John (1832–1913) and Rose Ellen Conklin Ellis (1835–1936) of the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, had five children.^▼2 In March 1896, they lost their oldest daughter.  Forty-one-year-old Alfrettie (1855–1896) had lived with her husband, blacksmith, James A. Hansen (1850–1937), in nearby Wyoming, MI.  After Alfrettie's death, the youngest of her five children, two-year-old Nancy Hanson, went to live with her grandparents and nineteen-year-old aunt, Charlotte "Lotta" / "Lottie" Ellis. (1887–1903).

Six months later, Ellen Ellis died, at age sixty-one, but Nancy Hanson stayed on with her aunt Lotta and grandfather John Ellis.  Lotta worked outside the home and John was retired.  Looking after the toddler might have been a welcome diversion to loneliness and grief over his wife's passing.

Gilbert "Bert" L Ellis was the oldest of John and Ellen's sons. In 1890 he married divorcee, Anna Reinhardt (b. 1863).  Anna had married Edward W. Curtis (1868–1925) in 1883.   Anna was one of six children born to German immigrants, George and Mary Reinhardt, of Niles, Michigan.  Bert and Anna's only child, Bert Reinhardt Ellis Jr. (1903–1992) was born in October, 1903.

Anna and Bert had lived in Racine, Wisconsin from 1895 to 1902, where Bert worked as an engineer for the Racine Water company.  In 1903 Bert and Annie moved to Chicago and were living at 207 E. 62nd street at the time of the fire.  Charlotte and Nancy likely stayed with them during their visit to Chicago.

Bert was a Mason and Anna was active in the Eastern Star.  A Racine newspaper described Anna as short of stature and gregarious.  Bert Ellis identified his wife's body.

The body of Charlotte Ellis (b. 1877) was found at Jordan's Undertaking. Her sister in law, Ora Hanson, and employer, Dr. D. R. Hammond, identified the body.

Nancy's body was found at Rolston's Undertaking and identified by her widowed grandfather who had raised her since she was a toddler.  In seven years the man lost a daughter, wife and granddaughter.

A year after the fire a $10,000 wrongful death suit was filed on Nancy's behalf.   The suit was eventually dismissed with hundreds of others when the Iroquois Theater company declared bankruptcy in 1906.

Bert Ellis remarried Anna's sister, Rebecca Reinhardt (1866–1951), in 1905 and a year later they had a daughter, named after her mother.

Discrepancies and addendum

1.  There may have been a fourth person in the party.  Racine newspapers reported that two of Bert Ellis's sisters died, which would have been Lotta and one other but Bert's only sister living in 1903 other than Charlotte was Mina M. Ellis Griswold Taylor, who lived until at least 1940.  The two-sisters reference may have meant Charlotte and, mistakenly, niece Nancy Hanson

2.  Ohio native John Ellis (1831–1913) was the son of Jesse and Sally McMillon Ellis.  He fought in the civil war and his brother, Nathan Ellis, died in the conflict.  John went on to serve as one of Grandville, Michigan's first police officers.  In 1870 he managed a hotel there, named the Jenness (or Janess or Jeness, found various spellings but am fairly sure it was founded by Thomas J. Jenness Jr).  The hotel burned in 1898.  John lived alone in his State street house after the deaths of his daughter and granddaughter at the Iroquois Theater.

Things to learn:

• What happened to Bert (Robert? Albert?) Ellis after the fire?  Did he attend the matinee?
• What was the maiden name of Ellen Ellis Estery rather than Conklin?
• Where in the theater did the Ellis and Hansen party sit?
• Was Annie Hansen, the Racine, Wisconsin school teacher who survived the fire, related to Jim Hansen, father of Nancy?
• The name of the hotel managed by John Ellis In Grandville, Michigan in 1870 was "Janess."  It would be fun to find a photo and additional information about the hotel.

Story 2618