Anthony Abbing was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 11 May 1870. He was the son of Gerhard Heinrich Abbing and his wife Catharina Ising who were both German immigrants. Anthony was the eldest of six children. 1
Gerhard Abbing died when his children were young and Catharina had to find work as a washerwoman until the children were old enough to support themselves. The family lived in St Bernard, a subdivision of Cincinnati. Anthony became a blacksmith 2 and in about 1908 the still unmarried 38 year old accepted contract work in South Africa and remained there for three years. He was returning to Cincinnati and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third-class passenger (ticket number C.A. 5547, £7 11s). 3
Since there seems to be absolutely no mention of him in anyone's testimony or in subsequent accounts of the sinking, it would be fair to assume that he was among the many who may have remained locked down in steerage, never having had a chance to save himself. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
After Anthony was lost in the sinking, his mother and siblings filed for administration on his estate in Hamilton County, Ohio (extract). 4
Later, his mother gathered her surviving children for a family portrait, in case she lost another child unexpectedly. Catharina Abbing died in 1917 at the age of 73.
Seated left to right: Mary A. Abbing, Catharina Abbing, Louise Abbing. Standing: John J. Abbing, Katherine Abbing, Bernard G. Abbing
(Photos courtesy of Besse Family and Mark Church)
Anthony is remembered on a headstone in St Mary Catholic Cemetery, St Bernard, Cincinnati, Ohio (section 30, lot 164).
(Courtesy of Trevor Baxter)
Comment and discuss
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It's so sad that some people had to be locked down in steerage and didn't even have a chance..
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oh my he ded
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this is strange. I clicked on Anthony Abbing's name @ random & discovered his family lived in St Bernard around the same time my Grandfather's family was living there. If he is buried in St Mary's cemetery (as are my Greatgrandparents) then Abbings must of gone to St Clement's as did my Greatgrandma. So now I'm wondering if the 2 families knew each other. ps to the editor: we have neighborhoods here, not subdivisions. St Bernard is a neighborhood of Cincinnati
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