Not every Titanic story is about wealth or fame.Some are about ordinary people… just trying to get home.

Not every Titanic story is about wealth or fame.

Some are about ordinary people… just trying to get home.

I have been learning about the lives of those who travelled on the Titanic, and not just the wealthy or well-known, but the ordinary people whose stories are often less well known. One of those people was Anthony Abbing.

He was born on the 11th of May 1870 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German immigrant parents. His early life was hard. His father died while Anthony was still a child and his mother was left to support the family alone. This must have had a huge impact on him, and would have helped him to grow up with the strong sense of responsibility and the need to work hard to build a better life.

Anthony became a blacksmith, a skill that could help him improve his lot, and like many men of his time, he was willing and able to travel in search of work opportunities. In 1908, he took on a contract work in South Africa, likely in hopes of improving his circumstances and to secure a better future.

In 1912, he was ready to return home to Ohio. He travelled to Southampton and boarded the Titanic on the 10th of April as a third-class passenger. Instead of returning home he found himself caught up in one of history’s biggest and well known disasters. Anthony tragically died when the ship sank on the 15th of April, and his body was sadly never identified.

When we think about the Titanic, do we sometimes overlook the ordinary people like Anthony, whose hopes, struggles, and resilience were just as significant as any grand story?