Mr Carl Olof Jansson

Mr Carl Olof Jansson (?Johnson), 21, was born 17 May 1890 the son of Alfred Jansson and Charlotta Svensson, Vadened, Korsberga, Hjo, Västergötland, Sweden. He had four siblings Erik Manstedt (new name after emigrating to USA), Vitalis, Hanna and Ossian.

Carl Olof Jansson was a socialist and an active party of the Labour movement. He had been working as a carpenter for the Eriksson brothers workshop in Örebro, Sweden.

Jansson decided to emigrate, although he did so without permission from the Swedish authorities. He bought tickets and legal papers in Copenhagen and was accompanied by fellow Socialist and Swede August Wennerström together with Gunnar Tenglin amongst others. They remained together on the Titanic which they boarded at Southampton.

Jansson was woken by the collision and hurried up to deck, he was in such hurry that he had forgotten to put an any shoes. Up on deck he saw nothing and first he thought he would see the iceberg somebody had mentioned to him but it was too late. So he went back down to put on some proper clothing. Janssons cabin was one of those that was fast being filled with water.

"Then I run down to my cabin to bring my other clothes, watch and bag but had only time to take the watch and the coat when water with enormous force came into the cabin and I had to rush up to the deck again where I found my friends standing with lifebelts on and with terror painted on their faces. What should I do now, with no lifebelt and no shoes and no cap?"

Jansson remained onboard until the end and then swam to the water filled collapsible A.

In New York he was brought to the Salvation Army's Cadet School and was given $25 from the Salvation Army assistance committee. On 24 April he travelled via Chicago with Oscar Hedman and Anna Sjöblom from Finland. He initially settled in Swedeburg, Nebraska and then in Wahoo, a town to the south of Swedeburg. He continued to work as carpenter, but he never returned to Sweden.

He was married Edith Syverson on 3 May 1923.

Cal Olof Jansson died in Wahoo 23 March 1978. His wife died in Wahoo in December of 1978 at the age of 85. The couple had no children.

Notes
Some sources give the name as "Johnson", either this was the original spelling and Jansson is a mistake or he later anglicized the spelling to Johnson when he settled in America.

Articles
The Wahoo Newspaper 30 March 1978, Obituary

Certificates
State of Nebraska Certificate of Death

References
Claes-Göran Wetterholm (1988, 1996) Titanic. Rabén, Stockholm

Acknowledgements
Claes-Göran Wetterholm, Sweden

Contributors
Phillip Gowan, USA
Susan Lowe, USA
Leif Snellman, Finland