Victim of the Iroquois Theater Fire February 1869 – 30 December 1903 The Iroquois Theater Fire was and remains the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in US history (though if you count the World Trade Center as a fire, it is of course the deadliest). 602 people lost their lives in the […]
1864 – 5 January 1905 James had been a policeman for 14 years and had reached the rank of detective at the time of his death. He had married Mary Moroney (1865 – 1931) in 1884 and together they had four children, all of whom lived to adulthood: Thomas, John, Joseph (known as Dode), and […]
31 October 1876 – 24 August 1898 I’ve seen Spanish-American War headstones before, but they were more traditional military-issue. There are at least 2 like this one at Calvary and both are for young men who died in Cuba. The epitaph inscribed on Eugene’s beautiful marker is “He gave his life for love of his […]
1871 – 19 December 1898 Edward married Minnie E. Cronin in 1895, and together they had 2 sons: Edward Jr in 1897 who died in infancy and John Raymond, born 1898. Edward Sr. was a Chicago fireman with hook and ladder 11. At the age of only 27 years old, he was badly injured along […]
The Hinch family was wealthy and well-connected, especially through matriarch Elizabeth Magee Hinch’s side of the family, but tragically, almost all of them died relatively young. Elizabeth married William Hinch in 1888 and they had three children: sons Henry and Leslie and daughter Mabel. William died in 1899, leaving Elizabeth to raise the children on […]
28 October 1902 – 19 November 1922 My friend and I visited this new-to-me cemetery yesterday and found many gorgeous monuments. Calvary is spectacular, situated literally across the street from Lake Michigan. Among all the really stunning headstones, monuments, and MASSIVE mausoleums, though, my favorite was the memorial to 20-year-old Anna Spahn. Anna had 4 […]
9 June 1895 – 13 September 1918 Lt. Jones was shot down over France when his squadron (the 103rd led by Major William Thaw) was attacked by eight German chase planes. The combat was fierce, and Gene and his comrades shot down four enemy planes; Gene was the only allied casualty of that battle. Though […]
1 January 1868 – 27 June 1936 Grand Chairman, Pullman Porters Benefit Association of America Perry Parker began working for the Pullman company as a porter in Cincinnati at around the age of 25. He worked as a porter and later as a confidential inspector (or investigator) for the company for 27 years, retiring in […]
2 July 1896 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
Both Edward and Anna were born in Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) and came to the US before they married in 1890. They had seven children together, five surviving childhood. In 1900, Edward worked as a molder; in 1910, he was a clerk; and in 1920, he owned his own grocery store and employed his two […]