Velin Matilda Öhman

Velin Matilda Öhman

Velin Matilda Öhman was a passenger on Titanic.

Early life

Velin Matilda Öhman was born on 14 March 1890, in Eks, Mariestad, Västergötland, Sweden, to Johanna Sofia Öhman. She was an illegitimate child.

Her father, Per Johnson, was 20 and her mother, Mathilda Maria, was 18. They were her foster parents.

Velin Öhman lived her entire youth in Mariestad.  Later she would work as a seamstress.

She had found love with Henry Forsander. He was from Sweden, and now living in Cook County, Illinois. He had immigrated to the USA in 1910 and worked as a pattern designer. They were officially engaged when Velin traveled to the USA to meet him.

Titanic

For the voyage, she had booked passage for Third Class on Titanic, and would leave the Southampton harbor on that very ship. She was 22 years old at the time.

On April 14, Titanic had struck an iceberg and the ship was sinking. Evacuation was needed.

She was rescued on the Collapsible lifeboat C together with Hilda Hellström, who said that Velin took out a bottle of brandy which they both shared to calm their nerves. On board the Carpathia, she didn’t tell Hilda the entire truth, because she stated that she was on her way to her uncle Henry Forsander, instead of saying he was her fiancé.

Later life

Once reunited after she survived the disaster and finished her journey, they married and Velin changed her name to the more American Vivian. They had a daughter, Elsie, she was born on 13 September 1916. The couple lived in Chicago for the rest of their lives.

Henry died in July of 1963.

Velin passed away on 19 November 1966, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, at the age of 76, and was buried in Elmhurst, DuPage, Illinois, United States. The cause of her death were heart problems.

In 2020, Velin's purse and a letter to her from the charity fund in New York are or have been on display in a Titanic Exhibit in New York.