Samuel Abelson, Second Class
Born in 1882 in Russia
Occupation: Bookkeeper
Boarded at Cherbourg, France
Ticket #3381, Cost £24
Traveled with wife Anna
Died: April 15, 1912, age 28
Body never recovered
and
Anna Nantes Jacobson Abelson, Second Class
Born: September 14, 1883 in Russia
Occupation: Dressmaker
Lifeboat #10
Traveled with husband Samuel Abelson
Died: January 18, 1972 at age 88 in Florida
*****
Anna and Samuel Abelson spoke no English, only Russian. They had no children. The couple was traveling to New York to visit Samuel's brother but stopped in Paris France to visit Anna's brother. They boarded Titanic at Cherbourg, France as Second Class passengers.
When Titanic struck an iceberg, the couple was asleep in their cabin when a knock on the door awakened them. A steward was going door to door to tell everyone to put on a lifebelt and go up to the boat deck.
Anna was placed in Lifeboat #10 but Samuel died in the sinking and his body was never recovered. Once aboard the Carpathia, she received dry clothes, food, and warm beverages. She waited in line to complete the form to send a telegram to her brother in Paris to let him know her status. However, the message was never transmitted because the wireless operators were so overwhelmed with sending so many telegrams.
After Anna arrived in New York, the Hebrew Shelter and Emigrant Aid Society helped her with money and clothing.
Although Anna Abelson claimed it was too painful to remember that awful night, she managed to tell her story several times to reporters. In May 1962, she told a very heavily embellished (and mostly untrue) story to a reporter at the Herald Statesman about her time on Titanic. She said she had been seasick for most of the trip. On the night of the sinking, she was in bed when there was a knock on their cabin door. A steward advised them of the situation. She was dressed only in shoes, nightgown and robe, but carried a Titanic steamer rug.
She said they both went up on deck and the call was for women and children first. Anna said she immediately left her husband's side and jumped off the ship into the icy waters. It was some time later that she was picked up by a passing lifeboat.
It was more likely that she was pushed into one of the lifeboats. She said instead of keeping her steamer rug for herself, that she chose to wrap it around two young children who were shivering beside her in the lifeboat.
She also told the reporter she wasn't able to eat the whole time that she was on the Carpathia, a story that changed in 1962. She spoke of the kindness of Carpathia's passengers and how their crew created skirts from blankets to wrap up the survivors who had no clothes.
When she arrived in New York, she was met by some of her father's friends. She was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in New York City where she was treated for shock, exposure and exhaustion.
Being so seasick and having survived the Titanic disaster, it did not keep Anna Abelson from sailing again in the future. In 1914, Anna sailed to Paris to visit friends and family. She came back to the US in August 1914, sailing on the Rotterdam.
She traveled to Paris again in the 1920s and again in the 1930s. She claimed she took her famous Titanic steamer rug with her on all her voyages and wrapped herself in it at night. At home, she said she kept it in her automobile but said she sent it with her brother-in-law when he served in World War I in Europe.
When Anna consulted a law firm about Titanic-related claims, she met her future husband, lawyer Edward Douglas Bolton. They married on July 6, 1920 and made their home in New York. They never had any children.
Anna was invited to a screening of the film "A Night to Remember" in New York City. She claimed she had been treated like royalty, but said she wasn't able to watch the film. She left before any of the sinking scenes.
In the late 1960's, the Boltons moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida. In 1970, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel interviewed Anna and again she told the same exaggerated story of how she came to be picked up by a lifeboat after jumping into the icy water. She lied by saying she was a new 16-year old bride, despite the fact that she was born in 1883 and was 28 years old in 1912. She never spoke about their activities while they were on the luxury liner. She also completely left out that her husband perished in the disaster, focusing only on herself. When the reporter asked about her occupation, she again overstated it by saying she was "the leading dressmaker in New York in 1912."
Anna and Edward Bolton were married for 52 years. Anna died on January 18, 1972 and her husband followed her on December 7, 1972.
In later years, Anna said she couldn't bear to think about the events of that night because it was so painful, even though she had given fabricated stories to the Red Cross and at least two newspapers.
The Red Cross notes:
"Husband drowned, wife rescued, there are no children. Samuel was a 30-year old bookkeeper and Anna was a 28-year old dressmaker. Anna will be living with her husband's brother in New York City. She suffered temporary disability due to exposure, but is now able to support herself by her trade. The property loss was more than $4,000. She received about $250 in relief money from the Red Cross and other agencies."
In October 1912, Anna Abelson received $1,405 for the claim she filed for the loss of her husband and belongings.
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