Jakob Alfred Johanson

Jakob Alfred Johansson was a passenger on Titanic.

Background[]

Jakob Alfred Johansson was a native of Bonäs, Nykarleby in the west part of Finland, near the coast. It was a Swedish-speaking part of the country. He was born on June 11, 1877 to Johan Jakob 'Janne' Jakobsson Bonäs and Sanna Lisa Andersdotter, both Finnish from origin. He was their second child. Before him, there was was a sister, named Ida Sofia Johansdotter. She was born in 1876. Seven siblings would follow Alfred, 3 brothers and 4 sisters. The first was Johannes Edvard, born in 1879. After him came Susanna in 1880, Anders August in 1882 and Johanna Katarina in 1885.

Grievingly, the last 3 children born to the family all died within 3 years. Maria Johansdotter lived from 1886 to 1887, Otto Alexander Johansson Bonäs lasted 2 years: 1888-1891. Lastly, Hulda Elisabet Johansdotter again only lived for a year: she was born in 1890 but died the same year as Otto.

Early life[]

Jakob and his siblings lived on a farm until he, in 1896, emigrated to the USA where he worked in various states, doing different jobs, starting as a lumberjack in Washinghton.

On December 2, 1901, he married Anna Lovisa Andersdotter Nordström. She was from Monå, Nykarleby Municipality, Ostrobothnia, Finland and had migrated to America as well. They gave eachother the yes-word in Olympia, Thurston, Washington. They later went to Idaho where Jakob went into the mining business before going to Alaska in 1902 to hunt for gold in Klondyke. It paid off, for he raised enough money to make it back to Finland years later and take his father’s farm back into the family's property.

They went on to have 4 children together, two girls and two boys. John Viktor was the first, born on September 10, 1905 in Dawson, Yukon, Sulphur Creek in Utah. At some point. Jakob and his brothers had built a proud little log house on a property at Sulfur Creek. John was followed by Linnea Susanna on February 27, 1907.

After the birth of their second child, Jakob and Anna returned to Finland in 1908. A second son, Anders Alfred was conceived on March 10, 1909 in Bonäs. Agnes Maria was the last. She was born on September 11, 1911. Unfortunately, she didn’t survive for long as she died in April 1912 due to a brain disease. The most tragic thing is, that she died when her father was in England so he didn’t know about her loss while being on Titanic later.

The next trip[]

In 1912, Jakob was not happy with the production of the farm. His brother Hannes could take it from him. His plan was now to emigrate to California. It’s still uncertain which was his ultimate destination. Alfred traveled first and the entire family would follow later. He waved the town of Nykarleby goodbye on March 28.

He was onboard the SS Urania, which sailed from Hankö on March 30. He kept a diary during the trip. It was written in Swedish. In it, he described how he felt a little queasy from the choppy seas and that the vessel reached Copenhagen on the first of April. During the trip he met Jakob Alfred Wiklund, his brother Karl Johan Wiklund and Anna Sjöblom, all Finns, who were very quiet according to him. He also tells us that there were 85 men and women aboard.

On April 3, Urania had docked on Hull and Jakob spent the night there. What he wasn’t aware of was that on that day, his youngest daughter Agnes had passed. The next day he made his way to London, where he was ill at ease. He quickly went on to Southampton, where he stayed at a hotel. It ended in a bit of chaos when a lot of Swedes arrived.

Titanic[]

He had booked another ship, the Philadelphia, for his journey to America, but the voyage had to be cancelled due to the coal strike that was happening in England. This turned Alfred’s fate, as he ended up having to go with Titanic. Sjöblom and the Wiklund brothers were with him. On April 10 they were welcomed by the large ship via the boarding plank to Third Class. The mighty new steamer left port a bit after 12 o’clock. Jakob was 34 years old during the Maiden Voyage.

On the late night of April 14, the ship literally hit trouble in the form of an iceberg, which seemingly came out of nowhere as the looksouts spotted it very late. Titanic had no time to respond and a port manouvre with the engines in reverse couldn’t prevent a collsion on starboard side. Which seemed like a minor contact to many passengers, was a fate and devastating blow, the iceberg scraped against parts of Titanic’s hull below the waterline, which resulted in a massive flow of water into the ship.

On April 15, just after midnight, the Captain had been informed what the damage had caused and designer Thomas Andrews, was certain she would not last for more than 2 hours. Titanic was sinking. Captain Smith now started the evacuation and gave the order to ready the lifeboats.

Of the entire group, only Anna Sjöblom was saved. Jakob Johanson and the Wiklund brothers were killed when Titanic sank from underneath them, which left many unfortunate passengers that didn’t board a lifeboat, to the mercy of the subzero waters.

After his death[]

Johanson's body was discovered and picked up by the CS Mackay-Bennett. He was marked as number #143. His grave is at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where many more Titanic victims were laid to rest.

His wife later received his possesions, which included his diary and she was given £250 in compensation.

His youngest son Anders Alfred lived until 2001.