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The relationship between Hulda and Anna is not yet known

When a stage fire spread to the auditorium at Chicago's Iroquois Theater during a Mr. Bluebeard performance on December 30, 1903, twenty-four-year-old Hulda Holm▼1 of Chicago and twenty-one-year-old Anna Hanson, a high school teacher from Gibson City, Illinois, were among six hundred people who lost their lives.

Hulda Edith Holm (b. 1879

Hulda lived at 176 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, at the corner of Lake St. The structure is now gone, but the family probably lived above her father's drapery and upholstery shop.

Her body was found at Carroll's funeral home and identified by her brother-in-law, Percy E. Douglas, husband of her older sister, Eva, from a pin bearing her name.   The funeral was held at noon on January 3, and her body was interred next to her father's at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

She was the daughter of Cecilia Pearson Holm (1839–1920) and the late Ludwig A. Holm (1838–1903). Ludwig, who worked as a cabinet maker as a young man, and went on to become a drapery upholsterer of several decades in Chicago, had passed away eight months before the Iroquois fire.

Ludwig and Cecelia Holm were Swedish immigrants who had married in 1870, the same year they emigrated. Cecelia gave birth to four children, of which only Hulda and Eva survived as of 1900. Ludwig and Cecelia owned their home, no small feat on a 1903 tradesman's income.

Anna "Annie" B. Hanson (b. 1882)

In a victim list published the day after the fire, a twenty-three-year-old Miss Nina Hansen was included, her residence given as the same as Hulda Holm's. A death certificate was not issued for a Nina Hansen but one was issued for a twenty-one-year-old Anna B. Hanson of Gibson City. The relationship between the women is not known but possibly they were family members.

Gibson City, Illinois in its early years

The Hanson family dentist, Dr. William A. Hoover, traveled to Chicago with Anna's father to help identify her badly burned body.  Identification was made on the basis of her teeth, recently purchased shoes from the George Bloom store and her rings.

Dr. Hoover was more than Gibson's most prominent dentist. In 1900 he and his wife, Laura Howver Hoover, had also been Anna Hanson's employers, and she may have lived with them still at the time of her death. The Hansons were a family of modest means, and Anna worked for the Hoovers as a servant while attending school. At that time the Hoovers had one child, daughter Sibyl, but later adopted another daughter. It's not hard to imagine that the Hoovers may have played a mentoring role to help Anna become a teacher in the city's fledgling high school.

Anna's parents were immigrants, having emigrated from Sweden in 1881. They were Nels▼2 Hanson (1848–) and Annette Frederickson Hanson (1862–1925). She was one of four children, all living prior to her death. At home were younger siblings Oscar and Esther.

Anna was buried in the Drummer Township▼3 Cemetery in Gibson City, Illinois, following a service on Tuesday, January 5, 1904, at the Presbyterian Church in Gibson. In her obituary, Anna was described as a very beautiful young woman.

Gibson City, Illinois was a small city about two hours southwest of Chicago, with a population in 1903 about the same as it is today - around 3,000. It got its first phone system the year of the Iroquois fire.

Gibson City, Illinois in its early years

In the years after the fire

Hulda Holm's sister Eva married a dentist named Percy E. Douglas and helped him found and operate a resort motel, Douglas View, in Paw Paw, Michigan. After his death, she married photographer Thomas Blondin. Cecilia Holms lived with Eva in her later years.

A newspaper a month after the fire reported that Anna Hanson's mother, Annetta, soldiered on during the immediate time of the fire but then lost her mind with grief and was being treated by a physician. The family may have moved to Michigan for a few years but returned to Gibson. At the end of her life, Annetta lived in Kankakee, IL. Brother Oscar worked for the railroad, served in World War I, and never married. Esther married a fellow named Indra and had three daughters, including May Elsie, pictured at left.

Discrepancies and addendum

1.  In the 1900 U.S. Census, the last name was spelled "Holmes," but in several decades, in city directories was spelled "Holm." In some early victim lists, Hulda's name was stated as Hilda.

2.  Also spelled Nelson, Nils, and Neils.

3.  Drummer Township was named after the hunting dog of one of the area's early settlers.

Three friends survived Iroquois Theater

Delee and Corcoran friends died at Iroquois Theater

Lemenager family

Other discussions you might find interesting

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Story 2814

 


A note about sourcing.  When this project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a more scholarly approach would be called for.  When my mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances involved in the disaster.  Were I twenty years younger, I'd have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.  These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to provide subsequent researchers with additional information.


I would like to hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error, and you're invited to visit the comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.


Judy Cooke 2024 All rights reserved ©