Jaakko Arnold Penula in 1898. His elder brother Ernesti Arvid is holding his chair.
Jaakko Arnold Panula was a young passenger on the Titanic.
Early life[]
Jaakko Arnold Panula was born on February 8, 1897 in Cooks Fall, Michigan, USA. A week later he was baptized at the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in East Tawas, Iosco, Michigan. His parents were Finnish of origin and had moved to the USA shortly after marriage, taking their voyages seperately in 1892 and 1893. They were Juha Panula and Maija Emelia Abrahamintytär Ojala, residents of Coal Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Jaakko was conceived in Michigan. His parents first had a son in Finland, but with a lot of grief they had to lose him after he had lived only for 2 months. His name was Juha Eemeli. When he was bron, Jaakko had one older brother, Ernesti Arvid, born in 1895. A second daughter, Lyddia, was born in 1902 but she too, like Juha, died at infancy. She was just 6 months old when a fever hit her hard. Two younger brothers were born in 1904 and 1909: Juha Niilo and Urho Abraham.
Jaakko lost his sole surviving sister in 1910 when she was walking near a lake and picking flowers. She slipped and fell into the lake and drowned. Their parents couldn’t find her body anywhere. Mysteriously, mother Maria had a dream about her deceased daughter which somehow guided her to the spot where she could be found, in her mind. With the help of a neighbour’s dog, which he lent, father Juho managed to recover her.
After this tragedy, his last brother was born: Eino Viljami, who came into this world on May 11, 1911.
His father wanted to return to Coal Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. As he would make his way there first, mother Maija sold their farm and took most of the money with her when she left with her children to get reunited with him in 1912.
The neighbour girl, Sanni Riihivuori, was allowed to come along with them, as she could possibly find a husband in America as well as help out the Penulas in the household or look after the little ones. On April 3, Jaakko, his siblings, mother and acquaintence left Finland forgood.
The group arrived in Southampton on the 7th of April.
Titanic[]
His father had arranged and paid for all their tickets, which led them to Third Class on the Titanic. The ship set to go on Wednesday after noon on the 10th of April. Jaakko was only 15 years old at the time, but because boys from 13 years and older were considered to be grown-ups in 1912, he and his elder brother had to stay in a cabin at the front part of the ship, in the bow section of the ship’s steerage accomodations, well away from his families as he was obviously not married like his brother.
On April 14, Titanic had a collision with an iceberg on the late night. He and Ernesti were shaken up by the impact and one of them went all the way aft to warn their mother and other brothers, according to Anna Turja, who was nearby the family or in their cabin.
In all of the hectic, Maija lost track of her sons and was desperate to find them, when Anna Turja found her sitting down in sadness on the Boat Deck. As she must have not have her complete family around her, she must have given up any hope of rescue. All of the Penulas died in the Titanic disaster as she sank at 2:20 A.M, which left many passengers to the mercy of the ice cold waters.
After his death[]
No bodies were returned. Juho was waiting for his family for 5 months in Coal Center as he was making home and suddenly was of the Titanic tragedy that taken place. He did arrange tickets but till then, he wasn’t aware of the vessel they would have taken.
A telegram arrived at April 21, confirming his worst fears: they had become victims in the sinking of Titanic. The charity fund, named Mansion House Fund, gifted Juho £50. He was later also paid £100 in damages, but it was declared that he had to share half with Maija's mother Maria Olja, which Juho found difficult to understand, as he was the one that paid for the tickets and Maria had contributed nothing.
In June 1913, Juho had returned to Finland and found love with another woman who was from his native village: They soon would travel apart to the United States again to start a life together. He would also visit Anna Turja sometimes in 1913 as she was most aware of what happened to Juho's deceased family that night.