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Jacob Beder (1837–1910), a painter by trade, and
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Kittel Beder (1842–1929) were
married in 1867. Over the next seventeen years,
Elizabeth gave birth to eight children.
Six of them were still living on December 29, 1903
when Jacob and Elizabeth celebrated their wedding
anniversary.
The next day Jacob and Elizabeth
learned that two of their daughters
and two grandchildren were among the
nearly six hundred victims of the Iroquois
Theater fire in Chicago. They
were:
Thirty-five year old Edyth Beder
Vallely and her only child, eleven year old
Bernice Vallely
Twenty-five year old Amy Beder
McKenna and her only child, three year old Bernard McKenna
Edyth (b. 1868) was the Beder's oldest daughter. She
married divorcee John Linton Vallely (1868–1941) in
1892. He had emigrated from Ireland to America in
1886 and was on the Grain Board of Trade at the time
of their marriage.* They had one child,
eleven-year-old Bernice Vallely. By his first wife, John also had a son,
William E. F. Vallely.
Amy / Amie Josephine Beder McKenna (b. 1878) of 758
South Kedzie Ave was twenty-five years old at her
death. Her husband, John L. McKenna
(1874–1930), worked as an upholsterer and she as a seamstress. Their only child was three-year-old
Bernard McKenna (b.1900), one of the youngest
Iroquois victims. John McKenna identified the bodies
of his wife and son.
There was a ten-year difference in the Beder sisters'
ages and their economic circumstances were different
as well. One had married a craftsman and the other a
trader on the Chicago Board of Trade.* When Amy
and Edyth made plans to spend time together at the
matinee, Elizabeth and Jacob may have felt pleased
that family bonds were stronger than age and
economic differences.
Edyth, Amie and the children sat at the front of
the balcony on the second floor. John
McKenna and John Vallely identified the bodies of
their wives and children. The McKenna's were
found at Gavins Funeral home, Bernard's body
virtually untouched and Amy so badly burned that her
husband could identify her body only because she'd
been brought to the morgue still holding Bernard.
Reverend D. F. Fox of the California Avenue
Congregational church conducted funeral services
and burial was at Forest Home Cemetery in Chicago.
In the years after the fire
Jacob and Elizabeth moved with their son Edwin and daughter
Ruby to California where they spent the rest of
their lives. Ruby married Theodore Paulsen.
As a teenager in 1900, she had lived with Amie, John
and Bernice so keenly felt their loss. She
named her firstborn daughter Amy Bernice after her
sister and niece, and her son Donald Bernardt
Paulsen after her nephew.
Discrepancies and addendum
* Prior to his marriage to Edyth, John Vallely was a
bookkeeper and for thirty years after the fire, a
physician. In 1900 courts dismissed a charge
against he and his brother for operating
bucket shops.
Sometimes Beder was miss-spelled as Beter.
The Find-A-Grave entry for Ruby Beder Paulsen
incorrectly states that Amie and Edyth each lost a
daughter, rather than that Edyth lost a daughter and
Amie a son.
Edyth and John's marriage may have been struggling at the time of the
Iroquois Theater fire. According to newspaper
reports after the fire, Edyth and their son Bernard
lived at 835 Sawyer but a 1903 City directory listed
Edyth as living with her parents at 697 Ogden and
working as a clerk at 1123 144 Vanburen (Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railway?) while John lived on
Sawyer.
Ohio families at Iroquois
Theater
Uncle Henry Richardson
and niece Elva Fowler
Iroquois victim Andy
Sheridan was a railroad engineer
Other discussions you might find interesting
Story 1036
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.
