Anna Maria Sinkkonen

Anna Maria Sinkkonen was a passenger on *Titanic.*

## Early life

Anna Maria Sinkkonen was born as a farmer’s daughter in Turku, Finland  12 March, 1882. Her parents were Matti Sinkkonen and Leena Poutanen. She had two older brothers and one older sister: Matti, Mikko and Katri. A younger sister, Ida was conceived in 1884.

Anna's sister Ida had already emigrated in 1907; she sailed with the *Campania* from Liverpool to New York, and arrived on 26 October. She was then on her way to her friend Lina in an unknown town. Ida had brown eyes and was barely 159 cm tall. She had 25 dollars with her. Ida settled in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Anna had brown hair, brown eyes. She had no partner.

Anna had been living in Brighton, Massachuestts, USA for some time and had been home in Finland on a visit. According to the US Senate list, she was on her way back to Brighton, according to others to Washington, DC, and according to the newspaper Finska Amerikaneren to Boston. Most likely given the circumstances, she was going to Brighton, where sister Ida lived at 669 Cambridge Street.

On April 3, 1912, Anna traveled with Polaris from Hanko to England and then New York. The trip cost 440 Finnish marks.

## *Titanic*

She left the Southampton docks on board the *Titanic* on April 10th*. She was 30 years old at the time.* She was a Second Class passenger who shared a cabin with the 17 year old Finnish Lyyli Silvén, a protege of the Finnish couple William and Anna Lahtinen.

On April 14, late at night, Anna had withdrawn to her cabin relatively early while Lyyli was having fun in the General Room, where she danced on folklore music.

At 23:40 P.M, the *Titanic* had a collision with an iceberg. Lyyli had returned, but was all dreading went she heard a strang esound and went to look for her foster parents, but Anna thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. A while later, a steward knocked on her door to shout at ther but it was inaudible. Lyyli had returned once again, and told her they had ran into an iceberg. Another steward pushed the ladies away from their cabin.

She herself claimed that she arrived in the first lifeboat, which is probably not true, despite the fact that as a second class passenger she had free access to the Boat Deck. As Lyyli Silvén escaped the sinking in lifeboat 16, Sinkkonen was treated with little respect as she was thrown in another boat like a sack of meal, which hurt her head a little.

To her account, men were pushed back from the boats, meaning she had been on port side, probably on the aft part of the Boat Deck. She hadn’t heard the Orchestra, and didn’t realise what was going on. She only had the knowledge of het iceberg collision but nobody told her *Titanic* was sinking. She felt embarassed about the idea of having to row out on the ocean and then come back to the ship, fearing she’ll get mocked for it.

She had a very tough time since she had landed on the bottom of the boat and was nearly trampled, and people felt she was in the way, so she couldn’t get up.

Upon arriving in New York, she and Lyyli were cared for by a Jewish "Welcome Home" located at 225 East 13th Street.  Sinkkonen took the first train to Boston to finally arrive at her sister’s place.

## Later life

She later found a job in Boston, working as a servant in the household of a policeman. They helped her by sending her to high school. She did her best to learn English.

In 1913, she stumbled apon Lyyli Silvén in San Franscisco, and they were good friends, happy to be reunited. Anna had moved there.

In 1917 she made home in Seattle, and found love in a laborour from Finland, John Salmi.

When John went to work for the B&R Coal Company, where he labored in the mines, they moved to Issaquah, Washington and stayed there with for the rest of their life.

She lost John in 1961. It appears he had been shot in the abdomen in 1909, by a manager of the Grand Ridge Mine in Issaquah and although he recovered, he suffered from the pain throughout his life. Nevertheless he became 76 or 77 years old.

Anna Maria Salmi passed away on 25 November 1963 at the age of 81 in Issaquah, Washington and was laid to rest with her husband at Issaquah’s Hillside Cemetery.