Lillian Gertrud Asplund, twin

Titanica

• Name: Miss Lillian Gertrud Asplund
• Titanic Survivor
• Born: Sunday 21st October 1906
• Age: 5 years
• Nationality: Swedish-American
• Last Residence: in Alseda Småland Sweden
• 3rd Class passenger
• First Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
• Ticket No. 347077 , £31 7s 9d
• Destination: Worcester Massachusetts United States
• Rescued (boat 15)
• Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
• Died: Saturday 6th May 2006
• Cause of Death: N/A
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-lifeboat-15/ Life Boat No. 15
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-deckplans/ R.M.S. Titanic deck plans

Miss Lillian Gertrud Asplund, 5, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on 21 October 1906, the daughter of Carl & Selma Asplund. Lillian was a fraternal twin and her twin brother was Carl Edgar.

Lillian's family came originally from Alsema in the Smaland region of Sweden but had for some years been settled in Massachusetts. In 1907 they had returned to Sweden to settle Mr. Asplund's father’s estate upon his death and to care for his mother. In 1912, Lillian's father, Carl O. Asplund, was set to go back to his previous position as a labourer at Spencer Wire Works in Worcester. According to a letter written by Mr. Asplund to his sister, the family was very much looking forward to returning to the United States. Four of Lillian's aunts (3 being her mother's sisters and 1 her father's) and their families lived in Worcester at the time.

In an interview conducted with Miss. Asplund, some time ago, she recalled the disaster and relayed how she remembered being passed through what she described as a window (later identified as the First Class Promenade Deck) into a descending lifeboat and looking back up at the sinking Titanic. Having left 3 of her brothers, including her twin, Carl, and her father onboard the doomed ship, she maintains she was haunted by their faces peering over the rail at her for much of her life. She recalled her father was holding her twin and her 2 older brothers were on each side of them. Lillian was rescued in lifeboat 15 with her mother and brother, Felix (3). After rescue by the Carpathia they were brought to St.Vincent's Hospital in New York City.

Upon their eventual arrival in Worcester, they resided at 151 Vernon St., the families original intended destination, at the home of Lillian's aunt and uncle. The devastated family had lost all of their possessions including their life savings on the Titanic. The city of Worcester, shortly thereafter, held a very successful fundraiser and benefit for the family with the total sum raised reaching nearly $2,000. That money was supposedly invested and the interest paid to the family with access to funds as needed. The mayor of Worcester at the time, the honorable Mayor David F. O'Connell, was one of the trustees. In 1951, Lillian and her family moved to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

After the disaster, Lillian was employed at various secretarial jobs in Worcester but retired early to care for her elderly mother. Her mother passed away on the 52nd anniversary of the disaster that claimed the lives of 4 members of her family, at the age of 90. Her younger brother, Felix, passed away at the age of 73, 18 days shy of his 74th birthday. Neither Lillian or her brother ever married and never had children. Lillian Gertrude Asplund was the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster with actual memories of it. She lived in Massachusetts until her death on 6th May 2006. Lillian's hobbies, when she was able, included gardening, flowers (especially roses) and it was said her favorite snack was pepperoni pizza. She declined ever to discuss the disaster, as had her mother.

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)

• Master Edvin Rojj Felix Asplund
• Mr Carl Oscar Vilhelm Gustafsson Asplund
• Mrs Selma Augusta Emilia Asplund
• Master Carl Edgar Asplund
• Master Filip Oscar Asplund
• Master Clarence Gustaf Hugo Asplund

Lillian Gertrud Asplund (October 21, 1906 – May 6, 2006) was one of the last three living survivors of the sinking of RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. She was the last American survivor, and also the last survivor with actual memories of the disaster.

Lillian Asplund was born on October 21, 1906 in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Carl and Selma Asplund, both immigrants from Sweden. Her parents had lived briefly in Missouri prior to settling in Worcester. Lillian had a twin brother, Carl, and two older brothers, Filip, born in 1898 and Clarence, born in 1902.

