Help Connect and Improve Profiles for Families aboard the Titanic!

Question

The Titanic Project would like to ask for your help in honoring some of the 3rd Class families that were aboard the Titanic that fateful day in 1912.  In 3rd Class, many entire families or parts of families were making the trip to the United States to begin a new life. Approximately 75% of passengers in 3rd Class perished in the sinking.

Our goal is to have fully sourced, connected profiles with informative biographies for everyone on the Titanic. Below are some families with profiles that need some love from the Wikitree Community.  With the travelers being from such diverse backgrounds, it will take our entire community to get many of them connected.

Here are some Do's and Dont's we would like

1. Don't copy full text from another site.  If you find a profile where that has happened, please edit and create a narrative of your own based on the source rather than pasting it word for word.  
2. Do add sources from other repositories to confirm listed facts.  Many of the profiles have been created based on one secondary source.  Please edit the profile and add primary sources (if available) or other secondary sources.  The more the merrier!
3. Do connect to the Global Tree.  Add connected profiles with the goal of connecting to the Global Tree.

Here is a list of some of the families that could use your help!  Anything you can add will be appreciated.  Make sure to answer below and let us know what you are working on and progress you make so the post can be updated.  

Counts last updated 3/24/23

• Wilhelm Skoog - Husband, Wife and 4 children from Sweden     (Tree size: 18)    current tree: 29  
• Anthony Sage - Husband, Wife, and 8 children - England (tree size: 13) - CONNECTED!
• Margaret Rice - Mother and 5 sons - Ireland  (tree size: 8) - Current tree - 67
• Maija Panula - Mother and 5 sons - Finland (tree size: 7)  - CONNECTED!  
• Artur Karl Olsen - Father and son - Norway (tree size: 2) - Current tree - 18
• Wadi'ah Nakid - Husband, Wife and daughter - Lebanon  (tree size: 3) 
• Jirjis Mubārik - Mother and 2 sons - Lebanon  (tree size: 5)
• Beila Trayzohn - Mother and son - Russian Empire  (tree size: 2)
• Klas Albin Klasén - Uncle, niece & sister-in-law - Sweden  (tree size: 5) - CONNECTED!     
• Anton Kink - Husband, wife, child and 2 siblings of the husband - Austria & Germany (tree size: 5) current size: 7
• Franz Karun - Father, daughter and possible brother-in-law - Austria (tree size: 3)  
• Elisabeth Johnson - Mother and 2 children - Finland (tree size: 4) - CONNECTED!
• Helga Hirvonen - Mother, her daughter and her brother - Finland (tree size: 6)
• Virginia Emanuel - 6-yo travelling with her nursemaid - United States (tree size:1) - Current size - 5
• Ernst Danbom - Husband, wife and son - United States & Sweden (tree size: 18) - Current size - 25- CONNECTED!
• Sultanah Bulus - Mother and 2 children - Syria (tree size: 3)
• Carl Oscar Asplund - Husband, Wife and 5 children - Sweden (tree size: 7) - CONNECTED!
• Anders Johan Andersson - Husband, wife and 5 children - Sweden (original tree size:18) - CONNECTED!
• Mariyam Baclini - Mother & 3 children - Lebanon (tree size: 8)
• Rhoda Abbott - Mother and 2 sons - England (tree size: 8) - current size: 13
• Johan Birger Gustafsson - 2 brothers and brother-in-law Karl Alfred Backström - Finland (tree size:6)

Answer 1

I would like to work on the Irish family, adding primary sources and try to connect them to the Global Tree:

Margaret Rice - Mother and 5 sons - Ireland

Comments

Great Fionnuala, we welcome your help!  Good Luck!  Anything you can add will be beneficial!

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Hi Donna, I have found lots of primary sources for Margaret and will be writing her biography soon. There is more work to do in connecting the family to the Global Tree. The main problem I have right now is that her LNAB is incorrect and I contacted the profile manager to request it to be changed but no response on that yet. Hopefully it will be done soon. Her birth surname should be "Norton" and her married name "Rice". I cannot change this myself as I am not the profile manager.
The tree size is now 19 and will be increasing more in the coming days.

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Great catch!  Reminder, if you don't hear from the PM in 7 days, you can file an unresponsive PM request and ask that you be added as a PM so you can make the change.  Then you can remove yourself if you desire once all needed changes are done.  Thanks again for your help.

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Another update from me... I am expanding Margaret's tree size all the time, but not connected yet. Irish people are notoriously difficult to connect, so I think it will have to be through her husband's line. I have not confirmed his birth record and parents names, but am working on this. I have put a question up on G2G in case anyone can help me access the military records which might confirm his birth and parents. I will not give up, hopefully I get them connected soon!  
Here is my G2G question:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1549501/can-anyone-access-the-chelsea-pensioners-records

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Update on the progress with Margaret Rice - still working on connecting her to the global tree. Also working on her biography. I am trying to get her LNAB changed and am following the steps with "unresponsive profile manager". I will keep going... will get there eventually!!

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I appreciate your help so much.. and your diligence.  Thank you for your help on this!

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Working on the bios for the five children for this month's Biobuilders challenge. Still working on trying to connect them all... will not give up!

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That is a great idea.... I should post the Titanic Children page as an option for WTreer's to find profiles to work on!

Answer 2

I will check the families with Swedish roots and add a bit about each family in this thread about where in Sweden they came from.

Comments

Anders Johan Andersson is connected, if you check the "My Connection" in his Andersson-3057 dropdown.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Connection&action=connect&person1Name=Andersson-3057&person2Name=Ekeblad-7

The bottom panel of connection anchors will appear tomorrow.

