Johan Birger Gustafsson
Johan Birger Gustafsson was a passenger on Titanic.
Background[]
Johan Birger Gustafsson was born in Kejtala, Ruotsinpyhtää, Finland on June 15, 1883. His parents were farm owner’s son Karl Fredrik Gustafsson and Maria Lovisa Gustafsdotter. His father was also a Kejtala-born while his mother came from Kattö, Sarflax, Pernå.
Johan had 2 brothers and 6 sisters. He was the sixth child. His eldest sister was Emilia Sofia, born in 1870. She was followed by Maria Mathilda in 1871. Sadly, Maria passed away that same year. The first son, Anders Vilhelm, was born in 1875. When Karl and Maria had another girl, they also named her Maria Mathilda. She was born in 1878, followed by Edla Kristina in 1880. This child was only 2 years old when she died in 1883. After Johan, Elin Kristina was conceived in 1885. Johan’s younger brother was next in 1892: Fredrik Hjalmar. Erna Elise was the last, born in 1900.
Johan Birger Gustafsson also worked as a farmer in his home parish like his father and married to Jenny Johansson. She was married to a mister Jung before Johan and had one child from this marriage: Holger Tor Jung. It’s unknown if the child stayed with his father or became part of the new Gustafsson family.
They had a brand new house and 4 children. The first was a son, Edvard, born in 1906. Their first daughter was Ines, born in 1908. It looks like she didn’t survive infancy. On July 14 1909, Jenny gave birth to another girl. She was given the same name as her deceased sibling. The youngest, Anna Greta, was born only a month before they would start their voyage across the ocean on March 12, 1912. Their house was just about finished by then.
Karl Alfred Backström, who was married to Johan Birger’s sister Mathilda, was going back to America and offered both Johan and his brother Anders a job as construction workers at his new work site in America. They accepted the offer and Johan’s family intended to follow him to America some time later.
Johan, Anders, Matilda and Karl left Finland by embarking in Hanko aboard SS Polaris on April 3, 1912. The Polaris made a halt in Copenhagen before proceeding to Hull in England. The ship carried lot of Finnish emigrants who would later embark on the Titanic. The ship arrived on April 7. The four Finns made their way to Southampton from there.
Titanic[]
Johan and his group were on Titanic in Southampton to go on her Maiden Voyage in Third Class. They walked the boarding plank on April 10, then the ship would leave the docks after 12 P.M. Johan was 29 years old when he took passage on this ship.
On April 14 at night, the familiar tragedy happened when Titanic had to try and make her way round an iceberg but she was too close and struck it on starboard side. The hull sustained some damages in the shape of small parts of the hull buckling and having tiny tears. The water flowed in the ship at a massive rate as a consquence.
On April 15, midnight, it was clear that Titanic was fatally wounded. Her compartments started to fill with water and after inspections had been carried out, Captain Smith only saw one option: to evacuate the ship. Thomas Andrews had told him Titanic would only live for over an hour or two at most, when he ordered the crew to ready the lifeboats.
Of the group, only Mathilda was rescued as Johan’s brother-in-law managed to his bring his wife safely to Collapsible D and thus made it off the sinking vessel alive, but the three men stayed behind. Johan, Anders and Karl all died when Titanic sank at 2:20 A.M. Many passengers ended up in the frigid waters and couldn’t last long at such temperatures.
Johan Birger’s body was never found, but the body of Anders was hauled up from the sea later. Johan's widow was paid £250 in compensation.