In 1907, the family received word that Lillian's paternal grandfather had died back in Sweden. As her father was the executor of his estate, the family made arrangements to return to Sweden to settle the estate of the family farm, located near the village of Alseda in Småland. Lillian, her parents and three brothers sailed from Boston aboard the Cunard Line's Ivernia, arriving in Liverpool on July 4 from where they proceeded to Gothenburg before arriving at Alseda.[2] The family remained at Alseda for the following 4 3/4 years while settling matters with the farm and caring for Lillian's grandmother, during which time Selma gave birth to another son, Felix in March 1909. By early 1912, the family was ready to return home to Worcester, and Lillian's father booked passage for his family on the new White Star Liner Titanic.

Lillian, her parents and four brothers boarded Titanic at Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 as third-class passengers. Lillian was five years old at the time and recalled that the ship "was very big, and it had just been painted. I remember not liking the smell of fresh paint."

When Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40 pm on the night of April 14, 1912, Lillian's father woke his sleeping family and then put all important papers, including cash, into his pocket. Lillian, her mother and brother Felix were loaded into Lifeboat No. 15. Lillian later recalled, "my mother said she would rather stay with him [my father] and go down with the ship, but he said the children should not be alone. [My mother] had Felix on her lap and she had me between her knees. I think she thought she could keep me a little warmer that way." She later described the ship sinking as a big building going down and that she was haunted by the memory of the faces of her father and brothers at the railing of the ship while the life boat was launched

Lillian, her mother and brother were rescued by RMS Carpathia, which had arrived at the scene shortly after four o'clock in the morning. Lillian and her brother were loaded into burlap bags and hoisted to the ship's deck. Aboard the Carpathia, Lillian remembered:

A woman took all my clothes off me. My clothes had gotten very dirty and wet in the lifeboat. My mother was trying to find me. She was saying, 'I have a daughter!' Well, she found me. And eventually my clothes were dry, and I put them back on. They took us, the children, to the place where they take people who are sick. Well, not sick, but people who needed a little more attention. The people on the Carpathia were very good to us."

Carpathia arrived in New York City on April 18. Lillian's mother took her and her brother to Worcester shortly thereafter. Lillian's father and brothers Filip, Clarence and Carl perished in the sinking.

In the confusion after the disaster, a Worcester newspaper reported that both Mr. and Mrs. Asplund had been saved, along with Clarence, Lillian and Felix, and that Filip and Carl had drowned.[5] A later report said that Selma and her "two babies" had been taken to a local hospital, and that Mr. Asplund and Clarence were apparently at another location.[6] A final report confirmed that neither Carl, Sr. nor Clarence were among the survivors. Carl, Sr.'s body was recovered by CS Mackay-Bennett and was later buried in All Faiths Cemetery in Worcester. As the families savings and possessions were lost in the disaster, a fundraiser and benefit was held by the city of Worcester, which brought in $2,000.

Lillian's mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and three eldest sons, and refused to discuss the disaster with anyone, saying that it was simply wrong to do so. Lillian agreed and, for the rest of her life, hardly ever spoke of the disaster. According to her lawyer when asked about why she refused interviews even when offered money, Asplund stated; "Why do I want money from the Titanic? Look what I lost. A father and three brothers."

She worked secretarial jobs in the Worcester area, and retired early to care for her mother.[10] Selma died on April 15, 1964, the 52nd anniversary of the sinking, at the age of 90.[8] Her brother Felix, who never married and with whom Lillian lived, died of pneumonia on March 15, 1983 at the age of 73.

Lillian died in her home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, on May 6, 2006 at the age of 99. She was buried at the Old Swedish Cemetery in Worcester, alongside her father, mother, and brother.

Lillian's death left two living Titanic survivors, Barbara West and Millvina Dean; however, both were less than a year old at the time of the sinking and neither had any recollection of it. She was the last survivor who remembered the sinking, therefore upon her death first-hand accounts of the sinking of Titanic passed into history.

After her death, the steamship ticket she had held for so many years was sold at auction in 2009.[1] It was a part of documents and items that were found in a safety deposit box after her death, that were connected to the disaster such as her father's pocket watch that stopped at 2:19 am.

• Reference: Full text- https://archive.org/details/truthabouttitani00grac/page/n6 "The Truth About the Titanic" by Colonel Archibald Gracie, IV 1913 pp. 296-299

BOAT NO. 15.*

Br. Rpt., p. 38, places this next to last lowered on starboard side at 1.35. No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

Passengers: All third-class women and children (53) and Men: Mr. Haven (first-class) and three others (third-class) only. Total: 4.

