Hinnah Tu’mah was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Hinnah Yūsuf Rāzī’s origin lay in Tibnīn, Syria. This was Syria back then before 1920 as the Turks had decided so. In modern times, we know it as Lebanon. She was born on Friday, April 10 in 1885. Her parents were Yūsuf Rāzī and Mariyam Harragh.
In early 1900, Hinnah was growing up but still in her teenage years as she was given a spouse. The man was Darwīsh Tu'mah who was a farmer that produced onions. Darwish was also from Tibnīn. He was 15 years her senior. Soon, Hinnah was the mother of Mariyam, born in 1902 and Jirjis Yūsuf, who followed in 1904.
Not long after that, in 1905, Darwīsh had left for the USA to find some better paid work. As he got a job on an onion muck farm in Silver Creek, Michigan, he would make a dollar a day and could later purchase a farm in 1911 along the Dowagiac Creek. Perhaps he was also a railroad labourer.
In late February 1912, he was able to send for his family. By camel caravan, the journey from Tibnīn to Beirut would take some days. Hinnah and her children then left the caravan behind and stepped aboard a small freighter, which took them over to Marseilles in France. A train would lead them to Paris and then Cherbourg, which is a city at port where their steamer would come on the evening of April 10.
Titanic[]
This ship was the RMS Titanic, a vessel so large it could not dock as the wasn’t deep enough for her. White Star Line however was prepared and two tenders were designed for Third Class and for the other passengers in Second and First Class. The SS Traffic was the one for steerage, which is where Hinnah and her children were on when boarding the mighty new liner. Hinnah was now exactly 27 years old as April 10 was her birthday. Her young children felt immediately at home and they played a lot. They were in awe of the ship and its interior and wanted to see as many places as they could.
On the night of April 14, Hinnah had her own problems before a sudden catastrophe would take place. Having put her son to bed, she was concerning herself over Mariyam who hadn’t gotten back to the cabin yet after she had gone off to look around at all the mazes that were the hallways and corridors of the ship. A sudden jolt made Hinnah jump. This caused her pain as her hand got caught in a door. She was attending to her wound when compatriots, fellow migrants came towards her to share the information about the iceberg. Crew members had told the steerage passengers to remain calm and not leave. Some of the passengers prayed. Two men however were too curious and had gone up. They returned and this way, the worrying news came.
The nagging feelings something was amiss hit Hinnah too. She went to see Jirjis and got him up and dressed him, then she took him up to the Boat Deck under the guardance of stewards. As she still needed to find out where Mariyam was, she left the young boy there, near a lifeboat and told him to absolutely go nowhere until she was back.
Hinnah returned to her hallway to discover that Mariyam had been sleeping in another vacant cabin. With this relief, she could now dress her daughter too and get back up on the Boat Deck. It might have been just in time as a notorious boswick gate was closed according to her account. Thankfully, Jirjis had listened and not moved from his spot. The three now could safely board a lifeboat to take them off the sinking ship.
When the ship’s end came, the mother covered the children’s eyes as she could not allow them to see the horror of what took place in front of them. Many people died that night when the ship got away from them.
After the sinking[]
Those who had gotten aboard a lifeboat along with a few who had survived the water and were picked up, could only wait. It was 4:00 A.M. when a ship, the RMS Carpathia, had made her way to the place where Titanic was still floating a few hours ago. The survivors could now be taken to New York aboard this rescue vessel. She got there on the 18th of April.
Darwīsh was still waiting back in Dowagiac and was expecting his family to be there soon. A telegram from Hinnah had gotten to his address and shook him up. He couldn’t have known that it was the Titanic that his wife and children had taken as their means of transport.
Hinnah and her children remained in the care of a relief group until they were in good health and then they were put aboard a train bound for Dowagiac on 25 April. They arrived there the next day and were reunited with Darwīsh. On 3 May 1912, Hanna received a check for $90, her share of a fund collected for the relief of the destitute Titanic survivors.
Later life[]
Their life in Dowagiac was good. The family later anglicized their name to Thomas and lived for the next 8 years in Dowagiac. During this time the Thomas pair had three additional children. They were Sam, born in 1913, followed Francis in 1914 and Joseph in 1916. After that, they resided in Michigan City, Indiana for three years before permanently settling in Burton, Michigan. During Hinnah's life in America she was officially called Anna from then on. Her son Jirjis was named George and her daughter's name was changed to Maria.
In the mid-1920s, George and his dad made an income from their own grocery shop which they were given by an uncle from mother's side, named Ilyās Rāzī. It was a resounding success as it later became a supermarket. The sons of the Thomas family helped too. They were given the store later by George who tried to be the entrepeneur with another, more modest shop.
On 5 June 1946, Darwīsh was taken away from her. As a widow, Anna would change address once again. She now resided in Los Angeles, California for a while. The American-born sons went with her. She went back and forth to Flint from there and later decided to go and live there again. It was 1962 when she was taken in by grandson Joseph in his home in Burton. Joseph was George’s son and now Anna lived with him, his wife Phyllis and 4 adopted children. In 14 years, Joseph’s grandmother would tell him many things about that fateful night in 1912 and everything surrounding it.
Anna had to endure the loss of two of her children: Maria died in 1953 and Francis in 1965.
Anna Thomas died on 28 June 1976. She had gotten to the impressive age of 91 years old and spent her last days in hospital.
After her death[]
In 2002, her grandson Joseph would make the story about his family’s past with the Titanic public. A book appeared under the name ‘Grandma Survived the Titanic.’