Esther Hodge Burnside's body was identified at Rolston's Undertaking after a two-day search by her only child, Charles W. Burnside (b.1873), with help from the family's physician, Dr. Walter Schultz. See story below. The identity of Esther's theater companions is unknown but her son later referred to her having purchased "tickets," the plural serving as an indication that she did not attend the theater alone.

Esther had lost her husband two years before the Iroquois fire. A civil war veteran† and businessman, John Wesley Burnside (1833-1901 was a New York native transplanted to Crawford County, Iowa as a youngster. He attended Methodist University in Ohio and graduated from Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Chicago in 1854. He worked at a mercantile in Garden Prairie, Illinois until his 1862 enlistment. John and Esther married after the war.* They first lived in Boone, Iowa, then in 1878 moved to Odebolt and opened a dry goods store at the corner of Main and Second streets. The store sold shoes, boots, notions, carpets, etc. Son Charles worked at the store, too.

In 1899 John sold his interests to Ryan & McGrath‡ and moved to Chicago, where Charles worked as a dry goods salesman.  He shared a home with his mother at 437 East 64th St. at the time of her death.

Esther was buried in the Burnside family plot at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

In the years after the fire

Charles had married in 1882 but divorced.  Three years after the fire, he remarried, moved to Detroit and became a building contractor.

The Inter Ocean newspaper of Chicago, January 1, 1904 "Unable to find missing relatives and friends at the different hospitals and morgues, a number of frantic searchers expressed their belief last night that a large number of the injured may have been taken in private conveyances to private residences. Chief of Police O'Neill has Instructed the police to inquire whether any of the sufferers were removed In this manner. Among the searchers who holds this belief is C. W. [Charles W.] Burnside, 437 East Sixty-Fourth street, who says that he has vainly visited every morgue and hospital in the attempt to find his mother's body. He Is certain that the aged woman attended the matinee, as he has learned that she purchased tickets, and is thought to have occupied a seat in the first balcony, about the eighth row from the stage. The missing woman is described as being 69 years old, five feet four inches tall, with weight about 115 pounds. She was of light complexion, with grey eyes and white hair In front, darkening farther back. Three upper front teeth were filled with gold. "During my search I have talked with at least fifty others who have been unable to find relatives, and their belief is the same as mine." said Mr. Burnside. "I am certain that if my mother Is alive, she will be found at some private residence, as will also a large number or others, all of whom are unable to reveal their identity. Chief O'Neill has detailed a number of detectives to begin a search of the numerous hotels in the down-town district to ascertain if any of the injured persons were taken there. "My officers will do everything In their power to find the missing persons who have not been accounted for," said the chief. Nearly all of the charred and unrecognizable bodies at the morgue have been shown to the searchers and every effort has been made to find, something which would lead to an Identification. Some of these bodies may be those whom friends and relatives believe are In private residences," continued the chief." The police superintendent further stated that be would ask the searchers to view the bodies again in the hope of identification."

Discrepancies and addendum

* It was a second marriage for John and may also have been for Esther.  Her maiden name was Hodge but she may have been married to a Zimmerman prior to marrying John.

† A volunteer in the 95th Illinois infantry, John reached the level of sergeant. He was wounded twice, at the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863 and the Battle of Fort DeRussy in 1864.  In 1882 he helped found the GAR in Odebolt and Esther was an officer in the Woman's Relief Corp there in 1887.

‡ At some later point, their store in Boone became the Peterson's store.

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Story 1071