THE TITANIC/SARANAC LAKE CONNECTION

We've all read the stories and seen the movies based on the Titanic disaster. We're all familiar with the fact that the sinking of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, the largest passenger ship yet built, was one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century. We know that, on April 14th at 11:40 PM, the Titanic, on it's maiden voyage, struck an iceberg 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland and sank within four hours. On April 15th, 1912, this single disaster claimed the lives of over 1,500 persons. We're also aware that many of those passengers were British and American socialites but that most of the casualties involved third class travelers. What many of us don't know is that there is a Saranac Lake / Titanic connection.That connection will permit us to look at the disaster in a more personal and less statistical light.


Adga Thorilda Viktoria Lindahl was born in Sweden in 1887 and around 1905, when she was seven, had emigrated to the USA with her mother, Hanna, and five siblings: Gustaf, Helge, Hugo, Vera and Vilma. The family had owned a tailor shop at Kommendörsgatan 16, Stockholm, Sweden and In 1904 her father died leaving them broke. Hanna decided to emigrate to America with her children, except 2 year old Helge, who was left with an aunt in Småland. While in the USA both Hugo and Gustaf got sick and died at a fairly young age.


Adga's mother, Hanna, got a job as a maid for George V. W. Duryea at 20 Woodruff Street in Saranac Lake and Adga, when she was old enough, became a waitress. They saved their money and in January of 1912, at 25, Agda traveled to Stockholm to visit her uncle, August Lindahl, and to bring back her brother, Helge. She stayed there for three months. Helge refused to travel to the USA and Agda had to return alone. Agda boarded the Titanic at Southampton on Wednesday, April 10th as a third class passenger, ticket number 347071. The rest, of course, is history. Agda's body was never found and the Mansion House Fund eventually awarded Hanna and Helge what in todays dollar would amount to $3,840. A remaining mystery is the identity of a woman named on the passenger list as Miss Augusta Lindblom, 45, who was also listed as "traveling from Stockholm to Saranac Lake, NY". Could this have been Adga's Aunt?


Two more Titanic passengers with Saranac Lake connections were, Mrs. William Bucknell, who had a summer camp at Saranac Inn, and Benjamin Guggenheim, who spent summers on Upper Saranac Lake. Benjamin died and Mrs. Bucknell was saved. Both were traveling first class, of course.