Mr Josef Arnold-Franchi, 25, was born on 24 March 1887. He was a farmer who lived in Altdorf, Kanton Uri, Switzerland. He was married to Josefine Arnold-Franchi (Josefine Franchi).
From their relatives of New Glarus, Wisconsin, they recieved in 1912 two prepaid tickets (number 31441 and 31442, all together 445 Swiss francs) from the agent: Im Obersteg, Basel. With those tickets they got their final ticket, number 349237, price: £17 16s.
The couple had a son, Josef, born on 9 December 1911. They did not have enough money to take him to America as well, so he was left behind with his grandparents.
Mr and Mrs Arnold-Franchi boarded the Titanic as third-class passengers at Southampton, together with his cousin Aloisia Haas. He shared cabin (E)58 on F-Deck with Anton Kink, Vincenz Kink, Albert Wirz, Leo Zimmermann, and (probably) Wenzel Linhart.
Josef Arnold-Franchi died in the sinking. His body if recovered, was never identified.
The Arnold' s son grew up with his grandparents Karolina and Zacharias Arnold-Haas at Attinghausen, Switzerland. The child was paid compensation of sFr 500.00 and £75 from the Lord Mayor's (Mansion House) Fund.
Josef later married (1944) and died on 23 November 1973 at Baden, Switzerland.
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Simple answer was that they were looking for jobs. The Arnlod-Franchis came from Altdorf in the German speaking part of Switzerland, where Josef was a farmer. Altdorf is very close to the canton of Glarus in Switzerland, where there was a lot of povery in the middle and late 19th Century. This resulted in the formation of Glarus Emigration Society, the principal aim being for the young people to move and get established in America. The pioneers sent by that society explored prospects in several states of the Midwest before establisng a settlement in southern Wisconsin, where New Glarus is now present. The 1971 Swedish film The Emigrants starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ulmann has a similar background theme but its about the lives of Swedish immigrants in Minnesota. The Criterion Blu-ray is a superb package.
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