Wiljo Hämäläinen was an infant passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Wiljo Unto Johannes Hämäläinen as a baby with his parents. In some sources he's named Viljo.
Wiljo Hämäläinen was born in Merrimac, Essex, Massachusetts on February 4, 1911. His father was William Hämäläinen. His mother was Anna Amanda Lydia Vartianen. His parents, who were Lutherans and American citizens, had emigrated years before as they were Finnish from origin. They married in America in 1910.
In 1912, mother and son were in Kiihtelysvaara, which is near Joensuu in eastern Finland. On March 6, 1912, Anna received her passport (no. 51) from Kuopio's county board. Marta Hiltunen, another Fin who could have been a family friend agreed to travel along to Detroit after she had her passport in late March, to help in the household of the Hämäläinens.
Anna and son Wiljo, together with Marta Hiltunen were on their way to Anna's husband William Hämäläinen at 389 Clay Avenue in Detroit. On April 3, 1912, they left Hankö with the SS Polaris, in the direction of England. The trip cost 239 Finnish marks.
Titanic[]
On April 10, Wiljo, his mother and Marta were in Southampton, walking the boarding planks onto the Titanic to start their voyage. It was the Maiden Voyage of this new ship. Wiljo was just an infant of a year old. They were Second Class passengers.
On the night of April 14, fate had struck the majestic ocean liner. After the collision with the iceberg, the ship had taken on much water. On April 15, inspection had been carried about by the captain, who decided it was best to evacuate as Titanic was clearly sinking.
Between 1:30 and 2:00 A.M, Wiljo with his mother and her friend reached one of the highest decks. They both managed to get a lifeboat. Which one is not clear, but possible candidates were lifeboat 10, 4 or Collapsible D. Meanwhile Marta remained on deck with Anna's suitcase. Anna thought she was right behind and was very surprised and saddened when she discovered that Marta had stayed behind and died after the ship broke apart and went down.
The Carpathia, responding to Titanic’s distress calls, had come to her aid as fast as she could and arrived at 4:00 A.M. picking up all survivors from their remaining lifeboats. Later in the morning, when she was finished, she took off to bring Titanic’s former passengers to her original destination.
After they arrived in New York, they stayed in the city for just one night; on April 19 they continued on to Detroit.
Later life[]
Wiljo Hämäläinen, a few years later
In America, his parents changed his name to William Hamlin. Having lost her Finnish acquaintance in the Titanic disaster, the sorrow for Anna was not over yet. She and William lost their son at the age of just 3, when he died in Detroit on March 18, 1913. The cause of his passing at young age has been ascribed to a bacterial infection of his heartvalves. His grave is at the Gethsemane Cemetery in Detroit.
His mother would have a tough marriage as she and William divorced in 1917. She found love with an American, Frank Sarlin, who had a son from a previous marraige, Frank junior, born in 1912.