, Frank, George, Charles, Marguerite and Louise.
Celiney died on March 10, 1966 and is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Norfolk.
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Mrs. Kātrīn Yūsuf, Age 23
Mrs. Kātrīn Yūsuf (née Rizk) was born in Lebanon around 1889. She married Peter Joseph (an anglicized form of his Lebanese name). In 1907 the couple emigrated to Detroit, Michigan where Kātrīn changed her name to Catherine and they had two children, Michael and Mary Anna.In 1912 the couple was struggling financially and Peter sent his wife and children back to Lebanon until he could support them in the United States. Catherine had also contracted tuberculosis, and they believed the Lebanese climate would better suit her.
By April 1912 their financial situation had improved and Catherine planned her return to Detroit with her children. They traveled to Cherbourg where they boarded the Titanic as third class passengers. When giving her name for the ticket she adopted her husband’s first name as her last, and she and her children appear on passenger lists as the Peter family.
Survived: On the night of the sinking Catherine bundled her two children, Michael and Mary, into warm clothes and headed towards the higher decks. It is presumed that she and her children were guided towards the Boat Deck with the other Lebanese and Syrian passengers. On their way to the Boat Deck, Catherine lost contact with her son Michael and they ended up in separate collapsible boats. Mother and son were later reunited on the Carpathia, and both of her children survived the sinking.
Catherine died in Detroit, Michigan in 1915, from the tuberculosis that had plagued her for several years. Her husband died in 1920.
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Mr. Ortin Zakarian, Age 27
Mr. Ortin Zakarian was born around 1885 in Turkish occupied Armenia.Ortin was a Christian and suffered persecution under the Turkish Ottoman regime. The political and religious unrest at the time prompted Ortin and several of his compatriots, Orsen Sirayanian, Neshan Krekorian, Mapriededer Zakarian and David Vartunian, to flee the country and emigrate to Canada. Ortin was heading for the home of Mr. Paul Martin in Hamilton, Ontario.
Ortin and the rest of his group boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912 as third class passengers.
Died: Ortin lost his life in the sinking. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
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