Ernst Gilbert Danbom

Ernst Gilbert Danbom was a passenger on *Titanic*.

## Biography

Ernst Gilbert Danbom was born on October 26, 1877 in Stanton, Montgomery, Iowa, USA. His father was Magnus August Danbom and his mother was Anna Katarina Jonsdotter. Ernst had 5 siblings and 2 half siblings.

In 1908, Ernst and his brother Alfred were two of the first in the area around Stanton to each own an automobile. His father August died on 14 July 1909. The Danboms were part of the Swedish-American community in Staton. He probably got engaged on 6 June 1910 to a Swedish girl named Sigrid Brogren. On November 30 they were married in Chicago.

They went on a year-long wedding trip  to Sweden. They had a son Gilbert, who was born on 16 November 1911, in Kisa in Östergötland during their stay there.

In addition to farming at home in Stanton, Ernst was an emigrant recruiter. This meant that he partly got his own ticket at a discounted price, partly he got a commission from the White Star Line for the tickets sold to the people he could persuade to emigrate. By the time of his return to America he had made quite a fortune and had a lot of cash. Ernst owned a fruit farm in Turlock, California, and the family planned to settle there.

Ernst convinced Sigrid's sister Alfrida and her family to emigrate, despite being quite well off, and they sold their farm and booked the tickets. At the home of Alfrida and Sigrid's brother Axel Brogren and his wife Hilda, which was in Långebro outside Kisa, a farewell party was arranged before the departure. In addition to relatives of the Andersson and Danbom families and Anna Sofia Nysten, an acquaintance who also chose to emigrate, members of Bränntorp's mission congregation were also present, a total of just over 60 people. There was singing and music and Ernst took the opportunity to advertise both the White Star Line and the *Titanic*.

## *Titanic*

Early in the morning on Good Friday, April 5, the whole party took a train to Gothenburg and from there the ship named *Calypso* set out at 1:00 P.M. It was gray and chilly with rain and a north-westerly wind and no more than 6 ℃.

The *Calypso* went to Hull, where they spent the night and the following day took the train to Southampton. There they had to wait a few more days before *Titanic* would set sail.

The whole party had cabins in the aft of the ship. They travelled in Third Class. Ernst was 34 years old at the time.

After the collision on April 14, both the Danbom and Andersson families as well as Anna Sophia Nysten managed to get up to the Boat Deck. They stuck together but didn’t board a lifeboat. All of them were lost in the disaster. Only Anna Nysten survived. She was rescued in lifeboat 13.

## Aftermath

Only his body was recovered by the *Mackay-Bennett* as number 197. The others were lost at sea. The Washington Post reported on May 1, 1912, that Ernst's body was among the bodies recovered. On May 3, Ernst's body was sent from Halifax to brother Alfred Danbom in Stanton. He was buried there, at Mamrelund Cemetery.

Ernst's mother became seriously ill from the grief of losing not only her son but also her daughter-in-law and grandson whom she had never met. It became so serious that she almost did not survive. She lived for a few more years and died on July 30, 1915.

There is no record of payments from the charity fund or compensation to the mother or other relatives in the United States.