Wendla Maria Heininen was a passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Wendla Maria Saxen was born on June 7, 1888 in Laitila, in the hamlet of Koliseva, Finland. Her parents were crofter Johan Samuelsson Saxén and Matilda Mattsdotter, who had been a servant. They were Finnish of origin and had taken their vows to eachother somewhere between 1874 and 1875.
Mathilda gave birth to 8 other children. Wendla was one of the youngest. She had 3 elder sisters and 3 elder brothers. The first was Edla Matilda Juhontytär, born in 1875. Another girl, Amanda Wilhelmina, followed in 1877. The first son was Juho Anselmi, conceived in 1879. He had a brother in 1881, Kustaa Verner Varjonen.
In 1883, Fredrika Aleksandra came into this world. After her came twins in 1885: They were Frans Malakais and Kalle Jeremias. Wendla had 2 younger brothers, Viktor Evert and Oskar Lambert, born in 1892 and 1894 respectively.
Wendla followed in her mother’s footsteps and, growing up, she had been working as a servant in several households in Laitila and Mietoinen as to save up for her journey to America. Where she picked up the last name 'Heininen' is unknown.
When heading to America, Wendla Heininen departed from Hanko on SS Polaris on April 3, 1912. Her destination was New York and her ticket cost 269 Finnish marks. The Polaris went to Copenhagen first, from where she reached Hull in England. Many other Finnish emigrants were on this ship to later board Titanic.
Titanic[]
Wendla was in Southampton on this new vessel when she left the port on April 10, after noon to set off on her Maiden Voyage. Heininen was 23 years of age and single. The ticket provided her with passage in Third Class.
On April 14, Titanic’s smooth trip took a turn for the worse, as late at night, an iceberg loomed from the distance and was spotted just before Titanic would reach it. A shift to reverse and manouvre to port failed to clear the ship away from the huge mass, which was higher than the Boat Deck. A collision followed on starboard side, which meant the Titanic had damage underneath the waterline. The ship was flooding immediately. On April 15, Captain Smith surmised that the ship would not hold out much longer than 2 hours and started an evacuation.
Wendla Heininen did not reach a lifeboat and lost her life in the Titanic catastrophe after she went under at 2:20 A.M.
After her death[]
Several days after the disaster, crew members of the cable ship Mackay-Bennett pulled a female body from the sea and it had the initials W.H. embroidered on her clothing. She was marked as body number #8. This unidentified body was laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, where several other Titanic victims would be buried. The headstone marked only with the number of the victim and the date of her death. In 1991, research enabled the identification, establishing it was Wendla Heininen and her name was added to the headstone.
Wendla’s family received £50 in compensation for their loss.