Oskar Leander Johansson Palmquist

Oskar Leander Johansson (later Oscar Palmquist) was born on 26 July 1885, the son of Knut Johansson (1834-1913) and Mathilda Abrahamsdotter (1845-1919).

He came from Kvarnaryd, Villastad parish, near Smålands stenar, Småland, Sweden.  He had 9 siblings: Johan August (1863-1868), Mårten Linok (1865-1952), Anna Sofia (1868-1951), Gerda Carolina (later known as Gertrude, 1873-1942), Johan Emil (1874-1952), Amandus (1877-1960), Theodor (1879-1951), Anders Wilhelm (later known as Andrew, 1881-1944) and Selma Severina (1888-1970).  The small farmhouse in Kvarnaryd where the family lived, still stands. Several of his siblings moved to America and adopted the name Palmquist.

Oskar booked his ticket in the name of Oscar Johansson; parish records note his departure from Jönköping on 23 March and travelling to Southampton via Hull. 

He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third-class passenger; he was on his way to New Haven, Connecticut where his sister Gertrude lived. 

Palmquist was rescued, but in which boat is unknown.  He would claim that he survived after swimming in the freezing water clinging to a stateroom door.  He eventually found his way to a lifeboat and a female occupant threw him a shawl to help him pull himself out of the water.  His account, relayed by his brother to a newspaper reporter, stated that this girl later died of exposure aboard the Carpathia.  But there was no such casualty aboard Carpathia, and it is possible some aspects of his survival story were exaggerated.

The Red Cross assistance committee gave him $200 relief in April 1912.

Palmquist had, since the age of 13, had problems with his knee, supposedly the result of having tried to help shift a farm cart that had got stuck in mud.  The knee became worse after the disaster, and he reportedly walked with a limp.  After the sinking, he used the injury as grounds to try to obtain additional relief from the Swedish consulate in New York: "I have started working, but I'm not got my full strength back and I'll never be what I was before". He noted that he had lost everything in the accident and "I came nude to N.Y., where I got some clothes and the things I needed most". The consulate, however, refused the request, stating that he had already received relief and in any other circumstances he probably would have been denied leave to stay in the USA.  No further correspondence took place.

Palmquist registered with Bethesda Lutheran Church on 2 June 1912 and left on 28 February 1914. His church registration records that he had travelled on the Titanic. City directories for the period indicate he was actually living in Bridgeport from at least 1913.

He became a naturalized citizen on 23 October 1915, when he gave his address as 38 Poplar Street, Bridgeport, Ct.  

In his 1918 military draft registration card, he stated he was a tool maker at the Bryant Electric Co, in Bridgeport.  The card remarks include a note about his "stiff knee".

In 1919 Oscar and his brother Amandus returned to Sweden for their mother's funeral.

According to family history, by 1925 Plamquist had been working as a tool maker at A. H. Nilssen Co. He became friendly with an Italian coworker.  Having been invited to this man's home for a meal, Palmquist and his wife began a relationship.  This led to a fight at their workplace which led to them both being dismissed from their jobs.

On 27 March 1925, Palmquist left his boarding house at 42 Lenox Avenue, Bridgeport, Ct. telling acquaintances that he was going to a party.  He had withdrawn two week's worth of wages from his bank account and went to a barber's to have a shave.  The barber, Peterson, said that he thought Palmquist then boarded a streetcar heading in the direction of Ash Creek.

Some three weeks later on 18 April Palmquist's body was found floating in Beardsley Park reserve reservoir by two Park workers, Peter Hawkins and John Grime.  In his pockets were $7 in cash, some cards and insurance documents which enabled identification.

Despite it being an unexpected death, no inquest was held and the authorities concluded that the death was accidental.

A local Lutheran pastor, Rev Okerblom appealed for Police to further investigate the death, but this was refused because the medical examiner had found no injuries or other marks to indicate foul play. 

The local undertaker, Alfred Larson, tasked with preparing the body for burial reported to Oscar's brother Amandus, and sister Gertrude, that he had opened the body and found no evidence of drowning, no water in the lungs, and that the decomposition of the body was more consistent with lying on land than in water. 

Amandus himself would later relate that he had searched for his brother after his disappearance but had been warned to stop asking questions, and was threatened with the same fate as his brother.

In recent years some researchers and family members have echoed Okerblom and Larson's concerns, they have speculated that Palmquist may have been murdered by the husband of the woman he had been having an affair with.  

He was buried in a plain cardboard-lined box at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, in an unmarked grave.  A stone was finally erected in 2013.