Johann Georg Abig, son of Johann Abig & Susanna Maria Froschhäuser, was born on 27 September 1745 in Gelnhausen, northeast of Hanau. He married on 18 March 1766 in Büdingen to Anna Maria Schröder. Anna Maria had an illegitimate daughter Anna Barbara Schröder who had been born 19 February 1762, also in Gelnhausen.

Johann Georg Abig, a cobbler, and his wife Anna Maria arrived from Lübeck in Oranienbaum aboard the Russian pink Vologda on 10 August 1766 under the command of Lieutenant Sergey Bartenyev.