Karolina Byström was a Second Class passenger on Titanic.
Karolina Jansdotter was born in either 1869,1870 or 1872. There’s no certainty about which year, or even the date. Some sources say February 2, 1872 and others mention 11 November 1872. She was from Högbo, Gävleborgs County, Sweden, the daugher of landowner Isak Byström who was married to Lisa Jansdotter. Three years later she would get a brother, named Anders Johan.
Karoline migrated to the United States in 1891 to settle in New York. Another Swedish migrant, Louis Byström, had come to the United States one year prior, and they found eachother, after which they married on 8 July 1899. On 27 April 1910 she and her husband had their home in Manthattan, New York, and Louis worked as a carpenter.
In 1911 she had visited relatives in Högbo, Östanby, Sandviken and was now on her way home.
She took a sea voyage from Göteburg to Hull in England. From there on, she made it to Southampton, where she got aboard the new luxury liner, the RMS Titanic, and traveled Second Class. Her ticket had cost her £13.
On the night of April 14, Titanic had grazed an iceberg and started to sink as a consequence. What happened to her before, during the collision, evacuation and sinking is not known, but she was rescued in a lifeboat.
Karolina tried to get compensation out of the White Star Line, at a sum of $350 for her lost belongings and her luggage that had gone down with the ship.
Later Life[]
Karolina would cross the Atlantic between Sweden and North America a couple of times in the years that followed.
At some point, she had abandoned Louis without leaving a trace. He had no idea where she was and began an investigation. After five years, he still had no informatoin and had believed she died. Therefore, they were officially seperated and divorced whilst Karolina pretended that she was a widow.
During her voyages and travel, she met another Swede, named Per Berggren. Per had immigrated to New York in 1911, and was onboard the SS Albania, the same ship as Berggren, which sailed to Europe, and both Per and Karolina had planned to visit someone in Sweden. It turned out the people they visited were neighbours of eachother.
Per was an inventor and would work as watchmaker and had taught himself the art of jewellery. He invented the drafting pen, for which he asked a patent. Between 1917 and 1921 he ran the Universal Drafting Pen Company. He was a watchmaker when they fell in love and wed eachother on 23 July 1924. They lived in New York.
Per passed away in 1952.
Karoline lived the rest of her life in New York, inherting her brother’s estate in 1957 and she herself had passed on 3 June 1964, reaching the age of 91.