Anders Johan Andersson
Anders Johan Andersson was a passenger on Titanic.
Biography[]
Anders Johan Andersson was born on January 21, 1873 to Carl Johan Andersson and Kristina Lovia Andersdotter. He was conceived in Årtesmåla, Östergötland, Sweden.
Anders worked as a farm laborer at his Kättestorp in Kisa. On June 25, 1898, he married Alfrida Konstantia Brogren. She was from Kattesdorp as well, and a farmer's daughter. The marriage conceived five children: In 1900, Sigrid Elisabeth was born, followed by Ingeborg Constanzia in 1902, in 1905 came Ebba Iris Alfrida, followed by Sigvard Harald Elias in 1907 and finally, in 1910, they were blessed with their last child, Ellis Anna Maria.
Alfrida’s sister Sigrid was married to Ernst Danbom, who would also go on and travel with the Titanic. It was in fact Ernst Danbom who persuaded them to emigrate, even though they were relatively well off. Anders therefore sold Kättestorp and bought tickets for himself and his family. Another Scandanavian emigrant, Anna Sofia Nysten, also joined them. She came from the Farsbo farm outside Kista.
At the home of Alfrida and Sigrid's brother Axel Brogren and his wife Hilda in Långebro outside Kisa, a farewell party was arranged before the departure. In addition to relatives of the Andersson and Danbom and Anna Nysten’s families, members of Bränntorp's mission congregation were also present.
The Anderssons' destination was Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Alfrida’s other sister Susanna, who was married to Andrew Zachrisson. According to some sources, they had planned they would stay with the Danboms in for a while before going on to Canada.
Titanic[]
The journey was long for the Andersson family. The group of seven had to travel by train from Kisa to Gothenburg. From there they went on a ship to Hull, spent the night there and took yet another train to Southampton. There, they had to wait a few more days before Titanic set sail.
The Andersson and Danbom families had tickets for Third Class, and had cabins in the aft section. Anders was 39 years old at the time.
After the collision on April 14th, the family eventually came on deck. By the time they were released, here were only a few lifeboats left and it was time for all families with children to decide which family members would go first. For the Andersson family, it happened, consciously or involuntarily, that no one came along.
Together, the Andersson and Danbom families were lost in the diaster, as Anna Sofia Nysten was saved in lifeboat 13. She was the only survivor of the party. Anders and the others were lost at sea, with only Ernst's body recovered, the rest were not found.
Afther his death[]
Anderssons mother and siblings wrote a letter to the Foreign Ministry on September 21, 1912, respectfully asking to receive compensation for their relatives belongings that were lost in the sinking.
A response came to Lovisa Andersson on September 26 contained a message that compensation could not be paid out yet.
Eventually the charity fund paid out SEK 875:52 (£48) to Anders’ mother Kristina and SEK 912 (£50) to seven siblings. On 25 August 1914, Kristina also received damages of SEK 456:50.
Mystery[]
In a letter from Mrs. Andersson, written a short time before they left Sweden, she expresses her opinion that it might not be such a good idea to travel in a new ship that has not yet crossed the ocean, but gave no reason for her strange fear. It is not likely that any premonitions she might have had were strong enough to prevent her from going with the fine new ship, which to her was much like a palace.