Crew: Firemen: Diamond (in charge), Cavell, Taylor; Stewards: Rule, Hart. Total: 13.

Grand Total (Br. Rpt., p. 38) : 70.

. INCIDENTS

G. Cavell, trimmer (Br. Inq.) :

The officer ordered five of us In the boat. We took on all the women and children and the boat was then lowered. We lowered to the first-class (I. e. A) deck and took on a few more women and children, about five, and then lowered to the water. From the lower deck we took In about sixty. There were men about but we did not take them In. They were not kept back. They were third-class passengers, I think — sixty women, Irish. Fireman Diamond took charge. No other seaman In this boat. There were none left on the third-class decks after I had taken the women.

S. J. Rule, bathroom steward (Br. Inq.) : Mr. Murdoch called to the men to get Into the boat. About six got In. "That will do," he said, "lower away to Deck A." At this time the vessel had a slight list to port. We sent scouts around both to the starboard and port sides. They came back and said there were no more women and children. We filled up on A Deck — sixty-eight all told — the last boat to leave the starboard side. There were some left behind. There was a bit of a rush after Mr. Murdoch said we could fill the boat up with men standing by. We very nearly came on top of No. 13 when we lowered away. A man, Jack Stewart, a steward, took charge. Nearly everybody rowed. No lamp. One deckhand in the boat, and men, women and children. Just before it was launched, no more could be found, and about half a dozen men got in. There were sixty- eight in the boat altogether. Seven members of the crew.

J. E. Hart, third-class steward (Br. Inq., 75) : Witness defines the duties and what was done by the stewards, particularly those connected with the steerage.

Pass the women and children up to the Boat Deck," was the order soon after the collision. About three-quarters of an hour after the collision he took women and children from the C Deck to the first-class main companion. There were no barriers at that time. They were all opened. He took about thirty to boat No. 8 as it was being lowered. He left them and went back for more,' meeting third-class passengers on the way to the boats. He brought back about twenty-five more steerage women and children, having some little trouble owing to the men passengers wanting to get to the Boat Deck. These were all third-class people whom we took to the only boat left on the starboard side, viz., No. 15. There were a large number already in the boat, which was then lowered to A Deck, and five women, three children and a man with a baby in his arms taken in, making about seventy people in all, including thirteen or fourteen of the crew and fireman Diamond in charge. Mr. Murdoch ordered witness into the boat. Four men passengers and fourteen crew was the complement of men; the rest were women and children.

When boat No. 15 left the boat deck there were other women and children there — some first- class women passengers and their husbands. Absolute quietness existed. There were repeated cries for women and children. If there had been any more women there would have been found places for them in the boat. He heard some of the women on the A Deck say they would not leave their husbands.

There is no truth in the statement that any of the seamen tried to keep back third-class passengers from the Boat Deck. Witness saw masthead light of a ship from the Boat Deck. He did his very best, and so did all the other stewards, to help get the steerage passengers on the Boat Deck as soon as possible.

RMS Titanic Disaster Survivor. At her death, she was the last American survivor of the sinking of the famed "RMS Titanic". Throughout her life, she staved off its accompanying publicity. She was only five years old when the ship went down in the North Atlantic. Her father, Carl, a Worcester laborer, had returned the family to Sweden in 1907 to settle his father's estate and care for his mother. Traveling third-class on their return to the states in 1912, she lost her father and three brothers - one of whom was her fraternal twin - when the ship struck an iceberg and sank. She recalled being handed down into a descending lifeboat. The image of her father holding her twin and two other brothers haunted her throughout her life, and she refused to give interviews about the ordeal, or her life in general. Her mother, Selma, and brother, Felix, also survived the Titanic sinking. They died in 1964 and 1983, respectively. She died in her sleep at her Fairlawn Circle home in Shrewsbury at the age of 99. The Swedish-American was bedridden for most of the last four years, spent mostly with her Kenyan caregiver. She had worked as a clerk at State Mutual Life Insurance Company. in Worcester before retiring in 1971 to enjoy her hobby of gardening. She had no immediate relatives or children and never married.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 8 2019, 15:39:42 UTC