Passengers from Sweden

R

Ronald Carlson

Guest
Is there a simple way to determine the Swedish families on the Titanic that were going to Massachusetts without going through every passenger? My cousin's mother-in-law Ester Danielsson and her friend Anna E Jonsson, from í–kna, Jönköpings län, were supposed to travel to America with this family, but Anna couldn't get her papers in time so she and Ester had to wait until April 27, when they took the Lusitania from Liverpool. I also wonder if they actually had gotten to the point of purchasing tickets and then had to cancel them. Is there an official list of these?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Ron
 
Hi Ron,

The only Swedish family travelling to Massachusetts were the Asplunds, bound for Worcester. The parents, Carl and Selma, had lived in the US previously where they were married. In 1909, after spending several years in their native Swedem, they decided to return to Worcester, MA. Carl and the three eldest boys were lost, but Selma and the other two children, Lillian and Felix, survived on lifeboat #15. Lillian is the 2nd oldest survivor alive today. See 3rd class biograhphies.

Ben
 
Dearest Ron and Ben,
I am afraid I am going to have to correct Ben here, one of the boys did in fact survive and went on to live in London where he created a furniture company. Apparently he lost his left thumb in the disaster and wore an eye patch, but I am not sure as to the truth in these facts.

Sally
 
Hi Sally,

Bit confused here. I mentioned in my post above that Felix (who died in Massachusetts), the youngest child, was saved with his mother and elder sister, while his three older brothers were lost with the father. Are you suggesting one of the other sons survived, i.e. Carl, Clarence or Filip?
 
Sally,

In Titanic Women and Children First, Geller says that Felix never married and remained always with his mother. It is my understanding that Felix never left Massachusetts; living first in Worchester and later in Shrewsbury. In part his obituary reads: draftsman for Coppus Engineering in Worchester for 35 years, retiring in 1972. He died in 1983. You will find all of this in his ET biography.

Where did you obtain your information?

Unrelated, but I'm still waiting to hear from you about the Lifeboat book that you mentioned in an earlier post.

Lester
 
Thanks to all for your helpful comments. Yes, the Asplunds certainly seem to fit. Not only are they the only Swedish family going to MA, but we see that they came from the village of Alseda, which is only about 6 miles from Anna and Ester, so it is quite likely that this is the family Anna and Ester were supposed to go with. Now if we could figure out how they knew each other! It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they went to the same church. I will have to see if there's someone who knows the Asplund family in Jönköping. Or maybe I can find them all in the parish registers. And I still don't know if Anna and Ester actually purchased tickets and canceled. Since Anna couldn't get her papers in time, I suspect not.
 
Everyone,

It is my belief that Filip actually survived the disaster and ended up in London with his furniture company. I remember to talking to an old man who in his youth visited the shop and spoke at length with Filip about the Titanic.

Lester, the book by Walter.D.Richards was published by a company called 'Hogwood' and I confess to not having heard of any other books published by them! The date is 1975 and if you can track it down its a fabulous read!

Sally
 
Sally,

My thanks for the added book information. It would be helpful if you could provide the publisher's address. An ISBN could also be useful.

With regard to Filip Asplund. I do not believe that there is any chance that he survived. If he had he would have located or been located by his family on the Carpathia. Also he would have been recorded as a survivor. Given your belief that Filip survived; went to London and established a business have you given any thought as to why he did not contact his family? He would have known that his mother, youngest brother and sister were put into a lifeboat. The Filip who you believe survived cannot have had a heart.

Lester
 
Hi all! I lost Claes-Göran Wetterholm's email when my hard disk was erased by a nasty virus in January... Can anyone tell Claes that I am trying to contact him?
I have in my files an article from "Dagens Nyheter Lördagen den 4 maj 1912: svenska passagerare öfverleft Titanic-olyckan" and another one from "Nordstjernan" for 23 April 1912, both about Titanic's 3rd class passengers. I am not sure that the articles include many details on the Swedish passengers, but that of the Nordstjernan has chapters about Oscar Johanson, Oscar Hedman, Edw. Lundstrom, Hilda Hellström, Ernst Persson. Then it could be interesting to have them translated into English.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Olivier
 
Hi Olivier,

Click HERE for Claes-Goran's e-mail. Once you're on the site, click on "In English" and then click on "Board of Directors" for his e-mail address.

Best regards,

Jason
happy.gif
 
Hi Jason! So great you could help! So nice of you! If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me! Nice picture on your ID. How is Toronto? Never been there, but my friend LOVED the city and plans going back there.
It's so great Internet can link people the world over!
Yours, Olivier
 
Hi Olivier,

You're welcome, always glad to help. Thank you for your offer of assistance, I'll remember that. You've contributed some very interesting items to the site lately!

Thanks, I'm glad you like my photo. It was taken in Halifax a few years ago. Toronto is a great city, there are lots of things to see and do. Plus, we have five Titanic survivors here. Good to hear your friend enjoyed their visit and plans to return.

I agree, the internet is great for connecting people all over the world! That's the beauty of it.

Best regards,

Jason
happy.gif
 
Hello everybody!

Recently, I was searching for the list of Titanic passengers and I was surprised because of the big amount of Swedish passengers. I know that at that time Sweden wasn't as rich as it is today so I suppose that a lot of Swedish people wanted to start a new life in America. Interesting!
 
It may interest you all to know, that alot of the Finnish passengers, were actually Swedes born in Finland. At the time, Finland belonged to Sweden, and alot of the Swedish people settled in Finland, but were completely Swedish in genealogy. As a Finn, a real one, you can tell the difference between Finnish and Swedish names and surnames. I say around a third of the reported Finns, were of pure Swedish genes.
 

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