This means that Ernst Danbom is also connected. The wives were sisters, and the connection runs through their family. Always a little easier with surnamed people than patronymics.

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Awesome!  Our first connection for this group.  Thank you for your hard work!

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I connected (and re-connected) Klas Albin Klasén and his sister in-law who also were on the ship: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Klas%C3%A9n-164#Ancestors

One relatively close connection (5 degrees) was done to Cedergren-95 and another was done to Jaensdotter-51 (15 degrees).

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That is great!  I wondered if some of these Swedish families had connections between them.  It is wonderful to have your help!

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Thanks, Axel!! I was hoping you'd pick up on the family from Kalmar county.

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The Carl Asplund family is now connected through Carl's sister, who emigrated in 1893 and married a Swede in Massachusetts. Their daughter married into a family with roots in Rhode Island.

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I suspected that when I saw your message. I'm having trouble staying away from Kalmar profiles... Thanks for the message and the connections of the Swedish profiles.

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I was fairly sure about you, Axel, but I was also hoping to snag one or a few of the other Swedes / Sweden-competent people. I'm not too keen on Kinnekulle - but I don't know if anyone is.

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I am taking a look at the ancesters of [[Skoog-111|Wilhelm Johansson Skoog (1872-1912)]].
What is the best approach in order to connect? To go as far back as possible, or to look wide via siblings?

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My way forward is usually to go back a few generations on one or both parents (choices are usually made by feeling...). After this I check which profiles are already on WikiTree in that locality (parish or sometimes village) and which names are there. Also checking other pages if there might be help there. Sometimes you may have to go further generations back if possible.

Answer 3

I will start with profiles for Ernst Danbom (husband, wife and son from the United States and Sweden), and Virginia Emanuel (6 year-old traveling with her nurse maid).

Comments

I've added a bit of sourcing and parents to Virginia Emanuel (before finding out that someone else intended to work on her), but will now focus on her French husband.

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Thank you Isabelle, anything you can add will be very helpful!

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The profile from Encyclopedia Titanica is quite helpful, because Virginia's family background is truly complex. Particularly her mother, who was married a lot of times (I would suggest she's the best starting point to get a connection) and had a, shall I say, loose relationship with the truth (!) so the profile is needed to track her.

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Thank you Isabelle. I will take a look at the Encyclopedia Titanica profile for Virginia, and also work on her mothers profile to see if I can get a connection.

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I was able to connect Ernst Danbom to the global tree. I still have a lot of work yet to do filling out the family tree on all sides and adding sources.  I also read information available for Virginia Emanuel earlier today, but will start on that one tomorrow. Looks like a very interesting profile.

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Great news Steve!  It is nice to get these profiles more complete and connected.

Answer 4

I posted to the Nordic project Google group, which got someone working on Artur Karl Olsen (Norwegian roots).

Comments

Great idea!  This is where collaboration on WT is so great!

Answer 5

I've worked a bit on the existing profiles of Rhoda Abbot's parents and siblings, added sources and confirmed her parents' names. Further research on these names might help connect her!

Father: Joseph Hunt-5918

Mother: Sarah Green-9968

Sister: Elizabeth Hunt-5920

Brother: Thomas Hunt-5919 (found his wife and children on 1901 Census too)

Comments

Thank you for your help!  It is so much appreciated!

Answer 6

The Sage family is now connected. Some of their (existing) Cazaly connections are unsourced, but I'm fairly sure the connections are correct.

Comments

This is so wonderful!  Your contributions are greatly appreciated!

Answer 7

I did some updates on Elisabeth Johnson and her Swedish husband from Kungsbacka (Vallda). Linked to the FamilySearch profiles. A YouTube link was linked in the FamilySearch profile and it's an interview of Eleanor, daughter of Elisabeth Johnson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HCv5PMmz3E

Comments

What a neat interview and details in the video... What a great find!

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I saw in the interview that Alice Berg Jonson AKA Elisabeth Johnson visited her (Eleanor) dad's relatives in Jönköping, Elisabeth's first husband also came from Sweden. I did some research on him and connected the tree to the Global Tree via the relatives in Ramkvilla, Jönköping. It would still be interesting to have a re-connection via Finland to Elisabeth Johnson.

Approximately 163 Swedes and 63 Finns were aboard the Titanic according to the video.

Answer 8

I have begun working on Maija Panula from Finland, and will work on other Finnish passengers as I have time.

Comments

Thank you so much Eric.  Your work in Finland is greatly appreciated!  So many of the 3rd Class passengers are benefiting from the Norwegian researchers that are pitching in!

Answer 9

Added and connected a profile that is not on the list on this page but is on https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Third_Class_Passengers_on_the_Titanic. Don't know if more needs to be done for the profile and if the project should be manager of the profile. Could not go passed the rabbit hole because it started in Loshult, Kristianstad...

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lundin-455

Comments

Added one more just because she was born in Ramkvilla, Jönköping (same parish as Elisabeth Jonson's husband). Also third class and survivor:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nilsson-11740

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That is great Axel!  I will adopt them both and make sure they have all the proper categories, stickers, etc.  There just isn't enough time in the day for just a few persons to get everything done on so many passengers.  Every little bit helps and you letting me know on here is just perfect!

Answer 10

Maija Panula is connected.

Comments

Thank you so much!  That brings us up to 7 of them connected and nearly all of them with improved profiles and/or larger branches!

Answer 11

I've been working on a number of these. Fleshing out profiles to more of a narrative, adding sources (mainly census records on FamilySearch, but also birth/marriage/death records). Also adding them to the appropriate categories for wherever they grew up/settled, migration, census appearances, cemeteries.

Comments

That is awesome!  I struggle with biographies, so I really appreciate your work on these!  Have a great weekend!