2022/2023
Collection 18

The Ship That Never Came In

1912; Falkenberg, Sweden; rural Wolbach, Nebraska, USA(1)

The year was 1912, and the Titanic was ready to set sail. This was no ordinary ship. It had fabulous amenities and luxuries never heard of before. It was known around the world as the “unsinkable ship.”

My great-great-grandparents Anna Lovisa Larson and Anders Larson, who had been born in Sweden, were hoping to make a new life in Wolbach, Nebraska, after having visited there in 1891. When they were back home in Sweden, they purchased Titanic tickets, anxious to return to Nebraska to start life on a farm near the small town of Wolbach.

On April 10, 1912, they packed their bags and headed to the port. When they got there, they were completely disappointed to hear that the Titanic was overbooked and there wasn’t room for them. They were forced to wait for the next ship.

The Titanic set sail, and pretty soon the next ship arrived. My great-great-grandparents were ready to head west to the United States. This was a very long and difficult journey. Throughout the trip they were experiencing very rough waters, leaving them sick in bed. They jumped with joy when the Statue of Liberty came into sight. Then they rode a train to Omaha, Nebraska. They could not have been more excited to be off the ship and to begin their new life in Wolbach, Nebraska.

When they arrived at their new home, they were shocked to learn that the Titanic had sunk and their neighbor had lost his life. This was the beginning of some very difficult times for them — one being that the only available space they could find for a home on their land was a dugout(2) on the side of a hill. This was a huge adaptation, considering that they’d had a very large home in Sweden. They lived in the dugout for one whole year — until they bought a house from a Sears catalog.(3)

Pretty soon they were known for having one of the largest and fanciest homes in Greeley County at that time. They then had three kids — Ellen, Harry, and Alfred. In the end, they could not have been more thankful that they had missed their seats on the Titanic.

Taylor Rosander; Nebraska, USA

1. The setting of each story is noted below its title. In cases where the exct date isn’t known, “c.” (circa) indictes that the year given is approximate.

2. A dugout home is made by digging a hole into a hillside, then adding a front wall made of logs, or bricks of dirt. A door, and sometimes windows, are added to the front wall.

3. For about a hundred years, the popular Sears catalog offered clothing, household goods, tools, and many other items for sale. In the early 1900s customers could also order house kits.

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