Johan Julian Sundman was a passenger on Titanic.
Background[]
Johan Julian Sundman was born in Munsala, Vaasa, Finland on 20 March 1867. He was the son of Abraham Abrahampoika Klemetsö Sundman and his wife Brita Johanintytär Herr.
He was married to Sanna Maria Jakobsdotter Präst and had four known children with her: Jacob Edvard; Emil Arvid, Ida Maria, and Andy, born in 1909. His eldest son Jacob was born in New York in the mid-1890s. Johan also reportedly had been in the West of America. He now made his third trip to the States.
Titanic[]
He boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a Third Class passenger (ticket number 3101269, which cost £7, 18s, 6d) and he intended to go to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to visit his friend William Henry Putcamp at 252 Main Street.
On the night of April 14 he felt the collision with the iceberg, yet he calmly dressed and made his way leisurely to the upper decks after crew members had come forward to urge the passengers to leave. He believed that most of the over 700 steerage people were sleeping, but vividly remembers plenty of men were having a good time in the Third Class Smoke Room. A while later after getting ready, stewards came and told the passengers to go aft. It was a struggle for him and his companions to make their way up, and when reaching the Boat Deck at last, plenty of lifeboats had left already. Without any fuss or obstruction, Johan freely leapt into lifeboat 15 and thus he was saved. He lived in the United States for while since.
A few years later, Johan returned to Finland and continued to work on his farm in Oppegårn, Munsala until his death on February 1st, 1920. He was 52 years old.